ESPN article on Rich Rodriguez and the juxtaposition between Michigan and Arizona Football
Ladies and Gentlemen of MGoBlog, I present to you the following article by ESPN. Link:
This should be good….
October 8th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
Karma is an absolute bitch. We treated Rich like shit, wouldnt let him bring his DC over from WV and then ran him out of town so we could hire Brady Fucking Hoke.
He is getting what he deserves
We are getting what we deserve
October 8th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
You forgot the part where he absolutely sucked as a head coach.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
Rich's last nine year coaching
West Virginia 2005-2007: 33-5
Michigan 2008-2010: 15-22
Arizona 2012 - 2014: 21-10
If only he hadnt taken those stupid pills while he was here and forgot everything he knew. I'm sure Arizona is thrilled he discarded them when he got there cause it would sure appear he was great before Michigan and is about to be great again.
His record is a constant. We are the variable.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
So if RR wasn't at fault for fielding one of the nation's worst defenses and not scoring against teams with a pulse, who was?
October 8th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
Rich's obviously and he certainly failed in that.
But dont ignore or dismiss the fact that Rich had three empty pop bottles and a 2-1 coupon to Taco Bell as an assistant budget while Hoke got a blank check to go out and get whoever he needed.
And the fact that he spent 1/2 of that blank check on Al Borges should've told us right from the start we were doomed.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
Well I'm going to ignore it because it's not true. Rich Rod had more money for assistants at Michigan in 2010 than he currently does at Arizona.
Calvin Magee: 285,000
Greg Robinson: 273,000
Mike Barwis: 200,000
Rod Smith: 181,000
Greg Frey: 192,000
Tony Gibson: 231,500 (!)
Tony Dews: 182,500
Bruce Tall: 185,400
Fred Jackson: 175,100
Adam Braithwhite: 135,000
Those are just the coordinators and position coaches Rich Rod had here, and the total budget comes to $2,040,500. The current budget for all football assistants at Arizona is just over 2,000,000, according to the Arizona AD.
http://tucson.com/sports/football/college/wildcats/arizona-football-cas…
Now if money was the issue, why is he doing better at Arizona with a lower budget?
October 8th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^
All those damn facts....
October 8th, 2014 at 3:12 PM ^
Since your good at coming up with facts why don't you pull up how many points we scored against MSU with RR vs Hoke? Considering his offenses couldn't score against top defenses.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
How does one define half of a blank check? What's half of infinity?
October 8th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
Apparently it's Al Borges
October 8th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
an empty cupboard
then an empty wallet
October 9th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
Just a closed one.
(upvoted you anyway)
October 10th, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^
RR's empty.....AD's closed ;)
October 8th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
Firing a proven coach to hire someone with a career losing record was not a good idea. Who would have thought... thank you Dave Brandon!
October 8th, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^
"His record is a constant. We are the variable."
perfect
October 9th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
What bad luck! Out of RRod's 31-season college coaching career, we got his three successful seasons and all those other schools got the 28 successful seasons.
Drat!
October 8th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
And about how he acted like a hurt spouse in a divorce from WestVa....
The WestVa thing in the media really affected him, and the angst from it, carried over to our program, I think.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
None of that would have happened if MSC and Martin had kept their word. It was Coleman and Martin who, it is said, promised RR that Michigan would take care of his WV buyout. What do you think they were discussing in that secret meeting in Toledo.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
This thread is going to be awesome! I cannot wait to see if it goes over 200 replies by 2:00 pm ET. To summarize:
Pro RR: RR had the best offense ever in the history of ever. #5 FEI in 2010.
ANTI RR: That offense couldn't score a point against decent defenses
Pro RR: But we were still so young, and 2011 would have been epic.
Anti RR: Nuh uh. It would have continued to struggle against decent defenses because the offense was not viable in the BIG 10. And what about that defense?
