What, Exactly, is Rich Rodriguez Building?
I've got no typical Scout disclaimer to begin with. You know, when a guy says, "Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Rich Rodriguez. I think we're gonna win the next 14 national championships. I now drink 4 gallons of chocolate milk every day. I haven't washed my underwear since we beat the Minnesota Golden Goophers. Charlie Weis is fat. BUT..."
I simply question why people are giving Rich Rodriguez so much of the benefit of the doubt. You can call me negative. you can call me a "Closet Sparty," you can call me a "H8TER," but I don't care.
Charlie Weis, Jim Tressel, and Mark Dantonio--the coaches of Michigan's most hated rivals--all won with with another guy's players. They all came in and implemented different systems, brought all new assistants, all of them are assholes, and yet--they ALL won with players they did not recruit (but they did add some of their own). And all of them did even better in Year 2. You can argue that Notre Dame fell off over the last two years--but at least Charlie Weis is recruiting the hell out of (whatever you recruit the hell out of), and Ohio State is stockpiling talent in a big way. They also have this one guy named Terelle Pryor.
And Dantonio? All he is doing is winning over provincial Michigan and provincial, sniping, self-righteous Michigan Media members and the perception is that MSU is THE program in Michigan. Yeah, Michigan high school football may not put out tons of talent, but Michigan has benefitted from being the Big Dawg in our great state for 40 years, and many, MANY Michigan stars have come from My Michigan. But overnight, MSU has seemingly usurped UM in the hearts and minds of Michigan, and Dantonio has, to this point, won a sort of "culture war" with UM. He tutored under the all-time passive agrressive genius in Columbus, and he is indeed making the state of Michigan greener.
So where does that leave Rich Rodriguez, Michigan football, and Michigan football fans?
Well, in my opinion, this goes way deeper than just shouting "We'll be back!" "Wait'll Rich Rod gets his players!"
Let's look at it from strictly a football standpoint for this first "blog" of mine.
2008: Rich Rod is hired. UM implements some sort of "spread" for the Capital One Bowl and beats Florida. Everyone happy. Everyone clap. Everyone say: "Where has this been? See what we can do? Look at what Rich Rod did at West Virginia! Now, with MICHIGAN TALENT--LOOK OUT BEEYOTCHEZZ!" And when Rich Rodriguez holds Lloyd's last recruiting class pretty much intact (losing only a tight end and a drop back QB)--and adding SIX players to that class in the 11th hour--it was party time!
Let's fast forward past last football season to now.
The recruiting class from 2008, for those who care to notice, is not looking so great, expecially for a team so thin. We have seen five players leave the team. A sixth, Justin Feagin, may never see the field again. The horribly named Mike Cox is a huge question mark. Even Darryl Stonum causes people to wonder. People, that's over 25% of the class.
2009 saw a great class come in. Eligibility questions aside, it is a good mix of real talent, offense and defense, and diamonds in the rough. And Rodriguez again showed great 11th-hour prowess with the signings of Warshington, Robinson, Lewan, Roh and Lalota.
But with so many departures during the first-year transition, and the attrition already seen from the 2008 class, 2009 and 2010 have to be HOME RUNS for a team that is thin with defensive talent and depth.
When Scout posters began hating on star gazing, forty times, and Michigan high school talent, they all shouted in unison: "Look at the offer sheets!" Well I did--and it ain't pretty.
To wit: Four---FOUR of the verbals from this class have no other offers.
Outside of Christian Pace, MRob, Ricardo Miller, Jeremy Jackson, Kenny Wilkins, and Devin Gardner, the other schools offering UM recruits are these (according to Scout): Army, Bowling Green, Indiana, Stanford, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Minnesota, and Tulane. I have to admit--that is an impressive list--if you are going after possible future Rhodes Scholars and guys who can go out on a date with a coed and not even think about buying a condom. But Big Time national championships? Not so much. And go ahead and color me not terribly awed by a 6'2, 256 lbs offensive lineman in Pace. Can you say, "Another turbulent offseason splattered with multiple decommits?" I hope so.
Now we stand on the precipice of the 2009 season with two true freshmen at the most important position in the world (yes, even more important than the head cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys). We stand on the precipice of the 2009 season hoping that Brandon Graham and Mike Martin don't even get a hangnail. We stand on the precipice of a 2009 season which will see our beloved Wolverines go on the road to Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin. We stand on the fuck that. Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State are all coming to town. We have our THIRD defensive coordinator in THREE years.
