They don't make revisionist history like they used to

I had a dental appointment Wednesday afternoon, so I was driving around when the Rich Rod bomb hit Detroit sports radio. An article posted on ESPN featured the former Michigan HC, during which he reflected on his time in the maize and blue.

(On a personal side note, that was the least agonizing dental check up I've had in a while. The dentist commented on my pristine teeth, asking if I'd significantly changed my diet or something. The first time I'd gone to see him I had several cavities. At that point I had gone about 4 years in between check ups, so I thought that might be the reason. But then I got to thinking, and the most significant change in my life between then & now was when I got married. My marriage has had a ripple effect on every aspect of my life, changing it for the better in all sorts of ways. I don't always think of them as they occur, but it's nice to see these little reminders. Anyway, back to guy-stuff...)

Rodriguez basically said that he never got a chance to succeed at Michigan because there were people behind the scenes sabotaging him. This statement is bolstered by the fact that he started successful programs at West Virginia and now at Arizona, schools not traditionally known as football powers. So, is there something there? Was Rich Rod merely a victim of some old guard backlash?

Well, kinda. Maybe. A little. Ok, probably more than a little.

The so-called "bomb" hit during 97.1 The Ticket's Valenti & Foster show. Mike Valenti bleeds for no team like he bleeds for the Spartans, and he relishes the opportunity to educate Michigan fans on how far their (our) program has fallen, from time to time. Rich Rod was a bad fit (even Valenti doesn't try to deny that), there were signs that Rich Rod's tenure was being undermined (the book Three and Out describes this whole saga in better detail):

• Rich Rod wanted his DC from West Virginia, Jeff Casteel, to come with him to Ann Arbor, only Michigan refused to pony up the $600k it was going to take to get Casteel. Since Casteel followed Rich Rod to Arizona (and is coaching a pretty good defense there) and Brady Hoke's DC is making $750k, the hand of a saboteur may be at work here (btw, The Hand of A Saboteur sounds like the name of a 1930's spy movie)
• There was significant player exodus following Rodriguez's hire, which indicates a lack of support within the program. Reportedly Lloyd Carr advised QB Ryan Mallett to transfer to another school, and also had a meeting with the players stating he would sign their transfer papers if they wanted out. More on Rich Rod's side of this later, but the main thing is that when Brady Hoke needed his incumbent QB to stay, Denard Robinson stuck with the maize & blue because everyone was pulling for Hoke
• The practice violations thing... I didn't like Rich Rod at the time and even I thought it was ridiculous. When a player narcs on a coach about violations, it's usually a personal vendetta between the player and that coach. When multiple players do it, there's got to be someone organizing them. Word was, it was Lloyd Carr. Again, contrast with all the former players getting behind Hoke, despite The Morris Incident and his crappy coaching

I need to read this book Three and Out but based on this excerpt, Michigan is reaping what is sowed. Now Rodriguez isn't entirely faultless here, a topic I covered a week ago but I'll rehash here with the benefit of a little more knowledge (oh what a fool I was, if I only knew then what I know now, blah blah blah):

• Rodriguez didn't really try very hard to keep players from the previous regime. Yeah, Lloyd was undermining him from the start, but he didn't exactly hold up a boom box playing Peter Gabriel outside their dorms, pleading them to stay... It was more of a "sorry you're going, don't let the door hit you on the way out"
• A lot of the players who transferred from Michigan gave reasons like "it's not the same here as it used to be" and "Michigan lost its family culture", things like that. Apparently Rodriguez's coaching staff could teach sailors a few phrases
• He was woefully ignorant of the history, traditions, etc. of Michigan football, which was probably the biggest sin in the eyes of the average fan. You know, things like this happened...
• Not exactly a great recruiter, despite his ratings, and ostracized the in-state HS coaches

All told, Rodriguez probably walked in the door in Ann Arbor with a knife in his back. It still doesn't mean he was the right fit. Revisionists will take his record at WZ and AZ, compare with UM & say "it's not your fault", but that isn't entirely the case.

Suppose that Rodriguez came into Michigan with the rails greased. He gets his ideal DC, Carr tells Mallett to stick it out instead of telling him to look for greener pastures... Rodriguez still did everything wrong his first year. He tried to implement a drastically different offense AND defense without the personnel to do so, he alienated the fan base by not embracing the Tradition of Michigan (and it is possible to radically change things without ignoring tradition, Rich Rod just never figured out how to do that), and he failed to continue Michigan's good relationships with local HS coaches. He always seemed to have good recruiting classes, but the best in-state recruits went elsewhere.

If we were comparing strictly coaching acumen, Rich Rod laps Hokemania in the first mile. It's hard to say what might have happened had the old guard at Michigan welcomed Rodriguez with open arms, they way they did with Hoke. His first year would've been better, certainly. The defense wouldn't have been the worst in football with Casteel running the show. But Rodriguez still would have been wrong. Not because he wasn't a "Michigan man", but simply because he's not a "big program" coach.

The blog Good Bull Hunting speculates that Rich Rod would've failed at Alabama as well, had he accepted that job in 2006 instead of taking the Michigan job in 2007 (I know you're all salivating at the idea of a Nick Saban tenure at Michigan... sorry). Players still would have left, even if the old guard was still on Rich Rod's side. He was too different too soon. He was kind of a slime ball. He and his coaching staff swore a ton, even for football coaches. There are two different schools of thought football coaches take with language - 1) the drill sargeant from Full Metal Jacket who is abusive and curses a blue streak, and 2) the disciplinarian who makes you do down-ups for every eff bomb (my middle school coaches largely fell into the 1st category while my HS coaches were mainly in the 2nd). Carr didn't swear too much, Rodriguez did/does (doesn't seem like a big difference but it speaks to a whole mindset). And that wasn't the only difference. I got the feeling that even if Rodriguez had the full support of Carr & Co, there would have still been a high attrition rate. Look at the number of Rich Rod's own recruits that jumped ship... 8 of his 4-star recruits transferred out of the program (counting Forcier, who was really kicked off the team by Rodriguez first).

So, wistfully look at Rich Rod at Arizona, but remember that he's at least 50% responsible for his own demise at Michigan. This doesn't absolve the Establishment at Michigan from the current state of affairs. The hiring of Brady Hoke was a farce, and David Brandon should bear a large portion of the blame for that. If Michigan has a prayer at nabbing a top coaching candidate this winter, Brandon has to be out the door and the hiring process has be much better. The people calling the shots at Michigan have to hold themselves to their own standards and stop with the political maneuvering. The program is going down the toilet and they're fighting over who gets to be king of the midden heap.