Just maybe, the most significant "Rodriguez" story of the weekend...

Submitted by Section 1 on

This is quoted from MaizenBrew.com.  Link at the end.  It is not as though this is something that no one else had thought of, or perhaps expressed elsewhere here at MGoBlog.  It will be talked about again, some more, this week, as speculation mounts about Denard's ability to play for the remainder of the year.

But blogger "Hawkeyed Frog" wrote this, which is the kind of thing you'll never, ever see in local papers or hear about on sportstalk radio.  At least not until they've first exhausted every shred of negativity they can find about Rich Rodriguez, which appears to be the case with the Free Press.

I don't know how this could have been written any better:

With his livelihood possibly at stake in a loss, Rich Rod took the safe route with the health of his player over the greater chance to win that Denard brings to the table.  In a world where the seriousness of head injuries are only just starting to be revealed, it was a moment that I felt needed drawing attention to, and praising Coach Rodriguez for.  Denard may not have a concussion, but keeping him off the field after taking one hard hit to the head certainly reduced his risk of having something terrible happen if it were to happen again... 

 Coach Rodriguez put the wellbeing of his player over his job, something I'm fairly pessimistic about most other coaches doing in a similar situation.

Congratulations on the win, coach.  And congratulations for doing the right thing as well.  I hope you win it all next year.

http://www.maizenbrew.com/2010/11/7/1798943/praise-for-rich-rod-for-removing-denard

When it comes to covering Michigan football, the blogosphere continues to run circles around the mainstream media.  They all just suck.

RedHotAndBlue

November 7th, 2010 at 12:40 PM ^

When I pointed out that RR had held Denard out in these circumstances, in contrast to BK putting in his one-eyed woozy QB, my wife made the right point: "Good for RR, but it shouldn't be so unique that he comes in for praise for holding out a player".  I think a lot of people forget that these are kids who will do anything for their coach, and their coach is an adult who needs to make the right decision for the health of his players.  Unfortunately, this seems to happen too infrequently.  Urban Meyer was potentially playing with Tebow's life last year when he sent him back in one week after a very serious concussion.

UMdad

November 7th, 2010 at 6:50 PM ^

I was impressed by that, too.  There were several things about the behavior of the young men on the team that I liked to see, also.  Denard and the rest of the offense were actively cheering for Tate to get it done, and the offensive guys have been loud about their support for the defense.  I have my issues with RR, but a lot of teams would have collapsed in turmoil with how well the offense has played and how poorly the defense has played.  More than anything, the way he has kept the whole team together and pulling for each other is what has me hoping they clean house on hte defensive staff and leave RR for at least another year. 

ToughD

November 7th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^

Even in the local high schools where I live concussions are not treated as serious as they should.  You know there's a problem when a high school AD and the sports trainers say, "Don't send your son to the doctor before having a trainer look at him".

Great job coach Rod.  If I could I would personally comend you for your actions. 

Now this is a Michigan Man!!!

bluenyc

November 7th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^

It's great to hear this.  I hope the MSM focuses on this more than how many points the D gave up.  As I said before, I was weary of Coach Rod's character prior to coming to Michigan.  But, I was thoroughly wrong in my assessment.  Brock's story and the hospital visit changed my mind and this just reinforces my view. 

Said this before, but how about DB not only on the sidelines, but talking to Denard  about it as well.  As cheesy as it may sound, so proud of our Michigan Men. 

Mgoscottie

November 7th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

that this won't get much more notice, when other nearby coaches are just flat out not caring about their players (Kelly, dantonio).  Kudos for finding this. 

Section 1

November 7th, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^

...this is by no means any kind of quantitative analysis, but if you look at the remains of live-blogging open game-day message threads at some of our rivals' websites, many of the commenters jumped to one or more of the immediate live and unedited conclusion(s) that:

  • Rodriguez had some kind of weird, inscrutible strategic idea in putting Tate in;
  • Rodriguez was somehow "punishing" Denard for some earlier mistake;
  • Rodriguez was stupidly creating a "quarterback controversy" on his dissention-ridden team;
  • It was some kind of "discipline" problem.

