Rich Rodriguez retracts claims on football team's GPA
Claims that the Michigan football team achieved its highest-ever grade-point average last year under Rich Rodriguez now appear false.
Rodriguez released a statement Wednesday saying there is no concrete proof that Michigan's team GPA reached a record level in his first season as coach, an assertion he's made several times this fall.
"I have mentioned publicly several times that the football team last year achieved the highest average GPA ever, and I'd like to set the record straight on that statement," Rodriguez said. "Last fall, in order to boost academic performance, I asked the Academic Success Program for the highest-ever team GPA and challenged the players to beat it. The ASP doesn't track team GPAs, so they provided me with an estimate based on their experience dealing with individual performance. They did not make it clear that the number was just an estimate and not an exact calculation. We apologize if this has caused any confusion.
"That said, I want to re-emphasize how proud I am of the academic performance of our team members. We have implemented several activities aimed at motivating each player to succeed in the classroom as well as on the field. A number of them have achieved their 'personal-best' GPAs, and I believe that each of them will continue to strive for excellence."
Neither Michigan nor Rodriguez has specified the football team's grade-point average, and university spokesperson Kelly Cunningham said in a statement the university does not "routinely track a cumulative football team GPA."
"Coach Rich Rodriguez has publicly stated that last winter, the football team had the highest GPA in memory," Cunningham said. "There may have been an impression that it was based on an exact calculation but in fact it was based on a best estimate from our Academic Success Program staff who have years of experience in working with student-athletes on their individual academic success.
"As a way to motivate the players academically, Coach Rodriquez used that estimate as a target for individual team members to surpass. We don't routinely track a cumulative football team GPA. The ASP focuses on addressing each student's individual needs, and monitoring academic success at the individual rather than team level.
"The ASP staff on occasion has calculated an actual cumulative team semester GPA at the request of Coach Rodriguez. This information was not retained as a record because it was solely used for his motivational activities."
Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
Comments
rightmind250
Fri, Oct 16, 2009 : 7:41 a.m.
Tater etc. How do you know that the team beat the GPA goal set by RR. The Uof M does not keep these records. ( more BS by U of M) keep making excuses. The NCAA keeps these records. How do they apply sanctions against teams for academic performance. All of the excuses coming out of RR and UofM are just more lies to cover there butts. The reason this doesn't go away is they refuse to tell the truth. go blue
LakeErieMaize/Blue
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 4:45 p.m.
And as I stated earlier....still not sold on this guy!!!Just too much going on around him in too short of a time period!!He has TOO much going on(football related or NOT)!But STILL love my Wolverines!!!Good luck this weekend.GO BLUE!!!
1998pa
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 12:02 p.m.
Again, if you want to fall for everything, hook, line and sinker, feel free. Not all of us do. Some of you equate being a fan with never questioning anything anyone at the university ever does. In my opinion, that's negligent. RR is the one who came out with the statement each time. No one coerced him. If he states something as a fact, then comes out and retracts it, how are you going to be mad at the messenger? In the end, it doesn't mean that RR is the devil. Still, if I was a Michigan fan, I'd cheer for him, but I'd be skeptical.
bballcoachfballfan
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 10:58 a.m.
First of all, Mr. Birkett should not have used the term "false" in describing Coach's statement. False implies intent to deceive which is far from what happened here. He was given information and based his statements on that information. Secondly, what are we doing here? For all of you so called "Michigan Men" who are trying everything to sabbotage Coach Rodriquez--isn't this what Michigan is supposed to be all about? The man used information to motivate his players in the classroom. It worked! Who cares if the information was an estimate or the real data. He gave the kids a number and they beat it--period. That is the story here. I loved Coach Carr and believe him to be a great man. But I have news for all of you longing for "Old Michigan": this coach is paying more attention to academics, more attention to nutrition, and more attention to discipline than Coach Carr did for his last 5 or 6 years. I just think many people are absolutely putting on the blinders because Coach Rod came in from the outside. This is sabbotage--not just from the ridiculous folks at the Freep but also from some inside at Michigan who are acting like spoiled little children because they didn't get who they wanted as coach. Grow up and do what's right for Michigan. This is a positive story about academic goals and achievement--nothing else
braggslaw
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 10:20 a.m.
