The way in which the entire NCAA story is premised...
sets up just one hard-ball question. And that is, does Rich Rodriguez get fired?
And the answer is unequivocally, "No."
You see, the Free Press story, built ENTIRELY on anonymous sources, can never be questioned. Those sources can never be cross-examined or challenged. Their stories might not amount to much, but they will be largely accepted; as students who are no longer at Michigan, they might be subject to NCAA questioning (to repeat their allegations to investigators) but not any sort of cross-examination.
The Free Press was bound to declare victory, no matter how major or minor the NCAA's allegations were.
The Michigan haters were destined to say, "Ha! Just look at that NCAA report." Guaranteed. No matter what.
So in the end, it comes back to this -- if some very bad stuff had happened, Rodriguez would have been fired. Period. And if no very bad stuff were found, Rodriguez would not be fired.
Rodriguez is not fired. Rich Rodriguez is our head football coach.
What we are left with is a positive answer to the only question that would ever matter -- "Could Rich Rodriguez survive the attacks of Michael Rosenberg and the Free Press?" Answer: Yes.
And what that leaves us with, going forward, is more trench warfare with the Free Press.
Since there are no and never were any systemic disciplinary/coaching/supervision issues at Michigan, all that Rich Rodriguez needs to do is to field an improving, winning football team. I particularly like the notion of this team being very unified, and having a chip on its shoulder. I share that attitude. I hope all Michigna Men do.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^
usually includes more than one party. It's easy to attack someone/thing who isn't able to attack back.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
There are a lot of encouraging things to look at in this case. When I'm tossing and turning at night over the possibility of heavy sanctions, I fall asleep easily when I compare our situation to USC's. I know the alleged violations are different, they are both prestigious programs who are sweating a little bit over NCAA probes.
1. The fact that Brandon backed up Rodriguez today was telling. While it can never be confirmed that Carroll left because he could feel the storm a'brewin, it certainly left a stink of things to come. Rodriguez does not seem to be in any danger as a result of these alleged violations. The OP covered this point thoroughly.
2. These issues had no tangible effect on recruiting this past year. If there was a serious threat of major violations against the program, I feel like kids would have stayed away. Of course, a program can try to sweep that under the rug during the recruiting process, but that doesn't seem to be working for USC. (Arguably) the nation's top recruit is wavering because of a possible hammer drop.
With that being said, I'm still nervous. If anyone else wants to help ease my mind, be my guest.