Q&A with RR
Found this on yahoo this morning, he is asked about a series of topics including his tenure at michigan, the Bill Stewart situation, current state of affairs of college football, and whether or not he is glad he didn't sign TP. Thought it was an interesting read.
Sometimes, reality can be harsh...and those refusing to accept how terrible we were (not just because of injuries, lack of talent or sun being in eyes...but because the scheme and coaching was terrible) can at times be shocked by the truth. I didn't intend anything as an insult (although thanks for calling me a "dick"), but if you think that RR was "around the corner" from a solid defense...your reality is askew.
If your comments were directed toward me, my light was totally on after the PSU game. It became patently obvious that the D was a ship adrift with a broken rudder and the captain was indifferent about its plight. I am not as adept in analysis as some aroud here, but I haven't missed a home game in a good number of years. My eyes didn't lie and it wasn't pretty. Rod is painting a rosier picture than was merited.
Nope...not directing comment toward you. But, your comment makes sense to me and fairly represents my point that most here, at some point, realized that RR was not "around the corner" from a "solid" D. The guy above (BigBlue02) was the one I directed the comment toward. According to him, RR inherited nothing on defense and is leaving Hoke with a treasure. Reality recalls that the D was to be the "strong" point of the team upon RR's arrival. Folks like him will continue to think that RR was "almost" there until the day they die. That's cool...sad...but cool. I can't wait for a return to Michigan football this fall.
If we can keep recruiting like we are right now.
I think it's funny that people say "Dude, Rodriguez isn't our coach anymore. Stop talking about him."
Well, neither is Lloyd Carr. Or Bo Schembechler. Or Fielding Yost. Or Fritz Crisler. I don't see anyone saying "Stop posting about Bo!!!"
Rodriguez was our coach. If you don't want to read it, don't read it. It's Michigan related and belongs here.
Magnus although I for one am somewhat sick of debating RR I think articles/interviews fall in a different catagory. This was interesting and not speculative or subjective. Now the next UFR that breaks down the 3 years under RR and trys to convince me of anything positive or negative and I want to puke.
But remember: those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it become Notre Dame.
you misinterpretted what he said.
Those coaches won, RR didn't win. Therefore he remains infamous.
Onward and upward.
Pretty typical set of questions that RR has answered ten times. No fault to the interviewer - he has to ask those questions. Also, good answers by RR - pretty generic stuff, which is what you would expect in response to those types of questions.
RR comes off as a nice guy, and I would like to see him land on his feet somewhere where he would be a good fit.
It's all part of Michigan football. If you don't remember the bad times, you can't truly appreciate the good times. And if you forget the Rich Rodriguez era, you forget Brandon Graham's best two years, what will probably be Denard Robinson's best year, etc.
There were some exciting things that happened from 2008-2010. I can't say that I'm glad Rodriguez was hired, but there was lots of excitement on the field.
That almost sounds like the famous Chinese curse:
May you live in interesting times.
I have chosen to remember only 4 things about the RR era. 1) the offense's ability to move the ball against Wisc in '08. I thought to myself "this is what it could look like! Very cool!" 2) The absolute meltdown I had one year later during the Illinios game. (followed by a serious and unfortunate bender). This was the end of my faith/hope for RR. I still cheered our team during some nice wins and, as you said, some excitement on the field, but I was convinced he would be out before having the success we expect at M. 3) A sparkling compilaton of Denard getting to use those wheels and the constant reminders that he is everything TP was not. 4) A maddening compilation of RR's inability or unwillingness to compromise with M football culture. From the legal matters surrounding his departure from WVU to his performance at the Bust, he truly never was what he needed to be. Wins (lots of them) would have fixed this, but they didn't come. I realize my final thoughts on RR are outside the mainstream of this board. So be it. I genuinely hope he finds success at his next stop. Go Blue.
I've bounced around this board for a couple of years, but only recently started posting and have just started paying attention to the rules. I see our postings have become gray, but still findable. For anyone reading this I absolutely do not mean to infuriate. To respond to your BM/MSC question I would assume that Martin did what he could for his guy. I don't think MSC was impressed and I think she felt herself above the fray until she was forced into it and then she was bitter about having to go there. RR certainly could have gotten better (some?, any?) support from the administration, former players, former coaches, local media, and alumni. Would this support have resulted in more success? I suspect so. Did RR do anything other than work very hard at his job to garner this sort of support? Not really (my opinion...not trying to piss anyone off). Maybe doing his job (coaching, recruiting, managing, teaching) should have been more than enough, but just once he could have gotten through a press conference without my wondering if this was the guy I wanted doing Bo's job.
First off - I agree with Magnus. He coached the program for three years - we will continue to talk about him and it is very relevant.
Secondly - I still say Rodriguez is a brilliant offensive coach and like all brilliant people is amazingly stubborn and believes he is right. I'm not like others who believe his players and his system couldn't work in the Big Ten. I think they very well could have. I just believe, for whatever reason, he could never trust a defensive coordinator like he trusted Casteel. If he had let Schaffer run the defense how he wanted, he would still be our head coach is my suspicion.
