Trouble Up North?
The 2008 11W Costume Contest WinnerWhile there are some rumblings that Rich Rodriguez could be out as head coach of Michigan if he has another year like last year’s 3-9 stinker, there are some that argue that the self-proclaimed “Michigan Man” has next year to continue to mold the program to his liking without penalty.
Obviously beating the Buckeyes could save Rich Rod’s job no matter what the end of season record is, but there are multiple things to look at when you are Michigan’s athletic director, William Martin, come December 2009-January 2010 and need to make a decision on whether to retain Rodriguez for the future. These include season record of 2009 compared to 2008, development of “system” players, recruiting of quality “system” players, development of the team as the season progresses, and last, but certainly not least, their performance against Ohio State.
Looking at the 2009 season, Rodriguez needs (and I mean NEEDS) to improve upon 2008’s 3-9 mark. If he matches the trio of victories or (gulp) does worse in 2009 he will almost certainly be gone. Not only will he be dealing with national media scrutiny, but the Michigan alumni will put Martin’s office up in flames if RR fails to win four or more games. I personally think alumni will be unhappy if he can’t go 6-6 and make a bowl, but a season of 5-7 could settle the fire as long as Rich Rod’s system shows it can work in Ann Arbor.
Speaking of that system that worked so well in Morgantown, Rodriguez will need to show Michigan fans that he is working towards developing his players to run the offensive schemes he has in the playbook as good as Steve Slaton and Pat White did for the Mountaineers. Either Denard Robinson or (most likely) Tate Forcier will be the Wolverines’ quarterback come November 21 when the Buckeyes make the trip up north and by that point one of those guys need to show that they can team up with the likes of Michael Shaw and other young backs of the Maize and Blue to run an effective spread attack for the next few years. The defense can be solid under guru Greg Robinson (formerly defensive coordinator of Texas before being canned as head man at Syracuse), but Rodriguez was brought in to run his offense and it needs to show development within the program if he wants to prove to Bill Martin that he can win at the national championship level for Michigan.
As much as it is important for the current players to show development, it is more important to see how the incoming freshmen and current and future members of Michigan’s 2010 recruiting class will fit into Rich Rod’s plan. If the guys that will be at Michigan the next 3-5 years can’t cut it against the Buckeyes, Penn State, and out of conference programs that the Wolverines hope to compete against, then Rodriguez won’t last. As much as the alumni will look at these players to judge Rodriguez in the coming year, this is actually an area that you can use as a reason for Rodriguez to stay. While it is very important to show that the 2009 recruiting class can fit in to the plans laid out, the success RR has had with the 2010 class could be a reason for him to get a third year.
The final season record in 2009 will certainly be an important factor to RR’s future in the “glove state”, the development of the team as the season progresses could be even more important. This Michigan team is still young and isn’t expected to come together and win a ton of games early in 2009, but the team should show improvement playing together toward the end of the season. It’s this type of thing that is scary come “The Game” for us Buckeye fans, but if last year’s outcome coupled with a slight improvement of Michigan’s squad is any indication of this year’s outcome I think we’ll be just fine. Either way Rodriguez has to show that he can develop this team within the season to be able to prove that when he actually does have the talent he needs to compete a national level he can have them peak at the right time.
Finally, the aforementioned game on November 21 in “The Big House”. Ohio State will be coming to town with Rose Bowl and possibly National Championship hopes on the line and will be gunning for a (how good it sounds) unprecedented sixth straight victory in the annual rivalry game. Not many people are giving the Wolverines a chance in this game, and while history has shown the underdog loves to play spoiler in the rivalry, the reality is that Michigan is overmatched tremendously once again, at least on paper. Rodriguez doesn’t necessarily need to win one over The Vest (although that would be automatic job security) in this year’s game, but if Michigan plays a close one on Thanksgiving weekend it will give the alumni, students, and athletic department a glimmer of hope for RR’s future in Ann Arbor.
