It's Friday and we're going to go to the well a little. Around here, that means touching on the latest drama in Rodriguezland. And if you've been keeping up lately, you know there's plenty to cover.
April 8th: Amani Toomer
says what we've been saying all along.
That is, good coaches adapt to their personnel. It's something Tressel has done over and over throughout his career at Ohio State, even dating back to his days at Youngstown State. Other good coaches are adept at the practice as well. Just compare the Florida offense this season with Brantley and the Tebow led units of the past few years.
Toomer, appearing on an ESPN podcast had this to say:
"One problem I have with Rich Rodriguez is this. He comes into a situation and he tries to put his system in. And I always thought the main point about being a coach, was going into a situation, seeing the players you have, and adjusting your system to your players to fit the talent. That’s what Lou Holtz was good at, but he comes in there and tries to adjust the players to his system. And to me that is not a sign of a good coach."
Got anything else to say, Amani?
"I think they’re doing a dis-service to the players that sign up for that system. Because, that doesn’t translate to the pros."
Ouch.
April 13th: West Virginia issues statement confirming an NCAA investigation -- quickly confirmed by sources as relating to Rodriguez's tenure in Morgantown.
It was bad enough being the target of one NCAA investigation, but Rodriguez is now
the target of two. That's straight-up Calipari-esque. Except Rodriguez does not appear to have Cal's sense of good timing. Granted, the investigation at Michigan seems relatively benign and the inquiry at West Virginia might just be a case of due diligence, but these types of things make the boosters unhappy and contribute to negative recruiting.
Later that day: Dhani Jones thinks Rodriguez is "terrible".
On the Jim Rome Show Tuesday, former Wolverine linebacker Dhani Jones
weighed in with this bomb:
"I'm not cool with him. I'm at my wits end right now. I mean, you can't come in and explain that you're going to do all this, and then your first year? Terrible. Second year? Alright -- but then terrible."
That is awesome. And also a fairly accurate assessment.
All of this just two weeks after the embattled coach was
served papers as a defendant in his second real estate lawsuit. Before that, it was the aforementioned NCAA investigation (leading to probable sanctions) in Ann Arbor. Prior to that, it was the seven game conference losing streak to end the 2009 season, the woeful 3-9 2008 season, the mass exodus of players upon his arrival at Michigan and the shredding of documents on his way out the door in Morgantown. I'm probably forgetting something, but how can you keep up?
It's clear the faithful up north are starting to lose patience, and the atmosphere seems to be eerily similar to Cooper's early years (except for the breaking .500 part) before he salvaged a 13-13 tie with the Wolverines (or a win in Gordon Gee's book), saving his job in 1992.
New AD David Brandon has publicly stated his support for Rodriguez, but from the outside, it looks like the coach is going to need one hell of a season to keep his job. So two questions: how many wins do you think he'll need to keep his job and how many wins do you realistically see on
Michigan's schedule?
