Michigania

February 9th, 2011 at 11:09 AM ^

I disagree.    For "classy" is how Coach Moeller has never said a negative word, after having had his team yanked from him. Classy is how Bump Elliott never cried and complained and made excuses after having his team taken away from him.  RR needs to grow up.  

Bryan

February 9th, 2011 at 11:34 AM ^

Degrading talent and saying there is a dearth of talent are two different things. When did he degrade the previous coaches? And stating that Brandon didn't necessarily give him a fair shake, well, that seems to be fairly reasonable under the circumstances. 

And to the poster a few above, I think Moeller helped with having that team yanked from him...

michgoblue

February 9th, 2011 at 11:44 AM ^

Personally, while I was in favor of firing RR, I do believe that overall, he has handled himself with class throughout this entire process.  He has not taken any DIRECT shorts at the team, the university or even Brandon.  

That said, I think that there have been a few comments that RR has made that, while I think "degrade" the team may be too strong, certainly made me cringe.  For example, when he said that even Vince Lombardi couldn't do much with this defense.  To me, that was basically a statement that no matter what, this defense wasn't going to get it done.  Talk about undercutting your players' confidence.  The far better response would have been, "Look, the defense hasn't performed as well as we would all like, but they are young, and as young kids, they are improving every day.  I think that this defense has the potential to be very good, and as coaches, we are working to get them there."

Another comment that I didn't like was the "hopefully we will find a kicker on the way to the Gator Bowl" along with his repeated public statements that they were trying to bring in walk-ons for the spot.  We all know that the kicking game sucked.  Really sucked.  But, by publicly saying that, essentially, "these kickers suck and if I could play someone else, I would," how do you build these guys up?

On the other hand,  RR's recent comments about the "process," don't bother me at all.  He didn't go out of his way to trash DB - he responded to questions and candidly stated that the process employed by DB put him, his team, his coaches and even recruits in a crappy spot.  Guess what?  It did.  If DB was going to hire Hoke - a move that totally support - he could have done that on December 1, and everyone would have been better off.  On December 1, in my view, it was pretty obvious that RR had to go, and that there was no real way that he could credibly stay, so DB DID put him in a crappy spot.  These comments don't bother me at all.

 

 

michfan4borw

February 9th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^

the issue here is whether RR has handled with class the media and himself post-firing and to a lesser extent during his time as head coach. 

His record is not up for debate at this moment. 

He was fired because of his record.  Everyone here accepts that reality.  They can still support the type of person they believe RR to be.   

If raider so wishes, he can start a thread about how terrible a person RR is (based on what: his win-loss record?). 

dahblue

February 9th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^

What happened to you?  I remember when you were full of piss and vinegar, insulting anyone  who would dare to question the wisdom and greatness of RR.  Then, you mellowed and publicly accepted that a change had to be made.  Now...the old you is back?  Eh...that's ok...you'll be back to reality once Michigan football takes the field again in the fall.  Let your ranting resume...

Wolverine318

February 9th, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^

Where am I defending him? Dude, I agree with you the records on the field indicate he should have been fired. I have been saying that for an entire month. You have to be the most dense poster on this forum. FYI, intelligent people wait until all of the data is in before they make a decision. Congrats you were right that Rich got fired. However, you were jumping the gun. Me and the intelligent individuals on this forum waited until all of the data was in before we made our decision whether Rich should have been kept for another year. Thank god you are not in research.

and once again, if you are just going to continue piss on Rich's grace, fuck off. Nobody wants to hear your personal attacks against Rich.

NOLA Wolverine

February 9th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^

If we can't come to the conclusion that there is little talent on the defense then we have to abandon what has driven this board for 3 years, "The Decimated Defense." I don't see why he wouldn't have a bad opinion on Dave Brandon, Brandon held him in limbo during the entire coaching search period of November/December which prevented him from getting a job this coming year, all in order to massively scale down his buyout.

Creedence Tapes

February 9th, 2011 at 12:24 PM ^

What has driven this board for 3 years is the false belief that we were one or two years (always next year!) away from the National Championship with Rich Rodriguez, and more excuses had to be made up along the way so that 3 years later, we were blaming the team and the fans for Rich Rods lack of success. 

MGoNukeE

February 9th, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^

Way to live in the past and hold grudges. The conversation is about how classy Coach Rodriguez has been over the firing process. Rodriguez has had many chances to take a shot at the university and Dave Brandon, but has made only nice, neutral comments about the new coach, the players, and the school. As a summary, he has:

1) Wished the team, the players, and the next coach well in the future.

2) Stated everyone (being him, his coaching staff, the players, and the new coaching staff) was worse off than they would be had Dave Brandon let Rodriguez go sooner. Even you should agree with this (save the $1.5 million that was saved, but that seems miniscule).

3) Mentioned that it's frustrating when it seemed like the worst was behind the team, feeling like the team was ready to make a turnaround.

4) (where Rich Rodriguez overstepped his bounds in a single incident) Questioned Dave Brandon's experience leading an athletic department.

Aside from 4, when has he not been classy after being let go?

dahblue

February 9th, 2011 at 3:12 PM ^

Umm...Don't recall posing the question to you.  The guy you're defending launched many a swearing insult in my direction.  He suggested I didn't live in reality b/c I thought RR was going to get fired.  Now, he's back to defending RR accusing people of not being "in reality".  So, he couldn't have been more wrong and continues to be so.  I'm sure he appreciates your help though.

