At Thanksgiving Dinner this year the talk flowed into Michigan's disappointing football season. Almost all the siblings on my dad's side went to Michigan for some amount of time (only one graduated). My aunt brought up how East Grand Rapids coach Peter Stuursma inherited nothing and is now going to the state championships every other year (for the sake of this story, we'll overlook how Kevin Grady's dad finds "housing" in the district for some talented athletes).
When my uncle brought up the fact that he lost 6 games his first season (that's a 2-6 season which is the same winning percentage as 3-9 fyi...), she said "Yes, but after that they won a lot of games every year." At that point my hand was firmly attached to my forehead. When I said what the difference was between Peter Stuursma's first year and Rich Rodriguez's, she said that something was, but she couldn't explain it to me.
Then I explained how Rich Rodriguez generally had a rough first year followed by a fairly good second year and then BECOMES A MACHINE. I told them how at WVU he had one bad year followed by four years of 8+ wins and 3 years of 10+ wins*. After I said that, another uncle said "10 wins won't cut it at Michigan." At this point I'm trying to resist the urge to fly over the table with a butter knife. Lloyd Carr was a great coach and only had 5 of 12 years with double digit wins. Bo Schembechler, THE Michigan coach in the modern era was only slightly better at 10 of 20 seasons of 10+ wins**.
I'm hoping he just doesn't really know football. If Michigan fans think 10 wins is unacceptable, we're worse off than I expected. 10 wins is a great season. 8 wins is a good season. Sure we're Michigan and our team should always be in contention for a championship, but you can't expect to be a game or two away every year. With limited scholarships, you don't have hegemonic powers. There is more ebb and flow. It's time Michigan fans learn to appreciate what we've had, have and will soon have.
*People are mature. From Rich Rodriguez's Wikpedia entry: **It' s a little hard to compare the to eras given Bo only had 10 games with a much harder to reach bowl up until 1975, but Lloyd's whole tenure was within the era of limited scholarship era. I'm not sure if the factors balance out or not.
Everyone knew Michigan was going to struggle this year. Maybe nobody thought the Wolverines would fall to Toledo, but everyone except the most fanatically-blind Michigan supporters knew that a Big Ten title was likely out of the question, and a bowl game might be a reasonable goal. There was always the future to look forward to. A year of learning under the spread system. A year of Barwis. A good 2009 recruiting class. The future was looking bright, because Michigan fans certainly weren't planning to bail after one trying year under Rich Rodriguez. The members of that 2009 recruiting class, on the other hand? Some may not stick around to help clean up the carnage.
There are competing schools of thought on the link between winning and success on the recruiting trail. On one hand, you have the fans who hope prospects see the opportunity to come in and compete right away (and, realistically, some recruits do follow this train of thought). On the other side, one can find those who think a recruit will want to stay as far away as possible from anything that could be perceived as a "sinking ship" (again, some recruits think this, as well).
I personally think, from my trials and tribulations in following recruiting, that there is something of a hybrid between these two schools of thought. We'll start when a recruit is young. If a child grows up watching a program succeed regularly, he might become something of a fan of that program. More likely, however, it may become "familiar" to him, if only on the most shallow name-recognition basis. Actual wins and losses (of course, except in the case where a recruit grows up a diehard fan of a certain program) probably don't really become a factor until a high schooler becomes something of a potential recruit. Once a young man realizes that he might have an opportunity to play division 1 football (brother), the attention becomes a little more focused on the programs who might be potential destinations. This typically happens around a prospect's junior year.
Senior year, however, is not likely a time for recruits to radically alter their perceptions of a program. If a team struggles during the 2008 season (this is completely hypothetical, of course), a young quarterback from San Diego or Wichita Falls (again, completely hypothetical, and I randomly selected those cities) will see that as an opportunity to come in and compete for a starting position right away. This is especially true of those hypothetical recruits who intend to hypothetically enroll early hypothetically. Hypothetically. Only the more loosely-committed players, or those who look at depth charts and realize that, although there is playing time up for grabs, it is not at their position, are the ones who might be swayed from the 2009 class.
