football

Fox 2 Detroit reporting RR fired.

Just reported on the radio. More to come.

Edit: http://twitter.com/fox2news

Fox2 has learned that#RichRodriguez has been fired from the U of M. No replacement announced yet. Much more on#fox2news at 5.

less than 5 seconds ago via web

Per Dienhart's Twitter:

TomDienhart Michigan AD David Brandon will meet with Rich Rodriguez today at 2:00 p.m. ET and a meeting with players has been set for 7 ET.

We all knew about the meeting but thought that some would want to know when this afternoon it started so that they could start hitting "refresh" every 5 seconds like I plan to do.

Also, the players meeting was already set before this.

http://twitter.com/hansensouthbend

While I realize I can believe nothing being speculated, the abrupt turn of the messaging regarding our #1 coaching target is at the very least somewhat troubling considering the desire for a smooth transition whatever direction we go. However, I don’t see JH as dead in the water for a few reasons if you look at DB’s previous actions/experience and including the concept that people typically do not act irrationally.

First, as a Regent, booster and former player, I assume he witnessed the Martin coaching search disaster up close. I can’t possibility believe that he watched the Miles-to-UM debacle unfold in the media only to repeat that very scenario. Granted, he has never said JH was a coaching candidate, but everybody else had without a denial from DB. Hence, his silence is acceptance of the message that he his replacement in mind so this puts us back to “Miles and a boat” by default.

Second, DB has shown a propensity to float an idea, get the fan base off their ass/into a frenzy and already have everyone’s first choice secured. He did this with the UM/OSU game, effectively creating  fire storm to pressure his other ADs in the conference, and could be doing this with JH to secure broad support across the base for the guy. Adding some drama at the end will have everyone clamoring for JH, essentially clearing the deck for him. This sucks us into the decision more closely and ensures buy in. This is a tactic used in business and politics, remember DB has considered politics for his second career.

Third, DB fancies himself as a marketer. While I have has this debate regarding my stance that I don’t necessarily feel “any publicity is good publicity”, the drama has put Michigan in more TV segments, analyst discussions, twitter feeds, blogs, newspaper articles, etc than winning any bowl game could have. This talk is dominating the bowl season at this point which gets the Michigan name out there. HOWEVER, this is very risky if he does not deliver JH since there is too much light on the situation IMHO and DB + Michigan comes out on the bad end of this.

Fourth, DB has not fired his current coach. For this reason, I actually believe speculation today that JH has not been “offered the job” on paper since there is no official job opening.  That does not mean terms have been already discussed, but not having it on paper actually would not be surprising. I don’t see this as the terrible sign that others are interpreting it to be.

Fifth, by not backing his current coach and not landing the consensus #1 guy, DB would have immortalized himself in FAIL lore by sticking to some principled evaluation period while every other school moved around you securing coaches as you stood still. I would assume this would be known as a “Pulling a Brandon” and I can’t imagine that DB would knowing allow that to be his legacy after just accepting the job.

Again, there are just my dumbass opinions. Maybe they make sense, maybe they don’t. I still have a feeling JH is coming home and this is just an exercise in chumming the water since I don’t for a minute believe that DB has entrusted any real information to persona non gratta types like Rosenberg.

So, what is the verdict on Barwis?  When RR first arrived, one of the most promising developments was supposedly the replacement of the obsolete Gittleson strength and conditioning regime with the modern and superenergized Barwis regime.  Is there any empirical evidence of improved performance on the field with Barwis?  Would we have been even worse with a Gittleson approach?

I have not crunched any numbers, but it seems to me that we have consistently performed worse in the second half of games; 4th quarter even worse than 3rd quarter.  Clearly, we have performed better earlier in the season than late in the season. These observations do not seem consistent with the concept that Barwis will make the team the team physically stronger and with better endurance.

On the Jim Rome show he just said Harbaugh shouldn't take the Michigan job and that "Michigan needs him far more than he needs Michigan".  Let's hope he is in fact a Michigan Man and takes the job here.