Three And Out: An Excerpt Comment Count

Brian

imageStrong language contained herein. Three and Out is a book about the short, tumultuous reign of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan.

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The week after Michigan collapsed against Illinois in 2009, they prepare to take on Purdue.

A weary Rodriguez wearily surveys his weary troops, because he has to or the media will write about other things…

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The Friday night before the Purdue game, Rodriguez dug at his meal like a hungry prisoner who was sick of eating the same gray food every night. When I told him I was surprised that the guys seemed loose, like they were still having fun and staying positive, he stared at his food, paused, and said, “I don’t care.

“I don’t care anymore about trying to analyze the psychology of these guys, especially for the press. I just want them to freakin’ play. I’m sick of it.”

Sick of what?

“Everything. I’m sick of the situation I’m in. I’m sick of the crap I’ve got to deal with every week. I’m sick of people not taking responsibility.” A case could be made that all happiness is feeling like you have possibilities. When someone wins the lottery, he’s happy not because he won the lottery but because he suddenly has dozens of options he didn’t have the day before.

But the corollary is also true: All unhappiness is feeling like your options are shrinking and the world is closing in on you. That you’re trapped. Rich Rodriguez’s options were shrinking. By the time he arrived in Ann Arbor, it was clear he could not go back the way he had come. But after only twenty-one games at Michigan, it had become just as clear there would be only one way he could stay: winning football games. And fast.

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Every Friday night, between the dinner and the movie, the offense and defense met separately with their coaches to go over the scouting report one last time. But this week, instead of reviewing the opponent, they reviewed a tape of their practices that week. The message was simple: The Illini didn’t beat the Wolverines. The Wolverines beat the Wolverines.

Job 1: Hold on to the damn ball. There was a reason John Heisman famously showed his players a football and said, “Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.”

But John Heisman never met Tate Forcier. On one play Rodriguez showed that night, Forcier held the ball like an oversized sponge and swung it around like he was washing his windows with it. Sure enough, the defense soon forced a fumble.

“High and tight, high and tight, high and tight,” Rodriguez said with relative calm. “Anything else is selfish. It shows disrespect for your teammates, and I know you’re not selfish, and I know you don’t want to disrespect your teammates.”

Here he was, going into the tenth game of the season, reviewing something they had covered on the first day of spring ball, the first day of summer practice, and just about every day since. It was pretty clear Rodriguez was tired of that, too.

But he knew it came with coaching young players, and he usually enjoyed the teaching process. But they were repeating the same lessons too often, which became especially aggravating when he had no idea how many lessons they would get.

Job 2: In the spread option offense, the quarterback has to take three steps and throw it. Not four steps. Not five steps. And no hitches, either. Three and throw. Three and throw. The timing was simple but exact—and it was everything. Any freelancing and incompletes, sacks, and interceptions soon followed.

And that’s exactly what Rodriguez saw next on the practice tape: Forcier taking three steps (an improvement), seeing his receiver open— but then hitching, which allowed the linebacker to cover the receiver. Rodriguez was calm but firm. “I’m sure I will not have to see on Monday any tape of any Michigan quarterback taking three steps and a hitch when he should be taking three steps and throwing.”

Next play, same thing, but this time Forcier threw it behind the receiver. The linebacker just missed making the interception.

“That one’s late. Why? Three and hitch instead of three and throw. I’ve been doing this for twenty years! I didn’t just wake up and come up with this thing. We have refined this over time. We know what works. We’re not guessing! Three steps and throw! THROW! You’ve got to trust the timing!”

But it was really more than that. The quarterbacks had to trust the system—and the coaches who had created it.

The flipside was just as simple: The coaches had to remember that Forcier was still a freshman. And even though Rodriguez’s quarterbacks on every team he’d coached eventually won Conference Player of the Year, not one of them did it his first season.

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If the Illinois game could be reduced to Michigan’s four tries from the 1-yard line, Michigan’s season likewise boiled down to four great chances to win just one game to secure a bowl bid: Michigan State, which ended in overtime; Iowa, which ended one pass short of a winning field goal attempt; Illinois, which broke on the 1-yard line; and Purdue, which looked like an eminently winnable game. But like the fourth-and- 1 play against Illinois, the pressure mounted with each failed attempt. This was Rodriguez’s last best chance at match point.

Blow it against the Boilermakers, and the odds would only get taller against Wisconsin, and taller still against Ohio State, still in the hunt for a national title. Collars were tight in Ann Arbor.

The quarterbacks didn’t think Purdue would be a pushover, either. “They’re good, they play hard,” Sheridan said later that night in his hotel room. “Much harder than Illinois.” And then, unable to let Illinois go: “I still can’t believe we lost to those guys.”

“Don’t let ’em beat you twice,” Forcier said, as a half- joking warning they’d all heard a hundred times. “Man, we just got to win again. That’s been driving me fucking nuts. We just got to win again.”

Comments

bronxblue

October 28th, 2011 at 2:14 PM ^

This reads like the entire second half of the book; the pressures of coaching at UM, in this environment with all the expectations (realistic and not), with poor PR skills, cutt-throat media, and a young team, coupled with a sometimes-blinding faith in his "system" and his coaches, created a world in which RR could never win.  I think after Brandon came in as AD, RR's days were numbered barring some amazing 3rd season.  RR had two horrible years at UM and the a large segment of fans, the media, and even parts of the team were just done with him, and there needed to be a change.

