Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez "excited" to start 2010 football season

There is still next week's meeting with the NCAA's Committee On Infractions in Seattle, then an announcement of punishment sometime during the season. But for the first time in a long time Monday, Rodriguez primarily addressed football issues when talking with reporters.

A question about Michigan's starting quarterback was the first one asked Monday - no, he doesn't know who it will be yet - then followed by queries on the depth in the secondary and running back.

“Probably the best times as a coach is when you get on the practice field, maybe even more so than a game because it’s you, the coaches, the players and you get to teach and progress and learn,” Rodriguez said. “You get on the field, there’s none of that other stuff.

“I’m probably as excited as I’ve been in a long time to just get to practice.”

It won’t be easy. Michigan still has a lot of work to do on the field after an 8-16 start in Rodriguez’s first two seasons in Ann Arbor.

Rodriguez finally has some positives working in his favor. Michigan returns 18 starters, the most in the Big Ten. The Wolverines have two quarterbacks in sophomores Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier who understand Rodriguez’s offense.

There is the chance to have depth at linebacker, which was one of Michigan’s most glaring holes in 2009.

Rodriguez feels he has made strides in recruiting within the past year, by which he can improve the program. The payoff, though, isn't immediate.

“I did their Iowa game last year and sitting there looking at their secondary and it just doesn’t seem like Michigan football,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said Monday. “I don’t know all the details as far as the scholarship numbers and where they lost players but I know when Lloyd (Carr) left, if Lloyd had come back that next year, they still were going to struggle.

“A coach is as good as his personnel and for people to assume Rich Rodriguez has forgotten how to coach after his success in Morgantown is crazy.”

This philosophy may be part of the reason Rodriguez doesn’t feel any added pressure, at least no more than he usually feels.

“You go into every ball game, every season with a certain amount of pressure to win every game,” Rodriguez said. “Is there heightened pressure because we’ve done poorly the last two years? Externally, you may think so but internally it can’t be no more than what we’ve already done.

“It’s not like ‘OK, the first year we’ve got excuses, the second we’ve got…,’ we fully expect our guys to compete. We always set a goal to compete for the Big Ten championship.

“I don’t know if we’re good enough yet, if we deserve to win it, but I think that’s going to be the goal and the expectation every year.”

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