Rich Rodriguez (official thread of last laughs)

[Oh8ch]

And this is actually true. A vast majority of the posters support RR while a small minority is vehemently opposed to him. That got me curious. Was there such a division between the Bruce fans and the Cooper fans when Coop took over? I know there was the hot tub commercials, but apart from that I know nothing. All my knowledge comes from books that I read. Would be interesting to hear from those who were close to the program at that time.

It was similar. The division is between fans of a coach with a known record and fans with hopes for an unknown and glorious future. (kinda like our electorate.)

If JT were to resign today it would be the first time since Paul Brown that a coach left OSU when the majority of fans weren't happy to see him go. Only in retrospect do we become more objective.

 

[goblue15]

Well... did not want to come out and say this, but RR has his work cut out for him he has a divided atheltic department and a divided fanbase. Certain members of our athletic department think Rich is just a southern hick and they will doing anything in their power to push their own agenda and make Rich's job as tough as possible. I really think Rich is in a no win situation here and I have my doubts he will be brought back next year.

 

[heisman]

Most of the tsun faithful aren't concerned in the least about the offseason stuff. "It happens everywhere" is the typical response. It is the all day Sundays after Saturday games, however, that has them up in arms--as well it should.

 

[Oh8ch]

Let me add a note relative to Bruce/Cooper since Ant was asking for historical perspective.

The year before Bruce left he had a lucrative offer elsewhere. Rick Bay - our AD at the time - talked him into staying.

When the university - not Bay - decided to fire Bruce at the end of that season, Bay resigned. It was a relative low point for OSU IMO.

 

[Oh8ch]

Well... did not want to come out and say this, but RR has his work cut out for him he has a divided atheltic department and a divided fanbase. Certain members of our athletic department think Rich is just a southern hick and they will doing anything in their power to push their own agenda and make Rich's job as tough as possible. I really think Rich is in a no win situation here and I have my doubts he will be brought back next year.

I agree that RR is in a "no win" but largely because of his own actions. With a 3-9 record, all the transfers, and the lawsuit baggage the last thing he needs to do is bend the rules.

9-3 this year and he can do what he please.

 

[kippy1040]

Yeah OH8C - I remember that incident. The Pres of Ohio State was a real A-hole in that matter. It seems one Television station in Columbus did not like Coach Bruce for certain remarks Earle made of the owner of the station and that owner wanted Bruce fired. Rick Bay was so upset over this he decided to resign. Wasn't Rick Bay an alumni of Michigan ?

 

[DaveyBoy]

Yeah OHC - I remember that incident. The Pres of Ohio State was a real A-hole in that instant. It seems one Television station in Columbus did not like Coach Bruce for certain remarks Earle made of the owner of the station and that owner wanted Bruce fired. Rick Bay was so upset over this he decided to resign. Wasn't Rick Bay an alumni of Michigan ?

yes..Rick Bay wrestled at U of M. He came to OSU from Oregon, I believe. Was a/the rising star of ADs.

Although I feel the handling of the firing of Bruce was in bad form, Bruce was draining the program of its lifeblood. His recruiting had slipped and his on-field product was struggling. Looking back at it, those were the contributing factors but not the only one. He despised JOhn Wolfe and everyone knew it. Wolfe had higher connections than even Bruce.

at least we beat Michigan in 1987 because of it.

 

[Oh8ch]

Wasn't Rick Bay an alumni of Michigan ?

Bay was a football player and wrestler for UM.

 

[cincibuck]

Yeah OH8C - I remember that incident. The Pres of Ohio State was a real A-hole in that matter. It seems one Television station in Columbus did not like Coach Bruce for certain remarks Earle made of the owner of the station and that owner wanted Bruce fired.

Far deeper issues, e.g. over the years he'd made a number of derogatory comments on kids from Cincinnati and pissed off more than a few coaches in the GCL and Princeton, not to mention the media (which is seldom on OSU's side to begin with, being far more infatuated with ND football and UK basketball) the result being a number of good to great players ending up in South Bend and Ann Arbor, kids who Hayes or Cooper could have recruited.

In fairness to Bruce, Hayes was handled with kid gloves by the Columbus media (after 1954). Paul Hornung probaqbly drew two salaries, one from the Despot abnd the other from the OSU PA office. I don't read the current CD that much to know how Tressell is treated, but the little I have read reminds me of the Hayes era.

