The Great Woolfolk Freakout 2010 and Rodriguez
So in my mind the MGoBlog community has been looking through Michigan football through some pretty distorted “Michigan” eyeglasses, and I am certainly guilty as charged. I’ve been staunchly defending against RichRod detractors, like many of you. However, the Woolfolk injury has clearly struck a nerve, as the entire blog is going insane right now. I think this is a good demonstration that we do not have as much faith in the direction of the program as we proclaim. Why else would we freak out at the injury of one above average player? I know I know, ONE INJURY DOESN’T RUIN A TEAM!! Calm down, I’m not saying it does. I’m just saying this might be the straw that broke the camel’s back (even if it ends up not being as bad as we think) when it comes to how we view the direction of the program.
The truth? At Ohio State (or Florida, Texas, even Wisconsin or Notre Dame), this Woolfolk thing wouldn’t be a big deal. In Ann Arbor, we’re hanging by a thread because the program is in dire shape. RichRod is 8-16 in two years here, winning a very poor three Big Ten games in two years. He got in trouble with NCAA violations, largely because he rubbed some of his players the wrong way. His recruiting is falling off (all three stars anyone?), not to mention that the guys he gets aren’t even paying off. McGuffie transferred, Cissoko’s off the team for criminal activity, Dorsey didn’t qualify academically, along with a number of other guys (Jones, Kinard). JT Turner couldn’t even get in shape. Daryl Stonum spent time in jail this offseason. We used to make fun of MSU for having dumb criminals as football players, not we get all bent out of shape when a recruit doesn’t qualify, as if a guy with a 2.5 GPA should be studying at Michigan. Not to mention that guys, like Warren, who could come back and improve their stock are instead electing to just leave.
Then there’s our defense, which the past two years have been the two worst in Michigan history. 68th in the country in 2008, and then we actually got WORSE in 2009, ranking 81st in the country. Even our offense, that everyone talks about being so good and clicking on all cylinders, was a measly 59th in the country last year (ypg). Not to mention, the guy has been a bit of a poor ambassador for the University, including being in on all sorts of weird shady real estate deal lawsuits and just generally being bad with the media.
Just look at our expectations for this upcoming season. We are HOPING and PRAYING to win 8 games. 8 games? In a coaches third year? At the University of Michigan? It just doesn't sound right. 8 wins and a loss to Ohio State isn’t supposed to be acceptable. 8 wins is what Purdue should be shooting for, or Sparty. Maybe in year 1, but year 3?
So, generally the pro and anti-RR sides are pretty passionate, screaming at each other about the percent of the defense that transferred or the lack of tradition, etc. I’m not trying to be obnoxious. I’m just reflecting on the fact that Rodriguez, from an objective standpoint, has been a complete disaster here, and I think we are all a little guilty of giving him too much slack. He surely has had some bad luck. At the same time though, I can’t think of anything he’s done that could be considered as satisfactory in terms of traditional Michigan standards. I still agree he deserves this upcoming season, but I think it’s a lot more likely than people think that a change will be made come December/January, and I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing.
August 17th, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^
Dear God, not now! too soon...
August 17th, 2010 at 7:49 PM ^
What is necessarily a bad thing is that a new coach with a different system will largely be starting from ground zero, particularly if there is no spread. Then there are the defections.
It will be more of the same, only worse.
August 17th, 2010 at 7:52 PM ^
I find it funny that in the beggining of your post you claim to defend RichRod, but after the loss of 1 player you feel the need to bash him all of the sudden. Heres the truth, you either think hes going to do good for the program or you dont. You cant possibly think now, after the loss of Woolfolk "You know what, now that I think about it, RichRod isnt that good of a coach". The same arguments you use to call for RR to be fired can be used right now, as well as the same ones can be used to defend him. I dont think this injury sways it either way.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
yeah I agree, this post would mean a lot more if it didn't come in the direct aftermath of the Woolfolk injury.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:24 PM ^
Pretty much this. OP, how exactly is the injury of one player a good reason to rethink one's outlook on the program? Your argument seems to be based more that freaking out about Woolfolk is a reason to freak out about the whole RR regime. What did RR do to cause Woolfolk's injury that another coach wouldn't have done?