The jury is out as of now on whether Rodriguez will last past year two up north, but all signs are pointing to Rich Rod getting a crack at year three to prove that the plan he brought to Michigan can bring the program back to national prominence. While I love watching the Buckeyes rule the rivalry in the Tressel era, it would be nice to at least see some competitive games a la the 2005 and 2006 classics. Rich Rodriguez has disappointed Maize and Blue Nation so far during his tenure at the helm in Ann Arbor and whether he stays or goes after this year, there is no question that 2009 is a big year for the University of Michigan Football Program.
It’s time for scUM to pony up the $$$ and bring in a true,blue “Michigan Man”. Either Les Miles or Jim Harbaugh could be lured away if the offer was right. I can’t imagine DickRod coaching past 2009 up north.
Les Miles almost took it once… if LSU had not played for the NC, he would have been coach, period. He is the coach in waiting and LSU knows that also.
They can have Les Miles, I think he’s a little over rated. I know Oklahoma State had some success under him, but at LSU in inherited a ton of talent, and they do a great job of keeping Louisana kids at home. I just don’t think he’s that great personally, but I may be crazy I guess.
Agreed, Brian. I think he is bit like Coker at Miami, walked into an excellent situation and won a title with a lot of kids that were already there. He doesn’t really scare me, though if he does make the move. RR scares me a bit, b/c his system is so fu-barred from everyone else, that if he ever gets it clicking could cause us problems….
I don’t think Harbaugh would want to inherit RR’s “system qb’s” when he’s recruited a couple kids who could be stars in Palo Alto.
He may even get fired mid season if they use those expensive bricks on the new stadium. I mean, somebody has to pay for those bricks.
Coach Rod has been recruiting me for a couple months now. I told him Coach Tressel won’t allow it. Me and Ellen, we go way back. Not every coach would let a playa boink his wife! She was hot hot hot.
Great analysis. And by great analysis, I mean terrible analysis. There are no rumblings that Rodriguez is out. At the very least, I can’t see Martin giving him any less than 3 years. You do you realize that the source you attributed to is like, not a real newspaper, and its author is like, not a real writer. The “News and Sentinel” has about as much validity as something on the Bleacher Report or whatever the fuck that shitty ass website is.
i hate to say this, but you’re right. michigan has invested far too much time and money to bail on RR after just two seasons, not to mention that his body of work consists of just one season to work with a bunch of players completely wrong for his system. he’s going to get three seasons at least, and given RR’s track record it is really hard for me to argue that he won’t make michigan better, and do it fairly quickly.
i really, really don’t like RR. i think he’s an ass, and doesn’t understand or appreciate the OSU/michigan rivalry. but he’s a good coach, and has proved that at every place he’s been. i know a lot of OSU fans want to revel in the schadenfreude of michigan being terrible (and believe me, it’s tempting), but that won’t last.
I’ve calculated that “understanding the rivalry” can be worth up the 3 additional yards per play. Rich Rod’s failure to understand the UM/OSU rivalry also docks Michigan 5 points at the beginning of the game.
no it just makes him even more of an ass. michigan fans need no help in this regard
wel, i think U did vary nice job sumarizing story of dick rod, U kno the new michigan wolfverine coach. Now U kno me I do not like wolfverine vary much or even at all i especuially hate wolfverine for the following three reason first U must cosnsider that michigan wolverine team does not eat enuff chiken brest and so they are not strong instead they have vary weak aerm do you think that mike varabel had week arm? no mike varabel vary strong with mussels and vary mean also i have known mike varabvel to be vary popular with ladie in bar not as popular as joe germaine but much more popular than stanly jaxson or brett barthlomew that remind of a story one night i went to bar with breent barthlomew and he see vary smokin hot babe asian chic wearing short and high heel and he say i am going to talk to ladie and he talk to ladie then he go back to her house but she is married to momyn and have male genital part haha that brett barthlomew always getting himselve into trouble with tranny and gay man.
