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Rodriguez didn't have a "great" year until his fifth year at WVU posting an 11-1 record, so I agree that it might take a little bit to establish something meaningful. Although, he'll have more resources to work with at Michigan, so it shouldn't take as long to recruit, train and teach the system.

Michigan was taking a huge risk when they hired RichRod. We'll see if it pays off.

How 'bout 'em | 03/30/08, 09:54 PM

You are right...it's a huge risk. While Florida hired a Spread guru like Urban Meyer for the Gators, Florida has a ton of speedsters that can fill his roster. RR doesn't have that same option. Michigan speed and Florida speed are two different animals. I think he should slowly adjust, not throw them to the wolves, or a lot of playrs will bail.

LisaHorneOnSI.com | 03/30/08, 10:16 PM

You hit the nail on the head with this article. Rod should have implemented the spread over a couple years, which would have given older players time to adjust their style of play (or graduate) and would have given Rod the time to recruit the kind of players to make the spread work...Now I think he is going to take years to recover.

GLMaddawg | 03/30/08, 11:48 PM

Hiring Rodriquez was much more than a huge risk, it was stupid. You have to understand the culture of Michigan football to realize that the faithful view winning as a right, not something to be earned. While I do agree (How'bout'em) that he would eventually succeed given Michigan's resources, I don't think he is going to be given the time to do it. They are not going to a bowl game this year. If he loses this team before November, and based on Lisa's take, there is a very good chance, I think he will be gone before the the 2009 recruiting season kicks into high gear.

INCSOC | 03/31/08, 09:16 AM

GLMaddawg-

Well, apparently RR has a full head of steam and will force the issue. I can't understand why he is doing this. They are Michigan....even if they were bad for Michigan standards (like a 7-5), they would still go bowling. Every team has its cycles,look at Nebraska.


INCSoc-

Well, they have to give him minimum three years, unless, of course, he shows lack of disciplining his team. If that is what Boren was alluding to, then yeah, he's toast. I hope, for the players on the team and the fans, this isn't true.

LisaHorneOnSI.com | 03/31/08, 07:16 PM

Good blog and good article. Rodriguez needs to be given time. I'm a Michigan fan but I see a so-so season ahead. Hopefully someone can step up and be the QB.

J. HOVA: BROOKLYN'S OWN | 04/01/08, 09:11 AM

I was born and raised a Michigan fan. I've seen a dominant Wolverine program in the 90's reduced to a mediocre program in the recent present. We've gone from Big-Ten supremacy to just being competive with the likes of Illinois and getting beat by App. State. A changing of the guard was overdue. I'll be satisfied if we get to the GMAC bowl within the next two seasons from the look of things...

Cheef Prnce | 04/01/08, 08:48 PM

J.Hova....thanks for stopping by, and you have every right to be proud of the great tradition that is Michigan football. Good luck.

Cheef....I know how you feel. I'm an SC fan and when we went to the Liberty Bowl after a drought, I was happy. Then we lost. UGH. But I am sure Michigan will get at the very minimum an upper-tier bowl. rThe Buckeyes were in a rebuilding year last year and look at them...BCS game! Go Big Blue.

LisaHorneOnSI.com | 04/01/08, 09:20 PM

Give RR a chance. He has to put in his new offense this spring to see how the players handle them. He can scale it back this fall if it's not working, but he can't add them if they haven't even seen them. It makes sense to see what he's got to work with!

michal | 04/01/08, 11:25 PM

mich....I agree that he should be given a chance. At least three years. My problem with what he has done is that he is installing a new offense that dictates certain skilled positions have certain attributes. Like you can't really run an I formation with a scat back, you can't really run a spread with a fullback. It doesn't work.

LisaHorneOnSI.com | 04/02/08, 12:19 PM

As a huge Blue Fan since walking the campus in Ann Arbor with my dad back in the ate 70s (he was in school there at the time), I can say that its been hard to see another change in the guard for our beloved Wolverines. FACT: The pro-set wasn't working for the Wolverines against opponents who have thought through the future offense. Speed and mobility are paramount today and RR knows what he needs. I don't think we are giving RR the credit he deserves; he's a smart veteran coach and has plenty of resources fro an esteemed program. It's April, we've got time for to let destiny take its course. Not necessarily to the Fiesta Bowl but a well deserved trip to Pasadena.

Ranger1999 | 04/03/08, 11:37 AM

Ranger....I think a bowl game is definitely in your 2008 season. When Carroll came to USC, I had very little reason to think the team would do well that first season. They ended up not doing too badly. But we were lucky.

Michigan has great tradition, and CFB wouldn't be the same without them in the mix. You will always get the creme de la creme players. It's the school's destiny.

I think the Pro Set works great...it was Carr's lack of imaginative play-calling and predictability that doomed Big Blue. He's a class act, a complete gentleman, but coaching had escaped him. he did the right thing and stepped down.

I am not sure about RR. I'm not a big fan of the no-huddle spread, so that could be part of the problem. There's something to be said for winning the war in the trenches. The spread is very WAC-like...I'm not so sure the Michigan fans will like it. It's a whole new animal.