I do think RR was given a short stick here at UM, and I expect him to find success somewhere else and to showcase what he can do.  For those who say he cannot coach in college football, go back into your bubbles and cheer on the ghosts of football past.  UM has a good coach in Hoke and I am happy about the future, but what happened to RR was a bad mix that shows the dysfunction of both the HC and this University.

profitgoblue

October 28th, 2011 at 2:29 PM ^

I've only read the acknowledgements and the first chapter thus far and I already feel terrible for the Rodriguez family.  From what it seems, his family tried very hard to bleed maize and blue and seems to have been thwarted.  Rita's quote about wanting desperately to love Michigan but having something happen at each turn that puts her on guard speaks volumes for what the family was going through.

Could you imagine having a son that comes home and tells you about what a sh-tty job you did at work yesterday?  He would tell your wife how upset he is and then you would spend the evening hearing it from her and then trying to console your son.  Now multiply by 12 weeks a year for 3 years.  The pressure on Rodriguez was not only coming from the press and the winning/losing.  The worst pressure hit home!

Section 1

October 28th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^

I'm so glad that you are reading the book, and reading it carefully.

My one question for you, given your unique position is this:  After reading about all of the depredations of Rosenberg and the Free Press (most of which you already know; there will be few if any surprises for you) and after reading about how those battles affected Rodriguez, and his staff and the program (on this subject the book contains real news insofar as the Freep's attacks were every bit as damaging as anyone, including me, could have imagined) would you say that I was justified in the breadth and depth and intensity of my attacks on the Free Press on this website?

michgoblue

October 28th, 2011 at 8:12 PM ^

I am one of the vocal RR critics around here, as most regulars know. (I wasn't always that way - big pro-RR guy until around mid-last year, but I digress).
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<br>Screw all of the sports world. RR has a lot of pride but he is a big boy and can deal. But having to be humiliated in front of your young son? Having to watch your wife feel rejected by a bunch of elitist snobs? Absolute torture. This more than anything is where I feel bad for RR. If he was a shitty coach then he deserved to be fired. But he and his family didn't deserve the treatment that they received.
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<br>Probably one of the saddest things I have ever seen was the pic of RR driving away from the campus with his son looking miserable in the car next to him.
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<br>Only profit could find a way to make me defend rr.

uferfan1

October 28th, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^

Both Carr and Rodriguez were sick of their situation, different reasons, but sick just the same. Both needed  to go and both are gone. Unless Hoke shows me differently he has my support, as did our last two coaches, until it was obvious that the corner had ben turned and could not  be turned back. Both are good men who either stayed too long or couldn't adapt. Let us hope we are back to the days of Bo and Mo. Go Blue, Boilermakers for brunch.

 

JBLPSYCHED

October 30th, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^

I don't know if this comment will even be noticed since the thread has been quiet for a couple of days and the victory over Purdue is much more important. But I just got my copy of the book and have read the first 100+ pages as well as the comments on MGoBlog over the past few weeks about the RR era. As the 2011 season wears on and the team wins more games with similar talent to last year (albeit more experienced), comparisons b/t RR's tenure and Hoke's (thus far) are striking in several specific regards, IMHO.

1. No doubt that Hoke embraced the culture and tradition from the get-go (this was probably a BIG reason he was chosen), while RR downplayed it. On the other hand RR was chosen b/c the offense needed a huge update and he made it clear to his new bosses that he would coach his way and would need plenty of time to succeed. Bacon makes it clear that Bo's death was the beginning of the fractured void into which RR was hired, and in hindsight the expectations were impossibly high given the situation. Carr's apparent undermining of RR made success that much less likely, and Carr's silence is a very loud echo in the story. Whatever his problem was (and I personally think his rapid descent from grace after the App St. and Oregon losses made this proud Michigan Man very bitter) he could have done a lot to smooth the transition for RR and his staff. Lloyd is a great and charitable man in many ways and won us the only NC of our lifetimes but his legacy is tarnished in my mind.

2. RR was overly trusting and probably naive with regard to both his own contractual situation and the cohesiveness of his staff. Once Casteel backed out of coming to Ann Arbor RR should have paid more attention to the ability of his DC to mesh with the others and be trusted to run his own system. I think RR is a flawed but sympathetic character in the whole debacle but this is perhaps the best evidence of his being in over his head. What worked at WVU could not be replicated at Michigan, even with essentially the same coaching staff.

3. Although I have only read part of the book I think it is clear that Hoke and his coaches have approached the task at hand very differently than RR did. And I'm not just referring to Michigan tradition. The players are playing with much more intensity and abandon so far this season and the defense in particular is gang tackling and avoiding giving up big plays. The players are very similar to last year so this must be due to coaching. If this is a foreshadowing of what we will have the pleasure to observe in the coming years then I think Brandon did a great job with this hire. I was a big supporter of the RR hire in 2007 and was pretty skeptical of Hoke when he was chosen last January. But so far so good and it's pretty much the opposite of what we saw 4 years ago.

Go Blue!