I know you all want to think that Rodriguez is "building something"--and so do I. But I'd like to know what it is, and I'd like to know if you really think he has the time.
2009 and 2010 have to be all-time recruiting classes. We need them for talent and depth. We can't have half this class being "flyers"--if 25% of the guys you really DO want wash out--what are the odds with guys that NOBODY wants? It is scary. Expecially if you are a guy who, like me, is a real loser with no other identity than to put on my Michigan jammies and go to the mall on Sunday with my chest all puffed out, just daring some fucking pathetic fucktard to give me some shit. Of course, if he does, I'll rear back and say, "Hey, I was just robbed and the police gave me this stuff to wear because the goddam robber even took my clothes and stuffed them in a basket he had attached to his iron lung."
I think TBS is a genius. No one else could have elicited such MGOUnity in June.
It takes a common enemy to bring out the optimism and TBS has graciously thrown himself under the bus in order that we may all fee good. Or something.
i think there's a bad connection where the "critics" who fashion themselves as some sort of hardass hero who says what we all think but never say think that the "kool aid" drinkers blindly support everything.
i've never said RR is perfect and he, like every other coach or person in the history of the entire world ever, has fucked some things up. the difference between the mes of the world and the yelling assholes of the world is i'm willing to give someone time to do their job instead of retroactively telling them how they should have done it six months ago.
And then, when they do get it right, start bitching about how they are going to maintain it for next year and how it might not be as good.
I no longer live in Michigan. Is there any basis for the statement that Dantonio has won some sort of "culture war" with UM in-state? Or is it (as I assume) based on an absurdly small sample size of a few recruits and Valenti-isms?
Second, comparing Tress, Weis, and Dantonio is hilarious. Only one of those guys took old players and won. As in, really won. Not backed his way into a BCS game to get pasted by top talent, or grabbed a couple of middling bowls. Tress is a great coach, period. But let's not pretend he implemented some crazy system. The RichRod hire was a gamble to reach a new plateau, not the same, consistent milestones that had defined UM over the past decade or so. It might be a mistake, in the end. But certainly, winning or losing in year one doesn't tell the story.
... as a joke). The gamble that was the RichRod hire was made not to reach Weisian or Dantonian heights of glory, but rather consistent BCS winners. Sure, many coaches won in their first years, but it's not really debatable that most premier coaches struggled (to some degree) in their first year before hitting new highs. The following is a list of coaches and their first year and then record since.
A - 3-8, 57-18
B - 7-5, 76-14
C - 6-6, 82-9
D - 7-5, 102-19
E - 15-10 (two first years combined at different schools), 52-14
and for fun
F - 8-5, 14-21
A-E are RichRod (at WVU), Tress, Carroll, Stoops, and Saban (at LSU and Bama). F, the guy who won with other people's players and fell on his face later was our friend JLS.
Point. Small sample size, but the sample size of elite coaches is pretty small (Miles/Meyer both succeeded early, 10-2 and 9-3). Other guys I consider to be really good coaches are at lower tier programs and thus don't seem to be appropriate comparables.
Winning in your first year with other people's players is nice, but hardly the point of the RichRod gamble. Just as it's too early to judge RichRod, same goes for Dantonio. The Weis reference is sort of hilarious.
To be fair, I think it should be pointed out that those coaches you listed (except Coach Rod and St. Tress) all IMPROVED upon their predecessor's final year:
OSU was 8-4 the year before Tress. (Actually dropped down)
USC was 5-7 the year before Carroll.
OK was 5-6 the year before Stoops.
LSU was 3-8 the year before Saban.
ALA was 6-7 the year before Saban.
The second fact which I feel needs to be addressed is that many UM fans, myself included, are expecting a 6-6 or 7-5 type regular season from UM in 2009 (Rod's second year), while those coaches you mentioned accomplished MUCH more in their second year:
OSU was 14-0 in the Vest's second year and MNC.
USC was 11-2 in Carroll's second year.
OK was 13-0 in Stoop's second year and MNC.
LSU was 10-3 in Saban's second year.
ALA was 12-2 in Saban's second year.
I just felt, in the interest of full disclosure, that these facts should be laid out...draw your own conclusions.
