Rich Rod article on SB Nation
LINK:
Bill Connelly's preview of Arizona, titled,
The Arizona Wildcats are checking every box on the Program Collapse Checklist
Rodriguez fired Jeff Casteel. Greg Byrne (who hired RR) left to be the AD at Alabama. Rodriguez just went 3-9 in his 5th season at Arizona.
It's not looking good for the ol' Rich Rod.
Scheduling has helped a lot in that area. Like Tommy Amaker at Michigan, he's masked his lousy conference records with non-conference cupcakes.
Arizona is not an easy gig.
He is competing with USC/UCLA/Washington/ASU for recruits.
I'm not saying he would be successful elsewhere but he's done ok there for what he's up against.
If Rich Rod has fallen prey to anything, it's to the ongoing history of U of A football (this was expanded upon on PAPN yesterday too). They get into the top 10 just as often as other mid-tier Pac 12 schools, but they rarely stay there (an injury happens they can't recover from, a bad loss turns into three losses, schedules catch upt o mediocre teams). Both Arizona schools lack the depth of talent available to the California schools, since they typically recruit in the same areas, and the state doesn't produce enough talent on its own to cover for that.
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Are we done with this guy yet? It's only been, what, six years?
I was going to ask the same thing. Not trying to be a jerk, but we're 2 coaches removed from him already.
Michigan men pass on the traditions of Michigan to our children and grandchildren. The victors, getting to the stadium early to watch the band take the field, seeing the team hit the banner, arguing about weather RichRod was a good coach, teaching them about what it is to be a Michigan man, etc.
Time honored traditions
How some posters can take joy in Rich Rodriguez not succeeding. It didn't work for him here for a host of reasons and the Michigan program moved on. Even though it didn't work for him here, I'll never forget what he and his staff did for the Brock Mealer family. Wins and losses aside, it's actions off the field that define you as a person. I'd take the years of Rich Rod and Brady Hoke over any success Bama had during that time if we had a coach like Nick Saban. Thankfully, we have a coach now in Harbaugh who is a great person and can get us lots of wins. While he wasn't right for the Michigan job, I think Rich Rod is good person and a good leader of men. Didn't work out for him at Michigan but no reason for us not to root for him to succeed somewhere else.
I don't really buy your argument that you'd take the Rich Rod & Hoke years over having years like Alabama has had with Saban. You say Harbaugh is a great person, but ask a lot of other fanbases what they think of him and the picture isn't so rosy. Saban has given away a ton of his money through charitable donations and I think he has his own charity. I'm sure Bama fans think Saban is a great guy. It's all a matter of perspective. I think Urban Meyer is a gigantic snake-oil-selling-douchebag, but there are plenty of articles out there that indicate the contrary.
when we finally beat Ohio State I'm still going to make troll accounts without shame.
Yes.
We have legit gripes about the ethics of Bama. We resent them. Etc.
But they win. And anyone who doesn't they'd be 100% pro-Saban if he were here in that time period is absolutely nuts. Maybe we'd be suspicious that we weren't totally clean, but we'd talk ourselves out of it (I once talked to a very humble, reasonable, non-crazy Bama fan, and casually brought up the cheating. They were absolutely adamant that Bama was winning clean. You tell yourself these things, you have to).
Saban probably wouldn't have won quite as many national titles here, but even if the performance is substantially lower (say, two) we're beating OSU 50% or more of the time, crushing MSU, winning titles? That would be the best era of Michigan football of my lifetime. Frankly, even a pay-for-play scandal couldn't erase it, sting though it would.
I'm glad our program tries to do things the right way. I'm glad we have Harbaugh. I wouldn't trade being a Michigan fan, even with the heartaches and disappointments, for anything.
But would I have loved what a Saban regime would have brought? 100% yes.
I was never comfortable with the way so many were eager to throw Carr under the bus to explain RR's failures. I never thought that was fair to a man who served our athletic department 30 years, brought home a national title, made the College Football Hall of Fame, and was generally known as one of the good guys in the profession.
Ahh the Lloyd Carr era, when people would criticize our consistent 9 win or better coach for not handling a lead as well as he probably should have or other football related notes instead of not being enough of a "Michigan Man". The good ole days. Thank god for Harbaugh.
Brock Mealer is a great story, but to use him as a human shield against criticisms of RichRod's failures on the football field is pretty gross.
he IS a football genius. Almost every program uses Zone Read concepts, a play which Rodriguez literally invented. It's also fine to recognize that he's not a great coach anymore. Both can be true.
Hal Mumme has been credited with modernizing the air raid in college football, and he's coaching Division 3. Pretty sure he's been fired from division 3 as well. Genius doesn't always make great.
that it was a QB from Glenville State, not Shaun King. I will give him credit though, he took it and ran with it. He was able to see the mistake and make it a staple of the offense. You could argue that Rich Rodriguez revolutionized football more so than any other coach ever.
I'm also a big Rich Rod fan. But I'm not going to sit here and pretend like he has been good since WVU. I do agree that he hasn't developed any new or unique concepts off of it, and the fact that so many teams run it now means that alot of teams know how to defend it, and that the scheme alone isnt going to win anymore. I would like to see Rich Rod end up as an OC somewhere, at a place like Alabama or Clemson, where he can focus solely on offense, and not on anything else.
plays that happened in the history of football, I imagine that a quarterback dropping the ball and reading the guy has happened at least once before Rich Rod. It may have been an accident, but he was able to see something no one else was.
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Me. I give a FUCK. In fact I gave THREE of 'em.
Well perhaps he isn't the offensive genius he once was or was thought to be...? Aside from WVU - where he should have stayed, in hindsight - he's been a relative failure. At this point, even the "win 8 games/year" UA fans are starting to tire of him and the situation there was supposed to be "ideal" for his scheme - predictably perfect desert weather ...no Defense in the P-12 and a fan/alumni base that wasn't as "entitled" as we Wolverines.
Yet ...here he is, coming off a horrendous year with a fairly bad recruiting class and little optimism.
Maybe it's time for we Michigan fans to let it go on both sides -- those that still seem to relish in his failure, along with the apologists who still cry about him needing just "one more year with HIS players and system."
It is what it is. GO BLUE and THANK GOD we've got Jim Harbaugh!!!!!
Fuck that guy. Mother fucker ruined my life and everything I thought I knew about the universe and football.
I don't find it astounding at all. People's feelings toward him are what they are and there is no changing that. He may be a good human but he cratered this beloved program to a level unseen in our lifetime. We lost to Toledo - at home! Any time a RR topic shows up, the venom will flow from the majority as that is just how the majority honestly feels about him. By now, this should be no surprise to anyone.
On the one hand, kind of nutso post.
On the other, Iron Sheik avatar!
Wow Richrod sucks? I had no idea.