RichRod to Bama?
Apparently he was spotted on the Alabama campus - maybe the next analyst for Bama?
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/9wg0f9/rich_rodriguez_who_turned_down_the_alabama_job/
November 12th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
Could be doing a news segment.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^
RDT would know.
November 12th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^
If not we could always ask his brother, Wolverine In a Bag.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
“I heard down here you guys play this thing called de-fense. What is that, exactly? Some sorta pass play?”
November 12th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
You mean its something different than a 3-3-5?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
They finally got him...
November 12th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
November 12th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
After he turned down Bama 11 years ago?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:59 PM ^
Yeah...well...Schiano turned down Michigan. You thought nothing could be more chaotic than the RichRod years?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
We can only hope so. There has to be something to slow that machine down and RR can be that something.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
Pardon? RR's offense ain't slow by any means. Maybe speeding it up will kill that machine.
November 12th, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
When you put a bunch of little guys running around against bigger SEC defenses, they will slow down. Just like they did against bigger B1G defenses.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
If Alabama did install certain offensive concepts from RR I'm sure they would still be executing them with their normal, run-of-the-mill 5 star talent.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:35 PM ^
This has always been the dumbest take.
Those same "little guys" went 12-4 in the Big Ten in 2011 and 2012. They scored the 2nd most points in the conference in 2011 and the 4th most in 2012. It took a lot of Al Borges and a Denard injury to keep them out of the championship game.
Under RR, it was mainly youth, injuries and defensive coaching incompetence that kept those teams from success. Not the size of the players.
November 12th, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
Correct.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:51 PM ^
Even though RR’s offenses were prolific they were shitty offenses. Yes you’d score every three possessions on a home run play, but against any kind of a defense it was three and out on the other two possessions. The D was so tired they couldn’t stop anyone. Even if you had the lead at the end of the game you were going to lose because you couldn’t eat up the clock and they other team was going to score. Denard was awesome to watch, but I’d like to forget that era.
November 13th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
Yeah, this is another really stupid take.
Generally, the offenses would move the ball well and then bog down in opponents territory. This was usually because the freshman quarterback would make a mistake...you know, because he was a freshman.
This is why Michigan constantly had 200~ yards of offense and 10 points at half against teams in 2009 and 2010.
And again: Michigan looked best in 2011 and 2012 when they embraced spread concepts using RR's players under Hoke.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
Saban’s going to replace Urban at Ohio State and Rich Rod is finally going to take the Alabama job he turned down a dozen years ago. (Boy, how college football would look differently if that had happened.)
November 12th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
While I think eventually RR would have been as much of a failure at Alabama as he was at Michigan, it might have taken longer since he wouldn't have had to worry about high school grades as much in recruiting.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:29 PM ^
Other than Demar Dorsey, who didn't qualify academically, I don't remember too many RR recruits not being able to get admitted.
He would be able to get more Jucos in at Bama, though, and oversign if he wanted. (Did teams oversign back then, or did Saban originate that?)
November 12th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
But, he had to recruit that way with that knowledge. It's what you don't see, as well as what you see.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
On paper he recruited well anyway. According to 247, our 2008, 2009 and 2010 classes were ranked #11, #10 and #17 nationally. He seemed to have more guys not pan out (or not survive in school) than usual, though - especially that 2010 class.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^
And of course, those players made up the backbone of the very good 2011 and 2012 teams.
Its strange to a lot of people, but when recruits see a team flailing and think the coach might be fired at any moment, its tough to keep recruiting momentum going.
This happened to Brady Hoke in 2014/15 and we even saw it a bit last year with Jim Harbaugh.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
I'm not convinced that last year's season mattered that much in recruiting. If it had been a total disaster like MSU's 2016 (3-9), then maybe. Going from 10 wins to eight is a hiccup. Obsessive fans freaked out (because they freak out about everything), but most observers just saw a young team with QB issues.
I think in any event that you feel the effects of a bad season more in the next year's class, because by the time your regular season is over (end of November) a lot of guys have already made up their minds. And now there's the early signing period.
November 12th, 2018 at 6:04 PM ^
I mean, let's examine the facts:
Michigan went from back to back top-10 classes to 22nd.
Michigan didn't end up with a single top-100 player according to the composite.
Michigan lost two of their top 3 commits (Emil Ekiyor and Otis Reese. They kept a legacy in Hutchinson).