So, who might fall into the category for this class? Bryce McNeal (who of course has already decommitted), Brandin Hawthorne, Anthony Fera, and DeWayne Peace have taken or plan to take visits elsewhere, along with former commitment William Campbell. DeQuinta Jones has been heard from very little since he committed, and his status is a virtual mystery to Michigan fans - though this Scout headline is far from promising. As long as Michigan's coaches continue to do a good job recruiting these players, they should retain those that they really want.
So, let's bring this back to the 2010 recruiting class. If high school juniors see a program lose, and form their perception from that, it means Michigan's 2010 class could be pretty bad, right? Well, yes and no. Michigan already has 2 commits, both of whom are likely to be 4-star or 5-star prospects. A third is presumably on the way, another 4-star or better player. All three of these players have Michigan ties from long before their junior years of high school, and their perception of the Wolverines isn't bound to change radically. Joining a class of highly-ranked prospects is one of the antidotes to a less-than-stellar year. Jeremy Jackson, Ricardo Miller, and hopefully Marvin Robinson all will be an incentive for other good recruits to join the class.
This may be one of the factors in some of the more inexplicably-good recruiting classes in recent memory. Notre Dame can sell its tradition, but one would think a 3-9 year would deter top prospects from joining the class of 2008 in South Bend. At the end of the day, however, the Irish finished with the #2 class in the nation. The only team that finished ahead of the Irish? Alabama, a team that had a recent history of mediocrity, despite its history. Nick Saban, in his second year in Tuscaloosa, and coming off a 7-6 record that didn't exactly scream "WOO PROGRAM ON THE RISE" pulled in a stellar group of players to help turn the Tide's fortunes around.
So, can Michigan, with its young, exciting coach pull in top classes in 2009 and 2010, despite a 2008 season that will likely end well below .500? The recruits aren't stuck with Michigan, but we fans are hoping that Rich Rod can keep the snake oil flowing.
Many preseason publications warn Michigan fans: Rodriguez went 3-8 in his first year at West Virginia, so expect a very rough year in 2008. However, in order to fully understand what 2001 can tell us about 2008, we have to take a closer look at the 2001 Mountaineers.
The Previous Year In Don Nehlen's final year at the helm in Morgantown, West Virginia went 7-5, including a bowl victory. The season started on a high note, with a 34-14 victory over Boston College, followed by a 30-17 win over Maryland, both at home. The next week, however, the Miami Hurricanes rolled into town, and pasted WVU by a score of 47-10 (keep in mind that this was when Miami was actually good).
Uncomfortably close victories over Temple and Idaho (29-24 and 28-16, respectively) were followed by a three game slide against Virginia Tech (48-20), Notre Dame (42-28), and Syracuse (note that this was before Syracuse became ghastly bad).
In Don Nehlen's final home game at Mountaineer Field, West Virginia beat East Carolina by a margin of 42-24. Their finish in the Big East gave the Mountaineers an invitation to the Music City Bowl.
Though heavy underdogs, West Virginia upset Mississippi State 49-38, thanks to a career day by QB Brad Lewis, who threw 5 touchdown passes and directed the offense to 432 total yards.
Here is a breakdown of where the Mountaineers ranked in several offensive and defensive categories:
West Virginia Mountaineers 2000
Category
Value
Nat Rank
Conf Rank
Rush YPG
140.82
64
5
Pass YPG
207.45
66
5
Total Offense
348.27
73
6
Points/Game
27.91
46
4
Rush Defense
146.45
53
6
Pass Defense
233.00
89
8
Def Pass Efficiency
121.39
66
6
Total Defense
379.45
69
6
Scoring Defense
29.55
84
7
Turnover Margin
0.64
23
3
In Between Clemson Offensive Coordinator Rich Rodriguez was hired by West Virginia on November 26th, 2000. The Mounatineers returned starting quarterback Brad Lewis, though they graduated 2nd-leading receiver Kory Ivy, and a couple offensive linemen, but they did return most of their offense. On defense, linebackers David Carter, Cory McIntyre, and Chris Edmonds were the key departees. Kicker John Ohliger also departed.
Though Rodriguez didn't inherit a world-beating team (The Mountaineers tied for 5th in the Big East with BC, whom they beat head-to-head, and as illustrated above, they were in the bottom half of the conference in nearly every category), their were enough returning personnel to expect a similar finish the following year.