To reply to your odd post...You forgot to mention how RR said that Brandon doesn't have experience, how RR tried to "explain the program" to DB, and then RR followed it up with "I know football".  That's an insult to your former boss.  Tres classy.  Finally, RR complained that he was fired after the bowl game.  What's the chance he didn't complain about "not being given a chance to coach his kids" if he were fired before it?  

p.s. He also spoke in the third person for a bit.  I didn't know that guys who quote Disney movies were so affected as to speak in the third person.  Sweet!

Wolverine318

February 9th, 2011 at 4:59 PM ^

Stick to the truth idiot. I was agreeing with you during that period that db should fire rich. Your version of reality is Very warped. Secondly, I guess in your version of reality being pro-Rich at this current moment means not pissing on his grave. 

This is a list of things that valid to criticize Rich for: 

  1. His overall Michigan record
  2. His record against key rivals
  3. His recruiting
  4. His staff decisions
  5. The players he prepared for the draft
  6. Compliance
  7. Embracing the Michigan cultue (outside of BS just because he lost to tO$U and MSU that mean he doesn't understand the rivalry. That reasoning is bullcrap and you know it) 

Criticizing Rich personally is not valid and is pretty much just an open arena for ad hominem attacks. It is attacks like family values and not being classy; that are nothing but personal attack against Rich's character and have no place in reality.

I am still waiting for an insightful post from you in this thread. All I have read from is nothing but personal attacks. 

 

 

MGoNukeE

February 9th, 2011 at 4:48 PM ^

He suggested you are not in reality because you said "Rich Rodriguez is not being classy towards the University after his firing." You then went on to suggest that, because he thought you were once not in reality because his stance of "Rich Rodriguez will not get fired" turned out to be false, it is he that is not in reality now instead of you. That's an apples-to-oranges comparison, since it's possible that he was wrong before but right now. You should thank me for allowing you the chance to explain your position rather than grouping me with him; in "reality," I'm sure I'm not the only poster that does not appreciate your current wave of attacking posters that disagree with you.

Take, for instance right now. You believe Rich Rodriguez is not being classy because he 1) stated he tried to explain how he ran the program to Dave Brandon with the belief that he knows more football than Brandon, 2) stated Brandon doesn't have experience, 3) complained that he was fired after the bowl game when he would have also complained about being fired before the bowl game, and 4) speaks in the 3rd person. I'll do this high-school debate style to try to show you that it is possible that neither of us are completely wrong, and a good way to earn some positive street cred on MGoBlog is by giving people the benefit of the doubt (this post may get to tl;dr length):

Off 1: It is an expectation that, in a macromanaging position that Dave Brandon has, Brandon probably doesn't know as much about football as the coach he is in charge of. That would only be natural for someone in charge of every sport the athletic department outputs to not know as many X's and O's behind football as the head coach that is underneath them. So is it unreasonable for a head coach to say it in public after getting fired by them? Probably not, especially given that the football that Brandon does know is certainly drastically different than the football that Rodriguez teaches. Should Rodriguez have said it? You clearly don't think so, but I don't see it as it being slanderous in any way. I could say "The President knows less about Nuclear Engineering than I do" with a strong level of confidence and not have secret service men looking for me; in fact, politicians often employ nuclear engineers like me to educate them as to how everything works.

Off 2: I gave you this point when I said Rodriguez overstepped his bounds by questioning his experience. So... you forgot to mention that I mentioned what you mentioned that I didn't mention. In any case, I don't view is as incriminating as you do because he will be given many more chances to screw up again, and I don't think he'll stand behind this point aside from some waffling "He hasn't been an AD for very long, so what I said was true." If he does, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong, FWIW.

Off 3: This point ignores the fact that Rich Rodriguez mentions that the timing of his firing affects everybody negatively, not just him. So he has already demonstrated that his interests are not entirely for himself. Thus, I don't think he would complain as much about getting fired before the bowl game than getting fired after. For himself it's possible, but this shouldn't be held against him because it didn't happen.

Off 4: I really wish I knew all the psychological details surrounding this behavioral phenomenon. The best thing I could find is that it links a person with narcissism, which given the descriptions of a narcissist don't seem to describe Rich Rodriguez. Therefore, I give Rodriguez the benefit of the doubt on this. Maybe it's a West Virginia thing.

The point that I'm trying to make is that, given the same set of facts that lead you to conclude Rodriguez is being unclassy, I don't see things the same way. Does that make me an RR Loyalist and a dahblue hater? No, it makes me human. I don't want to get into an MGoBubble discussion with you regarding what happened during RR's tenure, since that's in the past. Rather, you need to understand why you're being referenced negatively by more and more users without lashing out at them. We can agree to disagree, but we don't have to assume the other user's an idiot in the process; let the MGoCommunity decide that for themselves.

UMICH1606

February 9th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^

Prove that he said such things. Every interview that he has done since he has left has been linked here, and he as at most took a jab at Brandon for letting it drag out, and gave his opinion that he needed another year. I fail to see where he trashed the kids on the team and the previous coaches in any interview since he has been fired.