TFF
I disagree. RR’s brain management skills will get him over the hump this year. They should win 4 games for sure and maybe even 3. I see them beating OSU, PSU and Illinois by a combined 70 points. Sure, you can easily argue that I am wrong, but it is only because you are a stupidhead and are the result of incest and dna spoilage. The main thing is pad level. RR has fixed all the pad level issues this year and is currently working on hip swivel and wrist limping. So, all OSU fans are teh ghey and their eblogs are stupid. That reminds me. I am having chicken salad for lunch today. Get it? Chicken salad? It’s made out of real chickens. I went swimming with a chicken one day. They don’t like water much. I thought they were related to ducks, but turns it they are not. But, back on point here. Obama was born in Amurika. Sarah Palin was not. So, how can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat? That is what Michael Jackson taught me as a child. That, and be sure to drink your Pepsi. I thought it was funny when his hair caught on fire. He was alll like, help me help me my hair is on fire. And I was all like, somebody take a picture! But at home my dog crapped all over the living room rug and my boyfriend went beserk. Its not really the smell, but the odor that gets to him. We’re getting married next month at the Blue Front in Ann Arbor.
some great points here.
Audience calm down
I look at DickRod as Michigan’s John Cooper. He’s slick and brings in a new system. He has rejected some tradition and really struggled his first time out. I bet he’ll go 6-6 or 7-5 this year, but will always struggle against OSU. They’ll keep him for a decade. DickRod will win a lot of games, even share a couple of B10 titles, but he’ll never really get a handle on beating the Buckeyes. It’s karma for the Cooper years.
DickRod doesn’t get me, but I know I can get him to change. Is there anyone who can help me? I neeeeeeed to be ‘gotten’ by Dick…. Rod. IYKWIMAITTYD.
FACT: Tate Forcier is a 4* QB recruit from San Diego, CA.
FACT: Tate Forcier was named the Class of 09 most accurate QB in HS football.
FACT: Tate Forcier is a true dual threat QB.
FACT: Tate Forcier wears sweet accessories, including, but not limited to, headbands, armbands, a visor and wristbands.
FACT: Tate Forcier is tapping the choicest college chicks.
FACT: Tate Forcier will beat OSU this year or at least not lose by 35 points.
FACT: Ohio State will punch the lights out of Michigan in the Whore House this year.
FACT: Tate Forcier will get emotionally/physically rattled when Thad Gibson rips him a new one.
There are choicest college chicks in Ann Arbor? Or is he flying home?
I HAVE BEEN TO THE FUTURE. GIANT GUINEA PIGS ROAM THE EARTH AND HUMANS GO FOR VIRTUAL MEMORY VACATIONS ON MARS.
RICHROD IS STILL THE COACH OF SCUM.
END TRANSMISSION
Also, I have chicks w/ 3 bewbs. Nononononono…. one on the back, for dancin’!
Cooper didn’t get me either. I tossed him out on his ass b/c he didn’t appreciate me the way Bo, Lloyd and Woody & Bruce did. It was sad, but I had to move on.
Either that, or you know, it was the QB play. it’s 50/50.
Wow the comments have really gone to shit on this post.
I don’t think there’s anything in this post that is particularly inaccurate about RichRod’s situation, aside from how serious the “rumblings” are. I’m sure quite a bit of the fanbase is going to be *very* unhappy if he posts consecutive 3-win seasons. The post even ends with the conclusion that he will probably get three years effort to return the program to one of the top three in the big ten. There’s nothing particularly new here (I’m pretty sure I’ve read most of this over at MGoBlog several times over) but it’s a good summary and even leaves the Wolverine bashing to a minimum. Show some class, wolverine fans – I’m honestly rooting for you to get your act together – I enjoyed this year’s beat down, but I don’t know it’d be as fun if it weren’t such a rare occurrence.