Go easy on my guy... we all got that friend who spouts off opinions we know/believe to be totally wrong. But you like kickin' it with the guy, so you let it slide. Same with this blog's farting namesake. He says a lot of funny shit, and im just glad he poked his head around again. I knew the spaz/retard(s) from WLA would go apeshit over this.
and B. Sphyncter, lets just chill out and give it a couple more years. Freaking out after one season won't do any good.
did i like poop on your porch or something?
"I knew the spaz/retard(s) from WLA would go apeshit over this."
But they're so fucking edgy and cool. They're the coolest people on mgoblog. Too bad that's like being the smartest kid with Down syndrome.
i watch baseball religiously and post on football message boards all day ... that's like the opposite of edgy and cool
So by your analogy, you're like the average kid with Down syndrome?
Truer words and all that, expecially shockfx's lying.
Thanks for the kind words. But there's a ton of humor in that post. I read it, I don't think those are the words of a guy who is too worried. He can laugh at it, and himself.
It's just too bad Michigan Fans and their identities are so fragile--me, not so much. I've got no dog in the hunt. Rich Rod crashes and burns, UM will hire a guy who will turn it around afterward.
you have risen to your own level of incompetence.
The OP is Valenti-Re-gurgitated....
and wrong is so many areas, it is not worth the effort to address.
you have risen to your own level of incompetence.
The OP is Valenti-Re-gurgitated....
and wrong is so many areas, it is not worth the effort to address.
While I have read many things on this site that were more poorly written than this diary entry, I still must say that this is utter crap. There is a difference between changing between one pro-style offense to another while retaining a bunch of starters and changing to a spread offense while losing your starting QB and RB to graduation and being forced to choose between two QBs who have no collegiate experience whatsoever, while your top returning RBs are out for half the season due to injury.
MSU went from a spread offense to a pro style. Georgia Tech went from a pro style to the triple option offense and won 9 games last year.
to point this out.
And, yes, you are correct.
State won 3 big ten games in Dantonio Year 1. Not like he set the world on fire. Though relative to John L., certainly a huge upgrade.
As for Tech, Josh Nesbitt was in the fold, and he operated behind a pretty experienced OL. Luxuries not found in Ann Arbor. Plug Threet or Sheridan into that offense and imagine the results ...
This is not to excuse RR. He lost a couple games last year he had no business losing, even with the patchwork mess of personnel on the field. I just think the comparisons to some of these other programs/other transitions don't equate. Bryant Nowicki got quality minutes at one point, for god's sake. That's the '08 season in a nutshell, for me.
Mr. Ass said that 3-9 doesn't fly as an argument for recruiting going down because Charlie Weis did it. What he failed to mention is that ND went from #2 to #24 in recruiting rankings after their 3-9 season. I await his spin on those numbers...
somebody get this man a xanax
You should jump off this here bandwagon so that I have room for my barkerlounger. Once a few more poseurs leave I will have room for an end table and a fully stocked mini-fridge. Then I will be able to parade my love for Michigan in comfort and style.
C-Ya!
So by your analogy, you're like the average kid with Down syndrome?
You have 123 points, but yet you can't use the reply button correctly for responding to a thread.
Unintentional hilarity.
I would like to consider myself about as level-headed a fan as a fan can get (as we all like to consider ourselves) for as being as passionate a UM fan as I am. Never TOO high (don't expect NC every year, don't even expect B10 title every year but certainly expect to be in contention), never TOO low (don't feel it's the end of UM Football after 3-9 season but it's getting close if it's 2 in a row) Not near the AA area at all so i'm pretty isolated from other UM fans, local media coverage, etc. As well as all the hype that surrounds an area regarding it's favorite team. But I do stay very in-tune and aware of the state of the program via internet. IMO there is NO way RR won't turn this program around. It's been said before all over the place: his track record speaks for himself. If he can win @ WV (and everywhere else for that matter) and compete w/ power houses from other BCS conferences, he'll certainly do it here. It just feels like i'm beating a dead horse here. Way, way, way too much emphasis being put on 1 recruiting class that isn't even completed yet. RR has recruited very well as a whole and some people r getting way too excited about how many 3 stars we're getting. UM has never had these "type" of skill athletes on the field on offense at so many positions as we'll see next year and so on. When I mean "type" I basically mean explosive athletes that do very well when they get the ball in space. And the quality of athlete is only gonna be better @ UM than everywhere else he's coached. Just because we got maybe 3 or 4 more 3 star recruits than most years isn't gonna set the program back 10 years. I certainly don't wanna see another season like last season in my lifetime (who does?) but for cryin out loud, PATIENCE. I expect to be at least .500 this year. It doesn't sound like much but a bowl in game IMO would do wonders for the morale and overall vibe of the program. We've been so spoiled here for the last gazillion years that when we hit a rough spot, albeit the worst season in history, we wanna jump off a roof. remember PATIENCE. If we have this same discussion next year i bet we'll see a whole lot of change from '08 to '09
You are a pussy, chicken-little, sky-is-falling, princess-and-the-pea, obnoxious little fleeb.
