5 Truths That Should Keep Us Grounded as a Fan Base

You have probably already made your judgment regarding the future of coach Rod, but before you make your verdict final, the facts behind what happened this year (and in years past) in college football should be examined.

1. Michigan was 22nd in total offense in college football this year with 34.3 points per game.
They averaged only 20 points per game against ranked teams (with only 7 points coming against OSU).

2. Rich Rodriguez's team lost to Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State this year.
He is now 0-9 against these teams as head coach of Michigan.

3. Michigan was 102nd in total defense this year surrendering 33.8 points per game.
Do we really need numbers here? Watching that defense was like repeatedly sticking a fork in your eye.

4. Michigan's record has gotten better every year.
3-9... 5-7 ....7-5 (7-6 with bowl game)

5. The Big Ten was not great this year.
Michigan's very average record this year cannot be excused by great in-conference competition. It's not that the Big Ten was necessarily bad, but did you see who went 11-1 in the regular season? Did you see any of the New Year's Day bowl games?...YIKES!

A Decision

It's going to be tough to keep perspective after that bowl game, but I've had enough: almost. I've been a big Rich Rodriguez supporter during my time as a student here at the University of Michigan, pointing out how the offense had emerged as a juggernaut under his leadership. Sure, we had no kicking game whatsoever, and yes we had a porous defense, but that was on account of the 6 true freshmen we were forced to start in the secondary. However, after the bowl game my arguments looked far weaker.

Yes, we have a great offense...against subpar teams. Michigan scored 17 against Michigan State, 7 versus Ohio State, and as we saw today, 14 against Mississippi state. There is no doubt that, with a young offense that will return nearly every starter next year, it will only get better. However, considering that Michigan played average against good teams, it will get better regardless of who the head coach is. Whether it is Rodriguez or Harbaugh (or someone else), the offense will be far above average, as long as Michigan makes a smart hire. I would think that Michigan would hire someone with a brain, who realizes that this offense is so dynamic that it does not need to be changed, and would thus keep the spread. If not, then the offense will indeed take a nosedive as Denard would most likely leave (it would make sense for him at least, as he would not be effective in a non-spread offense). Finally, my largest issue with Rodriguez today: after a solid month of preparation, that was how ready he had our offense? For an offensive "genius", 14 points against Mississippi state is not that impressive. I feel another coach could have done better. What needs to be changed the most is the other two-thirds of the program.

We all know that Rich Rodriguez was brought into this program for his offensive skill set, however the fact that offense is only one-third of a football team cannot be simply overlooked. Under his leadership, Michigan's defense has deteriorated. Yes, the youth plays a major role in that. Still, giving up 52 points to a mid-level SEC offense after a month of preparation is inexcusable. A lot of this will fall on Greg Robinson's head, and deservedly so. He deserves to be fired (and there is absolutely no way he's here next year). But the fact remains: the person who hired him to run the defense? Rodriguez. That is another factor under his control that he failed at: it is his job to hire the defensive coordinator, and he clearly picked the wrong individual (twice now when one remembers his first DC: Scott Shafer).

Finally, we have the third area: special teams. Is Gibbons/Broekhuizen the best Rodriguez could recruit during his three years here? At the same time, his decision to go for the 35 yd FG in the third quarter was ludicrous. It was a fourth and 5 at the 18 yard line. All the fans knew Gibbons was going to miss that kick, and indeed he did. The fact that Gibbons, who clearly was the best Kicker in practice the month before the bowl to have been given the kick in the first place, couldn't make a 35 yarder in pristine conditions shows just how far special teams had falled under Rodriguez.

Now, even after all of this, i'm still not all for firing him. I'm just typing out the thoughts that entered my head after this travesty of a bowl game. My final idea: I still do not mind Rodriguez being kept around for one more year to see if he, and a new set of coaches, can continue the development of the offense and improve both the special teams and the defense. However, after being completely in the keep Rich Rod camp all season long, I am now at least open to the idea of having another coach. I am no longer convinced that would be a terrible idea. As long as we hire a coach who has a proven pedigree on the defensive side of the ball and will keep the spread (and thus Denard Robinson) at the University of Michigan (or hire an offensive coordinator with experience in the spread) will have my support. But I do belive that Michigan will be making a mistake if they bring in a coach who wants a pro-style offense that leads Denard to leave the school (and i wouldn't blame him as he would not be effective in such an offense). It is now up to David Brandon to make a very difficult decision.

LISTEN LIVE: Hockey v. Colorado College in GLI Championship!

LISTEN LIVE at 7:35 as Michigan looks to capture its 14th GLI title versus the Tigers of Colorado College at Joe Louis Arena.

