Adam Rittenberg Shows RR Some Love

Submitted by CaliWolverine78 on

I just read this paragraph on espn and it made me smile. Rittenberg excluded, winning can even make some of the biggest tools show RR alittle love.

Edit: I didn't mean to make him out to be a tool. I was just saying the media in general.

1. Rich Rodriguez's offense might save his job: Rip on Michigan's defense all you want, but the Wolverines' offense deserves a lot of credit this season. Michigan overcame five turnovers to rack up 67 points, 676 offensive yards and 33 first downs against a good Illinois defense that entered Saturday ranked 12th nationally in points allowed (16.8 ppg) and 15th in yards allowed (301.4 ypg). Despite losing starting quarterback Denard Robinson to a head injury, Michigan kept rolling behind backup Tate Forcier. Wideout Roy Roundtree had a historic day with a team-record 246 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The Wolverines needed every bit of offense to beat Illinois in triple overtime, but they're now bowl eligible and can breathe a little easier before a very winnable game at Purdue. Seven wins should ensure Rodriguez is back in 2011.
 

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/32103/what-we-learned-in-the-big-ten-week-10-3

 

What are your thoughts?

SysMark

November 7th, 2010 at 7:33 PM ^

Personally (JMO) at this point I think RR is back regardless, but the more wins the better.

I expect we will slam Purdue, and it will be fun.

TennBlue

November 7th, 2010 at 8:01 PM ^

Firing a coach after only 3 years requires some pretty serious malfeasance, and there just isn't anything to support such a move.  If the offense was as bad as the defense, then coupled with the NCAA stuff there would be some justification for getting rid of him.

As it is, there are signs of significant progress and future greatness, so pulling the trigger would be pretty damaging to the program.  I don't think Dave Brandon is that dumb.  Quite the converse, actually.

Bando Calrissian

November 7th, 2010 at 11:36 PM ^

I'd rather Brandon wait to see how next year develops before handing out an extension. Especially given the fact that there will likely be some shuffling around on the staff no matter what happens.  RR comes back next year and proves that 2008 and 2009 are a thing of the past, go ahead, work that contract.  

WolverineEagle

November 8th, 2010 at 12:24 AM ^

An extension for a guy who has produced the worst season, Big Ten record, and defenses in UM? An extension for a guy who was in charge when UM was placed on probation for the first time?
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<br>It boggles the mind that you think that he deserves an extension.

Aequitas

November 8th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

"Nice guy, but it was clear he lost his team and the program a couple years before the ax finally fell."

What part of your point is relevant to Rodriguez?  The team played their guts out for him Saturday.

Unless you were just trying to interject some much un-needed negativity into the topic, this comment seems pretty pointless.

jmblue

November 7th, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^

We actually gave Amaker six years.  But it's an apples/oranges comparison because football is far more essential to the athletic budget.  The stadium, including suites, has to keep on selling out.

WolverineEagle

November 8th, 2010 at 12:10 AM ^

Horrid defense and special teams indicate future greatness to you? 0-8 vs MSU, PSU, and OSU indicate future greatness to you? 6 nonqualifers in the last class indicate greatness to you?
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<br>At this point, a rational being could only say that only the offense us headed for greatness based on the available facts. The rest of the team can only be assumed to continue to be terrible because that us what they have been for three years.
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Mich_Faithful

November 8th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^

Assuming that Mich hired Rich Rod for his offense I'd say that he has succeeded(obviously the football team put up one less point than the basketball team did the night before). If we had hired him for his defense or special teams then I'd say he has failed; however, I say its still hard to say whether its Greg Robinson's fault or its just plain youth in our secondary( i think i heard something like 9 true freshman on defense this weekend).  If Warren had stayed and Woolfolk didn't get knocked out for the season this could have been a different season for us.  Actually the defense didn't look too bad AT TIMES in the Illinois game, hard to believe, but they did have back to back stops in the second half.  Have Woolfolk next year, and the some experience in the secondary will help regardless, and we really don't lose anyone besides Mouton on D I believe.

dothepose

November 7th, 2010 at 7:45 PM ^

I am all in as long as we fire GRob and let someone have more control of the defense. Which isn't really thinking outside the box, but that offense is too good to just give up on it. Almost everyone is coming back next year on offense, besides Schilling and Dorrestein, oh my, I have a hard-on just thinking of the damage that we will do next year.

