A Lesson in Irony
On June 11, the Charleston Daily Mail published this interview with Rich Rodriguez.
http://dailymail.com/News/statenews/200906100941
The comments section quickly devolved into what one might expect... and as usual, the "Rita hates Michigan, divorce is imminent" meme made an appearance.
What makes this particularly delicious, though, is that on the very day the article was published Rita was interviewed on Michigan Insider about fundraising for CS Mott Children's Hospital. In the second part of the interview (here: http://www.wtka.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.podcasts_sel&id=1667) Rita says "It'll be a long time before I can forgive [West Virginia people] for how they treated Rich".
I stumbled upon the article quite by accident, but when I saw the date and that comment I couldn't stop laughing.
EDIT: Also, I laughed at the idea of these "rich socialites" in Saline.
there is good money in saline, as is in ann arbor.
Yes, there is. But the ceiling for the money in Saline is not likely much higher than RichRod himself. It's not Barton Hills or Oakland County where everyone is a bazillionaire. I'm not sure where Cheat Lake, WV is, but if it's home to a few $2 million homes, it's probably not too much different then Saline.
She sounded pretty happy on the show. I wish the inbreds would just leave RR alone. It's been quite awhile now. I wonder if there will be a resurgence of the hatred when Stweart unmasks himself as an overwhelmed and overmatched coach this year or next.
Stew was already "unmasked" last year. There was NO WAY that WVU should have gone 8-4 in the regular season in 2008. They will probably go 7-5 or 8-4 in 2009; Stew will get one or two more years after that and then the AD will admit he made an emotional hire and can Stewie.
Could be even worse than that considering no Pat White.
ECU - 23, WVU -3.
Yeah Pirates
Do you think it's really appropriate to refer to West Virginians as "inbreds," seeing as though our head coach, his wife and children are all West Virginians, not to mention the fact that Rich Rod said in that interview that he still loves WV and is proud of where he comes from (as he should be, btw)?
If I did my math correctly, Rhett was born in New Orleans.
to RR's ability as a coach that the people of West Virginia are still so upset.
I think a great insight to take from the article is that Coach Rod has talked to Stephen Ross, owner of the Dolphins, about Pat White. Clearly, Coach Rod is still looking out for his guys as much as he can. Personally, I like that loyalty to his guys, even after the fan backlash. Questions that I would have:
Does Ross talk to Rodriguez about White if he's not coaching for Michigan? Does he pass on White in the round he was taken?
I honestly don't know if White was taken over where he was expected but, I think Miami was a great spot for him to end up. I think most NFL teams saw White as a WR, not as a QB. If Rodriguez aided in that choice at all, I think it speaks to how he feels about his players and his teams at WVU that he was willing to vouch for his talents as a NFL QB prospect. More importantly, I think it speaks to how they feel about him that the bridges haven't been burned between coach and player, despite WVU's desires. A fan backlash is one thing but, if the players had been pissed I would've been suspicious of Rodriguez. Nothing I've ever read has hinted at a player grudge and that helps settle any doubts I've ever had about this transition.
The only other thought that really hit me was that Rita sounds really well grounded and she seems like she's bought into the program. I know she's taken some shit from all corners throughout the hiring process but, from that short interview, I like her. I really don't mind a "First Lady" of Michigan football helping to coordinate crowd involvement and fundraising...as long as she isn't into maize jerseys.
That, and Rodriguez kind of owes White. He helped bring Rich a lot of success IMO.
I don't get this mentality, why is White seen as being solely responsible for for Rodriguez's success at WVU? Who was it that recruited White to play QB when other schools wanted him at WR? Who developed the offensive system? Who tailored it to Whites strengths during those 3 years? Who helped coach him up?
I'm not saying White isn't a great QB, and maybe the best running QB in recent college football. But do you see people saying Carr owes Woodson for the 97 national championship? or that Meyer owes Tebow for his success in Florida? As Rodriguez points out often, football is a team sport, 1 player can't carry an entire team.
We saw last season how important a functional offensive line is to a running game, how critical good blocks from WRs are to the bubble screen, and how necessary both a RB and mobile QB are to he read option play that is a stable of Rodriguez's running game.
Meyer definitely owes Tim "saving myself for the right person" Tebow for his NC.
One could also argue that Carr would not have won in '97 without the great play from Woodson. So I guess LC owes him that one also.
Bigtime players make bigtime plays in bigtime games. Without their star players, most coaches are just mediocre at best.