August 17th, 2010 at 7:51 PM ^
the ND boards would behave exactly the same way if Michael Floyd broke his leg.
August 17th, 2010 at 7:51 PM ^
You obviously haven't read these:
http://mgoblog.com/diaries/decimated-defense
http://mgoblog.com/diaries/decimated-defense-part-ii-statisticating
http://mgoblog.com/diaries/decimated-defense-part-iii-resuscitating
It doesn't really matter who the coach is, we would be in a similar situation under anyone.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:39 PM ^
I dont buy into the premise that Michigan"s defense was on an unstoppable course with putridity>
It would no doubt have been difficult for anyone to salvage the defense but lets not act like some solid recruits and perhaps a better guided defensive scheme couldve left us with us a much MUCH brighter outlook on the defense for this year
August 17th, 2010 at 9:19 PM ^
Mispogon's awesome diaries are proof that contrary to popular opinion, in fact we did have deep experience and talent deficiencies the last two years on defense. That is something that M isn't used to, which is why so many people that are casual observers believe "it's Michigan. come on" when someone talks about a talent deficit.
HOWEVA, it's too easy to assume that this means any coach would have the same results. We don't know that, and there are many examples of coaches and team overachieving in the face of severe obstacles. In fact I don't believe that every top coach in the country would have been 3-9 and 5-7 in the face of that problem.
Does that mean I don't support RR? Nope, I do support him. But I also don't believe that he has made the absolute most out of the situation he had. I hope he does this year for his sake and ours.
August 17th, 2010 at 7:57 PM ^
The "freak out" is due to being thin at CB and we just lost our most experienced corner. I am not going to explain to you in detail why injuries, especially on defense, are so devastating. I clearly would be wasting my time as your reasoning skills appear to be a bit off.
/Thank you Quiet Storm for posting that. When I read this I wondered if this guy has ever read anything posted on this blog or if he can read at all.
August 17th, 2010 at 7:54 PM ^
I appreciate your comments here and I understand your point, but this diary makes me want to kill myself much more than the injury today.
Okay so we gave RR too much slack. So what? What should we have done? Stormed the Big House with pitchforks and run him out of town?
Things have been bad the last 2 years. Horrible actually. But I am just not sold on the fact that it would have been any different under any other headman, including Lloyd Carr.
Honestly, is Carr had stayed around for a couple of more years, he may have gotten us through this rough patch a little smoother and gotten us back to being Michigan. But he retired, in large part because people ran him out of town.
I think we should look at RR the same way. Maybe he can get us out of this and we'd come out on the other side with Michigan records and a modern system. But if we run him out of town first he'll never get the chance.
Maybe I'm being too optimistic here, but what else do we have left besides hope?
August 17th, 2010 at 7:55 PM ^
Chill, Bro.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:08 PM ^
LOL....awesome post.
OP, chill the eff out. I am not freaking out. Right now I am just sitting back reading the funny posts on mgoboard right now. There are some hilarious posts at the moment.
August 17th, 2010 at 7:56 PM ^
We're not freaking out about Troy Woolfolk. We're freaking out about Troy Woolfolk, and JT Turner, and Demar Dorsey, and Donovan Warren, and Boubacar Cissoko...
August 17th, 2010 at 7:56 PM ^
David Brandon has stated RichRod is the coach. If you want to bail on him good riddance. You say he deserves this season but really I feel like you and a lot of others have already written him off.
If you don't want to support the coach and team then don't, but if you think you're going to do it based on bullshit logic then don't bother telling people. The lack of tradition/family values, loss of players/recruiting and NCAA vioaltions have been debated to death, bringing them up again does no good.
As for me, I'm going to stick by him and support the team as much, if not more than ever. I support someone who's biggest "violation" was trying to make the team better by practicing more. I support someone who listened to the team on captains and gave them the leadership. I support someone who is not afraid to tell it like it is, to cut the media out when he needs and who ignores the critics becuase he knows he can win. You can call it bias or looking through maize and blue tinted glasses but to me it's called being a loyal fan. Support through thick and thin, not looking for crap excuses to run a guy out of town.