Having said that (and knowing it has been beaten to death so my apologies) I think Brady Hoke is a great fit. I have a really good friend who is in the administration at San Diego State and he said something interesting about hiring Brady. He stated that when Brady first started at Ball State he tried to do everything himself. He wouldn't just let his assistants coach or delegate. They hired him because over his last two or three years at Ball State he learned to let go, and become a delegator and they saw the on the field product improve significantly. He said, "if the Brady Hoke who started coaching at Ball State was still the same guy we would have passed - but he evolved into a guy who let his assistants be great and who was an inspirational force".
I think Brady, if he has great assistants around him, has the potential at Michigan to be a legend. I will miss Rich but the next five years could be truly special at Michigan.
However, he has no excuse for not producing a kicker in 3 years that could make anything beyond an extra point. Go to the damn soccer team for christ's sake and see if any of them can kick.
Jason Olesnavage wasn't bad back in 2009.
Gibbons was about as highly rated a kicker as you can get. He can kick the heck out of a football. I'm not sure how much blame you can put on coaches when a kid can put the ball through the uprights in practice, but can't do it in games.
RR is a good dude and a good coach. I hope he ends up somewhere and does very well. Whether you're a RR supporter or not, what he says in that interview is the truth. He was dealt a pretty bad hand when he arrived at Michigan. Hoke is getting a much better team than what Rich Rod got and a really favorable schedule. He'll probably do much better than RR did his first year and people will celebrate and say that the lack of success the previous years was all RR's fault. The reality of the situation is that if Hoke was hired 4 years ago he would be up to his knees in sh*t just as Rich Rod was. Only difference mught have been that the fans wouldn't have been on Hoke's case as much and putting so much pressure on the program.
But it doesn't matter, people will still act foolish and make RR the scape goat for everything bad in the last 3 years.
Just like LC was the scape goat for all the bad things that happened to RR.
Hoke or anyone else loses that much and they'd be in the weeds. And I don't know that at the time of "we don't want Lloyd-Ball anymore, get a big name coach" he would have had any less heat than Rich.
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<br>And if you think our defense is in a lot better position than our offense was in 2008, I don't know what to tell you.
Think about what would have happened if, for example, Mike Leach was given those kind of questions about his career at Texas Tech, or if Lou Holtz had been in that kind of situation after Notre Dame and given a chance to throw a YTM player under the bus.
RR handled all questions thoughtfully and honestly while not providing anything that anyone of even reasonable intellect could describe as "inflammatory." The anti-RR people should be thankful that he was a lot classier in his statements than they have been in theirs. Most of all, those who sabotaged his tenure and Terrelle Pryor all owe him huge debts of gratitude for not trashing them when he has had the chance. While this interview was done in a thoughtful and understated manner, most interviewers want to be "the one" who gets RR to rip somebody.
It's obvious that is still adhering to "the code," and I think he will be back at a decent program next year. I also think we haven't seen the end of his creativity. Most people referred to as the "Godfather" of anything are content to keep doing the same thing over and over. RR's comments about learning are quite refreshing when seen in that context.
I wonder if he is learning more about defense or thinking about hybridizing his offense? I guess we'll find out sometime next year.
I think for most part that RR will always be a Big East style coach. We beat the #1 team in the BE last year. Or could have a lot of success in the ACC. And with those 2 conferences their is not so much pressure to win now since most schools are irrelevant. He would have 5 years to build a dynasty against a bunch of mediocre football teams.
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I'm pretty sure that Rich Rod can't saying anything really inflammatory about Michigan anways because it is most likely part of his buyout clause. I don't think he is the kind of guy who would say anything bad about the program anways though.
"Carr-tel" can't really comment on how classy other posters are...
takes the reins at Clemson next year.
RR's a good guy, and I wish him the very best.
Sometimes an institution, timing, and even a very good guy are not a good fit. RR got here during the perfect storm, and things didn't go well.
No need to assign fault or blame. It didn't work. I sometimes wish he'd been given one more year, but it was not to be. Hoke should be a good coach at Michigan; he's an inspiring guy, and he and his staff are obviously great recruiters.
Michigan is going to win a lot of football games, B1G style. There may not be as much offensive innovation, but there should be better execution on both sides of the ball.
So I'm excited for Michigan's future on the field!
There may not be as much offensive innovation, but there should be better execution on both sides of the ball.
The playbook might not look at "innovative", but SDSU scored more points per game last year that RR's "innovative" offense. I'd much rather have a more productive offense than an "innovative" one that better teams had little problem solving.
Pay attention, my friend...
Points per game is indeed a good stat to cite...Given that Hoke's SDSU team scored more points per game than RR's "innovative" offense, I am excited for the future. Yards and points - it's like a dream come true.
He's not aware all his assistants were instantly hired the day after they were fired...