Editor's Note: I'm having a tough tiome tracking down 2000 and 2001 All-Big East Teams (even from the Big East office), so if you have access to them, please let me know.
2001 Nearly every Michigan fan knows that Rodriguez went 3-8 in his first year as WVU's Head Coach, so let's take a deeper look at each game.
In the first game of the year, West Virginia traveled to Boston, to take on the Eagles of Boston College. Brad Lewis and Rasheed Marshall combined to throw three picks and zero touchdowns. RB Avon Cobourne was the only Mountaineer to find the end zone on that day, and kicker Brenden Rauh went 1-3 on his field goal attempts. Boston College lit up the scoreboard, putting 34 points on the Mountaineers. RB William Green took it to the house 3 times, and QB Brian St. Pierre threw a TD pass to Dedrick Dewalt.
In game 2, Rodriguez got his first victory as the head coach at West Virginia. The Mountaineers took on the Ohio Bobcats at home. Avon Cobourne ran for 173 yards and two TDs, and Brenden Rauh tacked on a pair of field goals. Brad Lewis threw for a quiet 134 yards, while rushing for 9. For the other side, Bobcats RB Jamel Patterson ran for a mere 53 yards, while QB Dontrell Jackson threw for 87 yards and ran for 34.
In game three, WVU took on another MAC opponent. Facing Kent State at home, the Mountaineers would ultimately walk off the field with a 34-14 victory. Avon Cobourne ran for 181 yards and 1 score, and Brad Lewis threw for 286 and two scores while running one in as well. For Kent State, Josh Cribbs ran and passed for a score each, while throwing 2 interceptions.
The non-conference schedule continued with a trip to College Park, Maryland, where the Mountaineers faced off against the Terps. They would head back to Morgantown as the recipients of a 32-20 loss. Avon Cobourne ran for 128 yards, but no scores, while Brad Lewis attempted 52 passes. He threw for a total of 279 yards with 1 touchdown, but also completed 4 passes to the gentlemen in the red jerseys (one of which a player known to the NCAA statbook only as "Whaley" took to the house). Wide Receiver Shawn Terry ran a kickoff back for a touchdown, and Brenden Rauh added a pair of field goals. For the Terps, Bruce Perry ran for a touchdown, and QB Shaun Hill passed and rushed for one. RB Marc Riley ran one in as well.
The Mountaineers didn't have much time to rest, as they invited Virginia Tech into Morgantown the following week. The Hokies brushed off West Virginia without so much as an effort, shutting out the opponent 35-0. Keith Burnell ran for 2 TDs for Tech, Grant Noel Passed for a pair, and Kevin Jones ran one in as well. For West Virginia, Brad Lewis threw a pick and Avon Cobourne was held to just 31 yards.
Game 6 found the Mountaineers on the road in South Bend, where they dropped a 34-24 decision to the Irish. Brad Lewis threw for 91 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception, while Avon Cobourne threw in 169 yards and a TD of his own. For the opposition, Carlyle Holliday threw for just 70 yards, with an interception. However, Julius Jones ran for 2 TDs, and Tony Fisher chipped in with a pair as well. The RB tandem rushed for a total of 211 yards, with Holliday adding another 130 on the ground.
Relief wouldn't come just yet for West Virginia, as they traveled to the OB for a night game against the eventual national champion Miami Hurricanes. WVU managed only a field goal, while the Canes scored 45. Clinton Portis ran for 76 yards and a touchdown, while Frank gore added 124 yards and a couple scores of his own. Ken Dorsey threw for 192 yards, two scores and an interception. Andre Johnson and Jeremy Shockey each had a receiving touchdown. Some dude named "Jones" threw 4 picks for West Virginia.
Looking to snap the 4-game losing streak, The Mountaineers next invited Rutgers into Mountaineer Field. It wasn't pretty, as West Virginia pasted the Scarlet Knights by a score of 80-7. Rutgers's only points were scored by Marcus Jones, who ran for 105 yards. West Virginia had scoring in bunches, with Avon Cobourne complimenting his 147 yards with 4 touchdown runs, Quincy Wilson running for 129 yards and a score of his own, Rego Cooper chipping in 65 yards and a trip to the endzone, and Cassell Smith getting a touchdown of his own. Brad Lewis threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Defensive back Shawn Hackett did the nearly unthinkable, scoring on both an interception retun and a fumble return.
