88Chill

Sun, Jan 9, 2011 : 9:41 a.m.

Terrin is spot on. JH said what he said because he loves Michigan and because of what Michigan football once stood for: winning with integrity. Under RR there were doubts about both the winning and the integrity. I know the Freep expose was one-sided and irresponsible as journalism, but it did its damage nonetheless. Michigan football lost a piece of its integrity that it can never get back. And it happened on RR's watch. JH wants Michigan to hold itself to a higher standard. So do I. So do a lot of others who played there. So did Bo. That's why I think JH used Michigan as his example.

leaguebus

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 10:09 p.m.

Its interesting, Harbaugh was 4-8 his first season at Stanford, then 5-7, 8-5, and 12-1 this year. RR was close, 1 win down in season 1 and 3, of course the fourth season is gone. He has been under fire since day one because he was not an assistant under Bo or Lloyd, hence not a Michigan man. Looking at Lloyds tenure, his last several years were good, but he lost 5 of 6 bowl games through 2006, he lost to Appalachian State, and lost 6 of his last 7 to Ohio State. My point is that RR did not inherit a powerhouse national championship team from Lloyd. (I am not knocking Lloyd, he was great, just comparing his final seasons up to when RR started). When RR started he completely changed the offense to his and went 3-9. I would say that if Miles had been hired, he probably would have done better than RR, but Martin hired RR, knew what RR was going to do and as Shakespear said, "the die is cast". Because it was such a fundamental change in the football program and because some of the best players might leave for that reason, it would be a while before we would win more than we lost. RR did have the 8th best recruiting class in the country in 2009 and the one this year was not too bad. Beilein knows that RR was a better coach than his record showed and RR should not take all the blame for the last three years. Bill Martin gets some of that blame and maybe Lloyd because he, supposedly, did not want Miles when they had the chance to hire him.

15crown00

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 9:12 p.m.

The numbers don't show RR was a great coach.you win or u get fired.End of Story

15crown00

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 9:09 p.m.

What does his record say Bee-Line?certainly not that RR is a GREAT COACH.the numbers tell the story. That's the end of this story.

jcj

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 8:16 p.m.

Terrin I certainly was not disputing what JH said. However IF there are or were any questionable activities at Stanford, not necessarily a breaking of the rules. Would JH be so noble and expose them? NOT on your life! My point being if he felt there were things going on at Michigan that he feels are wrong. WHY did he not speak up sooner? Instead of only when it was fashionable?

Terrin

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 5:31 p.m.

jcj: I fail how you can lose respect for Harbaugh based on the below quote. The reality is the guy probably has a bit more expertise in the area then you. He is likely speaking from person experience. Further, what he said was true in relation to Michigan. It has an admission system that allows it to bring in most athletes that otherwise would be far from academically eligible. Michigan also is one the only public schools that award admission points to children of alumni. No other University on Michigan does. Doesn't really seem fair for a public school to do that. Moreover, even if what you say is true that other Universities engage in the same practices, Michigan holds itself out to better then other Universities. "The leaders and the best." "Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there, but the athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in, and when they're in, they steer them to courses in sports communications. They're adulated when they're playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won't hire them."

Terrin

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 5:20 p.m.

tater: I think RR probably is a good coach. You don't land the Michigan job if you don't have some talent. He probably just made some mistakes at Michigan. If he could do somethings over again, he probably would. With the pay RR got and the expectation at Michigan, many thought it was hard to justify keeping him around longer when it was hard for most people to see any improvements. RR's players who were around when Carr left, however, described a mass exodus of talent. RR would have been better served to work with Carr to talk the previous players out of leaving, and keep with Michigan's then current scheme until RR had a couple of years recruitment under his belt. I think that was RR's number one mistake. He should have reached out to Carr, who many think left the job for health reasons. Nonetheless, I do not agree that RR built a good offense. It had the capacity to be good. It just made too many errors to be called good. I mean EMU scored more points on Ohio State then U of M did. U of M's offense was good against several not so impressive defenses. Further, it was a one man show and that is not a good foundation for an offense. In my opinion, DR wasn't the greatest quarterback either. Sure, he is a great athlete and ran like crazy putting up great numbers, but he wasn't very well rounded. His passing most of the time was sloppy. Forcier was a better rounded quarterback. I will be surprised if DR quarterbacks in the NFL.

Engineer

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 4:28 p.m.

JB is probably thanking his lucky stars that it was not him. For the life of me I do not see how John is keeping his job. No tourney last year was shameful and now this year we are young. RR tried the young excuse. did not work. Fab five went to final game as freshmen. youg is no excuse. poor recruiting is the reason. JB has repeatedly failed to bring top level talent to Ann Arbor and has let Izzo run over him in Michigan. Tim for a change.

actionjackson

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 12:39 p.m.

Rodriguez is simply not a coach capable of inspiring a team the size of University of Michigan! He would probably do much better at a Mac school or any team of a lesser legacy than ours. His record proves the point.

jcj

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 10:56 a.m.