Pro RR: Empty cubpoard, injuries
Anti RR: Weeeeellll, expectations are for the position, continued regression on defense, poor coaching technique, forcing the 3-3-5, staff was a disaster
Pro RR: D MF B should have opened the checkbook and paid Casteel $3 million
Anti RR: Wouldn;t have mattered - RR has never had great defenses. And what about that recruiting?
Pro RR: He was screwed by the alum, former players, Braylon, Lloyd, media, Al Queda, and perhaps Brady Hoke (somehow it's possible)
Anti-RR: He also screwed himself, made stupid blunders, wasn't savvy withthe media, recruited players who had no shot of getting through admissions, didn't recruit OL. etc.
Pro RR: Look at Arizona today, then look at Michigan today.
Anti RR: :( /clutches 1997 NC penant, while staring at Bo bobblehead on desk and tries to hold back tears of unfathomable sadness
October 8th, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
This was awesome, especially the ending.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^
TEARS OF UNFATHOMABLE SADNESS
October 8th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
I opened with App State and ended with Miss State. Can honestly say that those teams were at least entertaining to watch. Our offense was great and after a enough beers our defense was at least comical.
This years team is unwatchable. I was at the Rutgers game tailgating when I met the parents of three players (two starters). They assured me the boys were fired and going to "kick ass for Hoke." That was followed by a game I at no point had faith we could win.
I am not originally from Michigan (quite the contrary, I am from NC and might have been the only person at the horror who had laid down $150 of bets with friends at App State), but I did buy into the hype of Michigan football. Guess after 7 years I am beginning to realize that the ideal probably doesn't exist.
Too many people here refuse to evolve with the game. It is funny considering Yost (forward pass) and Chrysler (innovative mad magician offense) won national championships because they were evolving beyond the norm. Yet people here only talk about Bo. Bo never won (I am prepared for neg). Michigan is scared of change, the program buried itseslf.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
Very good post here....
I thought RR was gonna be the Mad Magician offense, revived.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
To open with App State and end with Miss State. That's rough. I was 1993-1997.
As a band member, I personally witnessed: Gary Moeller/Lloyd Carr transition, Remy Hamilton with the game winner at ND '94 (Michigan fans rushing the field in South Bend), Kordell Stewart, Biakabutuka rush for 313, Purdue '95 (the coldest I've ever been), Purdue '96 (very disappointing), Tyrone Wheatley, Charles Woodson, Virginia '95 (Driesbach-Hayes to complete the comback and win 18-17 in the 4th quarter...also, Lloyd's first game as head coach), Bowl losses to A+M and 'Bama, Bowl wins over Colorado State and NC State. 4 years sandwiched between Rose Bowls.
That was back when we thought 8-4 was kind of a bad season. I remember being disappointed that I never got to march in a Rose Parade. Somehow, the expectiations have fallen since then.
October 8th, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^
I agree with your comment about some UM fans being stuck in the past, and further appreciate your pointing out UM's innovative history. But I am confused by your suggestion that Bo "never won". Would that be a National Championship or not enough bowl games? Because he certainly won....lots and lots and lots---Big Ten championships, big games. little games, MSU almost always, OSU as often as not. Would you say the same thing about Bud Grant because he lost all 4 times in the Super Bowl? My perspective would be he got to the Super Bowl 4 times.
October 8th, 2014 at 7:08 PM ^
Fellow 07-11. I know the pain.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
Punchable.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^
Though an excellent coach, his style of football did not resonate with past Michigan players and teams. He was doomed from the outset. Terminating him was the right thing to do.
Hoke seemed right though without credentials. With time it has become clear that he isn't the right man for the job. However, my concern is if Brandon stays he will give Hoke a fifth year in order to avoid the perceived mistake with RR. That would be a catastrophe.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
is his offensive system is very similar to Bo's early offense in which they pretty much run the option offense. Michigan ran single wing offense when they had early coaches like Yost, Oosterbaan, etc. The only thing that was different is the pro style offense in which Bo smartly evolved to get with the time in which it continued with Moeller and Carr taking over as the head coach.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
I want UM to win more than anything else related to football. To me it doesn't matter who coaches so long as the product on and off the field is one UM can be proud of. For me though, BH has proven he can only get part of that done as the on-field product is nearly unwatchable. I will root for this team every game they play and hope that we win out. The problem I see is if we do that and finish the year 8-4 or even 7-5 DB will say "look at the turn around BH made, here...have a 5 year extension".