With a bit of momentum on their side, West Virginia looked to get another Big East win against Syracuse. However, the Orangemen would triupmh 24-13. James Mungro ran for 78 yards and all three Syracuse touchdowns. Rasheed Marshall did the touchdown scoring for West Virginia, on 22 ruching yards (he also threw a pick). Brenden Rauh added a pair of field goals.
Next up for West Virginia was Temple. Though this sounds like a layup, the Owls went home with a 17-14 victory over West Virginia. Avon Cobourne ran for 103 yards, and Rasheed Marshall tacked on 95 of his own (and a touchdown). In his first start, Marshall also passed for 128 yards and a score (to AJ Nastasi), though he threw 2 interceptions. For Temple, Tanardo Sharps ran for 174 yards and Mac Devito threw for 85. The scoring was provided by running back Lester Trammer (who also had 30 yards) and three field goals by Cap Poklemba.
The Backyard Brawl was the last chance for West Virginia to come away from 2001 with a good taste in their mouths, but it was not to be. Pitt won 23-17 at Mountaineer Field. Rasheed Marshal ran for 40 yards and a score, while passing for 64 and another touchdown. For Pitt, David Priestley threw for 172 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.
Let's see how the West Virginia stats from 2001 stack up to their performance in Don Nehlen's final year:
West Virginia Mountaineers 2000
Category
Value
Nat Rank
Conf Rank
Rush YPG
181.09
36
4
Pass YPG
164.64
96
6
Total Offense
345.73
80
4
Points/Game
21.36
89
6
Rush Defense
213.18
104
7
Pass Defense
136.73
1
1
Def Pass Efficiency
99.37
8
3
Total Defense
349.91
40
6
Scoring Defense
24.36
51
6
Turnover Margin
-0.73
98
7
The Mountaineers finished last in the Big East with a 3-8 record (1-6 in conference).
What have we learned? Rodriguez's first year struggles at West Virginia actually don't appear to be too great a dropoff from Nehlen's final season. The defense was alternately terrible (run defense) and awesome (pass defense). However, it was not a significant weak point, and shouldn't be pointed to as the cause of West Virginia's slide (it is important to note, however, that Michigan will field a much, much better defense in 2008 than WVU did in 2001).
In the offensive stats, the rush yards increased significantly, while the pass yards decreased significantly. This is expected to occur (perhaps to a lesser degree) at Michigan this year as well. Brad Lewis was not an efficient passer (96th in the country) and Michgian fans can hope that a sour-star recruit in Steven Threet can carry the team a bit more.
Turnovers seem to be the main factor in WVU's struggles during the 2001 system. If you subscribe to the theory that they are mostly random, then West Virginia would have had a much better year if only they had a bit more luck. The system transition may have had something to do with it, but 6 picks thrown by the "Jones" guy, and 9 for Lewis and 4 for Marshall seem to imply that maybe the Mountaineers just had bad QB play.
Forecasting If the past is any indication, Michigan shouldn't have a catastrophic first year under the Rich Rodriguez regime. He has had time to fine-tune his system at the highest levels of play, and the personnel on the team that he is taking over is a ridiculously large upgrade over what he had to work with at West Virginia. Many fans and pundits expect the Michigan defense to carry the load, particularly early in the season, which is somethign Rodriguez wasn't able to do.
So, for those who see a 1-7-1 record in his first year at Glenville State and a 3-8 mark in his first year at West Virginia and predict pain for Michigan this year, I won't go so far as to say expect a conference championship for the Wolverines, but a 34th conecutive bowl game is certainly likely.
Per ESPN and the News, Rich Rodriguez has agreed to pay the full $4 Million buyout, but without having to pay any interest or legal fees to West Virginia.
This should resolve the issue, and I wonder if West Virginia fans will ease the vitriol towards their former headman, now that he isn't engaged in legal wrangling with his alma mater. I kinda doubt it (I think their anger was over being dumped by Rodriguez, and the suit gave a good excuse), but we shall see.
At any rate, this should be the end of the entire ordeal, and everyone associated with Michigan football can stop worrying about this, and focus on football.
For the first time in a while, the sports media are somewhat abuzz with talk of the Michigan Wolverines. Of course, I'd prefer them to discuss anything other than the potential punishment of a player, but such is life.
