If your position is that Rich Rodriguez hasn't broken NCAA rules while at Michigan, or that his actions surrounding his departure from WVU weren't suspect, that's fine. I have no idea whether he did anything wrong in either situation, and neither do you. But don't act like you have no clue what I'm referring to. I certainly can't speak for every fan base in the nation, but I really do think it is accurate to say that, whether it is fair or not, the general perception of Rich Rodriguez outside of certain parts of the state of Michigan is that he has trouble doing thing the right way.
My original point was that Danny Hope confronted Rodriguez after the game because he doesn't like Rodriguez. In making that point, I simply pointed out that Danny Hope is not the only person who doesn't like Rich Rodriguez. He seems to have a history of causing people not to like him.
I really do think he can win at Michigan if given time. I also believe that ANYONE (my caps) can win at Michigan (by ANYONE I mean, you know, a college football coach). At this point, though, I don't think other Big Ten fans (or any other fans, for that matter) are that afraid of the future juggernaut of UM football under Rich Rodriguez because it still seems like those days are a couple of years away.
Anyway, I'm bored, as I'm sure you are too. Good luck to Michigan. I love the Big Ten, and the Big Ten is at its best when Michigan is a national powerhouse. I hope that is the case again soon.
bigstick, you sound like a pretty angry-on-the-internet type of guy, so I'll only respond to your contention that "there are many people throughout the Big Ten who are scared-to-death that [Rodriguez will] be given the time to build a program" at Michigan. I don't know when it will be or who will be the head coach, but Michigan will field a great football team again. It is one of the great football programs/universities in the nation, and it simply has too many built-in advantages not to. And I agree that Rodriguez should be given time to rebuild the program using the method asnd philosophies he has had success with in the past. However, I can assure you that, from an opposing fan's standpoint, I don't really think anyone, at this point, is terrified of Rodriguez's program-building potential. In fact, if the last two years are any indication, I would hope that Michigan keeps him around for a very long time. You see, ANYONE could build a great program at Michigan, given time. It is difficult not to. So, arguing that people hate Rodriguez because they fear the future of Michigan football under his watch doesn't really make a lot of sense. I think people hate Rodriguez (and, despite what some people here seem to think, I really think a lot of people do hate him) because they have the impression that he is kind of a shady guy.
I am definitely not an expert on the drama surrounding Rich Rodriguez, but there certainly seems to be an unusual amount of it. So, no, I don't really know of a specific example of Rodriguez being a jerk; it's more of a smoke/fire thing. He just seems to be the common denominator in a lot of unpleasantness. And if I were a college football coach I probably would, in certain situations, try to lure other schools' recruits, but I would also be pretty pissed when it happened to me, particularly when the recruit in question was the gem of my recruiting class.
As far as the Hope thing goes, I would tend to agree with you. No one really knows how it went down. Was it Reckman's idea? Hope's? Did Reckman not really want to do it? It doesn't really matter. Hope should've been mature enough to not let it happen. He seems to have the potential to be a very good head football coach, but from a public relations/image standpoint, he has a not-ready-for-prime-time quality. Hopefully he'll learn. His biggest asset is that he's the ultimate "player's coach." He likely saw this whole thing as sticking up for his player, or whatever, but I think winning at Michigan and turning up the heat on Rodriguez was probably enough. The biggest shame of the whole thing is that his actions after the game are all anyone wants to talk about. It was a hell of a fun game, and a big win for Purdue. That should be the story, but now it's not.
Hey Michigan fans. Purdue fan here. First I want to say this site is really cool. Some Purdue blog linked to it the other day and I've been checking it out for the past few days. Regarding the Hope/Rodriguez thing, I would say that, as a Purdue fan, I really would have preferred that Hope not done that. It was unnecessary. However, in his defense, I will say a couple of things. First, it is important to remember that Danny Hope really, really hates Rich Rodriguez. Second, it's important to keep in mind that basically everyone hates Rich Rodriguez. Yesterday during his press conference he kind of acted like "Gosh, I'm not sure why he did that, that wasn't very nice." However, I think even Michigan fans know that Rodriguez is pretty much a jerk, and, although midfield after the game was not the appropriate time for that encounter, he probably had it coming.
As a Purdue fan, I can tell you that the whole thing likely has about 10% to do with the Reckman suspension and 90% to do with the Roundtree de-commit. Michigan is used to getting four-star wide receivers and always has a ton of talent. However, Purdue absolutely needed Roundtree, and losing him on signing day to a new Big Ten coach at a power program was kind of Purdue's nightmare. So, Danny Hope may be an asshole, but he's our asshole, just like Rich Rodriguez is your asshole. I'm pretty sure almost all college football coaches are assholes. It's kind of a necessary trait. Some just hide it better than others (Jim Tressel comes to mind). Danny Hope is kind a good ol' boy tough guy, so he chose midfield in the Big House to be an asshole. That's just who he is. I wish he hadn't done it, but if that's the attitude it takes to win at Purdue, I'll take it.
Recent Comments