Andrew Goddeeris, Adam Brewster, and Michael Lewandowski on the call.

LISTEN LIVE: Hockey v. Michigan Tech @ Great Lakes Invitational!

LISTEN LIVE at 7:35 as the Wolverines look to take down the Huskies from MTU in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena!

Andrew Goddeeris, Adam Brewster, and Michael Lewandowski on the call.

LIVEBLOG: Basketball v. Purdue

LISTEN LIVE: Basketball v. Oakland

LISTEN LIVE at noon as the Michigan basketball team takes on the Oakland Grizzlies from Crisler!

Jack Warner and Andrew Goddeeris on the call.

LISTEN LIVE: The BIG CHILL at the BIG HOUSE!

LISTEN LIVE at 3 pm to the Big Chill at the Big House as Michigan hockey takes on Michigan State in front of a world record crowd in Ann Arbor.

Andrew Goddeeris, John Zaccardelli, Bill Rothwell, and Chris LaFreniere in the booth.

LISTEN LIVE: Basketball v. Utah

LISTEN LIVE tonight at 6:30 as the Michigan Wolverines look to continue their winning streak against the Utah Utes in a rematch from last season's ugly defeat.

Jack Warner and Adam Wilensky on the call.

Michigan vs. Concordia

Listen in as the Michigan Wolverines take on the Concordia Cardinals in basketball!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/university-of-michigan-athletics

We'll be on at about 7:30! Tyler Bruens, Steve Cook, and Jeff Turner with the call

LISTEN LIVE: Basketball v. Harvard

LISTEN LIVE to Tommy Amaker's homecoming as the Michigan Wolverines takes on the Crimson of Harvard at 1 pm.

Jack Warner, Andrew Goddeeris, Tyler Bruens, and Matt Bernstein on the call.

Josh Groban? Football? It better be game over for Rodriguez

Disclaimer: What you are about to read is both opinionated and offends good taste.

GAMETIME

In case you missed seeing it somewhere in the news, the Michigan football team had their annual end of the season banquet yesterday in Livonia. The most newsworthy of the events that occurred was a Rich Rodriguez speech in which he emotionally stated his strong desire to be a Michigan man. Something also to note was that Rodriguez had his team hold hands to the song "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban.

TIMEOUT

Josh Groban? Football?

Rich Rodriguez, based on my potentially biased opinion, has all but told us that he is out the door after the bowl game. If this is true, the Josh Groban song is acceptable because this banquet was like a funeral- the death of an era. People get teary and emotional at funerals, I understand. But the extent of my empathy is only contingent on the fact that Rich Rodriguez knows he's gone.

TIME IN

And if he doesn't know the status of his employment at the University of Michigan next year?

SHAME ON HIM. What's with this nonsense about Rich Rodriguez acting so soft in front of crowds? He moped about the NCAA allegations, he moped about his defensive woes all season, he moped about the injury problems on his team, and now this? Josh Groban?

Coach: Crying (or coming damn near it) never solved anything. If you don't know that you're going to get fired, then stop acting so feeble. It doesn't resonate well with fans, administration, or recruits.

When Tim Tebow's Florida Gators got beat in 2008 by an inferior Ole Miss team, potentially ruining a championship season, how long did he feel sorry for himself? About 5 minutes. Then he stood up in front of a crowd of media, delivered (regardless of what you think of Tim Tebow) a great speech about how hard the team the was going to work the rest of the season, and then got it done by winning a national championship. Tebow's leadership turned sorrow into determination.

And Rodriguez? Well, after months of having his tail between his legs in front of the media and alumni, it appears that it will remain there. This submissiveness, I'm sure, is doing wonders for the public's perception of him as a strong-minded football coach.

GAME OVER

Michigan had a winning record, but not a winning season. A winning season breeds optimism, support, and a determination to improve. Instead, the Michigan football team is currently surrounded by pessimism amongst supporters, de-committing recruits, and a student body that has the right to feel sorry themselves for having to live through the Dark Years of modern day Michigan football. When you're a junior at Michigan and you have yet to beat Michigan State, Penn State, or Ohio State, a little bit of wallowing in self-pity isn't hard to accomplish.

I can never fault a man for getting upset over losing his job, but as long as Rich Rodriguez is publicly known as the head coach of Michigan, he owes it to the Michigan fan base paying his multi-million dollar salary to act the part. Michigan fans are simple creatures: they like to win, and they like to be around people who are determined to win. Excuses, moping, and an affinity for Josh Groban, have not, and will not ever, fulfill this simple desire.