“There’s nothing particularly new here”
STOP STATING ME!!!!!!!
Don’t wear me around elementary schools. More precisely, don’t wear me around elementary schools if you aren’t a fan of having your clothes licked off by a band of ravenous seven year olds.
Sugar Coat go nicely over pad if pad level is correct. Not e-pinion but e-fact.
Holy Toledo these posts are out of hound
We have the same problem with comments on our e-blog – you’re just telling it like it is, no sugarcoat. I e-respect your epinion.
Stay frosty boys. It appears as if the insufferable army has descended upon this post.
Well glad u guys liked the post! Didn”t expect this much response before 11 Am….anyways obviously there isn’t much seriousness to the RR gone after 09 and I even posted that I believe hell get to 2010 but truth is I think 2010 is boom or bust for rich…glad to see a blog post can give back some spark to this rivalry!
OMG y did I read this whole article? Have we not seen the 2009 and 2010 recruiting classes? Michigan will be bowl eligible, RR will not be fired, and as a Buckeye fan I think we need to be careful with over speculating the “team up north.” I’m sick of people thinking this is the fall of the MU program. Rather look @ this coming season the start of a Michigan climb.
And go Bucks!
Ohio State>Michigan
Woody>Bo
Glad to see the 3 funniest guys in Michigan loved the article, now go talk about how not to lose by 35 again.
Maybe you can start by printing OSU logos on the tackling dummies.
We need a “Gone after 2011″ selection.
Think of it this way:
Year 1: Loss in Columbus – first year, ok
Year 2: Loss up there- second year, ok.
Year 3: Loss in Columbus – TP wins heismann, OSU rules the world, he can get by with a decent regular season.
Year 4: Loss up there- no TP, Ohio State rebuilding = FIRED!
Great article. I don’t get how anyone can claim Michigan has a good class going so far for 2010… What am I missing? They have what, 16 commits right now and 5 4*?? That might be good at WV but at scUM that’s pretty easily an off year.
Coming off the heels of a 3-9 season cannot possibly help recruiting that much.
Michigan is a public school that any tom, dick, or harry from michigan can attend
Were you drunk when you wrote this??? So, Rodriguez needs to develop his players? Really? The entire premise for your rambling is a garbage editorial out of West Virginia. Nice. There is not a single piece of credible analysis in this entire, disorganized mess. You could have summed it up in one sentence – “There’s nothing happening with thee Ohio State today, and I hate Michigan, so Rich Rodriguez is bad.”
Oh, and iball, if Ohio State > Michigan, why does Michigan comfortably lead the all-time series? And, if Woody > Bo, why did Bo have a better record in the 10-year war? I’m sure you’re right, but…
it’s ok. Michigan hasn’t beaten Ohio State recently. some 2100 days recently.
No matter how many times you point to the overall record, that still smarts, eh? And then you look at that hick at the headcoach position, and admit it, you’ve got a sinking feeling in your stomach.
No, we don’t “have a sinking feeling”. That’s my point. There’s no panic button, and very little overall concern. Rodriguez rebuilt a chronically depleted WVU program to all-time heights. He has access to better recruits, greater financial resources, and a more patient alumni base and athletic department. Y’all should be justifying why he would fail…
hehe, did you look up the history of WVU football? DickRod was a good time for them in a weak conference but its far from the “all-time heights” of the program. the 50s and 60s were at least as kind to the program.
PS – 1988
I agree, he had the best team in a weak football conference, and they ahppened to be Georgia, who is always over rated in the BCS, and Oklahoma and we know what they do in the BCS the last 5 years.
it’s not about the fact he needs to develop the players that is obvious Steve-O-it’s about the seeing how he develops those players, i.e. does the team come together, does the talent improve as the season goes on, is there enough improvement to warrant hope of a bright future, etc……
Right, that clears it up…
congratulations on winning 19 of 20 games before cars were mass produced…i am sure your great grandfather was super stoked about it at the time, thinking of how it would let his future d-bag great grandson troll the internet with great prdie.
