10 Struggling College Football Programs and the Coaches Who Derailed Them

Submitted by Adrian on

On bleacher report there is a article of the top ten college programs and the coaches who derailed them. At number 4 is Michigan and heres what the author has to say

4. Michigan —Rich Rodriguez

Sure, Rich Rod is only in his third season at Michigan, but three years of trying to fit a round peg in a square hole doesn't cut it.

Three conference wins in two seasons? That simply won’t get it done when coaching one of the most historic programs in college football.

In fact, if Rodriguez doesn't beat Ohio State this year, he won’t get the same time that Carr had to drive the program.

The Numbers: Michigan under Lloyd Carr (122-40) vs. Rich Rodriguez (8-16)

Also there is a poll on the page and 64 percent of the people that voted say that Rich wont be back for 2011.

Heres the link.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/346784-ten-struggling-college-footba…

lbpeley

February 17th, 2010 at 11:17 AM ^

Heaven forbid the guy has some optimism. Do you think you're cool or hip because you have no hope for the future of the program; or you want your Debby Downer cautious attitude to spread to all of us? Let me guess: you call it "reality"?

aaamichfan

February 17th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^

Man, I can't wait until we prove these people wrong. I wish the season began tomorrow.

The assertion that RR will be gone if we don't beat Ohio State is fucking absurd.

BigBlue02

February 17th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

That statement makes us sound like we are MSU fans. They were happy as a pig in shit last year because they beat us. Nevermind that they had a losing record, 6-7 is ok as long as they beat UM. Would I like to beat OSU? Of course. But I am not ignorant enough to think that is the only game on the schedule.

jonny_GoBlue

February 17th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^

"Also there is a poll on the page and 64 percent of the people that voted say that Rich wont be back for 2011."

My guess is that 64 percent of those who voted know very little about Michigan football.

stmccoy

February 17th, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^

In my experience, non-UM fans also love to see Michigan struggle for whatever reason. I have friends who actually think Michigan will never be good again, which is laughable. I think fear is what drives the RR hatred. People are scared of what will happen if RR succeeds...their teams will lose.

aaamichfan

February 17th, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^

I don't necessarily want to see Florida and USC struggle, I just wish they wouldn't gobble up every 5-star recruit in the country.

It would be nice to have a National Champion that is successful because of talent AND player development. I'm getting sick of programs having the ability to stockpile freak athletes and win championships.

Kilgore Trout

February 17th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^

of sounding (being) negative, what would he exactly be saving us from? Unless he's playing in multiple national championship games, he hasn't saved anything. We can call him successful and competent if he gets things back together, but savior is just homerish and revisionist.

Michael

February 17th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^

We've only been in contention for a national championship once since the BCS began, the 2006 season. As it turned out, both UM and OSU were entirely overrated based on the ass kickings we received at the hands of USC and Florida. The Big Ten became the laughing stock (even though undeservedly in my eyes) of the country because of our inability to compete in big games.

App State, Oregon, the entire 2005 season (w/the PSU exception), etc. are what characterized Michigan football in the BCS era more than "playing in multiple national championship games."

So, yes, if RR gets Michigan to being a top ten team that doesn't get whipped by USC in the rose bowl, then that will be enough for me.

steve sharik

February 17th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^

...is the perfect name, b/c their articles read like the garbage you hear in the bleachers during games--totally irrational, completely false, utterly not credible, and (worst of all) noisy.

raleighwood

February 17th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

I'm not exactly sure what was "completely false" in the article.

Do you mean that Michigan has won more than three conference games in the past two years? Do you mean that Lloyd Carr didn't have a .753 winning percentage at Michigan? RR doesn't have a .333 winning percentage at Michigan?

What exactly wasn't true in the article?

The Michigan football program right now is probably the very definition of "derailed". Two consecutive years of missing bowl games after 30+ year of playing in bowl games will do that to you.

That's not to say that things can't be salvaged under RR's regime. It's just that I can't think of a major program that is more "derailed" than Michigan at this point. Let's see if the turnaround starts this year.

befuggled

February 17th, 2010 at 10:52 AM ^

While Lane's quick departure will *probably* screw up the program, it hasn't yet and if Dooley is a legitimate head coach the program might not be in such bad shape. They actually improved slightly while he was there (5-7 to 7-6).

Kiffin annoys the hell out of me, but let's not blame the guy for something he hasn't done yet.

Some of his choices are legitimate. For instance, Greg Robinson clearly was not head coach material, and Bill Callahan probably wasn't either.

But nothing like the Bleacher Report for barely informed opinions!

Johnnybee123

February 17th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^

And believe me, I completely disagree with the assertion that RR has derailed our program. If anything, once his system starts clicking at 100% (versus like 60% last year and like 15% in '08), we'll be rolling off the wins. But you have to admit that the article does make a point about the two conference wins in two years. One in '08 was expected, but only one in '09 was a surprise.

st barth

February 17th, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^

...if you accept the premise that Michigan is a now a struggling program (I'll assume they are talking win-loss record) then you could argue that Lloyd Carr was actually the coach who derailed them with his clean break from the program (i.e., retiring with a senor laden class & leaving a hole in recruiting), diminishing success against O State & in bowls, as well as the failure against Appalachian State.

Personally, as a fan of both Carr and Rodriguez, I'd rather not dwell on it and would prefer to just keep working towards the next championship (however long it takes).

bouje

February 17th, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^

Can only do so much with a team (or a company) no matter how good they are at leading, no matter how good their vision is. Sometimes it's the right hire at the wrong time and a perfect storm of shit that no coach (or CEO) could overcome.

Sometimes there are fundamental flaws that will not take a year or 2 to overcome but will take several years. That is IMO what is happening to Michigan Football. We are bottoming out. Buy low, Sell high.