So why is everyone talking about how stiffly Kevin Grady is going to be punished? Because nobody knows exactly how severe the potential punishment will be. Grady is the first player to have a (public) misstep since Rodriguez took the helm in Schembechler Hall, and with such model citizens as Adam Jones and Chris Henry on his resume under the "former players" heading, there is a certain curiosity about what he will do to Grady, morbid though it may be.
The proposals range from doing nothing (as Ohio State fans think will happen, for some reason), to kicking Grady off the team. Jeff Chaney, a columnist for the Grand Rapids Press, said today on the radio that he thinks the latter is the most appropriate and likely outcome. Naturally, I disagree.
The logic Chaney followed was this: Grady is a third-teamer, and therefore must serve as an example to the rest of the team. Of course, this doesn't take into account that making an example is widely thought of as a terrible idea. Nor does Chaney realize the modus operandi of the Rich Rodriguez staff. Just as upperclassmen and projected starters were not cut any slack in the training room, why should Grady's status as a non-starter (which Chaney infers, rather than actually knowing) mean that he has less leeway with the coaches?
In rodriguez's world, that isn't how it happens. The most likely scenario is that Grady is punished during the summer, and possibly suspended for a game or two in the fall.
For today's video offering, there will be no recruiting podcast (and there was much sighing). I humbly request that you accept a repost of the basics of spread offense video:
I was listening to a wtka podcast Phil Steele. He thinks Penn State is going to be good. Why is it that our transition to the spread is looked on as a rough one but Penn State's transition is going to help them for next year already. What gives?
I admittedly have not finished the Penn State preview yet, but I do think a lot of "experts" are overrating them, if only slightly. In regards to the spread question, I think the transitions by Michigan and Penn State are rather different.
Michigan has a completely new coaching staff, with new terminology and a new base offense. Penn State, on the other hand, has the same coaching staff, and will still use the same base offense, but incorporate spread elements into it. Sadly, Penn State also has an experienced quarterback (Darryl Clark) with a skill set more suited to the spread than any of Michigan's returning players.
Anonymous commenter:
I think Rich Rodriguez is trying to bring the West Virginia-style jerseys to Michigan. Didn't he learn anything about Michigan's tradition with the #1 jersey debacle?
The new jerseys probably have nothing to do with Rich Rodriguez, and I think he has far more important things to care about than what jerseys look like.
The "new jersey" that was leaked is a product of the Adidas deal (and Adidas trying to go for a change from the Nike jerseys) than anything to do with rodriguez. I don't think it is likely to end up as the final product, and when a final design is decided upon, there will probably be some sort of official unveiling.
and I raise with: http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/167203 These two articles definitely provide less chicken little-fodder for the Michigan fanbase. It is clear that Newsome is willing to do what it takes to improve his game, and become a better teammate, football player, and quarterback. As fans of the school to which Kevin is committed, that should be wholly acceptable to you, loyal reader.
The move to Hargrave, at this point, seems to be on account of his wanting to get the best coaching (and competition:
"The kid just came to play against better competition. That's it. Nothing controversial. He gets to play against [junior-varsity teams from] Marshall, East Carolina and the University of Tennessee."
) available and to get away from pro-VT pressure close to home. Until further notice, Kevin Newsome should be considered firmly committed to Michigan. RJ:
do you think the fact that buckeyes class is virtually full will help Michigan..Especially considering the Zach Borens and James Jackson that Michigan didn't want that bad?
It certainly can't hurt with top prospects who like both Michigan and Ohio State because OSU simply won't have enough room to take all of the guys who are interested in committing. That doesn't necessarily mean those guys will come to Michigan, but there is certainly one less team in the running for a lot of top prospects that Michigan is interested in.
The Freep inconveniently doesn't give the favorites in numerical order, so I have painstakingly arranged the Vegas odds for you. Included are teams with better than 100/1 odds and other relevant teams:
In an interview that appeared today on WOWK-TV in West Virginia (and will appear again tomorrow), Rich Rod had some interesting things to sya about his departure from West Virginia.
Rodriguez said the thinly veiled criticism by Stewart was just the new head coach following the crowd.
"I don't think you should say one thing at one point, then two weeks later, just because it's popular to be anti-Rich Rodriguez, to say another," Rodriguez said.
