Take on the Michigan program from an outsider

I found this posy on another site I go to and found it pretty interesting to hear the perception of the Michigan program under Carr and the effect it could have had on recruiting and such

Monday I had the pleasure of meeting Coach David McWilliams (former player, DC, and Head Coach of the University of Texas and Texas Tech) at a fund raiser golf tournament for the Boys and Girls Club. There is a very significant former NFL player presence, and I also got to meet Ed "Too Tall" Jones -- who is freakin' HUGE, like scary HUGE!

Anyway, I was paired with Coach McWilliams, and it was great to hear his stories of Coach Royal, of winning the NC, and especially stories of Bo after I told him I am a Michigan Man. He REALLY admired Bo, and told several stories about him coming down to Austin with his defensive staff to take a look at the 4-3 defense, and about his charisma at the national coaching meetings.

As you might imagine, I eventually asked him, "do you think Coach Rodriguez is going to be able to keep his job?"

To which he replied, "if the NCAA doesn't come down on him too hard...you cannot trust those guys to do what is right...sometimes the hit someone for something petty, like what Rodriguez did, and other times they let someone like the Pete Carrol from USC get away with murder..."

I liked where this was heading, so I continued, "do you think that EVERY program would get dinged for 20 minutes over, some forms going missing, etc.?"

"Look," he said. "I am not saying that everyone does exactly the same thing, but the NCAA picks and chooses who they look at and who they don't. Pretty much every program would be on probation if the NCAA looked at every program."

I then turned my questions to what happened at Michigan, and why things had gotten so bad before Carr left.

"I've heard that Michigan facilities were really run down and outdated..."

"You're not kidding," he said. "We go all over the nation for these national coaching association meetings and such. We've been everywhere, and I have to tell you that Michigan facilities were BAR NONE, the worst. Heck, even a school like University of Maryland had better football facilities than Michigan...which surprised me...Wisconsin, they had great facilities, Notre Dame, Ohio State...all great, state of the art...but the two that stood out to me were Colorado and Michigan. And there is NO EXCUSE for that because you can just upgrade a little bit every year."

"Yeah, since RR came in, they've spent millions on the stadium, the weight rooms, the locker rooms, the practice fields..."

"You spend way too much money doing that way," he said.

"So facilities are big in recruiting?" I asked.

"Are you kidding?!? Facilities are EVERYTHING. That is why Mack has it so easy here [at UT]...the kids come in and they're in awe of what they see..."

"So when they were coming to Michigan, and not seeing anything special..."

"They don't want to be a part of it...not when there are so many other programs that have such better facilities...simple as that..." He said.

"Coach, I've thought for two years now that RR didn't have a clue what he was walking into...the phone rang, it was Michigan calling, he dropped everything and he told his wife to pack up the house...but when he got here, and got inside the beautiful old mansion..."

At which point he cut me off..."There were termites everywhere..."

"Yeah," I said. "The walls were rotting, the floors were caving in...and pretty much everything needed to be replaced...I just worry that IF Michigan fires him, we're going to turn into a revolving door program and be looked at as toxic..."

"Michigan should keep Rodriguez and play it for the long haul, not the short term. He's a damn good coach, and if the NCAA doesn't hit him hard, Michigan will keep him, and he's going to be fun to watch with all the talent he can attract to Michigan and that offense...look out!"

So, again, not that Coach McWilliams is THE definitive voice on any subject. But, I think his opinion is VERY weighty and the fact that he confirmed what I have heard about the facilities and the state of the program when RR arrived. Further, I think his thoughts on the NCAA, their findings, and his opinion that Michigan should keep RR were very interesting.

Just wanted to share that with y'all...

Go Blue!