Monday, November 22, 2010

Michigan Wolverines Will Fire Rich Rodriguez Next Monday

Monday, November 29, 2010, at 9:00 AM, the Michigan Wolverines will no longer have a coach. Rich Rodriguez will be fired, assuming Michigan loses to Ohio State (pretty safe assumption). This comes from a caller identified as John in Fraser, MI, on the JT The Brick radio show (you can listen to it in the audio for hour 4 at the 7:25 mark).

John called the move a "done deal." He blames Michigan's struggles on Rich Rod's recruiting style to recruit small, quick players, which is "suicide" in the Big Ten. Additional reasons given for firing Rich Rod next week were having no control of the program, having players that weren't playing, and having the alumni furious. He spoke with confidence and conviction, like someone who knows would.

I know, anybody can call up a radio show and say Rich Rodriguez will be fired. However, JT gave credence to John by saying he is "an alumni," he is "high in," and that he "knows a lot of people and they all know him."

Almost a month ago, I wrote that Michigan should retain Rodriguez in 2011.  This was before the Wolverines won game six to be bowl eligible. I still feel this way. Maybe U of M decision makers don't, but I think you have to look big picture. Yes, you need to focus on the Big Ten and how to get back to the top there. However, Michigan wants to win national championships. My opinion is that they learned from Ohio State's mistakes. You will not win a national championship any time soon playing "Big Ten football."

Michigan needs the Rich Rodriguez offense to go beyond the Big Ten, but the defense does need to be beefed up. 

Other recent posts on COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAVEN:
Monday Musings: College Football Is America's New Pasttime
Poll Results: Which Team Was The Most Overrated?
College Football Haven Top 25, Week 12, 2010
Game of the Week: Virginia Tech Hokies at Miami Hurricanes
Game Predictions, Week 12, 2010
Weekly Trivia: Oregon Ducks' Best Season Record
Heisman Hopefuls: The Solution To The Cam Newton Cloud

37 comments:

  1. John in MI, you sir... are an idiot.

    Robinson will be fired, but, RR has done enough on offense to save his job W or L against the vest.

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  2. Oops. Guess John hasn't paid any attention to what Dave Brandon has said on multiple occasions over the past weeks and months: the alumni, donors, and "high-ups" (whatever that means) have no impact on his decision-making because they have access to about 5% of the information that he does. Sounding like you know what you are talking about and actually knowing what you are talking about are two different things.

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  3. Fire Rich Rod after the OSU game and hire Jim Harbaugh now!

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  4. Sometimes when I have the flu, I start to feel a little better. I stand up, take a couple of steps, get vertigo, the nausea returns, and I feel even sicker than I was before. That's how I feel when I see that classic aerial shot of the Big House, they pan over the crowd, the team sprints out of the tunnel and reaches for the banner, and then the camera moves and stops on the smug, uneducated face of Rich Rodriguez, scheming how to give up another 42 points to a MAC-level team.

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  5. This....... is stupid.

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  6. The argument that you "don't" win a National Championship with Big Ten football is a loser. When talking about R. Rod and him coming off success in the Big East. Look at Big East football. The only Nat'L. Championship they have is when Miami was in that conference. Big east also loses to Big Ten style football. Rodriguez has proven (to me) that he is not a good leader. So, I'm for replacing him after Saturday.

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  7. First of all what exactly is "Big Ten Football" anymore. OSU and Wisconsin are winning by scoring 40 plus a game, and playing defense.
    Second, Michigan needs to keep Rich Rod because it's so much fun to watch them lose.

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  8. "When talking about R. Rod and him coming off success in the Big East. Look at Big East football."

    That's a pretty compelling argument to get rid of Rich Rod. However, you can't ignore that he did beat the SEC champion in a BCS bowl with a Big East team.

    "The argument that you "don't" win a National Championship with Big Ten football is a loser."

    The evidence that we have is that you don't. Ohio State had their two epic failures recently, and the only BCS National Championship that the Big Ten has won needed that phantom PI call.

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  9. Rich Rod will not be fired. No matter who is brought in next year to replace him, it would still make next year another rebuilding year. It takes time to learn a new head coache's schemes. UM is better off staying with a coach who has at least established his style of play. They can build from there.

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  10. Rod will be back, he will be on a year to year basis for the next 2 years. Hope this clears up all the rumors.

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  11. After three seasons, RR has half of a team--or rather one player who is half the team>
    Fire RR?

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  12. I agree with Anonymous

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  13. I know who John in Fraser is. I am an alumni, too, and also have connections to the program. I can assure you that John has personal animosity toward Coach Rodriguez and he is wrong. There is no such "done deal".

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  14. though it may take a small miracle to beat Ohio State this year, to think that the program would already decide RR's fate before the game has even been played is ludicrous.

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  15. "In the history of Michigan football the Wolverines had never surrendered more than 300 points in a season - under Rodriguez they have yet to finish a season allowing less than 300 points."

    - from espn.com

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  16. He needs to get a defensive coordinator with a clue. I bet he wishes he had Casteel and that 3-3-5 stack. Maybe if Stewart gets canned he will.