While it is not news to anyone who follows the Big Ten that Penn State fans have an... uncomfortable fixation on Michigan, typically this has been restricted to fans. Nittany Lions supporters have a focus on Michigan that seems unwarranted but for the Wolverines' dominance over PSU in recent years. Now, even those who write in the mainstream media have latched onto the obsession as a crutch for writing their terrible columns (entire relevant section quoted to avoid giving this idiot clickthroughs):
An interesting sidebar to these rankings: How much will they be different if QB Kevin Newsome winds up in a Penn State uniform? He committed to Michigan earlier, but all indications are that Penn State is still recruiting him hard. So much for the gentlemen's agreement between Big Ten teams about not talking to verbal committments. What years of sportsmanship and living up to one's word built up, Rich Rodriguez and Michael Shaw tore down.
While I don't need to point how how dumb the bolded portion of this quote is (nor do I need to point out that Donnie Collins doesn't know how to spell "gentleman's" or "commitment"), I will anyway.
Of course, due to a highly-publicized quote from Joe Tiller, suddenly Rich Rodriguez is to blame for Penn State's recruiting tactics. Umm... what? If he wants to try to hold Penn State up as a bastion of sportsmanship, maybe he shouldn't do so in reference to an incident where they are doing something he deems to be "unsporting." If Penn State was as virtuous as Collins intends to imply, they wouldn't be recruiting Newsome, regardless of what Michigan did last year.
In addition, it's great to see him trying to slam an 18-year-old kid for picking a school that he liked more than Penn State. If Penn State was worth going to, Shaw would have ended up there. Rich Rodriguez is not some sort of hypnotist. Of course, Shaw wasn't even the recruit that caused the "controversy" in the first place (that would be Roy Roundtree).
And of course, Collins's entire argument hinges on the presumption that Rodriguez was the first coach to recruit other schools' commits, which (actually good) columnist Sam Webb pointed out to be not at all true in an unfortunately-no longer free Detroit News article.
The Detroit Free Press has the entire Rich Rodriguez deposition in three PDF files: One Two Three
If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, some highlights can be found at the Times West Virginian. Some highlights:
Rodriguez says board members Steve Farmer, Drew Payne and Perry Petroplus also assured him all outstanding demands Rodriguez had for the football program would be met when Mike Garrison became WVU president.
“And that’s the time when (Garrison) said he didn’t believe in buyouts, and that he would reduce it anyway, once he took office,” Rodriguez testified.
Rodriguez said he considered the $4 million “excessive” and “unfair,” but acquiesced when he learned Kendrick had insisted on the amount. Kendrick had pledged $2.5 million to the WVU Foundation Inc., contingent on Rodriguez remaining coach.
Flaherty told Rodriguez that Kendrick withdrew the pledge after Rodriguez resigned.
Rodriguez said he was called by Arkansas about the Razorbacks’ vacant coaching job after WVU lost to Pitt in the 2007 regular-season finale, but he wasn’t interested. He later mentioned that call to Garrison at a Fiesta Bowl function, saying “we need to sit down and talk about the issues.”
Garrison agreed, “but we never did, other than that Saturday night before I made the decision,” Rodriguez said.
After he got Michigan’s offer Dec. 14, Rodriguez met with Pastilong and Walker. Though he’d been hopeful of an agreement, he said that changed during a private 10 p.m. meeting at Garrison’s house on Dec. 15.
As expected, it certainly sounds like WVU tried to strong-arm him more than he was eager to get the hell out of Morgantown.
The football program at a big-time Division I University is a multi-faceted entity, and it requires many changes to individual aspects in order to radically change the program as a whole. Improvement can be measured in terms of wins, merchandise, exposure, academic achievement, even recruiting rankings, but most accurately by some sort of aggregation of these things. The Michigan football program, while still the nation's winningest of all time, has room for improvement. To move in a direction of positivity and modernity, I propose the following changes. Some of them apply to the athletic department on the whole.
Create a new website (separate from MGoBlue) about Michigan's facilities. People (including recruits in every sport) care about the facilities at schools. A virtual tour of every facility for practicing, competing, or studying would be entertaining and enlightening. You have the facilities, so make a well-designed website to brag about them. Model it after the Arkansas version of same.
