If RR Learned Anything From His Time At Michigan, He Will...

Submitted by ATLWolverine on

Congratulations to Rich Rodriguez for getting a new HC position at Arizona!

3 And Out outlined a lot of ways that Rodriguez could have taken several simple steps to minimize his pain at Michigan, but that he was simply too green behind the ears to know. He was an insider at WVU and Tulane, and therefore didn't know how to handle himself as an outside coming into a big-time program.

If RR has learned anything from his time at Michigan, what will he do? I'm curious what you all think. From what I gathered from Bacon's book and my own observation:

- Get a solid defensive coordinator, and then immediately follow that up with Barwis and the rest of his ideal staff.

- Begin recruiting his QB of the future immediately.

- Make sure there are no traditions that he could possibly be trampling.

- Clean out all of the old guard in the Athletic Department that he can, from the compliance officers to the PR folks. No leaks. No drama. No one who compares him to Stoops. His people, everywhere.

- Ingratiate himself with boosters and local fans. Never visiting M Club meetings until the year he was fired was a serious tactical error; even the people that liked him didn't have access to him.

- Build a political base of support with the President, Regents, etc. Golf rounds with AZ bigwigs should be as important as visiting recruits' homes. He needs to generate goodwill and survivability from Day 1.

- Never, ever speak off the cuff in front of the press. Give Belichik-style deadpan answers and never touch any question dealing with off-field questions.

 

What do ya'll think? Anything further he should do to set himself up to have a long and succesful run at Arizona?

nyc_wolverines

November 21st, 2011 at 10:52 PM ^

1. Bear down mantra / Beat ASU

2. Highlight Rob Gronkowski and T Bruschi to current players and recruits

3. Referring to Jason Terry of the Mavericks ain't bad either

4, Line-up as many U of A girls as 'hostess' as possible

5. Lock-down Arizona and CA recruiting 

6. Make sure the AD isn't an aloof, self-involved tyrant who wants to reset Arizona traditions

justingoblue

November 21st, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^

If Three and Out is even remotely correct with his treatment of OSU, ND and MSU, it's really a headscratcher why he didn't say the same things in public. If he had taken some of those notecards he had for the team to the pressers, it would have been a different meme from day one (maybe not day one, you could really see the difference between Martin's coaching of RR and DB's of Hoke, DB was miles [lol] better at that).

ATLWolverine

November 21st, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^

Bacon's recollection of his speech before the Wisconsin and OSU games made me want to jump up and suit up and throw some blocks on the field myself.

Really mystifying that his podium demeanor was so devoid of the passion he clearly showed the team. Perhaps he's a guy that likes to keep that private, but then he should have a Lloyd-style "Fort Arizona" media policy.

LSAClassOf2000

November 21st, 2011 at 10:05 PM ^

This is perhaps best answered by an Arizona alum, but I would imagine that good PR and good hires help  (this covers nearly every point mentioned). Beyond that, I think they just need to give him time to build a winner (or as near as can be) in Arizona. 

MGoPAR

November 21st, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^

Remember to say "Bear Down Arizona" at least twice during his opening press conference.

Know the backstory of Bear Down Arizona.

Mention the names of a few players that the fans love.

Hire a defensive coordinator who is smart and that Rich will not want to micromanage.

Hire some assts with connections to CA and TX. He's got Florida covered by himself.

BEAT ASU. They should be going through a coaching change of their own so he should have a good shot in his first year.

Bond with EVERYONE in a leadership position at the University and attend numerous booster events.

Find the next Denard Robinson.

akim

November 21st, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^

I don't know about this whole cleaning shop thing.  I would think that might be more of an overreaction - head coaches are super busy as it is, he can't micromanage everything, and who's to say a new hire is gonna be better than someone who has been doing it for a while?

Obviously there are some issues with putting your faith in some things, but that's just a fact of life that you will need to at some point.

bluesouth

November 21st, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^

local highschool coaches and lock the state down first.  Hire a Def Coordinator with NFL experience and success, then hire staff that complement the Def Coordinator.  

One aspect of RRs undoing at Mich is he alienated local high school coaches.  Who inturn gave Dave Brandon an earful (my speculation) at least this was hinted at or alluded to.  Mich highschool coaches did not like RR pulling talent from Florida and overlooking some Mich kids.

Finally pepper the recruiting classes with California talent.

UMgradMSUdad

November 21st, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^

It has to go beyond just getting a good DC.  He has to get a good DC and let the DC run the defense he knows and believes in with quality position coaches. This might be easier said than done, though.  If I were a good DC, I would be very hesitant to take a job at Arizona, unless I had assurances of being able to run the defense I wanted with position coaches I knew and trusted and 100% support in recruiting defensive players.

Yeoman

November 21st, 2011 at 10:17 PM ^

Let the defensive coordinator control scheme and staff, and never, ever, give even the appearance of supporting the position coaches over the coordinator.