dothepose

October 8th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^

This article made me want to punch Rodriguez in the face...

I don't know why, he did get a screwed here a little bit, just don't like thinking of people getting fulfillment off my misery.

mgeauxblu85

October 8th, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^

It is so fucking ignorant to blame Lloyd Carr for Rich Rod failing at Michigan. Lloyd was a great coach, won a national title, many big ten championships, and ran a clean program with a high graduation rate. It's disgusting to see people point the finger at Lloyd and blame him for Rich Rod's complete failure here. If Rod had known how to play fucking defense at all he'd still be here. Oh yea and his offense looked like shit against any decent team he played. Brady Hoke has proven to be a failure as well but that doesn't mean that Rich Rod didn't fuck up royally here either. It shouldn't be disputed that he did more at Arizona in his first year than he did at UofM in 3 years.

switch26

October 8th, 2014 at 9:33 PM ^

So did Bill Martin, as i talked with a parent that lives in our neighborhood of a current player that was recruited under RR..

 

He was told by the coaches at the time of recruitment that Bill Martin forced RR to hire Greg Robinson because he "liked him"  and RR messed up by not putting in his contract to get jeff casteel.

 

So he gave RR no choice on who could actually be the coordinator.. no big surprise from this program

User -not THAT user

October 8th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^

But ESPN is likely able to reach a lot more people than JUB's book (unfortunately).

The more people who hear about this, the worse the Michigan AD looks.  And the worse Lloyd Carr looks, too.  Probably not fair considering all he's done and been to the University and the program, but sometimes last impressions are important, too.

Christ, why aren't we better than this?

ahw1982

October 8th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^

This article made me want to punch the people who wanted to punch Rodriguez in the face four years ago.

I'll probably be downvoted to hell for this, but f it.  You know what?  We deserve this.  Our fanbase just plain stinks and Rich Rod's success in Arizona is divine retribution against a petty, arrogant, stuck-in-their-ways, whiny fanbase that doesn't deserve shit.  All the whiners who complained that "this isn't Michigan" or "MANBALL" or "TRADITION" or "OMG GIANT YELLOW NOODLE" or whatever probably haven't contributed a lick to Michigan's legacy.  Because the people who contribute to Michigan's legacy are the people who worry about their own life and grind away at their own jobs instead of spending their time on the Internet whining about how other people aren't doing their jobs.

umfanchris

October 8th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

I agree 100% with ahw1982 on this. Rich Rod never once says anything bad about the university in this article. He pretty much just mentioned how there was drama unrelated to football. How can you blame him for saying that? He got shafted and that is why ESPN wrote an article about it.

mgeauxblu85

October 8th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^

We don't fucking deserve this and stop pretending that Rich Rod was worth a shit at UofM. He was awful and couldn't beat a quality team to save his life (or job). You think fans in the SEC aren't super passionate about their teams? You think they wouldn't have fired his ass at Florida? At Georgia? Alabama? Aurburn? Please they would have canned his ass just like we did. Rich Rod got blown the fuck out by any decent team he played. We should be passionate about our football team and drop the Rich Rod shit. If he won games he would have been accepted. He didn't and we'll get a good coach here. Our fan base should be passionate and just like any other program with football success we shouldn't accept a shitty coach.

ahw1982

October 8th, 2014 at 5:49 PM ^

There's a difference between being passionate and being arrogant, whiny, self-entitled fanbase.  The idiot who poisoned the trees at Auburn was passionate.  Being passionate doesn't excuse one's other flaws.

Second, Rich Rod was a bad fit at Michigan and the relationship didn't work, I'll concede, but the recent evidence suggests that in the Michigan + Rich Rod relationship, Michigan was the crazy bitch and Rich Rod was the decent guy that could do better with someone else.  He IS doing better with someone else.  And we're still crazy bitches (or sons of bitches to be gender neutral) who will be looking to ruin the life of our next significant other in 3-4 months.

saveferris

October 8th, 2014 at 8:09 PM ^

Sorry, but clearly Rich Rodriguez is a pretty good football coach. It's not like he succeeding at some Mountain West program. He's winning in the Pac-12, a conference which by any quantifiable measure is superior to the Big 10. If the difference between Rodriguez's results at West Virginia and Arizona versus Michigan was how he fit in with the culture, then maybe it's our culture that has to change.



It's fine to boldly claim that we'll get ourself a "good" coach, but we'll have to overpay to get that guy here because no top candidate is coming to Michigan and put their reputation on the line if there is a chance they'll get the Rodriguez treatment for average money.

NelzQ

October 8th, 2014 at 7:17 PM ^

Rich Rodriguez needs to shut the hell up about Michigan.

If he hadn't been so damned zeroed in on recruiting the same style players he did at WV, MSU couldn't have gotten where they are now.

He routinely passed up state of Michigan blue chippers while searching far and wide for every midget he could find with fast twitch genes.

His recruiting here never embraced going after the best. He continued to search for overlooked three stars like the girl who knew she didn't belong at the ball..

He sucked here. Period.

1974

October 8th, 2014 at 8:13 PM ^

Where number of posts > 200 on a RichRod article, we're almost guaranteed to get one like this.

NelzQ, you're not the first. Go ahead, though, if you wouldn't mind: Give me a list of Michigan "blue chippers" (say, guys with a 4-star rating from Rivals/Scout) that Rodriguez completely ignored. Give me the subset that wound up at MSU.

Then, give me a list of "midgets" that made no contribution to Michigan football. I'd suggest leaving Jeremy Gallon (who, at 5'8", probably meets your spec) off the list.

---

NelzQ and his ilk never seem to consider what it would be like recruiting with some of the prior regime and the local press on your a$$ from the get-go.

