U-M Administration Told RR not to say “ain’t” and “rebuild”
Buried in a DetNews article about a Rich Rodgriguez podcast where he talks about his time at UM, the former coach said the administration called on him to not say “ain’t”.
Others were offended by the term “rebuild”.
For a few years we have kicked around the idea that Harbaugh’s lack of energy is driven by punishment after the 2016 OSU game. I always thought that was a stretch but after reading this, who knows. If this is true, bagmen/recruiting is so far off from what can happen here that we should just give up watching now.
November 19th, 2020 at 8:54 PM ^
Link because I forgot it because I’m dumb. https://bit.ly/2IVb6qD
November 19th, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
No you ain't.
November 20th, 2020 at 7:47 AM ^
opportunity to rebuild the post?
November 20th, 2020 at 9:44 AM ^
They should have made an exception if they both were included in the same statement.
"This ain't no rebuild! We are in a brief transition until I git the type of player I need to run ma offense."
November 19th, 2020 at 8:55 PM ^
Can you provide further speculation on the punishment Jim may have received, from whom, and what for in 2016? I think you might have a theory, I just don’t know what your theory is or what evidence you have to support it.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:04 PM ^
Maybe punishment wasn’t the right word but it seemed as if Jim was given a talking to about yelling and clipboard throwing. It never happened again and he hasn’t been the same since.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
I see where you were going with this now; I just cannot imagine someone from the administration coming down hard on our new coach who was making over $7 million a year with a program on the trajectory to be competing for a national championship frequently at that time.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:01 PM ^
I thought the rumor was that it was Jack Harbaugh, which makes a bit more sense. Although how anyone would even know about a personal father-son conversation like that beats me.
November 20th, 2020 at 9:01 AM ^
To be fair, Warde did have public statements alluding that Harbaugh was wrong to have criticized the officiating in the post game press conference (for which he was find $10K). The following summer, after Gene Smith made an unprovoked attack on the Michigan program's trip to Paris, Harbaugh made the infamous "welcome back" tweet. Harbaugh made a small apology afterward, and again, Warde publicly stated that he and JH had 'talked' about that.
Coincidences? Conclusions? Draw your own... But I can see where thoughts of 'punishiment' come from, even if that word is a bit harsh.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:11 PM ^
I doubt this wasn't a conscious decision on his part. Or he has an amazing amount of self-control for it never to make an appearance again.
November 19th, 2020 at 8:57 PM ^
"Ain't" ain't formal and you ain't supposed to use it.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^
The Zen philosopher Basho once said:
Don't say ain't
Your mother will faint
and your dad will fall in the toilet tank.
November 20th, 2020 at 6:35 PM ^
The Zen philosopher, Basho, once wrote, "A flute with no holes is not a flute, but a doughnut with no hole is a danish."
November 19th, 2020 at 8:57 PM ^
This administration ain’t it. Time to rebuild
November 20th, 2020 at 12:57 AM ^
And just what the hell am I going to do with all my "Maize, Blue,& Khaki" t-shirt and "Welcome Home Jim Hoodie" that my wife bought me for Christmas ???
November 19th, 2020 at 9:03 PM ^
That sounds like something Dave Brandon would say
November 19th, 2020 at 9:10 PM ^
UM’s administration always getting in its own way and simultaneously being its own worst enemy? No way! Not possible!
November 20th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
Go ahead. Say it! Ain't true.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:12 PM ^
Isn't it a bit dangerous to take anything Rich Rod says about the university as 100% truth? I didn’t mind him as a coach but he seems slightly slime ball-ish.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:16 PM ^
I don't know that the administration chastised him about using "ain't." But I remember people around the program complaining about it. I remember it because it pissed me off.
November 20th, 2020 at 3:31 AM ^
Well that's dumb.
November 20th, 2020 at 8:43 AM ^
What pissed you off? RR using the word or people complaining about it?
Between the nanny-ism and the wagon circling old fartism representative of somnolent bureaucracies, I can believe it. I also believe they were secretly thrilled whenever Lloyd Carr cursed.
November 20th, 2020 at 9:04 AM ^
It struck me as an absurd waste of Rodriguez's time to police his use of "ain't." That said, I am absolutely not arguing that he should have been retained. He had plenty of real failures.
November 20th, 2020 at 9:05 AM ^
"Between the nanny-ism and the wagon circling old fartism representative of somnolent bureaucracies..."
Wow! That's one helluva line!!
And I agree with the sentiment.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:19 PM ^
I'm not saying he wasn't told in general terms to not make "excuses" for struggles and maybe to use proper grammar, but I'm a little suspicious of taking at face value stuff recalled by the same guy who, amongst other things, grabbed his penis in front of his assistant and had her cover up his affairs and has a "secrecy" book that basically told his coaches to not let anyone into the program and control what their families said to others.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:16 PM ^
Getting rid of this piece of trash was blessing for the university. I don't know why people continue to make him a martyr.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
I was a proponent of the idea he didn't get enough time or support from the University as a coach, but as more has come out about him as a person I'm sorta happy they pulled the plug as quickly as they did.