Edit: Don't know why a neg was necessary but whatever, to each his own.

Waffles

November 7th, 2010 at 11:01 PM ^

Our defense actually looks alright for the next 2 years.  Next year should be much better (I hope), Martin will be a Senior, Roh will be a junoir, Demens is coming along, Avery, gordon and vinpoal look promising and of course, we'll have T-wolf back. 

 

RR needs to bring in a D-Coordinator and let him run his own scheme, don't force the 3-3-5 down someones throat because you like it.

IPFW_Wolverines

November 8th, 2010 at 4:11 AM ^

Year 1: The Michigan offense was so bad it was constantly putting the D in poor position. So what was suppossed to be the strength of the team just got wore down every game. (Record 3-9)

Year 2: Michigan starts over on defense with a new D Coordinator and young players. The offense still is young, with a true freshman QB starting and the best offensive player injured most the year. (Record 5-7)

Year 3:  The D gets even younger and switches systems for the 3rd year in a row. The offense finally is healthy and rocking.  (Record 6-3)

 

I see improvement every year here. Even with the defense playing bad as they ever have at Michigan the team is still 6-3 right now. 

bluenyc

November 7th, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^

I hope when you mention biggest tools, that wasn't a reference to Rittenburg.  He actually has been positive toward Michigan.

Edit : Should be Rittenberg, not Rittenburg.  Thought that looked off.

pullin4blue

November 7th, 2010 at 7:41 PM ^

I second SysMark. Some friends of mine were at the practice on Wednesday and said that DB was at the practice and on the sideline with RR. From what it sounded like, DB is going out of his way to make sure he understands RR and his program, he will not be making a knee-jerk decision. 

I had another friend that saw DB at a fundraiser and he said that DB was not overtly happy about the NCAA findings. He felt that the University never should have been put in that position in the first place, so although the findings were favorable, he's still not happy. The feeling from the second friend was that DB will give RR a firm, but very fair evaluation, and if it means that he needs to do something to help out, he will.

DB has been the best hire the University has made in a long time!!!

Bando Calrissian

November 7th, 2010 at 10:02 PM ^

Brandon is at practice most days, and is on the sidelines during games.  It's abundantly clear that no matter what happens, whether RR is retained or fired, it will not be an uninformed decision.  Brandon is putting himself in a position to know all the facts, to be visible, to understand what's going on in his most visible program, and that's absolutely the right thing to do.

Derek

November 8th, 2010 at 3:48 AM ^

I mean, fiscal health, profitability, and stadium renovations are all pretty important. I'm still confident that Rich Rod was a good hire (although the Miles and Sailboats story seemed pretty bad back then), and Beilein has done a decent enough job.

I may be unaware of glaring strikes against Bill Martin, though.

speakeasy

November 7th, 2010 at 7:43 PM ^

In the world of the mainstream media, Rittenburg is generally as far from being a tool as they get, I think. He usually doesn't spout random nonsense, has some amount of reasoning behind his thoughts, and doesn't engage in shock journalism. 

 

Edit: twice beaten to it.

BlockM

November 7th, 2010 at 7:49 PM ^

As far as reporters go, Rittenberg does a good job of 1) presenting facts to back up his opinions while allowing for alternate opinions to exist and 2) doing his best to err on the side of caution rather than sensationalism.

mGrowOld

November 7th, 2010 at 7:58 PM ^

Don't be too hard on Cali for his evaluation of Rittenberg as a tool.   I'm sure he just saw "media" and made the assumption they would be tool-like.  Which, given our circumstances arournd here, is not that hard to understand.

But I agree that he's not as toolish as most mainstream media types are.