I didn't see the telecast.  I am hugely, massively, profoundly, gratefully, glad to say that I was there, and didn't need two television commentators (even if one of them was Brain Griese) to tell me what was going on.  I'm not sure if anything that was said on the telecast (which I have not seen, even via recording) may have misled some of these poor dumb bastards to have made some of those comments.  Whatever.

It just goes to show the level of hateful prejudice that the MSM has fueled against RR.

The truth shall set you free.

dnak438

November 7th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^

If I remember correctly, they speculated that something was wrong with Denard's throwing hand (on the basis that the trainers seemed to be looking at it on the sidelines).

EDIT: this video recap is typical of the discussion of the ESPN commentators:

Section 1

November 7th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^

Major props for doing so.

I didn't mean to incriminate the tv guys; rather, the preexisting attitudes thanks to 2 years+ of media negativity.

And yeah; watching Denard on the bench with a perfect view from directly across the field, we all thought it was a hand injury, until he tossed the towel away.

One cool thing about Denard -- when Tate went down out of bounds and into the wall, Denard bounced off the sideline and ran halfway out onto the field to see what happened.  Kid is a gamer.

dnak438

November 7th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^

the 24-hour news phenomenon (I'm looking at you, ESPN) has encouraged groundless speculation of the sort that you alluded to.  On the other hand, Denard's gotten dinged up enough this season that the announcers were probably prepared for it.

bjk

November 7th, 2010 at 3:48 PM ^

the comments on Tate when he came in were a little clueless and on the negative side, when they made it sound like M was done with the back-up in the game and pointed out the 1-7 slide and Tate "losing his job" to begin this year. What about the shoulder injury last year? What about the open competition? What about M having 3 usable QB's this year? I would have thought that Brian Griese, being M, would have read beyond the MSM BS before following this narrative when Tate came in, making it sound like Tate shat the bed last year and making him sound like chopped liver.

WalterMitty

November 7th, 2010 at 1:06 PM ^

I had not thought of it in those terms. I wonder if Coach did? I'm guessing no, his players well being just comes naturally to him and his fatherly "family values" still get questioned. Thank you.

DoubleMs

November 7th, 2010 at 1:20 PM ^

Not a knock by any means, but I would have liked to perhaps have a trainer let a field reporter know what was going on so that the collective Michigan fanbase could stop hyperventilating over Denard vs Tate and resume hyperventilating over the game.

bronxblue

November 7th, 2010 at 1:28 PM ^

This coach definitely didn't care if his player had a concussion:

But yeah, I give immense credit to RR.  For all the negative press he has received for being a "win at all costs" coach, he has always put the well-being of his players first and foremost.  And I don't think for a second that if Tate had been hurt by that late hit along the sideline he would have put in Devin.

Michigasling

November 7th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^

on several of the other relevant posts.  It would be nice of the outside media would notice this sort of thing.  I suspect they eventually will.  A good story is a good story.  (Except for... Oh, you know who I mean.)

w2j2

November 7th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

Another point to be made is how well RR recruited not only Denard, but Tate as well. 

By so-doing, Denard's head-butt did not leave Michigan with a Freshman QB.

Well Done, RR!

clarkiefromcanada

November 7th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^

...seems like a pretty good guy who actually cares for his players and for other people. That's pretty rare in life and exceptionally so in the dog eat dog world that is college football coaching. If you had a son this is the sort of man you would want your child to work with...loyalty is a two way street and Rich Rodriguez showed that yesterday with Denard.

blueheron

November 7th, 2010 at 3:12 PM ^

"Hillbilly coach puts own dubious principles ahead of team's interests."

Then, in the article:

"Rodriguez has displayed a poor capacity to understand complicated issues, so it's unlikely that he has more than a superficial understanding of neurology."

...

"Ten former players and Mr. Smith of Clarkston, MI believe that, once again, Family Values are being sacrificed at Michigan."

Section 1

November 7th, 2010 at 3:39 PM ^

Clearly, your own post is taken in deserved good humor.  No problem at all with what you wrote.

But consider our favorite metropolitan newspaper...  If in fact, the story turns this week to the question of how Rodriguez might handle the playing of Denard in practice and on the road at Purdue.  Will we be looking at a week's worth of headlines, all challenging Rich Rodriguez on the player-protection morality of playing Denard this week?