Good luck to your team. Hope to see you in Pasadena!

LisaHorneOnSI.com | 04/04/08, 02:21 PM

Lisa - Didn't Pete Carroll's first year at SC go 6-6. If I remember right, most of the SC fans didn't want him in the first place.

michigan could only get so lucky.

I wont be sad to watch michigan lose 5, 6 or 7 games each season for the next 2 or 3 years.

Sexton | 04/12/08, 12:07 AM

Im a huge Michigan fan and dont say **** until the season
the players who play for Michigan are the ones i talk about
im not saying there goin undafeated but im saying u dont no how this is gonna work
just wait and c

b_ball_star_1 | 04/17/08, 12:48 AM

its to bad carlose brown has been hurt or else hed be a great fit

b_ball_star_1 | 04/17/08, 12:49 AM

Great blog Lisa! I think you have more potential talent in this business than the writers at Sporting News or SI.

I read the fan's responses in the Detroit Free Press to see what the UM fans are thinking(keep your friends close, but your enemies closer). They fall into two camps: those that loved Lloyd Carr and those that did not and wanted change.

I'll be completely honest: I hate the Wolverines probably as much as Woody Hayes did, but I believe that most Michigan fans are trying to put a pretty face on a very bad situation.

Rich Rodriguez was UM's fourth choice to replace Lloyd, I believe. We all know Les Miles was "the man" that they wanted. Thanks to Kirk Herbstriet, Les had to make a decision before the SEC championship game to stay or go. He stayed.

Then after RR committed to UM, he thought Terrelle Pryor was guaranteed to follow him because their offensive styles fit perfectly. Michigan fans were THRILLED. After TP saw all of the Rodriguez shenanigans with his departure at WVU, and with the idea of being "thrown into the fire" as a freshman if he went to UM, he knew his career would be short lived due to a likely knee injury.

So then TP decides to go to the best place for him, Ohio State, and all of a sudden the Michigan fans think that Pryor is "overrated" and really "wasn't that great" and "we don't want this media hog" anyway.

Go figure the mind of a Wolverine fan.

If I try to look at UM's next season objectively, which is difficult, admittedly, I can honestly say that they are going to likely go 6-6 or 7-5, if they are lucky.

UM is like an injured whale being circled by a hundred Great White sharks. Teams like Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan State and Notre Dame can smell the blood, and they realize that they have to beat this team while they're down.

I don't think Charlie Weis is much of a coach, but he brought in a top 3 freshman class and Notre Dame should rebound this year nicely.

The same cannot be said for RRod's incoming freshman class. Although this would be a great class for teams like Indiana or Northwestern, it is not up to the standards that Lloyd Carr used to land.

I think Rich Rod could write a book on "How not to leave a Head Coaching job."

If RR does not pull in a top 5 class in the next two years, it is going to be a steady, further drop for the Wolverines. The UM administration will NOT give this guy the time to turn around this program because he is NOT a "Michigan Man." (Cro-Magnon Man?) Mark it down.

buckeyedude | 04/21/08, 09:18 AM

RRod did not recruit Henry...a leftover when he came to WVU.Give Rich two years to get his system kids to UM and you will see. I live in WV and the university did him so wrong...he's a great coach!

WVGATOR | 04/24/08, 02:05 PM

Any player or fan of WVU understands what Boren meant by the "family values" eroding. Everyone in Morgantown knew what went on in practice; they just chose to ignore it while they were winning. Rodriguez was brutal with the players, he degraded them, swore at them, did everything to embarrass them. No question the transition from Carr's environment to the fairly hostile one that Rodriguez implemented was not what Boren signed up for.

With that said, Rodriguez is an offensive genius. He has done marvels for his offenses. He certainly has some serious weaknesses, which a man of his arrogance has a very difficult time recognizing, like inability to repair the o-line after his feud with Trickett that pushed him to FSU, leaving WVU a degenerated o-line last year. He also is not a strong recruiter, though the Michigan name may help his weakness there. His play calling over the past three years has significantly deteriorated. If he can get his players, though, he will have results.

It's very interesting to listen to the comments by the players now. White hasn't outright said it, but he is much happier with Stewart at the helm (ESPN has a good video on their college football page). Stewart has notably said over and over again that things will be different, no cursing, yelling, but the players have said that despite that, there is just as much expectation and push in practice as there was before. All in all, I think we are better off now than we were before.

As for Rodriguez, I don't know what will happen at Michigan, but if he isn't able to harvest a player with Pat White's ability (which will be very difficult to do) his offense will probably not succeed. The Pryor shun was a serious blow to his job security, and he knows it. I expect a similar first year at Michigan to his first at WVU (3-8). The major difference is that WVU has always been patient with coaches, while UM probably won???t. I imagine he'll be allowed one bad year (maybe just below .500) one decent year (7-8 wins), and then he had better be winning the Big Ten, or at least beating Ohio State. Otherwise, he'd better keep his resume updated.