@heartbreakM "In 3 years at Michigan (which DOES count as his record), he did not show that." To take a 3 year period out of ANY coaches career and judge him on that alone is not a fair assessment. I am not going to defend RR's record here. He was not the right coach for U of M. BUT would you defend Jim Harbaugh's record at Stanford from 2007-2009? 17-20. I lost respect for Harbaugh when he said: "Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there, but the athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in, and when they're in, they steer them to courses in sports communications. They're adulated when they're playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won't hire them." He could have said that about almost any school in the country and been right. But for him to single out Michigan is not being honest. Jamie Morris brought up a good point. Would Harbaugh have said this when Bo was alive? Not a chance. He was just looking to take a swipe at Michigan for some reason.

bakrman

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 10:29 a.m.

Tater, Good post. Brandon is screwing up! How could he not hire a coach for the greatest job in college?

RobbiesBoyfriend

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 10:21 a.m.

Maybe if we are lucky Beline will quit in protesr and follow Rodriguez to his next stop. Ill bet the pioneer high basketball coach wont do much worse as our interim basketball coach, actually ill bet our kids could actually benefit from a coach who teaches fundamentals instead of just having them launch three pointers all night long. So i still haven't got a solid answer to a question i asked a couple days ago. Did Michigan fire Rodriguez, or did they level the whole coaching staff including HC, Both Coordinators and position coaches? That makes a huge difference when shopping around for a new coach. Not every HC has a crew that will just drop it all and follow them. Peoples lives are way too complicated for that.

Ben

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 9:58 a.m.

tater wrote "If one ignores the fact that RR was not allowed to reap the benefits of having built a very nice offense in Ann Arbor that was perched on the edge of being very special, he will be better off elsewhere. RR, or really any coach, deserves to coach at a school whose fanbase supports whoever is the coach instead of undermining him because they didn't get "their guy."" Perched on the edge of being successful? Against whom? I don't know if you know this or not, but the Michigan Wolverines are a Big 10 team, not a MAC school. I would agree with you whole-heartedly that the team is on the cusp of being an insurmountable powerhouse at levels below that of the Big/Pac 10/12 and the SEC. If we were an ACC team, we'd be 12-0 this year, if we were a MAC team, we'd be 12-0.. but we're not. We're a Big 10 team and that means we need Big 10 players and thinking. Rich's demise was his inability to adapt. Not his inexperience coaching offense (though these run together).

Jim Pryce

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 9:55 a.m.

What don't you get?? Out of the 15 wins in 3 years, who in the hell did he beat? In the one signature win, he beat Wisconsin. Other than that, he beat the small schools (Purdue; barely getting by Indiana twice); lost to TOLEDO. And when he played OSU, MSU, Iowa with his WONDERFUL offense, how many points did they score? Minimal. He's a nice guy and we wish him well, but just not a fit for Michigan.

Patti Sonntag

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 8:34 a.m.

Dusty, Very well put. Thanks for the perspective.

XTR

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 7:57 a.m.

Rich Rod's success was his last 3 years only at WVU with the same QB.

Blu-n-Tpa

Sat, Jan 8, 2011 : 7:22 a.m.

Dusty, but who did he have when RR was most successful as a coach? Pat White. Based on his Michigan experience he is/was a "systems" coach and he only coached the system. Defense and special teams weren't important to him and it showned. Dusty working 20 years in the same profession, by itself, is not a sign of success. I would think that being "fired" would be a sign of a different sort.

Dusty

Fri, Jan 7, 2011 : 11:47 p.m.

Many good coaches have failed at one particular stretch in their careers because the circumstances were insurmountable. Bill Belichick failed at Cleveland, and now he's largely considered one of the best coaches in NFL history. Pat Riley had a couple terrible years at Miami. Lou Holtz tried to coach the Jets... can't even describe how bad that was in an otherwise fantastic coaching career. My point is that you don't just luck into the success Rich Rod had for nearly 2 decades before he came to Michigan. You have the success because you know how to coach. He didn't have Pat White for 20 years, so don't even start with that garbage like I know you want to.

Ben

Fri, Jan 7, 2011 : 10:49 p.m.

Why are we *still* talking about RR? He's yesterday's news.

sasmjjsly

Fri, Jan 7, 2011 : 10:48 p.m.

Mr. Brandon, Once you have hired a new football coach, please proceed down the hall and relieve Mr. Beilein of his duties. Let's end the West Virginia experiment. Thank you

sasmjjsly

Fri, Jan 7, 2011 : 10:47 p.m.

Mr. Brandon, Once you have hired a new football coach, please proceed down the hall and relieve Mr. Beilein of his duties. Let's end the West Virginia experiment. Thank you

heartbreakM

Fri, Jan 7, 2011 : 8:35 p.m.

Not surprised. Beilein is a guy who appears to be a 'stand-up' guy, honest, and I am glad that he reached out. But I do wonder where all these comments about "he's a good coach" come from (and not just from Beilein). In 3 years at Michigan (which DOES count as his record), he did not show that.