11 Warriors Article on diff. between Hoke & RR
There is a fairly long article over at the Ohio website 11 Warriors on The tale of Rodriguez and Hoke. There isn't much new there. In summary, the author speculates that the difference was in 3 things:
- Institutional support. Hoke: yes. RR: no.
- Michigan Man culture. Hoke gets it, RR never did.
- Defense. Mattison: good. Gerg: beyond awful.
None of this is new to loyal mgoblog readers. However, I was struck by two things. First, it seemed odd that 11 Warriors would care that much. Whatever. Secondly, I found the following comment interesting, and one I have only heard rumored:
My childhood best friend in fact played for Michigan under Carr and then RichRod. Through that relationship I have befriended some of his friends who were teammates of his, some of whom played for all three coaches. Outside of what was mentioned in the article they all emphasized was that by and large the players didn't like RichRod, and had no drive to win for him. Things were great for the first 5-6 weeks of the seasons when they were winning, but once the losses started piling up many players just started counting down the weeks until the season was over.
I had heard rumblings of this last Fall, but never this direct. To say "by and large the players didn't like RichRod" is a pretty strong statement. For all I know, this is still a rumor. There really isn't any substantiation on the facts. I'd be interested to hear more on this. Actually, on second thought, I really don't care. RR is gone. Hoke is tremendous. Let sleeping dogs lie, and don't beat dead horses. But if any of you happen to know more, please put something up about it, if you can.
good to see that we aren't the only ones who are asphyxiated on Rich Rod....
something like "No more 11 Warriors articles from me."
That didn't last long. We get it. As a major fan blog of a major Michigan rival, they are going to talk about Michigan..... a lot.
For the love of Kate Upton, stop bringing it over here, ESPECIALLY if it is in regards to the coach whose name shall not be spoken.
Seems to me that all this is saying is:
There's a huge range of opinions on Rodriguez's time here.
There seems to be consensus on the things Hoke has done with the team.
And drawing too many conclusions beyond that may be unreasonable and/or unfair.
I made the mistake of reading some of the comments. Please, I implore everyone who foolishly gives that terrible web site a hit (like I did obviously and I regret doing it), don't read the comments from their ill informed fans, as they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.
A surprisingly high number of the comments at That Website Down South (hur hur?) are surprisingly fair-minded and lucid, and it's fine they're going to be homers that dislike their rival because all fans are. But I'm still puzzled at how *every* one of them to a man or woman (in between their collective circlejerk to Urban Meyer) to harp on the "Detard can't pass hur hur" meme.
I can admit that Braxton Miller near singlehandedly pwned our back seven in part because we weren't game planning for actual pass plays but mostly because he's super talented. To see Buckeye fans ignore Denard threading more needles than Betsy Ross against their secondary... that's kinda like Elmer Fudd pooh-poohing Bugs Bunny's talent for subterfuge.
I finally found Three and Out (hard to find it in a Barnes and Noble in Springfield, IL -- this is Illini land here *rolls eyes*)............and read it last weekend. My take from this is that the players do love Rich, but just hated losing...
But I've always said it from the beginning to my other Big Ten friends, Rich didn't have the right DC (which John ends up confirming for me in his book) ...with Casteel, I'm sure we might had not gotten mentioned about practicegate from Scott Templeton ..eh, I mean Michael Rosenberg (Wire fans will get the joke).
...is drawn from the lyrics to The Buckeye Battle Cry:
Buckeye Battle Cry
In Old Ohio there's a team,
That's known throughout the land;
Eleven warriors, brave and bold,
Whose fame will ever stand,
And when the ball goes over,
Our cheers will reach the sky,
Ohio Field will hear again
The Buckeye Battle Cry.
Drive! Drive on down the field,
Men of scarlet and gray;
Don't let them through that line,
We have to win this game today,
Come on, Ohio! Smash through to victory
We cheer you as you go;
Our honor defend
So, we'll fight to the end
For Ohio.
The song has given rise to the titles of several blogs; BBC, 11W, Our Honor Defend, etc.