 

[Steve19]

Does this mean the "All In" campaign isn't going well?

Actually, more TSUN fans are going "all in" everyday.

 

[methomps]

If proven true, this is the type of issue that could really dog Michigan for a long time. Moreso than any other type of violation, this one will hurt. If you commit recruiting violations you lose recruiting privileges, but you can still compete. You have extra benefits violations and you lose scholarships and wins, but you still have a team to work with (albeit with less depth). If you have to fire your coach, at least you can start over.

But these kinds of violations lead to reductions in how much you can practice and how many coaches you can employ. That is a killer, and will really lead to a further decay in the program. You just can't get better.

 

[Dryden]

If proven true, this is the type of issue that could really dog Michigan for a long time, but not a program like Southern Cal. Moreso than any other type of violation, this one will hurt, unless you run a program like Southern Cal. If you commit recruiting violations you lose recruiting privileges, except for Southern Cal, but you can still compete. You have extra benefits violations and you lose scholarships and wins, outside of Southern Cal of course, but you still have a team to work with (albeit with less depth).

Wha- What?

 

[BB73]

Dodd weighs in.

CBS

Violation report adds to pressure building on Rodriguez

Rich Rodriguez and Mike Barwis will never say this, but the impression I got was that they thought Michigan was soft.
...
The Freep quotes several anonymous sources -- parents and players -- saying that the Michigan staff overworked players. Before reading the entire account, my first reaction was, "So what? I bet every program fudges a little bit on the 20-hour NCAA work week."

There is no gray area in the Freep report. The story is solid and well reported, although it was a bit troubling that not one of the accusing sources went on the record. The Freep said the sources feared repercussions from the coaching staff. I'll buy that. Sooner or later, though, names are going to have to be attached with comments.

Sunday's in-season routine at Michigan was especially troubling. Into the facility early in the morning after a game, four hours of lifting, team meetings, perhaps not home until 10 p.m. Some schools have their mandatory off day on Sundays during the season. Even if players aren't off, I can't think of one program that works players to that extent the day after a game.

"We were the strongest team in the country the last four years," Barwis said of West Virginia. "No one was stronger than us. Best conditioned, the fastest, [best] change of direction, most balance, best body awareness, most explosive."

As the Freep did Sunday, I wrote about the sign above the Michigan weight room: Through these doors walks the best conditioned, hardest-working team in America.

Perhaps, but what did Michigan coaches do to get there? It seems obvious now that the NCAA is going to come in a program that has never had a major violation. It doesn't help that Rodriguez already is under fire going into his second season.

The coach is making $2.5 million per year through 2013. Michigan helped him pay off a buyout due West Virginia. More than 20 players have left Michigan since he started. In light of the latest report, that suddenly becomes more relevant.

On the football side, Rich Rod's famed spread option offense has sputtered mostly since he arrived. He is planning to play three quarterbacks Saturday in the opener against Western Michigan.

It's an opener Michigan should win. Now it seems like a must win. If the Wolverines lose to another inferior opponent, Sunday's report will seem like a gnat flying around Rodriguez' head.

Cont'd ...

 

[DontHateOState]

If proven true, this is the type of issue that could really dog Michigan for a long time. Moreso than any other type of violation, this one will hurt. If you commit recruiting violations you lose recruiting privileges, but you can still compete. You have extra benefits violations and you lose scholarships and wins, but you still have a team to work with (albeit with less depth). If you have to fire your coach, at least you can start over.

But these kinds of violations lead to reductions in how much you can practice and how many coaches you can employ. That is a killer, and will really lead to a further decay in the program. You just can't get better.

Recruiting sanctions are absolutely the worst blow for a program to have. They deal with the future, not the past. Do you think anyone at FSU other than Bowden gives a damn about vacating some games from a mediocre season? But I can guarantee you that they ALL care about losing scholarships over the next few years. Especially the guy who will be taking over the program in the next two seasons.

 

[methomps]

On second thought, there may not actually be any violations here if you consider that whatever extra time they accumulated on Sunday is offset by the players not being required to show up on Saturday.

As to the forms, I would be careful not to draw too many conclusions from that. Without more, "we had to fill them out or we got in trouble" is not necessarily bad. If you don't mandate players to fill out those forms, they simply won't because it is tedious and boring. In classes in college, we had to fill out teacher evals or we got in trouble. It really depends a lot on context and what specifically went on.