Is this guy a compulsive liar? Sheesh between the contract, practices, tate etc. it seems like he is always recanting.
Mac59
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 10:07 a.m.
1998, I agree healthy skepticism is good, that is why I am skeptical of Michael Rosenberg's motives for attempting to make an issue out of a non-issue. Thus, trying to make it appear as a serious indiscretion on the part of Rich Rod. As I said before I'm not a Rich Rod apologist. The contract, the dealings with boosters, the practice hours, they all raise red flags. Rosenberg should be delving deeper into those issues and reporting back when he has more as opposed to muckraking, as this article does. But this column? This column makes it clear to me that Rosenberg is blatant in his attempt to smear Rodriguez. Rodriguez based his comments on what he thought were statistics that were tracked, collated and analyzed. He was wrong. Does that make him a liar? Not in my book, it makes his a boastful coach that is proud of his players, who tries to build them up as the greatest players since Dick Butkus and Barry Sanders. Or in other words, a typical College Coach. My comment about Forcier was sarcasm, plain and simple, used to point out the lunacy and slant of this article by Rosenberg and the Free Press. What this article accomplished was to raise eyebrows and skepticism regarding Rosenberg, and the Free Press motives. Thereby reducing their credibility, and ability to objectively report on Rich Rodriguez, in my opinion. In the future, I will read Rosenberg with a grain of salt, do I believe him, or is he trying to further his own cause. Right now, I believe the latter. If they really want to report on relevant issues, investigate the three that I listed to start this comment. But the only way this GPA issue is an issue would be if Rodriguez had grades changed to raise the GPA, or if Rodriguez's team is far below NCAA and Big Ten standards. If that's not the case, then this is a non-issue about what typical college coaches do, they exagerate and make statements full of hyperbole while gushing over their players. Nothing more, nothing less. Rosenberg, tries to make it more, and the lemmings that believe everything the press hands them are easily swayed.
DwightSchrute
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 10:01 a.m.
"Lying? RRod asks for the highest GPA that the football team has had...they give him a number...he beats that number..then he says that he had the highest average..He got the number from another source and thought it was an actual average..this doesn't seem like lying by RRod at all..thanks anyways though" Rodney, this assumes you believe everything RichRod is saying publicly, and he or the university should have dispelled his miscomments earlier to avoid him having to retract anything.
KeepingItReal
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 9:53 a.m.
RR keeps giving his critics plenty of ammo to use against him
Maize and Poo
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 9:45 a.m.
In a related, non-public statement, Rich Rod confirmed reports that in effort to increase team GPA all players majors have been switched to sanitation engineering. This comes to no surprise as a majority of these players have demonstrated they already know how to stink things up on the field.
1998pa
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 9:38 a.m.
azwolverine, thank you for being so level-headed, and understanding that you can be a die-hard Michigan fan without mindlessly lapping up whatever comes out of RR's mouth. It's sad and pathetic to see the way people defend him, as if he's Jesus. In my opinion, a lot of stories have gone overboard about RR. But by the same token, he's brought on a lot of problems on himself. Take this one for example. RICH-ROD'S the one who made the assertion about the record GPA. I don't care where he got his information from. RICH-ROD decided the info was credible enough, and he should tell the media, as a fact. Mac59, you're analogy is, at best, not thought out very well. RR saying that Tate's the best QB ever is an opinion. You could claim a statement like that -- if he was ever to say it -- is typical coaching hyperbole. But this is different. This was supposedly factual information he was bringing forth. Look, at the end of the day, maybe the players have made fantastic strides in the classroom. I'd certainly hope so, regardless of which school we're talking about. And if they've made improvements, kudos to RR, if he did indeed implement the needed changes. The point is this, though: Rodriguez HAS been involved in some questionable statements, decisions and situations. If you want to be an absolute mindless imp, ready to overlook every possible transgression, feel free. But I'd recommend healthy skepticism to everyone. You can still be a die-hard fan... you're just more credible when you acknowledge more than one side to a story. Finally, as slappies, you have every right to decide whether or not you're going to be skeptical. The media does not, however, have that choice. Their JOB is to be skeptical. And I hope they always are.
sikness
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 9:03 a.m.