You are probably the type would boo a group of 19-20 year olds that are out on the field giving it their all and perhaps not performing quite up to your lofty expectations as a spoiled couch surfing prick that isn't capable of jumping high enough to slip a credit card under your heel. Way to go! That's exactly what motivates young players fresh off the boat and playing in front of 100+K people. WAy to send a great message to the recruits in the stands about what it means to play at UM!
From your posts it would seem that you didn't like Carr and probably spent his entire tenure grousing about his conservative game philosophy and consistent, though unspectacular results and pissing and moaning that he won 'only' one national championship.
You probably were screaming for change for years and all full of theories about exactly what the program needed. Well, you got exactly what you asked for and mountains of it.
Are you happy? No. Will you continue to complain and secon-guess the coaching staff and whine like a little bitch about the aggregate star value of our current recruiting class....in JUNE!!!!? Yes. You will.
Michigan is in transition and transition is rarely an easy, smooth process. There are bumps. Do you help anybody by spitting venom and pessimism after a single season? No, except perhaps yourself and what I would consider a somewhat unhealthy connection between UM athletics and your self worth to the point that it dictates what you wear to the mall. You are a Michigan fan, so whether they are 3-9 or 9-3, you wear your gear when you want, wherever you want and point a large middle finger at anyone that gives you shit about it.
Has everything gone perfectly and has RR made the right decision in every instance? No. Let everyone on this board who has done everything right in their career please continue to throw stones.
I'm not going to go into detail about extenuating circumstances and bare cupboards, but RR walked into a real shitbag of a situation and he nhad little chance of succeeding last season.
Recruiting...I see RR pulling in kids that love to play football and who fit his system. It is June and if the recruiting season ended today I think we did pretty well considering a 3-9 season.
No matter the circumstances, one year and 15% of a recruiting season is waaaaaay too early to open a bottle of sleeping pills and stand there with a glass of water crying because you may not be able to wear your M sweatshirt to the mall next year....you BIG GAPING SHAVED PUSSY! (shaved because everyone knows shaved is easier)
There IS such thing as a true fan. A true fan takes the good with the bad, the highs with the lows, the thick with the thin. They cheer their team no matter what and they don't F-ing boo them. Sorry, but that is a basic fact. My mother, father, sister, brother and myself all went to UM and are huge fans. I grew up in East Lansing a fervent Michigan fan and my mother is from Columbus where that entire side of the family are crazy-ass OSU fans. I have eaten my fair share of green/white, scarlet/gray shit in my time. I get a large 3'x3' scarlet and grey sheet cake delivered to me in California each time we lose The Game. The vast majority of my friends from HS went to MSU and I hear a lot from them these days. Of course they are going to open their mouths and enjoy their little moment in the sun.....of course, what else would you expect? Cultural/recruiting war in MI? Who gives a shit? We are a national powerhouse and recruit nationally, taking the vast majority of the creme-de-la-creme recruits in MI that we go after. You can't get them all for F's sake. the second we start winning again all those people will have to go back to praying for a big win every 4-5 years when we are rebuilding. Then and you will be able to wear your sweatshirt to the mall again and bandwagon MSU fans will all swing the other way because they only root for winners (b/c they are losers). I hope they stay, it is not like we really need or want them.
When people give you shit...savor it. Hold on to it and use it to make you cheer harder next season....good or bad. When M is back it will make things all the sweeter.
To paraphrase, 'I ask not what your Wolverines can do for you, but what you can do for your Wolverines?'
This is supposed to be fun, and this goes to a large number of people on this board, if you aren't enjoying it, ask yourself why you are 'in it'?