NelzQ

October 8th, 2014 at 9:00 PM ^

1974,

 

First off, it is a fact that MSU got more in state highly ranked recruits than RichRod.

Secondly, I never said none of the midgets contributed.

Third, I do mind. I'm not taking .02 seconds giving you any type of list. If you disagree with my opinion, that is quite alright with me.

You have no idea what my 'ilk' is. You can only assume. If you have a high opinion of Rich Rod and his regime here, then that is your opinion and I won't attack it.

Last, Rich Rod is responsible for his performance here. Or non-performance.

The dysfunction at Michigan runs deep. Of that, there is no doubt.

1974

October 9th, 2014 at 6:36 AM ^

How closely did you read "Art of War?" :)

"First off, it is a fact that MSU got more in state highly ranked recruits than RichRod."

Oh, really? Where's your list? I'll give you a start in the opposite direction: Will Campbell was pretty highly rated in '09 and I think he went to Michigan.

[Aside, a clue: Most people here have realized that Dantonio has been thriving with 3-star (and, in some cases, two-star, like LeVeon Bell and Dennard) recruits that were overlooked by high D-1 schools.]

"Secondly, I never said none of the midgets contributed."

True, that. Just mentioning them weakened your post, though. Why bother at all?

"If you have a high opinion of Rich Rod and his regime here ..."

Huh? I think RichRod was a mixed bag. The whole process was a two-way street.

"Rich Rod is responsible for part of his performance here."

FTFY

GOBLUE4EVR

October 8th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^

if you were lurking around here back in the RichRod days but someone actually started a thred before the 2009 season about being worried that no Michigan highlights from the 3-9 season would be featured in the opening of College Gameday...

So as much as people piss and moan about ESPN, a lot of those same people want Michigan to be shown on ESPN...

evenyoubrutus

October 8th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^

I seriously wonder what would have happened if Bill Martin had simply understood that you can't expect to get a good coordinator for $200k a year anymore, and had opened his freaking checkbook to bring Casteel here.

Or if there had been a QB on the roster in 2008.

skeeter

October 8th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^

Mallett was despised by his teammates and Lloyd threw transfer papers at him his freshman year. The guy never gave RR a shot because he was having transfer thoughts the second he arrived in Ann Arbor. I still think, he would have gone to Arkansas if not for Mitch Mustain. The biggest reason he came to Michigan was Scott Loeffler. 

johnvand

October 8th, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^

I think so too.  There were rumors of him wanting to transfer the second he stepped foot on campus, he used the coaching change as his opportunity to get out.  Otherwise he would have at least spent the spring term here seeing what the new staff was all about before pulling the trigger.

CalifExile

October 8th, 2014 at 5:01 PM ^

I think Mallett did the right thing for himself. RR has proven he can coach a passing offense. He did it with Shaun King at Tulane and is doing it now at AZ, but his QB has to have some mobility. Mallett had zero mobility, he wasn't a good fit for RR.

BlueGoM

October 8th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^

I think we'd have done just fine... eventually.   RR wanted to change so much there were bound to be at least a season or two of growing pains.  Perhaps w/Casteel running RR's favorite 335 defense , the defense would have at least been competent.

But... it didn't happen, and RR's defenses were some of the worst Michigan ever had.

Still not entirely clear to me why some in the Michigan admin and former players hated RR so much that they weren't supporting him, even working against him.  And some of this was even before the first season.

Those people weren't undermining RR, they were undermining Michigan.

 

 

MI Expat NY

October 8th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^

If I remember correctly, it was only one game vs. Purdue in 2008 where we ran the 3-3-5 to disasterous effect.  

I sometimes find myself wondering what would have happened if just a couple small things were changed about that 2008 season.  If we don't miss the chip shot FG against toledo and are able to win that game in overtime.  If we don't switch to the 3-3-5 and beat a Purdue team we were actually able to score against.  If we managed to beat Northwestern.  If we're 6-6 does Rodriguez have to scapegoat Shafer?  If we kept Shafer and avoided the GERG disaster, does 2009 and 2010 switch from 5-7 and 7-5 to 7-5 and 8-4?  If it's those three years with an extremely young team, does Rodriguez get the 4th year that was likely to be much better and thus become the long-term guy at Mighigan?  I don't know, but I do wish we had gotten to see the results of that alternate universe.  

PurpleStuff

October 8th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^

We ran a 3-3-5 for one game in 2008 (Purdue) after the 4-3 Shafer was running broke down three weeks in a row in the B1G after carrying the team early on (45 against Illinois, 46 against PSU, and 35 against MSU).  GERG ran a 4-3 for all of 2009.  The defense sucked then too.

In 2008 the problem was a horrendously bad offense forcing a good-not-great defense to win games alone and guys naturally not going 110% when games/season were basically a lost cause.  From then on the problem was the complete lack of talent leftover from Lloyd Carr's small classes that did an incredibly poor job adding numbers across the defense.

That problem was fixed by 2011, when the defense got healthy and guys like Countess, Ryan, and Morgan were added to the mix of young players turning into veterans.

Casteel would have sucked here too if he'd only gotten 3 years with the inherited talent on the roster.  And he would have run a 3-3-5 from the jump, so people would have gone apeshit and wanted him run out of town when the team wasn't any good.  The problems Michigan had from 2008-10 were going to happen no matter what.  It was just a matter of degree, but we were going to be historically bad. 

The errors are only two:

1.  Dave Brandon not publicly supporting his head football coach from the time he was hired (just before the 2010 class was going to sign) until the day he fired him (just before the 2011 class was about to sign).

2.  Firing Rich Rodriguez so he could hire Brady Hoke.

Both hurt Michigan, they had nothing to do with shady back-room characters or fan support or any sort of ethereal mojo.  #2 obviously hurt a lot more, as we're seeing on the field right now.