I think much of the reason he was hired was because of the spread. Tressell has had notable difficulties against it, and Michigan knows that if Rodriguez runs it effectively, they will probably be able to at least split games with OSU. The way I see it, if he can't get it done against OSU, he'll be out. But I certainly wouldn't expect it to be doable in at least the first 3-4 years. And after three or four years, the glory days of the spread may be over. By my calculations, it's a gimmick offense that will eventually die off, only appearing a few times during a game (think the old "veer offense"). Teams are slowly figuring it out; South Florida, Pitt, and others are recruiting faster defenses, and especially against the zone-read, are just stacking 8-9 men in the box and stuffing the offense every time. Tape of WVU struggles with the zone-read are plenteous, if Tressell just gets it in his hands, Michigan will struggle.

Tressell's first big win came early when he beat Rodriguez for Pryor. The big win is not that he got Pryor, but that he kept Rodriguez from getting him. But Tressell made an early statement that he will make sure Rodriguez's team is deprived of its necessary tools. If he can keep this up, and steal major recruits from Rodriguez, Rodriguez will be out of a job in 3-4 years guaranteed.

mountaineerfan_10 | 05/05/08, 08:30 PM

Any player or fan of WVU understands what Boren meant by the "family values" eroding. Everyone in Morgantown knew what went on in practice; they just chose to ignore it while they were winning. Rodriguez was brutal with the players, he degraded them, swore at them, did everything to embarrass them. No question the transition from Carr's environment to the fairly hostile one that Rodriguez implemented was not what Boren signed up for.

With that said, Rodriguez is an offensive genius. He has done marvels for his offenses. He certainly has some serious weaknesses, which a man of his arrogance has a very difficult time recognizing, like inability to repair the o-line after his feud with Trickett that pushed him to FSU, leaving WVU a degenerated o-line last year. He also is not a strong recruiter, though the Michigan name may help his weakness there. His play calling over the past three years has significantly deteriorated. If he can get his players, though, he will have results.

It's very interesting to listen to the comments by the players now. White hasn't outright said it, but he is much happier with Stewart at the helm (ESPN has a good video on their college football page). Stewart has notably said over and over again that things will be different, no cursing, yelling, but the players have said that despite that, there is just as much expectation and push in practice as there was before. All in all, I think we are better off now than we were before.

As for Rodriguez, I don't know what will happen at Michigan, but if he isn't able to harvest a player with Pat White's ability (which will be very difficult to do) his offense will probably not succeed. The Pryor shun was a serious blow to his job security, and he knows it. I expect a similar first year at Michigan to his first at WVU (3-8). The major difference is that WVU has always been patient with coaches, while UM probably won???t. I imagine he'll be allowed one bad year (maybe just below .500) one decent year (7-8 wins), and then he had better be winning the Big Ten, or at least beating Ohio State. Otherwise, he'd better keep his resume updated.

I think much of the reason he was hired was because of the spread. Tressell has had notable difficulties against it, and Michigan knows that if Rodriguez runs it effectively, they will probably be able to at least split games with OSU. The way I see it, if he can't get it done against OSU, he'll be out. But I certainly wouldn't expect it to be doable in at least the first 3-4 years. And after three or four years, the glory days of the spread may be over. By my calculations, it's a gimmick offense that will eventually die off, only appearing a few times during a game (think the old "veer offense"). Teams are slowly figuring it out; South Florida, Pitt, and others are recruiting faster defenses, and especially against the zone-read, are just stacking 8-9 men in the box and stuffing the offense every time. Tape of WVU struggles with the zone-read are plenteous, if Tressell just gets it in his hands, Michigan will struggle.

Tressell's first big win came early when he beat Rodriguez for Pryor. The big win is not that he got Pryor, but that he kept Rodriguez from getting him. But Tressell made an early statement that he will make sure Rodriguez's team is deprived of its necessary tools. If he can keep this up, and steal major recruits from Rodriguez, Rodriguez will be out of a job in 3-4 years guaranteed.

mountaineerfan_10 | 05/05/08, 08:31 PM

At times change can be painful, the exodus of some players should have been expected when Carr retired. There was a lot of discontent and players that left in Bo's first year in "69". Bo survived quite well, not saying that RR will ever achieve Bo's status but the comparison holds an insite on how change can play out. Michigan is a very tough place to coach if you do not meet the expectations that are high year in and year out. RR should get a pass for this year if for no other reason then the complete make over in the Michigan Program. But if it appears his plan is going south or gets "stuck" in this transition I wouldn't give you three cents for his behind in Ann-Arbor. As far as anyone comparing him to the "vest" (Tressel) is streching it a bit. Two completely different coaches in style and substance. This isn't how it was in Bo's and Woody's era. The ever present link that existed between these two legendary coaches. RR had better not make the mistake of confusing WVU & Michigan, two completely different animals here. He may tinker and completely change how Michigan plays the game but he best not change a thing that concerns Michigan's tradition, if he does he will unleash the "hounds" of Ann-arbor upon him.

Airborne72 | 06/25/08, 10:27 AM