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  17. No question. RR has to go, the idea that Big Ten style football doesn't win national championships is baloney! This guy has not beaten a good Big Ten team his whole career. He is an embarrassment to Michigan and to college football. I hope Brandon does the right thing and fires him on Monday at the latest. I don't care about any stupid little bowl game, its time to recruit big defense linemen and return Michigan to the top of the Big Ten and National prominence once more.

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  18. Well Folks, I love Michigan Football, and I am really dissappointed in last few seasons to say the least. I am one peron who does not feel R.R. has the best interest of the Michigan tradition in his heart. It should have never been allowed to reach this extreme disaster. This school needs a proud Michigan alumni to re-establish the GREAT Michigan Football tradition, the way it has always been in the past.

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  19. there is no excuse for a def to be that bad at michigan, 11 true freshman should be better than that def, how could you not recruit better players at michigan?

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  20. MIchigan is undersized on both sides of the ball. The other big 10 teams are larger and just as fast. The defense just blows! Can you say JUCO's to buy some time and save some face? The O backfield is weak. Forcier is a much better passer than Robinson, but Robinson is a runner. It will be interesting to see how Gardner grows. He has the profile of a big ten QB. I do not understand how a school of their caliber cannot get a kicker. Are you serious? Go recruit someone fro Div II if needed. Next year we will start to see things come together if they keep RR and fire Robinson. UM should be able to hire a defensive mastermind/motivator. Robinson is not a motivator.

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  21. Has Michigan ever lost to both STATE and the Bucs for three years straight? Get rid of R.R and lets play UofM football from here on out!!!

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  22. NO MORE RR, fire him ASAP. GO BLUE, we will always support you!

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  23. if john from fraser is a mich alumni, i feel sorry for him, he delivered detroit newspapers for a long time and went to the oakland press to deliver. i know this guy. he said how he wanted lloyd carr fired all along. while i do agree rrod should be gone, john from fraser is just flowing in the wind

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  24. I played for Bo and YES I am a MICHIGAN MAN! Should coach be fired? Ask any man whether he played for a sports team at Michigan or just attended the school and he will tell you that Michigan means tradition. We do things a certain way at Michigan and believe very strongly in our traditions. My personal opinion is that coach started off on the wrong foot when he arrived doing away with certain football traditions for the players and fans. Dave has a difficult choice but the handwriting is on the wall. Coach is a great guy who may have been advised when hired by folks who had no true appreciation of what it meant to be at Michigan and what the expectations were of the fans and former players. Coach will land on his feet. I wish him the best. Rick Davis

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  25. UM tradition, Really...UofM lost that the minute this scum walked into their little backroom back ally deal. UM hired this dirt bag with little concern on tradition or they would not have done it in the sneaky way they did it.It will take years to rebuild this program and RR's screw up will always be there. You cant get rid of them.Keep him there, UM deserves what they get. I know that they will not be getting anymore of my money until he is gone.

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  26. Michigan will be Michigan when and only when that coach out west goes back to Ann Arbor and build a Michigan team the way michigan should and always been, big,strong,fierce and fast like a Wolverine go blue

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  27. I say "John" isn't the focus here...it's what he said, duh!

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  28. John from Fraser never said he was an alumnus, JT the Brick did. John is passionate about Michigan and wants what is best for it. He has been clammering for Jim Harbaugh for sometime, and by all accounts he is the right man for the job. Michigan does handle things differently than other schools, but the writing on the wall is there. I got your back John, Harbaugh now!!!

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  29. Rick Davis,

    I was thinking about this situation some more this morning, and I think you are right. Tradition is the biggest factor in this equation. Rich Rod has come in and disrupted the program in many ways.

    Can he repair the damage that he has done and bring back the traditions and coach with the interest of Michigan in mind? If the answer is no, then firing Rich Rod might be the best answer.

    Maybe with new coaches on defense Michigan can reach 10 wins, but being a perennial top two in the Big Ten might never happen.

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  30. I would say Rich Rod is in over his head, and his 15-21 record proves it! FIRE THIS BUM!!!

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  31. michigan will never be atop the big ten again with RR in charge,he is altimately the boss and should have taken conntrol of that ridiculous defense.and one more thing,can we please recruit a F@#$ing kicker.unbelievable we cant even snatch a good or even decent kicker.

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  32. I don't care if Dick Rod stays but you folks need to get back to the game to make your fans proud! Don't get me wrong I love going to the game and seeing you lose, but makes me sad to watch your team struggle!

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  33. So November came and went, and this rumor turns out to have been...

    a lie.

    Count it up alongside about a thousand other false rumors and lies that the press has promoted or concocted about Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. Promoting the kind of general atmosphere seen in the foregoing comments.

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  34. "Tradition is the biggest factor in this equation. Rich Rod has come in and disrupted the program in many ways."

    Could The Editor please count the specific ways in which Coach Rodriguez has "disrupted the program" or otherwise defied "tradition" at Michigan?

    I can't think of anything that actually supports such a claim.

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  35. What supports this claim is the former players and others associated with Michigan that are saying he has.

    Can you please count the specific ways in which Coach Rodriguez has maintained traditions at Michigan?

    I am on record saying I think he should stay. Changes must me make on defense. I guess the biggest tradition of all is winning. If Rodriguez can win the way Michigan has in the past, then other stuff can be overlooked.

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