November 20th, 2020 at 7:18 AM ^
People with this view should think there were major failures in the interview process. The bad cultural fit could've been discovered and treated as a reason not to hire him before things went too far.
But I think everybody should also agree there were major failures in the program to support him properly after he was hired. If you hire someone to be leader, you can't be tearing them down for their grammar or diction once they're in place and trying to lead. There are either real problems that those things are proxies for, in which case the real problems should be addressed, or there aren't and people were just making his job impossible by doing their own jobs terribly.
November 20th, 2020 at 9:31 AM ^
It's true Michigan never gave him much of a chance.
It's also true that it wouldn't have mattered one bit.
November 19th, 2020 at 11:04 PM ^
It’s difficult for people to admit that they made a mistake.
November 19th, 2020 at 11:24 PM ^
Such as mgo account names?
November 20th, 2020 at 12:25 AM ^
And, again, look at the guy's record before Michigan and after. WVU was the number four team in the Big East annually...until Miami (YTM), B.C. and Va Tech defected for the ACC. Then, lo and behold, WVU look like world-beaters because their OOC schedule was a joke and so was the Big East after the three best programs left. After Michigan? He goes to Arizona, gets his dream D.C., the one people still moan about him not getting here, and what's the result? His Arizona teams looked like his Michigan teams: the defense couldn't stop an offense consisting of your grandma and her nursing home friends, and because the quarterback is incapable of presenting a credible passing threat, any opposing defense with athleticism to match--which isn't hard, because he's a weak recruiter--can shut it down. But still, the Legend of the Rich Rod That Coulda Been at Michigan lives on...
November 20th, 2020 at 7:56 AM ^
for a guy who said how didn't like to talk about things that happened in the past he sure as hell can't get michigan out of his mouth... he is taking advantage of the low hanging fruit right now... one thing that really irritated me in the article is how he complaining about not being able to talk to michigan players before they decided to leave... this coming the guy who decided to call terrelle pryor first after taking the michigan job before even telling his players at WV...
November 19th, 2020 at 9:21 PM ^
Wasn't the "ain't" thing in one of JUB's books?
November 19th, 2020 at 9:37 PM ^
Go Blue. I am fan no matter what.
let’s go. Yes I am drunk.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:57 PM ^
Right there with you brotha!
November 19th, 2020 at 9:37 PM ^
Nobody would have cared what he said if he had won. His defenses were an embarrassment.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:37 PM ^
I have no doubt that the Michigan Man brain trust didn't want "that hillbilly" around. I have always thought that's why it was doomed from the start.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:44 PM ^
This was talked about in Three and Out
November 19th, 2020 at 9:45 PM ^
Michigan needs to take off the restraints and let coach Harbaugh run his program. Michigan is to arrogant in it's mentality of being better than everyone. Nobody cares that "we are Michigan." Lower the academic standards and trust Harbaugh to recruit the kids he needs for his program. Harbaugh need to fire Don Brown. Get Partridge back as DC.
November 19th, 2020 at 9:46 PM ^
We should see what 11W thinks about this.
November 19th, 2020 at 11:05 PM ^
Right now they're probably all hugging their poop coolers while celebrating the newest 5* QB commitment.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:11 PM ^
Did he ask the podcaster to help adjust his wedgie? Honestly, who gives a fuck what they told this tool?
November 19th, 2020 at 10:12 PM ^
Don’t doubt RR got lots of push back from the higher ups at Michigan. The one thing I am beyond tired of is people trying to push the narrative that Michigan would have done very well if RR was just given one more year. The Defense was beyond terrible and the offense gained tons of yards but didn’t do shit when they got into the red zone. 2011 under RR would have been a shitshow. The team quit on him in the bowl game.
November 19th, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
The problem with this sort of thing is that it turns what was probably a comment or two by an individual or two into "the administration," a faceless monolith that we interpret as the university's position. Did someone coach him at some point on how to run a press conference? Probably. And depending on how they did it, that might have been a good thing or it might not. Did "the administration" have or express an official view on Coach's use of "ain't" or "rebuild"? Almost certainly not.
November 20th, 2020 at 1:03 AM ^
I always thought it was his use of irregardless all the time.
November 20th, 2020 at 1:04 AM ^
The admin was right to say that. A fine university and the coach is using a word that doesn't exist. And perceptions matter. Better ways to say rebuild... It goes with the territory taking the job and getting paid so handsomely and is the least one can do to make millions.
November 20th, 2020 at 4:28 AM ^
This was a deeply stupid approach by the administration and I am surprised to hear anyone defend it. Administrators should be protecting their people from this kind of nonsense instead of validating it by passing it on with their endorsement.
November 20th, 2020 at 1:45 AM ^
John U. Bacon verified the 'ain't' part in his book, Three and Out.
Haven't heard the 'rebuild' part, though.
November 20th, 2020 at 6:43 AM ^
Those are not unreasonable requests, in my opinion.