OT. Arizona and Rodriguez
Happened to be in Utah and went to Utah-Arizona game. Rich has lost his magic. Defense was as bad as it was in Ann Arbor. His offense had trouble scoring. Utah played horribly in the first half and was trailing by only 2. Watched an interview with him on the local station and he was as densive about his team's performance as he was here at UM.
I think he has lost his confidence as a coach and now everyone is running spread and teams have a better handle on how to defend it. I thought Arizona was perfect place for him, but this could be his last year there.
October 9th, 2016 at 7:11 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 7:26 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^
I think he's referring to div II at GVSU.
October 9th, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^
I liked Rodriguez when he was at Michigan and supported him until the end. But man, there really is no excuse for the shitty defenses he allowed onto the field. And the same thing seems to be happening at Arizona, though not to quite the same level of shittiness. If he would wise up and take defense seriously then I think he'll be fine. Otherwise he'll continue with near-.500 seasons which might be good enough for him to remain at Arizona for a while. But he sure as heck won't sniff a higher profile job.
And to add to this post. Look at what we now have with Harbaugh who places an emphasis on defense. Good defense usually begets good offense because it tends to put your offense in favorable field positions. So even mediocre offenses look better. On the other hand, a good offense doesn't mask defensive flaws nearly as well. It took me a few years to come around on this notion but I buy into it now hook, line and sinker.
October 9th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 8:10 PM ^
I will be morbidly fascinated to watch Arizona play Oregon this year.
October 9th, 2016 at 8:37 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 9:12 PM ^
October 10th, 2016 at 3:14 AM ^
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October 10th, 2016 at 4:00 AM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 10:53 PM ^
@Njia : that unenviable job went to Brady cHoke.
October 9th, 2016 at 7:30 PM ^
I think that "densive" should be a new word.
October 9th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 7:42 PM ^
Was an early adopter (and innovator) of the spread an up-tempo. So for a while, he had his own "schematic advantage" that worked. Against defenses not able to account for that faster tempo, or the extra man the spread QB represents, his teams were able to prevail.
But he was used to recuiting good athletes as an underdog- "diamonds in the rough", guys the biggest schools weren't going after. He was able to get some talented multi-threat QBs, and speedy slot receivers.and lighter linemen. Defense and other positions suffered. His defenses didn't face offenses utilizing TEs and FBs in practice.
But many of his schemes have been pretty simple; so simple, that with more familiarity, other teams can prepare for them and stop them.
With his early adopter advantage erased, his team's performance has fallen to the mean.
October 9th, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 8:06 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 8:14 PM ^
Poor guy. In 2007 he was on the doorstep of a NC game and then his QB injures his thumb against lowly Pitt and they lose.
He must still think it's all just a bad dream.
/Closes his eyes as tight as he can . . . "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."
October 9th, 2016 at 11:37 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 9:27 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 9:36 PM ^
Alabama was a mess at that time. I don't know if he would have been any better off there than here.
October 10th, 2016 at 2:06 AM ^
More for our sake than his: 1) Stops Saban from going to Alabama 2) Doesn't become Michigan's coach
October 10th, 2016 at 3:05 AM ^
But if history had changed, we may not have gotten Harbaugh and would be stuck with a 3 to 4 loss per year Miles. The RR-Hoke mess was worth the wait for Harbaugh.
October 10th, 2016 at 3:42 AM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 7:50 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 8:04 PM ^
I HATE POSTS LIKE THIS - THEY WORKED THIER ASSES OFF FOR MICHIGAN - GIVE IT A BREAK.
OP DIDN'T DO EVEN 0.01% OF WHAT THEY DID FOR MICHIGAN FOOTBALL.
-RANT DONE
October 9th, 2016 at 8:30 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 8:43 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 11:30 PM ^
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October 10th, 2016 at 9:52 AM ^
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October 10th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 8:12 PM ^
We know, by this point, what we get with RichRod. He's a clever, innovative coach who's good, but not the best. He'll put together some good teams and he'll put together some bad ones. He'll have some great games and some not-so-great ones. Good, but not elite. Honestly, that's not a sin. That's why I think Arizona's a good fit for him. There isn't the guillotine hanging over his head like there is at a blue blood.
October 9th, 2016 at 8:13 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 8:37 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 8:57 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 9:03 PM ^
...if he stays, and fine if he goes. He's a good coach. Not necessarily a great coach, but definitely a good one. LIke others have pointed out, he's had some ridiculous personnel situations this season. I don't think people have 'caught up' to his offense. If that were the case, all powerballing teams with a fullback and multiple TE's (sound familiar?) would be obselete after all these years.
