Posted on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 7 a.m.
Rich Rodriguez opens up to Mitch Albom; U-M's limited running game leave Tate Forcier as best QB option? and more
By Kaleb Roedel
Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez smiles as he makes his way out of the tunnel at Michigan Stadium before the team photo during Fan Day on Sunday afternoon. Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com
Rodriguez would "speak to the people at West Virginia ... spend more time letting people at Michigan get to know me," he admits to the Detroit Free Press' Mitch Albom in a 90-minute sit-down interview.
"This was one of the revelations from an hour and a half visit this past week at Rodriguez’s office in Schembechler Hall," Albom writes. "It has hardly been a natural fit, the impetuous, loose-swinging Rodriguez in the hall of the mountain king — Bo. He has been cast as an outsider, part of some slick West Virginia/southern football world that doesn’t get our Midwestern approach."
Continues Albom, "But he has lasted two years and his third season starts next weekend. He has had to coach under a microscope — sometimes an unfairly intense one. He knows expectations are high — his and everyone else’s."
MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
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- AnnArbor.com: Michigan preview -- How the Wolverines stack up against their opponents
- Detroit Free Press: Michigan picked to finish 5th, MSU 2nd by Free Press
- Grand Rapids Press: When will Michigan football recover?, wonders David Mayo
- Grand Rapids Press: With limited running back, is Tate Forcier the best option?
- Detroit Free Press: Three bold predictions, breakout players in the Big Ten
- The Plain Dealer: Moving OSU-UM would be epic error by Big Ten, writes Bill Livingston
- ESPN.com: OSU's Terrelle Pryor bucks hype of preseason
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- Yahoo! Sports: Starting QB still undecided at Penn State
- USA Today: New Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly getting an Irish education
Comments
johnnya2
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 10:50 p.m.
Oh it is clear Bill Martin is a failure as an athletic director. He wanted one coach and had to settle on Rich Rod. Let's remember, despite what he said, this was not the guy he wanted. Martin never learned his job, and how to get the coach he wanted. Martin then allowed this mediocre coach to stay. He blames the "lack of talent" and "youth". Did anybody hear the accolades about Tate and Robinson coming in? They were more highly sought after than another guy who started as a TRUE FRESHMAN. Mr Henne has done ok for himself it seems. Mike Hart was not the guy every program wanted coming out of high school. He turned into something special, because of a solid coach with a plan and somebody who knew how to use his talents. Ask yourself what programs had to "rebuild" to win. Florida? Has made a bowl in EVERY Urban Meyer season. OSU, the same with Tressel. Alabama? Oh thats right, a champion ship with Saban. Texas and Mack Brown make bowls all the time. Pete Carrol did not need years to make USC competitive. Bo Schembelcher did not take until his third year to be a success. History says, good coaches start out that way, and just keep going.
Yelmonian
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 5:36 p.m.
Kubrick... I will agree with you on that. I still state RR is a good coach, not a great coach and created much of his own problems. But Martin did not do UM any favors. He seemed to be infatuated with WVU coaches, and did not find good fits at all for UM. But there is no way that RR gets a free pass either. He has to be held accountable also.
Kubrick66
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 5:10 p.m.
heartbreakM... I've heard this argument a thousand times. If you want someone to blame, blame Martin and Mary Sue, he hired him and she signed off. They knew exactly what they were getting, knew what he was up against inside the program and out... and if they didn't, they should've done their Due Diligence. I'm not defending RR because he's obviously done a lousy job coaching. Yet at the same time he's been fighting an up hill battle from day one. Hard to focus on coaching full-time when elements within your own program are trying to sabotage you from the beginning. In the end - if RR does fail at Michigan - everyone is going to have to open their eyes and take a long hard look at the "Good 'ol Boys" club that he entered - but wasn't welcomed - and at Martin and Mary Sue for putting him there.
3 And Out
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 5:05 p.m.
more excuses and lack of accountibility from RR for the attrition that occured on his watch only
heartbreakM
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 2:48 p.m.
One comment that RR made to Albom particularly galled me : "Well, I think, the class that graduated... Chad Henne and Mike Hart and Shawn Crable... that class... that's a special group. Those kind don't come along very often. And so for me to assume that the guys behind them would have been at that level... that was a mistake." Why is it that yet again, Coach Rod has to throw the players under the bus to cover for his own failures. Was it that Henne Hart and Crable were just naturally talented people, or is that they were coached well (despite a 0-4 record against OSU and 0-1 against App State)? Given the opportunity, Rod could have said something like, I let down the players following that special group by not coaching them as well as we should have, to allow them to reach potential. He had a veteran defensive line, linebackers, offensive line, 2 running backs in Brown and Minor, and Mallett (at least when RR signed). He had defensive back experience, and he had a good kicking game. what RR did not have was a good coaching strategy, or knowledge. It is this entire attitude of blaming the players or his staff for everything, and his utter lack of knowledge of Michigan personnel, Michigan traditions, and Michigan football that makes him a bad fit here. How could he have not known the personnel at all before signing on?
ShadowManager
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 1:38 p.m.
It's nice to hear that UM has a bona fide superhero running the college football program...Doncha hear doncha hear...he's got alligator skin!
Sean T.
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 12:03 p.m.
I agree with you 81WOLVERINE.
81wolverine
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 10:12 a.m.
I DO think it's an absolute key for Michigan to find at least 2 reliable running backs out of the group vying for playing time. At least one of them needs to be able to get tough inside yardage (probably not Vincent Smith). The other big key is cutting down on turnovers. If they can do these two things, I think our offense will be a lot more consistent. Then, it won't matter as much who the QB is. Hopefully, Denard will be much more effective throwing the ball this season too.
NoBowl4Blue
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 8:51 a.m.
If Rich Rod had to do it all over again he may have selected a different profession as he hasn't come close to meeting expectations at Michigan and in fact all the pub about this guy is negative which reflects on the University.
Craig Lounsbury
Mon, Aug 30, 2010 : 7:33 a.m.
He couldn't have picked a more "touchy feely" guy to lob him softballs than Mitch. Given Mitch's documented history of confusing fiction with journalism has anyone at AnnArbor.com confirmed that the interview actually happened?