(Updated) Should He Stay or Should He Go: The Rich Rodriguez Saga

At this point, Michigan fans have had a couple weeks to know about where the football program would finish this season, and people have been finalizing their opinions on Coach Rodriguez's job security for some time now.

I think it's fair to say the majority of the fanbase as a whole wants Coach Rod canned - the NCAA violations, the spread, the Big Ten record, losing streaks to conference powers and rivals, the complete and utter lack of defense. It's a wholly reasonable opinion, as Rodriguez's tenure at Michigan has been an utter embarrassment, and it's hard to keep coming up with excuses for the coach. Emotionally, Michigan fans feel like enough is enough, and are ready to forgive Jim Harbaugh's comments about Michigan's standards to hire the architect of the turnaround in Palo Alto.

There's another sizable contingent who says Rodriguez deserves another year. Three years is a short amount of time in the scheme of things, and he's still getting his recruits in place and up to speed in his schemes. Rodriguez has been the victim of an absurd amount of transfers, injuries, and admissions snafus, and inherited a certifiably awful 2007 recruiting class from Lloyd Carr. He's demonstrated progress - an explosive offense behind the nation's most electrifying player and seven wins and a bowl in his third season. Giving Rodriguez another year to get Michigan back to contending for the Big Ten championship would help avoid what could be a rash of transfers and would provide some much needed continuity that's important for player development and recruiting.

Dave Brandon does not have an enviable position as he heads home tonight, cell phone surely buzzing off the hook with alumni, former players, and friends offer their opinions on the fate of the coaching spot at the nation's winningest program. Whatever his decision, a couple things are clear:

• Anyone less than Jim Harbaugh will be a disappointment. The Stanford coach and "Michigan Man" (ed. some of us haven't forgiven his previous treachery) has expressed a desire to coach at his alma mater in the past, and he absolutely is the #1 choice of Michigan fans everywhere. Hiring anyone else would have fans scratching their heads and wringing their hands.
• Whoever coaches at Michigan next year should have a minimum expectation of 9 wins. Michigan will return 19 starters, will have one of the nation's most explosive offenses returning almost entirely intact, and will have improved depth and experience on defense. Michigan will have the talent to win 9 games next year, and anything less will be a major disappointment, no matter who the coach is.
• Michigan fans will continue to support their team wholeheartedly. Fans support the team far more than the coach, and nobody will care who coaches the team as long as the team is succeeding.

Sports Directors' Decisions

Bill: Fire Rodriguez. The time has come to make the change, and we owe Rodriguez nothing. Bring on Jim Harbaugh.

Andrew: Rodriguez should get one more year, for most of the reasons listed above. However, I won't be heartbroken if RichRod is out at Michigan. I like Rodriguez more than most people, and want badly for him to succeed, but I want much more for Michigan to succeed, and if Harbaugh gives Michigan that chance then so be it. I think it would be premature to fire Rodriguez, but I can certainly understand the decision if it happens.

AD Dave Brandon will surely have to do some damage control if he plans on keeping Rodriguez, and you should expect the former CEO to crank up the PR very soon if Rodriguez is the guy. If he decides to fire Rodriguez, expect the decision to come sooner than later, and expect Harbaugh to be the pick. We'll know a lot more on Monday.

Bonus rumor: Update - We're going to go ahead and repost the rumor. It's precisely that, a rumor, and it should by no means be interpreted as anything more. If the powers that be have an issue with this, please email me at amgodd@umich.edu.

Following the fiasco in Columbus, a couple WCBN personalities were informed by a source that Rich Rodriguez would be replaced by Jim Harbaugh, and that Rodriguez would be headed to Miami to take over the head coaching job there. We were initially highly skeptical, but with the firing of Randy Shannon a few hours after we received this tip, have reason to be a bit more confident that this will happen. Some of us are much more skeptical than others, and the Shannon firing wasn't exactly a major surprise, but there's enough here in our minds to leave it up on the blog. It's all very interesting. We'll see how it plays out.

Update II - WCBN has learned through a source within the University of Miami administration that the U and Rich Rodriguez have been in contact. What this means, however, is unknown. Everybody contacts everybody with these coaching searches, and it could be nothing more than Miami reaching out to RichRod only to be rebuffed. However, we believe there has been contact, which is interesting enough to pass along.

Whoever the coach - forever and always, Go Blue.

LISTEN LIVE: THE GAME

LISTEN LIVE. THE GAME. NOON.

Andrew Goddeeris and Bill Rothwell from the Camera Deck at Ohio Stadium.

