Opinion: A 3-0 start provides a look at the joking, relaxed Rich Rodriguez

“I know enough about lawyers now that I think he’d be a great one,” Rodriguez said. “I’d probably be employing him some day.”

Stand-up isn’t in Rodriguez’ future, but then again, Michigan isn’t paying him a bunch of money for that. It is paying him to coach football.

And in that moment, you could see something different out of Rodriguez. He’s able to joke about things now, something that seemed impossible a week ago, a month ago.

Winning helps, of course, where his team is 3-0 entering Big Ten play. It helps, too, that he has a precocious freshman quarterback, Tate Forcier, to lean on.

Off the field, though, has been a litany of distraction. There were allegations of NCAA violations, of which an investigation is still ongoing. There is the lawsuit over a defaulted loan. There was a misstep over the handling of Jonas Mouton’s eventual suspension.

While all this swirled around him, Rodriguez remained steadfast in his focus on football. His team stayed the same way, save for a small pullback during the first half against Eastern Michigan on Saturday - something expected considering the emotion of the first two weeks of the season.

And it has left Michigan in position for yet another Rich Rodriguez second-round turnaround.

Granted, not all of the opponents Michigan has faced have been world beaters. Eastern Michigan is a perennial loser. Western Michigan is proving to not be as good as expected.

Notre Dame, though, was a Top 20 team. And Michigan played with the Irish the entire way, eventually beating them in what could be the best sign Rodriguez has gotten that Year 2 in Ann Arbor will be like Year 2 in Morgantown, Clemson and New Orleans.

Heck, point guard-turned-slot receiver Kelvin Grady is being asked about what it would feel like to play in an NCAA tournament and bowl game in the same 12 months. His answer: “That would be great.” But a month ago, could that question be asked without at least a hint of doubt?

In his other places, though, Rodriguez never had the tumult that surrounded him at Michigan. Weekly, it seemed, there was another scandal, another controversy, another misstep.

As each week passes, though, the focus in Ann Arbor drifts from the off-field issues to football. Which is exactly as Rodriguez would like it.

Even his latest snafu was more football related than anything else. And when he addressed the Mouton suspension, changing his tune from earlier in the week when he said he didn’t see a punch. Instead, he became the non-football actions cop for a day, even saying he saw a play in another Big Ten game he considered sending in.

He explained his stance further, and it was absolutely logical. He doesn’t want to turn anyone in. He doesn’t want to make this his cause.

But he does want everything to be fair, for his team to be treated like everyone else.

“That’s the only thing I want, is let’s just make sure that it’s consistent,” Rodriguez said. “So we’re all, to be fair to our players and everybody else, that’s what you see here, OK, that’s a similar act, that’s a non-football act, that would be a similar type of punishment.”

Off the field, at least, he wants everyone to be equal. On the field, his team is slowly showing Michigan might not be equal to many teams in the Big Ten.

The Wolverines might just be better. A big reason why is the guy who, for a little while at least, could have been a walking distraction.

Michael Rothstein covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow on Twitter @mikerothstein.