The answer, clearly, is this.  Rich Rodriguez will defer to the team physicians.  Denard will want to play.  Rich Rodriguez will want to give him the opportunity to play.  But the decision will be up to the medical staff.

I doubt that the Free Press, or at least one or two of its sports columnists, will let it go at that.  Not, at least, based on past performance.

But in failing to report yesterday's big story of the sacrifice of going with the starting QB in the last-minute heroics and an epic 3OT, as it already has, the next phase of Free Press reporting is liable to overlook the fact that the Rodriguez has already demonstrated his player-protection bona fides.  He sat Denard, when it was called for and was the right thing to do.  He sat Denard, when his own job appeared to be on the line, and when losing might have meant everything.  He sat Denard, even after Tate came out and fumbled the first ball snapped to him.  He sat Denard, even when the game dragged into 3OT's, and it would have been easy to think about just putting Denard in, to get one last critical TD-and-conversion.

There ought to be no more question about Rodriguez.  So let's see, if despite all of that, the Free Press still tries to make it a question of Rodriguez' character.

Wolvie12

November 7th, 2010 at 3:27 PM ^

I'm not trying to downplay what Rod did but just to add a little to the topic BK played 2 different QBs who were obviously ineffective.  Now I'm not giving him a pass because I don't know how bad Crist was but he thought he could handle playing and he almost won the game if not for Denard.

Now what if Tate hadn't been effective?  How do we know he wouldn't have put Denard back in.  I'm so happy that we have 2 QBs that can play at a high level where we wouldn't have to find the answer to that.  Just trying to add to the conversation.  Have a nice day!

jmblue

November 7th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^

Well, we actually have an answer to that hypothetical, because the very first thing Tate did was fumble.  Then in his second drive, we were forced to punt.  With 5:00 to go in the fourth quarter, and Michigan needing to drive 80 yards for a TD, it was anyone's guess whether Tate could pull it off.  RR could have put Denard back in.  He did not. 

jmblue

November 7th, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^

This was a real test of character for RR.  Denard had continued to play (and reasonably well) immediately after the hit, and a desperate coach might have been tempted to order him back out there.  He took the long view and kept him out for safety.  The contrast between him and Kelly is incredible.

Search4Meaning

November 7th, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^

I am not taking anything away from Coach Rodriguez, but I also agree with several of the posts above that it was partially a medical staff decision.  Rodriguez was smart enough to listen and do what was right for Denard - despite what it may have done to the outcome of the game.  That was gutsy.  

Fortunately for all it was a win.  And we all know "winning cures everything".

Rodriguez is a solid guy.  He does do what is right.  That makes me proud.

moffle

November 7th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^

I'm a little unsure of how this works so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that the medical staff must clear an injured player before he can be put back in, regardless of what the coach might think.  If they do clear the player, then of course it becomes the coach's decision.

If that's not how it works, then it certainly seems like it should be.

In other words, although I'm confident that Rodriguez would still make the right decision if it was up to him, I'm not convinced that it was.

Section 1

November 7th, 2010 at 5:21 PM ^

...that we do not hear of a single sportswriter, radio host or other CFB pundit question Rich Rodriguez regarding any decision made with respect to Denard this week.

As long as the Freep-types back off any veiled criticism of Rodriguez, and as long as they make no attempt to create another negative Rodriguez story, I'll back off any excessive praise.

jmblue

November 7th, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^

my impression is that the medical staff must clear an injured player before he can be put back in, regardless of what the coach might think.

I'm sure that's the general guideline, but in the middle of a game, it can be difficult to determine whether or not a player actually is injured, given that there is a limited amount of time to make an evaluation and that players will often downplay their injuries to the doctors.  In any event, there's no way to enforce something like that - the referees don't conduct medical examinations between plays.  If RR had really wanted to put Denard back out there, he could have.   

doughboy

November 7th, 2010 at 5:03 PM ^

It's very easy to go with "word" versus "action".  The call on Saturday to sit Denard was selfless and "in the best interest of the player".  RichRod has been ripped for many moves, but this one should not only be applauded but acknowledged.  Thanks for putting the program/player first, Coach.  Go Blue!