Michigan lost their top DL target (Tyler Friday) when Ohio State decided they did want him at the last minute.
This echoes the 2014 and 2015 classes that had a lot of highly regarded players early who then booked as the seasons fell apart. Or Dee Hart back in 2010 when the team was 5-0.
I'm not sure how much more convincing you need? Let's face it, last year Michigan did not look very fun to play for. Yes, the team won 8 games, but they didn't win any big games and the losses were often excruciating. The offense looked atrocious. Harbaugh didn't seem like the same guy and while he wasn't on the hot seat, there was a lot of "underperformance" and "1-5" talk. If Michigan were scuffling along at 6-4 this year, I seriously doubt things would look as good as they do right now on the recruiting front.
This season has been a welcome reprieve from the cycle the program had went through under RR and Hoke and that's because Harbaugh is a much better coach.
November 12th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
So, you're ready to evaluate the 2018 recruiting class? You do realize it's still 2018, right?
November 13th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
That...isn't the point?
I trust Harbaugh and company's eye for talent. But are you saying that their plan last year was "Let's not take a single top 100 player"?
The reality was, they couldn't get those guys because of the position the season put them in.
November 12th, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^
I'm pretty sure the U-M football program gets a certain number of exemptions from our normal admissions standards, which allows them to bring in some guys who barely pass the NCAA requirements. I vaguely remember reading that RichRod lobbied for (and got, I think) a greater number than usual. In practice I don't think our standards for athletes are too different from most schools, except for transfers where we seem to legitimately hold them to higher standards.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:41 PM ^
"In practice I don't think our standards for athletes are too different from most schools"
I've asked Sam Webb specifically about this and he's spoken about it on numerous other occasions as well, always with the same point: while it's possible for Michigan football to bring in kids who are *at* the NCAA minimum, in practice it's always been very limited, and in fact other programs—like Alabama, for example—have far, far greater latitude in recruiting kids who wouldn't get offers from Michigan. Those who say that Michigan's academic requirements for recruiting aren't functionally higher overall than most other schools are simply wrong.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
similar situation for Northwestern University. At least when I was there, they were very limited in how many kids admissions would drop for and far fewer could get in as NCAA minimum qualifiers.
For M and NU (and similar) this is for good reason: once the kid is on campus it’s hard to get the degree. I don’t know what it’s like at Michigan but at NU we had nowhere to hide in small classes with no blowoff courses to speak of.
I have often wondered, when M has had classes wash out (“Never Forget” comes to mind) if part of the reason is that said kids had the potential in a vacuum but trying to split attention enough to survive M classes (even with tutoring and office hours) further hampered their ability to put it all together on the field. As alums Harbaugh and Fitzgerald have better sense than Hoke/RR ever could about what type of kid can get the schoolwork done and still be able to grow substantially as a football player.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
Package deal with Casteel
November 12th, 2018 at 5:40 PM ^
I heard that means guaranteed NCs.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
Bobby Petrino visits tomorrow
November 12th, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
*visits sorority row
/ftfy
November 12th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
Yeah...Petrino and his wingman Larry Eustachy.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:30 PM ^
hook ‘em
November 12th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
If he's smart he took notes.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^
”defensive coordinator does not rub beaver on players...”
November 12th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
He has a fall guy lined up?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^
Rich Rod? The one who sexually assaulted his secretary over and over at ASU? Alabama must be desperate..............
November 12th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
Did he do that? I hadn’t heard.
If this is a joke, cue the over my head gifs....
November 12th, 2018 at 4:42 PM ^
He did that, or something pretty similar. It was a very unhealthy situation there for a long time before he got fired.
November 12th, 2018 at 6:07 PM ^
Ummm...no he didn't.
November 12th, 2018 at 6:36 PM ^
Didn't what?! Did that woman lie?
November 12th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
As was pointed out below, sexual harassment and assault are two very different things.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
He was at Arizona and the facts there are pretty shaky but who cares./
November 12th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^
I dont believe it until Zach Smith tweets at him and tags Rita.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:39 PM ^
assaulted and harrassed are not the same thing, the same way ASU and Arizona are not the same thing.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
Yeah yeah, and "Santa doesn't 'exist' either."
*rolls eyes*
November 12th, 2018 at 6:05 PM ^
That's not true. By the way, Rich Rod was at U of A.