It's curious how people seem to wish failure on him. Seemed like a good guy; just wasn't a good fit for a variety of reasons.
October 9th, 2016 at 9:04 PM ^
Arizona is not good this season, but there is zero chance RichRod is out after this season. That's a tough place to win games. Arizona broke .500 three times in the 13 years before RichRod arrived there, and he went 33-20 in his first four seasons, with winning records in all four seasons and three bowl wins.
October 9th, 2016 at 9:04 PM ^
October 9th, 2016 at 9:11 PM ^
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October 9th, 2016 at 10:38 PM ^
October 10th, 2016 at 8:11 AM ^
I mean it!
October 9th, 2016 at 11:31 PM ^
October 10th, 2016 at 12:29 AM ^
October 10th, 2016 at 2:15 AM ^
He also promised his family that he would go to a warm weather location for his next job. And I think he saw the Pac 10 southern contenders to be weak enough at the time where he could make a good run. Pete Caroll wasn't at USC killing all teams...and Rich probably thought therefore that he would get a lot of California recruits.
I remember Rich being blindly optimistic when he was hired, saying something similar to "Why not? Why can't Arizona build a foundation to win a national championship?" It's that same blind innocence and optimism that made him play "You Raised Me Up" at that Michigan dinner. I actually like him for that. More hopeful than the average guy, means well except when he's hollerin' at his players on national tv. Oh, and he's so stubborn not to change his program to fit the guys in it...remember our 3 win season? If he had adjusted, he could have won 6 games for sure in my opinion. But a year later he said "I was happy I did it; now all of these guys have one more year of experience." So innovator, yes, but predictable, maybe?? Coaches know his stubbornness to stick with similar plays. He has even been known to demand the 3-3-5 defense onto his defensive coordinators since it worked one year at West Viriginia.
The bigger picture is that no matter how amazing Rich is, he still cannot a complete program make. He needs improvements to all parts of the program. And he probably didn't respect enough at the time how late Arizona would always be on tv. They get the late game almost every week which means 70% of the country is not watching. Heck, I live in California and I'm still surprised when his games are still going 10pm local time...the stands are 25-50% empty that late. The average viewer, not to mention recruits, have no idea what is going on with Arizona.
That is the reason why he flirted with going to U of South Carolina a year or so back. He flew all the way out and the meeting didn't go the right direction, and it was a quick return and re-commitment to Arizona. "Bear Down!" he said in his tweet.
So he gets some of it now...feels a little trapped, but shoot, lots of injuries to his quarterback are killing him. Nonetheless, he could still win the next 6 games...let's see what happens.
October 10th, 2016 at 12:36 AM ^
from Arizona taking the "hot team of the week" Washington to overtime.
Look his teams are average at best, he's an average coach at best, but the Pac12 is a free for all this year, let it play out and see where his team lands. As I see it his crappy Arizona teams is capable of beating about half of the conference. AZ has to win 4 of their remaining 6 to be bowl eligible which will be tough but not impossible.
USC, Stanford, WSU, Colorado, Oregon State, Az State.
But, he's also in that same place he was in 2009 where a full implosion could also happen.
Its not like Arizona wasn't warned.
October 10th, 2016 at 6:40 AM ^
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October 10th, 2016 at 3:20 AM ^
Nobody's been very successful there. He's doing about as well as anybody has ever done there. If his Michigan time had any lasting effect on him, I guess it made him gun shy about taking another job with a new AD? Because last year seemed the time to cash out for a new gig, and he chose to stay at Arizona knowing this would be a rebuilding year. I've seen nothing that leads me to think he's not an excellent coach.
Aside from the obvious where Jim Harbaugh makes everything awesome now, Charlie Strong's issues at Texas have made the Rodriguez years even easier to understand. Hell Brian Kelly probably fits this too at Notre Dame. When you're talking about the bluest of blue blood jobs, sometimes being an awesome coach isn't enough. This isn't a video game where you can just hop from one job to another and recruiting just gets easier. All the blue bloods have their own hairy weirdness to them you've got to navigate.
And it makes you appreciate a guy like Harbaugh more.
October 10th, 2016 at 4:24 AM ^
October 10th, 2016 at 6:07 AM ^
October 10th, 2016 at 6:08 AM ^
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