Stop fighting with each other here about differences of opinion and theories based on arcane, incomplete facts/research and 'questions' where there is no right answer except time. We won't know how this plays out for another few years yet. If RR goes 9-3 this year, there is no guarantee that other teams won't adjust and/or become more familiar with his system in later years and bring that down. We...just....don't....know....yet. Cheer for them anyway.
......and for Fuck's sake stop arguing about grammar. Basic rule, if it is a typo or perhaps not perfect sentence structure but the idea is clear enough to read, just let it be. I hear you and have been guilty of policing this in the past and in fact can't even send SMS messages without using caps, punctuation and full sentences, but not everyone is like that. If it is really unclear and poorly written, then politely ask them to clarify and perhaps spend a little more time in writing their post because you found it a little difficult to understand the first one. If you can't do that, just walk on by.
We are all in the same boat. We decide if that boat is a cruise ship or a slave galley. So if the buffet sucks one night, that doesn't mean the shuffleboard isn't good and we can still be on a cruise ship.
The amount of vitriole on this board between people who are supposed to be rooting for the same team is really making it less enjoyable to read. You know who you are.
I'm really sorry you wasted all the time to not just think up that post, but to type it and then hit "save." You had me at "pussy"--and I knew I didn't need to read the rest.
Do another one!
Tempers are flaring!
So I scrolled down this whole thing without reading it, and the page was moving by rather quickly, but somewhere in the middle I saw "SHAVED PUSSY!" and I was all like HIGH FIVE BRO to myself because now I realize that I am a lecherous creep whose eyes only seek out vagina-related material.
I did the same thing. I shouldn't be admitting it.
that poole1dan has made his way from youtube to mgoblog?
Not that I thought they were one and the same, but poole1dan was one of the first to come to mind when I saw this post.
Its hilarious how fast someone becomes infamous in the blogosphere/videosphere
yes i know videosphere is not a term. yet.
pussy
Pussy.
don't
care about the reply button
As far as I can tell, he is building a football team.
How did you get the photo of me? I've gained a few pounds (like Tate). I'll send you a new photo.
I delight in your bitterness. All this vitriol is your own misery. Suck it dry!
Rich Rod is building a team that can compete in GPA average with the other major men's teams. He knows that the noose of faculty controls are going to tighten over time, and to be ahead of the curve he has to recruit some kids that are downright smart, and that can show a bit of class on campus, such as Avery, the most recent commit. I think the era of unintelligent douchebag football players may be waning under Rich Rod, not the era of good football teams. In a few years, he may have more pre-med and pre-law recruits than general studies recruits, something nearly unheard of at schools not named Stanford.
I'm not saying that it will become the majority of his classes, but I expect to see a good chunk of 3* players with 3.5+ HS GPA's and high test scores coming in - kids that would get into Michigan on academic merit, not just on athletic ability. I wouldn't be surprised if walk-on tryouts make an appearance every year or two, as well.
Now THIS one I like. And this explains it all. We take the NCAA Grade Point Average National Championship year in and year out--hey, that's a strategery I can get behind!
It's not that he's not recruiting talent. He's recruiting for both. Balancing brains and talent will go a long way towards a national championship, and you don't need a bunch of cocky 5 star recruits to do it. Too many top tier recruits causes too much clashing ego, and probably throws team chemistry way out of whack. Might as well get some players that know how to do chemistry while he's at it.
Javarie Johnson, a recruit many of us were thinking UM had a pretty good chance with, will commit to the U--Miami within a day or two. More building, eh?
And how about Holmes Onwukaife? Kid from Texas who wanted to commit--but couldn't, because Rich Rod has about 670 bajillion offers out and too many "Diamonds in the Ruff" have already committed.
Just keep railing on me--I'm sure that will make UM better in no time!
Wait, so you're going to take the commitment of a good player to another school as indication that Rodriguez can't recruit? You realize that Michigan can't get every good player, no? We didn't get Matt Barkley last year, or David Oku - does that mean he fucked up?
Further, Onwukaife, the kid you're now spotting a hard-on for, was sporting offers from Colorado, SMU, Michigan, and Texas Tech - in other words, HE IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE BITCHING ABOUT, yet you want to turn around complain we didn't take him now?
javarie johnson? i don't think he's been on the radar since may!?!?!?!! and oh no, no onwukaife. what? i thought we had a surplus of 3 *'s
you make yourself at least sound intelligent........woop dee ding dong, we dont get who eva..............if u knew a thing or two 'bout a thing or two, u wouldn've posted what u posted.
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