Midseason Hockey Thoughts

Well, well, well…with the non-conference schedule over and Michigan a few series into the CCHA, we have learned a few things. Michigan is still the Michigan of last year. A talented team with the ability to score goals, run a deadly powerplay, and makes key saves, but they cannot do it for 60 minutes or over 48 hours. Ties against Mercyhurst, New Hampshire, and Ferris State clearly show they cannot close out games on a consistent basis. Michigan has had a curse of sorts the past two seasons with having an awful Friday night record and a strong Saturday night record. Michigan is 2-3-1 on Friday night games this season and 6-0-2 on Saturday. The most disappointing moment has to be the Friday night game against Notre Dame two weekend ago, when Michigan had to strong two periods before tanking in the third. This past weekend Michigan took care of an inferior Lake Superior State team. After Thanksgiving is the College Hockey Showcase. Wisconsin and Minnesota, who are in the middle of the pack of their conference, will be a good barometer to determine if the wolverines are improving or staying stagnant.

Although, there is hope with this Jekyll and Hyde team because they clearly have talent. Defensemen Jon Merrill has played very comfortable as a freshman on the top pairing, Hagelin and Caporusso are scoring at a point per game pace, and Bryan Hogan has put up good stats. Even Scooter Vaughan has emerged as a scoring threat. Michigan fans might have to wait until the end of the season before the hockey team can get their act together as they did last year. The pressure is on the seniors to get back to the frozen four like they did when they were freshmen.

-JZ

Three Spankings and You're Out!

Can Rich Rodriguez afford to lose this weekend to keep his job? Yes.

Can Rich Rodriguez afford for his team to get walloped in the biggest rivalry game in sports three times in a row? I doubt it.

I like Rich Rodriguez, but let's be honest: the man has done a poor job coaching arguably the best college football program in the country. I know the cupboard was empty when he came in 2008, I know he's faced an onslaught of freak injuries that continue to cripple his defense, and I know that it takes time to institute a new system such as the spread... but some things are simply inexcusable. Getting thwacked by Jim Tressel's Buckeyes after three years of building your program, no matter how decimated with injuries the Wolverines currently seem, is one of those things.

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon has been adamant about keeping Rich Rodriguez around Michigan's campus since the day Brandon was hired. According to Brandon, immediate success would not gauge Rich Rod's job security, but rather, "progress" would be key.

Call me crazy, but "progress" has yet to be accomplished by Rich Rod against the Big Ten's elite. Heck, some might say Michigan's regressed. Just last year the Michigan State Spartans and the Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Wolverines by margins of 6 and 2 respectively. And this year? Well, let's just say the combined margin was greater than 25, with both schools beating Michigan AT HOME by double digits.

Where is the progress? It's true that the maize and blue have improved their record every year under Rich Rodriguez, but Michigan has looked silly against Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, and Wisconsin this year. No progress, it seems, has been made regarding how the Wolverines stack up to the top teams in the Big Ten conference.

The only good news for Rodriguez is that the trump card is still in play for 2010. The one game that matters more than the rest has yet to be played. A win against Ohio State, in my opinion, constitutes progress. Shoot, even a close game (within 10 points) would show that this team is on the rebound. But if history repeats itself and Michigan gets dominated by another Big Ten powerhouse, I'm just not so sure that Dave Brandon, with his self-imposed standards, can justify keeping Rich Rodriguez as the head coach of the University of Michigan football team.

I think three Buckeye-decorated spankings for Rich Rodriguez in three years, regardless of the circumstances, will mean he's out.

Listen: Basketball v. Gardner-Webb

LISTEN LIVE at 2 as Michigan basketball looks to move to 3-0 on the young season.

Adam Wilensky and Jack Warner on the call.

LISTEN: Hockey v. LSSU

LISTEN LIVE at 7:35 as Michigan looks to sweep the Lakers out of Yost.

John Zaccardelli, Michael Lewandowski, Adam Brewster, and Jeff Turner on the call.

LISTEN: Volleyball v. Indiana

LISTEN LIVE at 7 as Michigan volleyball takes on Indiana at Cliff Keen!

Andrew Goddeeris, Chris Kudialis, and Michael Fienberg on the call.

Listen: Football v. #7 Wisconsin

LISTEN LIVE at NOON as Michigan takes on #7 Wisconsin at the Big House. Michigan looks to improve to 8-3 on the year and get the marquee win of the Rich Rodriguez era.

Andrew Goddeeris, Bill Rothwell, Jeff Turner, and Chris Lafreniere on the call.

LISTEN: Volleyball v. Purdue

LISTEN LIVE as Michigan looks to rebound from tough losses on the road last weekend as they return to Cliff Keen to take on Purdue!

Tyler Bruens and Steve Neff on the call.