Haha! Classic.
Yea, keep on holding on to those wins over high school teams and YMCA pick-up leagues….
scUM beat us like thirty times before players were required to wear facemasks, and they still gloat about the shit, pathetic.
Look at the series since @ 1950, pretty even. Even still, getting credit for the past, we’re gonna make it 7 in a row before scUM has any realistic shot at winning. That is of course if they aren’t rebuilding again after firing Moonshine Dicky.
Rod took a bowl-winning WVU team that had 13 returning starters and marched them to a 3 win season his first time out.
Chronically depleted. I LOL’d
Sorry, Rodriquez continued the wild success at perennial national powerhouse West Virginia. Does that better suit your reality? He led the team the 4 of their all-time 5 Big East titles, their only #1 ranking, and finished with 3 consecutive 11-win seasons. Don’t worry bucks, he’s just a “hick at the headcoach position”. Oh, and I think folks are done “LOL-ing” – time to update your tired fads (like radical dude)…
Yeah and he F’d that great program when he left and stuck them with a huge bill that Michigan bailed him out on. He’s a class act, 2nd to none. I don’t think WVU would have been the top team in any conference but the big east those years. I’m not saying they weren’t good teams, I’m just saying 11 wins may have been a stretch in any other conference tos years.
Steve…your sir are a pretentious douchebag…or a michigan graduate for you SEC fans reading this
boy dickhead, you sure are quick to count up those michigan wins in the days when the phillipines was an american colony, but WVU conference title wins in the modern era…didn’t happen.
WVU has won 13 conference championships all together, 9 of them without DickRod (this despite being an independent for 2 of the decades after WW2).
Other fun facts about WVU football:
* they have a whole wiki page dedicated to the 1988 season when they played ND in a de-facto national championship game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_West_Virginia_Mountaineers_football_team
* WVU is around 15th all-time in wins.
DickRod had some good seasons, but stop showing the ignorance of your arrogance. by no standard was dickrod’s time some unbelievable OMFG awesome hallelujah amen period in WVU football.
PS – sorry for the non-PG language! its a force of habit for a dude without children or the pleasure of respectable company.
Is there an “Ignore Michigan Fans” button around here?
I didn’t say it:
“I really didn’t get along with the new coaches,” Wermers said. “They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd. Coach Carr’s staff was a whole different ballgame. It was like a family. But when Rodriguez came in it was a whole different feeling. It was more of a business.
“I figured I’d get out while I could.”
-Kurt Wermers, Michigan transfer
Perfect, absolutely perfect. Best of luck Kurt – you just couldn’t hack a “business”-like atmosphere. “Not my kind of crowd”? Is this college football or Vacation Bible School? Soft asses like Kurt, Dann O’Neil, and buckeye legend Justin Boren were the biggest benefactors of the country club atmosphere created by Lloyd Carr. Under a tighter regimen, they bail. Please, please, “get out while” you can – Michigan won’t miss you, thee Ohio State will take you in with open arms…
or your coach is just a d-bag who players don’t like spending their 4 years with…and barwis pees sitting down
Buckeye legend “Justin Boren” is smacking of bitterness. He was a 5* that you would be happy to still have had he not gone all Milton Bradley on your program. I hope he plays well and lives up to his potential but at this point, he is only your would-be best offensive lineman, certainly nothing to hang his hat on. Listen, I would rather your team be good, it would make me feel better about “The Game” but don’t act as if we pick up your hand-me-downs. In the most honest, non-diatribe tone I can muster; you wish your program was in our shoes and don’t deny it.
As for my fellow 11W posters, please spell check or learn to spell. Nothing pisses me off more than someone calling people morons or clueless and misspelling your take. Unless you are all pre-gaming the Navy game already in which case, save me a few cold ones.
Cheers.
LOL that was funny