ESPN article on Rich Rodriguez and the juxtaposition between Michigan and Arizona Football
Ladies and Gentlemen of MGoBlog, I present to you the following article by ESPN. Link:
This should be good….
October 8th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^
So because Arizona was terrible before he got there, he's spectacular for taking them to mediocre? Okay. Even if he turns out to have great success at Arizona, it shouldn't be surprising. He was smart enough to hire a good DC at WVU and Arizona and too stupid to hire a decent one at Michigan. That's pretty much the end of it.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^
You think RRod was the one who didn't want Casteel here?
October 8th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
Of course he wanted Casteel here, but guess what, there were more than two defensive coordinators in America in 2008. In fact, by 2010, 108 of them fielded better defenses than Michigan.
October 8th, 2014 at 5:01 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 3:49 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
But this is what it means:
October 8th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
it's just that you're a bear and deductive reasoning isn't in your DNA....It'll be alright.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
Well perhaps you could help by explaining the meaning in what otherwise appears to be a meaningless term dervied from nothing but feelings and revisionist history.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
Can we just not
Here's a kitten
October 8th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
how exciting-- new Analysis, NEW Historical Truths-Data
October 8th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
"Had Bo Schembechler been there, I probably wouldn't have had to deal with some of [the non-football BS]."
Oof. The truth hurts.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
It stings really badly. We lost the patriarch of our program. There is no one to galvanize the program and bring it together. Dave Brandon wanted so bad to be THAT guy. I wonder how that’s going....
October 8th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^
So true. It would have taken exactly one meeting of athletic department staff for Bo to call out and put and end to the in-fighting shenanigans.
Instead you have the faction remnants of a broken and lost era fighting over succession and politics - that continue to fight and work against the players, the fans and the program to this day.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
Let us not forget that pretty much no one in the national media stood up for Rich Rod when he was at UM. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall no op-eds on espn.com saying that RR deserved more time. I mean, that's not really for ESPN to do as much as it is for local media, but they did a little goading (and yes, RR's results didn't help either). It's much easier now to shower praises on him.
Three and Out should be required reading for any Michigan fan. I agree that a big part of the problem with Michigan is Michigan. That includes Lloyd Carr.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
I don't want to hear this crap from ESPN or anyone in the national media. Every media outlet in the country was TRASHING him when he left West Virginia, and reveling in every one of his losses and missteps along the way. Get bent, ESPN.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
The same people who were all like, "I hope Michigan keeps Rodriguez for years because he sucks" are now saying, "Boy, Michigan was stupid to fire Rodriguez! I hope they keep Hoke for years to come!"
October 8th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
Pretty much sums it up.
October 8th, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^
The coaching tree for Lloyd has to be one of the most scrawniest trees of any coach of a major program in history. The fact that he was here as long as he was and produced the likes of Ron English, Mike Deboard, and Brady Hoke is sad. I cannot think of a single coach that was on his staff that went on to do great things after Michigan. The Rodriguez tree is more impressive than Carr's with coaches Todd Graham, Butch Jones and even Bill Stewart compared to Carr.
Until Michigan can appreciate and respect the past but also not use it as a crutch to try and remain relevant nothing will change. Those 8 national championships that happend before WW2 really mean nothing to the kids being recruited today.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
What about special teams? His special teams were probably worse than the defense. Remember when we just stopped trying field goals completely? I think RR will continue to do fine at Arizona, ala WVU. Much lower expectations, much less interest, far fewer fat cat alumni who have to be massaged, and far fewer fans upset about his rough edges. He seems to have Oregon's number. Not too surprising since as I understand it, Oregon's offense is based on RR's invention. Casteel is solid but no miracle worker. I can't see U of A ever finishing ahead of USC, UCLA, and Oregon on a consistent basis, maybe not even ASU. He'll probably get them to a Rose Bowl one day, but not more than once or twice.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 2:09 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
The same folks that are still saying RRod was the problem and did not deserve another year when he was at Michigan are the same people whose opinions contributeed to us having a coach like Hoke and this current circus.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
and more than likely they are the ones saying Hoke deserves another year to get things going. The hypocracy of that faction is beyond belief.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^
Did he have Casteel as his D coordinator while here? Didn't think so. He had shit D coordinators and thus would not have gotten Michigan to reach the heights he is reaching at Arizona with Casteel. Was he better than Hoke? Yes, but he's half a coach and still not what we need here at Michigan. We need a coach who has a clue about the other side of the ball and doesn't just rely on the dumb luck of stumbling into a good coordinator to make him look great.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
This is weird stuff. Everyone seems to refer to RichRod's success in the singular, like it's just him. The math was simple, and article alluded to it briefly - RichRod is half the equation. The other half is a competent D coach. At Michigan, RichRod bombed with both hires (chemistry with Shafer, competence with Gerg). At Arizona, he reunited with the D coach that made him the hot commodity at WVA in the first place.
