ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan's Rich Rodriguez is not who I thought he was. And that's a shame, because I thought he was smart and arrogant and talented and defiant. Taken individually, not all of those qualities are positive -- but as a whole, they come together to form one heck of an impressive college football coach. Urban Meyer has those qualities. Brian Kelly has them. Bob Stoops. Pete Carroll.
Rich Rodriguez? He's not who I thought he was, because on Saturday after getting spanked 21-10 by Ohio State he showed some more of his qualities, qualities I didn't know he had. And whether you take them individually or as a whole, they're bad qualities.
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| All we're getting out of Rich Rodriguez is a pile of bad excuses. (AP) |
He was finger-pointing.
He was not the man Michigan hired from West Virginia. He was not a Michigan Man at all, unless the new era of Michigan Man is more Bill Frieder, less Lloyd Carr.
In Rodriguez's first two seasons at the helm, even with the Big Ten down in a big way, Michigan has suffered its worst two-year run in almost 50 years. The Wolverines went 3-9 in 2008 and 5-7 in 2009, and if that sounds like progress, look closer at the numbers. Michigan will limp into Year 3 of the Rodriguez Era on a five-game losing streak, and with losses in seven of its past eight games. Michigan is headed in the right direction only if future BCS bowls will be played below the continental shelf.
But have no fear. After the loss Saturday to Ohio State, Rodriguez knew exactly where the blame should go.
At Lloyd Carr.
And at the media.
These weren't exactly subtle shots, either. When he was asked if any of Michigan's juniors had come to him seeking advice on whether they should turn pro, Rodriguez literally stifled a giggle before saying no -- as if the previous coaching staff had recruited anyone good enough to consider that. Rodriguez made mention several times of the Wolverines' small senior classes this year and next year and at his need to play true freshmen like quarterback Tate Forcier, who threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter Saturday.
"We have to identify our problems, and we have," Rodriguez said. "Some of them didn't occur overnight, and they won't be overcome overnight."
So what, Rodriguez was asked, have you learned in two years about what you'll need to ...
"It didn't take me two years," Rodriguez interrupted. "It didn't take me two years to figure out what we needed and what we needed to do. I knew it after a couple of games."
When our players in 2008 sucked. He didn't say that, but that's what he meant. Obviously. But the media didn't get it, so when reporters kept asking Rodriguez to explain how mighty Michigan could have fallen so far under his watch, Rodriguez all but pulled out a picture of Lloyd Carr.
"The last three Februaries, or four Februaries, have hurt us," he said.
You know what happens in February, right? College football teams sign their recruiting class. Rodriguez was saying Carr signed bad players. His 8-16 record at Michigan? It's on Lloyd Carr, not Rich Rodriguez. Don't be surprised to see him lobby the school to attach that record to Carr, or at least to attach those 16 losses. Those eight wins? They're all Rich Rodriguez.
And they've come in spite of the media, which Rodriguez also blamed for his troubles.
"There's a faction -- and certainly I wouldn't accuse any of you all -- of creating a negative type of environment that wants to see drama, and wants to see people pointing fingers," Rodriguez said.
See? It's the media's fault! Rodriguez allegedly turned Michigan football into an overseas sweat shop, working crazy hours that have brought the full weight of the NCAA into town, but that's the media's fault. It was the Detroit Free Press, after all, that uncovered those potential violations. Never mind that Rodriguez's staff failed to file mandatory work logs. It's the media's fault.
Disappointing. Rich Rodriguez, who sneered as he turned West Virginia into a national powerhouse and who then sneered his way to Michigan, is now sniveling: Lloyd Carr did this. The media did that. And as an added bonus, I'm a good guy whether we win games or not!
That final sentence was the strangest part of Rodriguez's press conference Saturday. In a bottom-line business like coaching, he actually hid behind the loser's mantra that wins and losses aren't the bottom line after all.
"This is what we do. It's not who we are," he said. "It's what we do. It's not who we are. If I'm a bad guy because I lost some games, and that's what people perceive, I can't help that."
He's wrong, even when he's right. Because if he's a bad guy, it's not for losing 21-10 on Saturday to Ohio State. If he's a bad guy, it's for having complete disregard for the NCAA rules on practice limits. If he's a bad guy, it's because players fled the program after his arrival to get away from him. If he's a bad guy, it's for demanding accountability and self-responsibility from his team but blaming his own poor performance on the previous coach and the media.
Longtime football coach and athletic director Bo Schembechler never specified what he meant in 1989 when he made his famous "Michigan Man" proclamation.
But he didn't mean someone like Rich Rodriguez.
DonKeycok 