“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft; on the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing.”
August 17th, 2010 at 8:24 PM ^
thanks.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:00 PM ^
You are going to blame Rodriguez for Warren going to the NFL, Cissoko making awful life choices, JT Turner for being lazy and Demar Dorsey not having good enough grades? And the freakout is justified....there is no way to reason away the fact that we are going to get TORCHED by every team that decides to pass first, run second this year. And this is in NO WAY Rogriguez fault. He is a great coach thrown into an impossible situation, and he needs time and a few good breaks. Which he obviously won't get either of.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:51 PM ^
Demar Dorsey not cutting it academically is not RR's fault but the fact that he was told by our Admissions dept. that Dorsey being on campus in the fall would be nothing short of a miracle and recruiting him anyway is. Without Dorsey being in our class, we could have had a better shot at getting other DB recruits. Further, while this is all not RR's fault, those who want to hide behind this decimation of our DB depth as reason for a 4th season after another 5-7 season are simply crazy. Sometimes shit hits the fan, life sucks, and if the leader can't weather the storm he's gonna see the axe.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:42 PM ^
Dorsey was a signing day decision..please name the other DB recruits that could have filled his spot had he not signed.
My guess is, the OP has been an RR detractor from the start, and this was a (very poor) attempt at painting himself as an RR supporter who has changed his stance. Either that, or he's a complete idiot (I suppose the two are not mutually exclusive).
August 17th, 2010 at 8:00 PM ^
How else could you roll so many memes into one diary?
His recruiting is falling off (all three stars anyone?)
Not to mention, the guy has been a bit of a poor ambassador for the University.
At the University of Michigan? It just doesn't sound right. 8 wins and a loss to Ohio State isn’t supposed to be acceptable.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:03 PM ^
How many of those would have been upperclassmen cornerbacks this year? We have other highly rated corners coming in this year, but they are still just freshmen. If you want to throw out a knee jerk chicken little post, go to the RCMB. This is bad because of depth, but it is not a program killer. Losing Brandon Graham last year would have been a program killer.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:07 PM ^
You will not be missed.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:48 PM ^
I disagree because this post is really funny. Please....stay around long enough for me to go grab my popcorn and finish reading.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:13 PM ^
as freaking out.... I am just extremely disappointed for him and for the team. He seemed to really take on a leadership role.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:14 PM ^
Ummm, ok, thanks for coming. Pick up your " I'm a douchnozzle " T shirt on the way out!
August 17th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
It will take to long to explain so I'll just paste this in.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:21 PM ^
people should stick to truth always. its wrong to pick who youre going to defend and then try to prove your point.
imo, its not all on RR for having such a poor record. i in fact believe that if Michigan recruited to their standards and allowed RR a full Michigan type roster in the 2008 season then we'd be looking at RR in an entirely different way. as a result, RR's "methods" wouldnt be criticized as much because the wins would be higher.
problem is, imo, you combine RR's coaching style and the previous staffs AWFUL mismanagment of defensive recruiting/attrition in their final years and you have the record we see today. new coach, bad record, and in the public eye the blame is unfairly placed on RR.
so the question is, where do things go from here? will there be enough patience in AA to stay the course? i dont give a damn what RR did with the #1 jersey, or the captains, or the helmet wings etc. i actually like what he's brought to Michigan. the unfortunate thing is that upon is hire, any mistake he made in running the program looks a lot worse than they are because he wasnt left with your typical Michigan roster.
i predicted 7-5 before the season. with the loss of TW, im going to be very surprised if we leave ND with a win. i think his presence was going to be enough to slow down ND favoring their #1 WR MFloyd. who is going to guard him now?
RR is back and kicking with at least 2 of 3 wins vs ND, MSU, and OSU. if Michigan only wins one of those games then im just not sure.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:18 PM ^
Perhaps we should shut the board down post-lose style until we get an actual report about Woolfolk and then have some time to digest it, whatever it might be?