Arizona is enjoying the full RichRod/Casteel package, whereas Michigan never had that chance, and there is no indication that with Gerg in year 4, RichRod would have led Michigan to a defeat of a #2 team and a top 10 ranking. Sorry man, you did a shit job with your D hires while at Michigan, so it made sense for you to go. Would have been nice for the article to mention how shit his D hires worked out at Michigan, and how that was what ulimately led to his departure.
Love RichRod because he tried to help our program, so always loyal and will root for him, but don't regret his departure because all we lost was half a package.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
Who's fault is it he couldn't land Casteel? By all accounts it was our cheap as AD that wouldn't bump the salary for Casteel up to $200+k but had no problem tripling the salary for Mattison ($600k+).
That kind of stupid thinking by the AD is why we are all so pissed about the situation. They had a great coach but didn't give him the basic support he needed to really succeed here. But they gave it to Hoke, and then some, who is a terrible coach and has never proven otherwise.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
And they're right....
You just knew a "feel good" story about Rodriguez was coming the minute they hired him at Arizona. It was only a matter of time. It's happened too because he's a brilliant football coach. People hate him with a passion. No fucking shit. People hated Bo with a passion too. Except they were our competitors, not colleagues.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^
He's such a brilliant football coach that unless he has the right D coordinator, his teams are shit. He knows nothing about defense. Sorry man, take Casteel away from his current equation and all of the lovey-dovey bloviation doesn't exist.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
Kevin Sumlin has not had a good defense in 7 years as a HC at Houston and A&M. 5 of his previous 6 years his defense was ranked 100 or worse. Mike Gundy also has a long history of very bad defenses ranking 80 to 110.
Most people would give an arm on this board to have access to either of those coaches. Neither of which knows crap about defense.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^
Which makes it altogether more mind boggling that the athletic department wouldn't give the football headcoach the support he needed to get all of the pieces in place for the program.
Could you imagine them telling Hoke he wouldn't be allowed to hire Mattison? Beilein that he can't hire LaVall or Bacari? Or our next football coach whomever he needed? That would be utter madness, just like it was when it was done to RichRod.
October 9th, 2014 at 7:25 AM ^
Rare is the head coach who exhibits elite strategic acumen on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. That's why you have a staff that you have to trust and rely on to help pick up the slack. This argument that Rodriguez's success is only as good as the DC he had working with him because "he knows nothing about defense" is a red herring. You can say something similar about every other head coach in college football.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
RR deserves a lot of credit for beating Oregon (twice). But let's see how the season plays out before anointing him a wronged genius. He tended to start hot at Michigan, too. Arizona didn't look great against some tin-can opponents, and I can easily see them going 3-3 down the stretch, losing to UCLA, Utah, and ASU. Admittedly, a three-loss season would still be impressive by Arizona standards (and compared to Hoke's performance). I just suspect Arizona ain't all that.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^
This is just the tip of the iceberg. UA's leading rusher is a true freshman. The QB is a RS freshman. The top receiver is a sophomore. Even in the article RichRod points out they are still a good ways from where they can/will be in the near future.
Their position is in sharp contrast to the future in store for a program that is bringing in recruiting classes smaller than what USC got during their severe sanctions.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:17 PM ^
because they have arguably the best WR corp in the country in Cayleb Jones and Austin Hill. Both of them will certainly play on Sunday someday. Anu Solomon is progressing nicely as a starting QB and yes he has moments where he looks like a 1st year starting QB, but he has moments of brilliance. That bodes well for Arizona's future.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
Do people not remember some of the players that Lloyd Carr brought in? Like Larry Harrison? Marques Slocum? Johnny Sears? Mario Manningham?
October 8th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
That kind of football. The spread, I assume?
Hmm, the top three teams in the AP Poll run some form of the spread (FSU, Auburn, Mississippi State), two of those teams played for like the national championship or some shit like that last year? I dunno.
Oh and Baylor is a top five team too, they run the spread, and Notre Dame, who whooped our MANBALL asses with the spread, is number seven in the nation. TCU also runs the spread and just beat number four Oklahoma, and is now number nine.
And the seventh top ten team that runs the spread is? You guessed it. The University of Arizona Wildcats, coached by none other than the coach who makes games exciting but doesn't win!
But, you're right. Three yards and a cloud of dust wins all the time!
October 8th, 2014 at 7:27 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
I haven't seen anyone mention the free press yet, or do we just take that as a given at this point?