I was two weeks premature when I posted a glib and caustic rebuke of Rodriguez (“Throwing a Rod under a bus” sort of thing) in castigating R-Rod’s seemingly amoral approach to bringing in super athletes of questionable character. Now we are forced to take a closer look and not just a surface exploration of the man that brought you PacMan Jones, Chris Henry, Pernell Williams, Ray Williams, Noel Devine and Pat Lazear.
Because a hiring like this only happens at Ohio State or Michigan a few times per lifetime; that is, in the life of a Wolverine of Buckeye fan – maybe every 10-15 years or so. Will the new Michigan coach become the equivalent of our chess master, Jim Tressel? Or will he become another checkers player – the equivalent of our John Cooper?
Let’s look at the salient issues and conclude where the different sides stand with this new hire:
On the rivalry:
From a Wolverine perspective: Rodriguez said the basic minimum about the OSU/Michigan rivalry. He also mentioned Notre Dame and Michigan State.
From the Buckeye perspective: He thinks that either Notre Dame or Michigan State carries the same “rivalry weight” as Ohio State? Hmmm. Plus, the only rival he had in Morgantown was Pitt, and he was just 4-3 against that noticeably inferior program in their not-quite-famous “Backyard Brawl”
Conclusion: On this issue, more like a John Cooper than a Jim Tressel.
Diplomacy and ethics:
Wolverine perspective: The man is plain-spoken and country. AD Martin is as giddy as a school girl, ready to biblically invoke, “My Rod and my staff shall comfort me”. And recruiting? Rich talked to Terrelle Pryor about the coach leaving West Virginia before he even talked the WVU players! The man is driven…
Buckeye perspective: He talked to Terrelle Pryor before he talked to the West Virginia players! Are you kidding? In his worst moment, Cooper would have never dreamed of doing that – no matter how driven. And how did the WVU recruits see this mission of diplomacy?
“Parkersburg (W. Va.) offensive guard Josh Jenkins pulled no punches when he described his emotions about Rich Rodriguez’s decision to head to Ann Arbor to become the newest head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. “I’m a little mad right now and disappointed,” Jenkins said. “People are just very disappointed in how he handled the whole situation,”
Conclusion: No coach we know recruits quite like Rich Rodriguez.
On the money, nicknames and other worldly matters:
Wolverine perspective: They only paid Hot Rod a 20% premium over his previous job, not needing to dip deep into their multi-billion dollar endowment. And UM left Rod’s peeps to deal with that pesky $4,000,000 buyout. Nicknames? “Rich Rod” became “Richer Rod”. And how well will the mountains translate to this elite and arrogant campus?
Buckeye perspective: I was just getting into the range and realm of Les Miles material (hey – we only recently discovered that it is “Leslie” and not “Lester”). As for nicknames, there’s such a of a treasure trove in front of us that we don’t need to devolve too quickly into “Dick-Rod” or adolescent tripe like that…
Conclusion: A good chance to earn Tressel money and there were really no good Cooper nicknames, anyway.
On Michigan’s sequence of choices:
Michigan perspective: After a halting start to the search, the UM athletic department got their man.
Buckeye perspective: After being turned down by almost any available “name” with a Michigan connection, the Wolves were forced to go “out of house” (no, not “outhouse”) for a guy with a glittering record that had no ties to the Michigan program. Much more like waking up and finding Charlie Weis in charge rather than the carefully contemplated George O’Leary or Urban Meyer.
Conclusion: Andy Geiger got the guy he wanted. AD Martin will only be able to say that in retrospect.
On the importance of being a “Michigan man”:
Wolverine perspective: Uh, well, uh…
Buckeye perspective: The new breed of “Michigan Man” seems to be a Mountaineer (see: basketball coach, John Beilein, recently of Morgantown). R-Rod has no connections whatsoever including understanding the history. As far as the Ann Arborites have fallen, is that a good thing?
Conclusion: Much much more JC than JT
On what to expect on the football field:
Michigan perspective: A new era! The spread comes to Ann Arbor! Now, uh, how long will it take to recruit those kind of players (hey – can Devine get into kinesiology?)
Buckeye perspective: A new era! The spread comes to Ann Arbor! We hope he brings his defensive program with him, too! :chuckles:
Conclusion: It’s hard to transplant concepts into programs (see: “The Bill Callahan Experiment”). But Rich is a breath of fresh air into a stale environment. That is much more like the Tressel hire than the Cooper ascendancy.
It is a new era. But will it be the dawning of the Gary Moeller renaissance or the second coming of Bo? Will we get to see Ryan Mallet running the spread? Or will we await the wave of kinesiology types coming in under the admissions radar to fulfill the R-Rod offense? And will Michigan play defense or simply adopt the Mountaineer strategy that “the last one with the ball wins”?
So many questions. So much time. In the end, I think they got their Mountain Man. Much more like a Cooper than a Tressel…