Speaking of websites, scrap the new MGoBlue. It looks terrible and is a pain in the ass to maneuver. Cloning the (terrible) layouts of CSTV sites was an awful idea. The new video, audio, and photo items are great, but there had to have been a better way to integrate them into the site.
Encourage more media exposure. With the Rich Rodriguez regime, this has improved a great deal. Rod has been all over ESPN and the local media, and even Mike Barwis is getting interviewed by Brice Feldman. Still, encourage more of this. The all-access feature on College Football Live was a great start. Being more friendly to the media (local and national) means that the media will be more friendly back to you.
Encourage walkons. Like media exposure, Rodriguez has already started doing this. Like Bo Pelini's plan to revive Nebraska football, having homegrown walkons will help the team because they are proud to be Wolverines. Take kids from Michigan and Ohio especially, but also any other student who can make the cut. If kids would rather walk on at Michigan than get a scholarship at Michigan State, it would put a smile on my face.
At least try for a night game. If it means the old alumni won't come, well... that may not necessarily be a bad thing.
Give out free maize shirts to fans during maize out games. A sponsor will undoubtedly cover the entire cost, and the "special event" game will no longer look like crap.
Like Beilein's meeting with the Maize Rage to brainstorm ideas, have Rod (along with Bill Martin, Bruce Madej, even Marty Bodnar) meet with students for the same purpose. I am not the only person with these sorts of ideas, let the other ones come out.
Perhaps most importantly (and, unfortunately, least under our control), continue beating Notre Dame and Michigan State, and start beating Ohio State. On top of bragging rights and prestige, this helps recruiting. Enough said.
This is just a little collection of some ideas that didn't take me more than five minutes to come up with. If you have any of your own, drop them in the comments.
Coach Rod was a guest on The Herd on ESPN radio today yesterday (sorry, more important things came up yesterday to post about it then). Colin asked him the general questions you'd expect from someone who doesn't follow the program all that closely (i.e. respond to Boren comments, what will you do without Pryor, etc), to which the response was generally "I only like to talk about the guys who play for Michigan."
However, Colin did ask him one good question, about why he took the Michigan job when he passed over Alabama's head coaching vacancy just a year earlier. While Rodriguez said he couldn't talk too much about it while his lawsuit was ongoing, he did give one interesting comment.
"Alabama was a super situation. There's a lot of things that went on that I'd like to discuss, but I can't because I'm in the middle of this lawsuit, but the Alabama thing was very tough to turn down. I was happy at the time to stay at West Virginia, then things happened."
This definitely gives credence to the theory that Rodriguez was looking to get out of Morgantown, wherever he ended up, rather than wanting to go to Michigan while not considering what it would mean to West Virginia. He doesn't know when the lawsuit will be wrapped up but (obviously) hopes it wraps up soon.
Herd was very complimentary to Michigan, though he obviously was never a fan of Lloyd Carr. Nice to hear that the grudge against the program has ended. He also likes the way Michigan has scheduled in the past (with Notre Dame, Oregon, etc.), and hopes to see that continue. Rodriguez noted that the difficulty lies in getting people to come without promise of a return visit. Cowherd also told WVU to get over their Rodriguez grudge: he brought a "joke" program to prominence, and now they hate him for it.
Since Michigan's offense will call the zone-read option its bread-and-butter play for the next few years, fans are probably interested in how the play works. Slightly more interesting than "run left," I assure you.
Most important to the smooth operation of the zone-read is not a quarterback who is blazing fast, but a signal caller who can make the right decision with the ball, and can at least do a little damage with his feet.
The play operates out of the shotgun, with either one back to the QB's side or one split to either side of him. The running back for whom the play is called will start lined up on what will eventually be the backside of the play, since he crosses in front of the quarterback (this is not always the case in RR's offense, but for the sake of the basic play, we will start with that). The offensive line will block down to the playside, leaving the backside defensive end unblocked. This is the player that the QB will read (hence the name "zone-read").
The quarterback takes the snap, and the running back crosses in front of him. The QB puts the ball in his stomach, but does not hand it off. This is called the "mesh point" where either the QB or the running back can end up with the ball. It is at this point that the quarterback must be able to make a good decision with the ball, and read the defensive end. If the defensive end stays at home and holds contain, the quarterback simply hands off the ball to the RB. The offensive line is expected to outnumber the defenders, and block everyone for a good gain (or excellent depending on execution and the running back's vision).