August 17th, 2010 at 8:32 PM ^
I, for one, am retiring from Mgoblog for the night.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:18 PM ^
August 17th, 2010 at 8:23 PM ^
August 17th, 2010 at 8:27 PM ^
Oh please. You say you "don't necessarily know" if a coaching change at the end of this season is "a bad thing". Let me suggest that it would be a disaster, plunging the programme into fresh turmoil and uncertainty that would dog it for at least another two years. It's hard to see what good will come of that.
Wins are obviously hugely important. No-one denies that. But let's also see what improvements the offense makes this season. If it takes another major leap forward then we can see that, despite what the critics say, RR probably still knows how to coach football and still has a style of play that can work at the highest level.
That may not be enough to compensate for some crippling ill-fortune in the secondary but it's what will show that Michigan is on the right track even if still moving along it more slowly than anyone would like.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:27 PM ^
I personally feel like Rich Rod is running a very Michigan-type program-do the right thing, keep the grades up, work hard, don't play dirty. If you look up his pregame speech videos (there are some on youtube) he always talks about playing good, physical football, with nothing cheap. Don't let the Freep convince you otherwise.
You said this earlier this year and how quickly the worm turns. Being a Michigan Man isn't just about when we're dominant, like usual. How about you grow a set and stand up for the program.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:31 PM ^
...not to mention that the guys he gets aren’t even paying off. McGuffie transferred, Cissoko’s off the team for criminal activity, Dorsey didn’t qualify academically, along with a number of other guys (Jones, Kinard).
How many of these are RR's fault?
August 17th, 2010 at 8:39 PM ^
I feel dumber for having read this.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:42 PM ^
Really? I think the Woolfolk injury is the last straw. I think firing RR right now would be the correct response. That would definately help.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:43 PM ^
Great thread if your trying to lose ability to post threads. Im guessing the new point system wont stop the negging in this case. Im more than happy to share a point to stop you from being ass clown. MacFarlin?
August 17th, 2010 at 8:47 PM ^
They will just have to adapt and overcome, time for some freshmeat to put on his man shoes and show what he's got. Sure he'll take his lumps, but I think if the line and linebackers step up their game and not give opposing quarterbacks time to rewrite Dante's Inferno, we should only have to experience maybe an outer layer of hell instead of the core. Wish he could have stayed healthy and will be praying for his speedy recovery, but we don't have final word yet right? Or has that already come down? Anyway, GO BLUE, and time to gird the Maize n Blue loins!!
August 17th, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^
This is the one and only comment that I'll make tonight -
still.all.in
August 17th, 2010 at 8:52 PM ^
---before the dawn.
I think Michigan is going to suprise people this year.
O.P. - keep knocking us down - we'll eventually get up and deliver a roundhouse.
Lights Out Big Ten!
August 17th, 2010 at 8:56 PM ^
August 17th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^
did he raid king tuts tomb?
August 17th, 2010 at 9:31 PM ^
You just made it easy for me to donate a -1 to the cause. I didn't even have to think twice about it.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:33 PM ^
We all know what's at stake this year. That's why this hurts.
The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what happened before now. You've got to put all your support behind the team at the start of the season and offer up your optimism. The beginning of every season is why we're football fans. All the recruiting/practice/freepshit/drama is just noise. The games are what matter. The possibility. We'll all support our team like hell in all our games this year and the record will determine coach's fate.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:49 PM ^
So since you posted it, I will ask you:
what is the percent of the defense that transferred? I am guessing you will be very surprised to actually see what the number is. This alone should make question what on earth possessed you to post this horrible piece of shit.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^
I assume we all love Michigan or we wouldn't bother reading this great blog as often as we do. Although I don't necessarily agree with the opinions of the OP, I am disappointed that so many of the responses resorted to name calling and telling him to stop being a fan. I would like to think that fans could be able to express opinions on the board without being referred to as d-bags. He has a different opinion - I don't agree with it, but we're all Michigan fans here and I assume we all want the program to win and represent our great school like we know it has done and know it will do. I'm sure the OP wants that as well - he may just have a different opinion of what needs to be done and I'm fine with that. He used several examples - sure they may not be 100% supportive of his argument, but as a couple of posters have pointed out, they aren't necessarily all wrong either.