How do any of you know that RR even lied? The story only says that the past team GPA's were an estimate. That doesn't mean the team didn't have the best GPA ever. And even if it didn't, based on that estimate, it's clear that it was one of the highest team GPA's ever.
Salinegoblue
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 7:54 a.m.
The press wasn't the one's who stood up there and told a lie. The only way he will exceed LC record or accomplishments is to have a watered down out of conference schedule. Look for the U of M to eliminate the ND series if they ever improve.
Mumbambu, Esq.
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 7:54 a.m.
Same and Ira did a great job covering this on the WTKA morning show (followed by another very interesting call-in by Rick Leach). The important part should be that a goal was set, and acaedmic goal, and the guys achieved it. For that, I think they should be applauded rather than their Coach criticized. A non-story story.
Mac59
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 6:21 a.m.
It is a witch hunt. Sorry I am not a Rich Rod apologist, but come on. Rich Rod, like most coaches is prone to hyperbole which is what his original statement was. Yup, his statement was factually inaccurate. It was a compliment to his players. But now, be careful, before you compliment your players for their academics be sure you don't gush too much. So what's next? Rich Rod gushes about his own children and says that they are the best kids that ever existed and Rothstein writes an expose about how the claim is unsubstantiated and that there are thousands of other parent's children that could be better? Or perhaps RR makes a statement that he thinks Tate is the best freshman qb he has had the opportunity to coach only to find he's made that statement about another freshman qb at WV? It's hyperbole people. Not the basis for a scathing editorial. This would only be an issue if the UM teams GPA was far below the acceptable NCAA standards. It's mudslinging like this that makes me understand why some coaches refuse to talk to the press.
bigben
Thu, Oct 15, 2009 : 12:26 a.m.
As long as they continually meet the guidelines set forth by the NCAA for academics, this will be a non-issue. Rich will be a constant punching bag for the media until they win consistently. Way to go Mr. Birkett for this superbly written piece.
Salinegoblue
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 10:21 p.m.
Does anyone else see a pattern here? Mouton didn't hit the ND player, the tate incident prior to the final drive, the grade point fiasco as well as the way he came to Mich. During the current NCAA investigation, the Big Ten and the NCAA will never believe anything RR tells them for obvious reasons.
azwolverine
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 10:12 p.m.
By the way, if someone wants to blindly believe in RR, all power to you...just understand that there are those who want everything to play out first. Further, most of those who want to see things play out are not looking for his head on a platter...that is something mainly imagined by the devoted crowd. My major concern right now is seeing the defense improve, not seeing RR fired.
azwolverine
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 10:03 p.m.
Those who blindly believe in everything RR does and says may care more about RR than Michigan. I'm not going to pile on him for this because I don't know all of the facts behind it. I don't know what to make of RR at this point, but it just makes good sense to me to wait until all of the facts are in on all of the cases swirling around him before making judgments for or against him. Simply believing in him because you want to, though, and calling it a "witch hunt" when people don't believe in him after all of the reasons he's given not to is blind devotion without reason.
saginaw
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 10 p.m.
It is sort of a witch hunt and it is tied to L's & W's. If Michigan was 6 - 0 right now, this story would not see the light of day. If Michigan went 10 - 2 in 2008, the Detroit Free Press wouldn't have started their big invesitigation. Politics are always involved, and we do not really know who is pulling the strings. I could guess though.....
DwightSchrute
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 9:54 p.m.
RR deserves to be jumped on for this. It is flat-out distortion, lying, take your pick. Now it is fully understood why the university refused to 'document' the claims when various media outlets asked for the proof.
PeteM
Wed, Oct 14, 2009 : 9:22 p.m.
I'd always assumed the GPAs of NCAA players for reported for all kinds of reasons (academic all American status etc.). It seems like there would be a way to see how last year stacks up. I'd like to find out good last year's GPAs were before everyone jumps on RichRod over this.