If the defensive end gets greedy, and decides to try to chase down the running back from behind, the quarterback pulls the ball out from the mesh point, and runs back past the end, and gets a decent gain (if the offensive line blocks well, the QB should be able to get to the second level without facing a defender). The quarterback makes this read if the defensive end turns his shoulders toward the running back, rather than keeping them parallel with the line of scrimmage, as he would if keeping contain.
For those who are visually oriented:
This is obviously the very basic play, so there are lots of other variations on it. For example, backs can be motioned into or out of the backfield, slot receivers can be used as pitchmen, the play can be designed to go towards the direction that the RB is lined up, rather than the opposite direction, etc. The option-pass can also be effective, with the play run the exact same way, but if the DE crashes, the quarterback, instead of trying to gain yards, rolls out for a pass, using the zone-read as a play-action.
If my explanation was confusing (and I hope it wasn't), have Rodriguez explain it to you himself:
For the rest of the Stadium Atmosphere series, see the sidebar.
With a new headman roaming the sidelines in Ann Arbor, and a facility in transition, 2008 will likely see several changes in the overall atmosphere at The Big House.
Rich Rodriguez brings an exciting new style of play, both offensively and defensively. This may mean that fans in the seats are more into the game, but it could also bode poorly. Transitioning to new systems is always difficult, and the radical change expected of Michigan will likely lead to major struggles, at least on the offensive side of the ball. The fans need to understand this, and support the team through tough times early in the 2008 season.
At West Virginia, Rich Rodriguez's teams consistently played under the lights, and many fans are hoping the concept of a night game will follow the coach to Ann Arbor. However, this may not be as likely as presumed. While Lloyd Carr never was a proponent of late starts, the general issue stems from the administration. Michigan's athletic department has routinely stood against night games for several reasons, including national exposure (which is no longer the case with primetime network coverage), alumni preference, and preventing all-day drinking. While Rich may be able to cast one more vote for later games, it would take a minor miracle to make a change in year one.
Michigan Stadium will feature a new look in 2008, as it works through phase one of renovations. New concessions, first aid, and bathrooms will be present, along with a metal frame for the luxury boxes. During the season, work will continue on non-gamedays. The stadium won't be aesthetically pleasing, but the wait will be worth it for the final result. http://mgoblue.com/football/article.aspx?id=111194 It will be an interesting dynamic to see how players and fans (and visiting recruits) will respond to a stadium in transition.
While perusing the opinion section of the Michigan Daily, which I do as some sort of masochistic act, I stumbled on yet another letter to the editor saying that Coach Rod should pay up. It's the third and final letter. I posted my response in the comments there, but I thought I'd repost it over here as it kind of summarizes my opinion on the buy-out kerfuffle.
Mr. Pence:
I believe at this point Coach Rodriguez isn't fighting to reduce his buyout as purely financial matter. If he was worried about paying, the university has some wealthy alums that could easily write a check for the $4M.
At this point, Coach Rodriguez is, most likely, continuing this fight out of principle. When he signed his extension there were promises made to him by Mr. Pastilong some as small as allowing his student athletes to keep their textbooks or an additional graduate assistant. Mr. Pastilong did not come through on his promises and, additionally, siphoned money away from a fund that was supposed to be exclusively for football and put it in the general fund.
Coach Rodriguez did not feel he was getting the respect or the gratitude or the support due to a coach who took middle-of-the-road team and turned them into a national championship contending money maker. Add into that the smear campaign propagated by the WVU administration and the unreasonable threats to his and his family's safety by West Virginia "Fans," it does not appear surprising at all that he wouldn't want to just pay them.
Coach Rodriguez gave WVU seven years and a top tier football team. He changed jobs after they reneged on promises and suffered through death threats and you want him to pay $4M? He has an axe to grind, and it seems to be the American way to grind your axe in court.
If Coach Rod wanted it to be easy and get it done, he would have had it paid for already. He just doesn't want to give his crazy ex-girlfriend a really nice break-up gift after she went through his phone and txted "u whore!!" to all the girls in his contact list.
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