With RR he finished 7-6 but was 2-6 in his last 8 games. If BH finished 7-6 but goes 5-2 in his last 7 will DB really move on? I sure hope that douchebag DB is gone and doesn't get the chance to make the decision because I have absolutely no faith in him making the right one.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
-Stop right there. That's really the only thing that matters. He was proven an excellent coach before he got here, and lordy, lordy, it seems that he still is after he left.
"his style of football did not resonate with past Michigan players and teams."
-I.E., Lloyd's players. Rick Leach was as big a "Bo" guy as anyone who ever played the QB position at Michigan (Harbaugh included) and he understood what a good hire RichRod was.
"He was doomed from the outset."
-And that sure as hell seems more like a Michigan problem than a RichRod problem, wouldn't you agree? Why do you NOT give a guy who has been a proven success the leeway he needs to extend that success to your program? Because he's from a different part of the country and has a funny accent? Tell me again, from which cosmopolitan vista did Fielding Yost originate?
"Terminating him was the right thing to do."
It's the narrative we've been told to adopt and accept. I'm still not buying it. If you say he had to go because his teams were getting worse and we had the opportunity to hire someone better, I'd say that was a good argument, but it doesn't fit the facts. If your contention is that we were losing bigger to MSU and OSU as our record was improving each year against everyone else, I could see that as being a legitimate if somewhat myopic reason for termination, but again, ONLY IF SOMEONE BETTER WAS AVAILABLE.
I accept there was/is a justifiable argument for firing RichRod (I don't agree with it, but I acknowledge the logic of it). What I cannot accept is that we fired him so that he could be replaced by Brady fucking Hoke.
That move called for a special kind of stupid, and it kills me that someone with a degree from the University of Michigan was the one to make it.
October 8th, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^
Great comment!
October 8th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 8th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
People keep saying this, and I have no idea what it means.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
It means the culture around our football program is poisonous right now. The AD pitting people against each other and general incompetence, unhappy and impatient fans and alumni, back-biting former players and coaches, the list goes on...
October 8th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
Those are symptoms of losing, not causes. The whole "Michigan is the problem at Michigan" thing makes no sense. We don't have some vague and unique institutional obstacle preventing us from winning football games. We've just had two bad head coaches in a row.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^
Considering one of those coaches isn't bad, and in actuality is really good, it might be time to revisit your hypothesis.
Start with "3 and Out" and work from there.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^
Have you considered the possibility that Rich Rod made mistakes at Michigan that he learned from and is not duplicating at Arizona, like, I dunno, not hiring a shitty defensive coordinator to run a system he isn't familiar with?
October 8th, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^
Yes. Once again, you need to read 'three and out.' You are willfully ignoring information that is public knowledge. RR wanted to bring Casteel with him to Michigan, but WV offered Casteel more money to stay and Michigan wouldn't match. Thus, the comments on why Michigan is part of the problem when it comes to RR not succeeding. They didn't give him part of what he needed to succeed in the first place.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
There is no evidence that Casteel would have left WVU had we given him more money, and there is no evidence that the Michigan administration forced RR to hire a terrible defensive coordinator. That was his doing.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
There absolutely is, and you're ignoring it. So I guess we're done here. I only have so much time to go back and forth with people who say "where is the evidence!? show me once place where this thing exists, I don't believe it!!" and then refusing to look when it is pointed out to them where the thing is.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:03 PM ^
Okay. Michigan forced Rich Rod to hire Greg Robinson. You're right. My bad.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^
"Spectacular" everywhere except Michigan? His conference record at Arizona is 10-10. That isn't "spectacular."
October 8th, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^