U-M got the new guy — WVU's Rich Rodriguez new coach!

MITCH ALBOM
U-M got the new guy — in the new fashion

December 16, 2007
By MITCH ALBOM
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Monday, for the first time in nearly 40 years, a football coach will be introduced at the Michigan who is not homegrown, who has not already bled his maize and blue. Instead, the man taking over will carry the scent of another school and the recent sweat of another team’s practice, a university that was his alma mater, an institution he once gave the impression he would not be leaving.

Rich Rodriguez may prove to be a wonderful, winning leader for Michigan — and we hope he does. But that is the unknown future. Here is the well-known present: Rodriguez left a program with five years left on a new contract. He left a group of upset players preparing for a major bowl and who, a few weeks back, were one victory from playing for the national title.

He left them — and his alma mater — for greener pastures. More money. A bigger program. And U-M dangled those greener pastures in front of him. A plane was arranged. A quick interview held. A job was offered. He accepted.

Some around here may remember when the same thing happened, in reverse, with a Michigan basketball coach named Bill Frieder. He took a fast flight and a faster job offer from Arizona State, then came back and wanted to coach the postseason before leaving.

He was tossed out, indignantly, by Bo Schembechler, who famously declared: “A Michigan man will coach Michigan.”

A West Virginia man will coach Michigan now.

A little history lesson

And understand, there is nothing wrong with that. But U-M can claim no purity anymore. It cannot act surprised if Rodriguez bolts a few years from now for something shiny and new (perhaps the NFL?). It cannot pose as if above the brutish shopping of this business. Michigan went out and plucked someone else’s coach the way Frieder was once plucked from it.

Oh, and Rodriguez had a $4 million buyout clause. So presumably, Michigan is paying dearly for the privilege.

Such is the nature of college football coaching these days. It is a cutthroat, ugly business, and things have been ugly the last month in Ann Arbor, largely because the Wolverines haven’t had to deal with this junk since 1968.

But the Les Miles fiasco (he’s in/he’s out/he’s a maybe) and the quick flop dance with Rutgers’ Greg Schiano were part of a December that revealed, in bright school colors, the hypocrisy of college sports.

Let’s face it. This is a business that penalizes free hamburgers for recruits, yet condones coaches jumping mid-contract, abandoning kids they recruited. It’s a business that entices Bobby Petrino to leave an NFL team mid-season — in his first year — and ignores the awful message that sends to Arkansas students. It’s a business in which Nick Saban bald-faced lies to the public and press, then is celebrated upon arrival at an institute of “higher learning.”

Bill Martin, Michigan’s athletic director, saw all this, and apparently learned that being nice gets you nothing. He may have tiptoed with Miles and LSU. But by this weekend, he found his guy, and hired him fast — possibly at 60% more than he was paying Lloyd Carr.

It’s a game. He played it.

The tough task ahead

So we will meet Rodriguez today. From all reports, he is a charming, young, forward-thinking guy, and everyone knows his offensive flair, so Michigan’s three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust days officially died Sunday.

On paper, it’s a smart hire. An up-and-comer who has been in the national
championship hunt. But it’s worth remembering that Rodriguez built his impressive records mostly against the Louisvilles, Connecticuts and Pittsburghs of the world, which is fine, but not like running the table against LSU, Alabama and Florida.

The Big Ten will present its own challenge for Rodriguez. And we hope he handles it well and with dignity. According to a West Virginia newspaper, Rodriguez had a tradition that if players earned a 3.0 grade average or higher, they got their pictures on a special wall in the football offices. That’s encouraging.

Rodriguez will get a photo on a wall at Michigan, too. And U-M football folks should never forget how it got there. The ugliest month of their last 40 years is nearly done. Michigan played the game, same as everyone else, and got its man, who used to be somebody else’s.

And the Bo-Mo-Lloyd era is gone for good.

Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com.

This sure is going to make WVU fans mad! Rodriguez is a great coach that really turned around WVU's program. Except for loses to MY USF Bulls and the big rivalry loss to Pit. They were a killer program!

MICHIGAN COACHING SEARCH
STRIKE IT RICH: West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez accepts Wolverines job


December 16, 2007
By MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

Michigan has a new football coach.

West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez, who met with U-M president Mary Sue Coleman and athletic director Bill Martin on Friday in Toledo, has accepted the Michigan coaching job, replacing retiring coach Lloyd Carr.

Associate athletic director Bruce Madej confirmed to a Free Press report this afternoon that Rodriguez would be the Wolverines' 17th football coach.

U-M has scheduled a news conference for 9 a.m. Monday on campus.

Rodriguez had a 10-minute meeting with his team early this afternoon, told the 11th-ranked Mountaineers that he was leaving for Michigan and went back to his office, according to West Virginia media reports.

His players had little comment but looked downtrodden.

Also, the country's top quarterbacking prospect told Superprep.com this afternoon that Rodriguez had called with similar news.

“I just spoke to Coach Rodriguez about 10 minutes ago and he told me he is going to Michigan,” the QB, Terrelle Pryor, told Superprep.com. “He said they made him an offer he can't refuse.”

Pryor, from Jeannette, Pa., told the recruiting site that he wanted to add Michigan to his list of finalists. West Virginia had been on the list.

Rodriguez's decision came after nearly two days of pondering Friday's discussion and, according to the Charleston Gazette, two meetings with West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong on Saturday.

Although Rodriguez did not comment about the U-M job at his previously scheduled Saturday morning news conference, instead talking about his team's impeding Fiesta Bowl date against Oklahoma, his lack of a denial kept hope alive for many Wolverines fans. Combined with his decision to cancel an afternoon practice, a move seemed possible.

Rodriguez made nearly $1.8 million this season, according to a recent USA Today survey of college coaches.

A 44-year-old coach who has won at least 10 games in each of the past three seasons, including two BCS bowl trips, seemed to fit many of Martin's criteria.

He recruits the Midwest well, he is young enough that he could be a long-term fixture at U-M and brings the dynamic spread offense that has thrived everywhere he has been as a coordinator (Tulane and Clemson) and a head coach (Glenville State and, since 2001, West Virginia.)

His 60-26 record at West Virginia is sterling, although procuring him appeared costly with a $4 million buyout added in a contract amendment signed in August 2007.

Carr is still expected to coach Michigan in the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl against ninth-ranked Florida.

Martin attended the Michigan basketball game Saturday but refused comment on anything related to the search, which began officially when Carr announced his retirement on Nov. 19.

Rodriguez's acceptance would brings to an end the long and winding process to replace Carr.

Michigan had reached deep discussions with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano before he pulled out of the race on Dec. 7. There were extensive discussions between LSU coach Les Miles' representatives and U-M. Miles officially spoke to Coleman and Martin on Dec. 7, although released a statement saying it was just in an advisory capacity.

Like Schiano, Rodriguez was in his second major job flirtation in 12 months, having spurned Alabama last December.

Rodriguez also has a tenuous tie to Ann Arbor in his former West Virginia coach Don Nehlen, who was one of Bo Schemebchler's assistants before leaving to build the Mountaineers' program.

There have been 16 Division I-A coaching changes since the regular season ended and Michigan was one of three - UCLA and SMU - that had not been filled.

GO BLUE!

Rich Rodriguez begins employment at Michigan

Rodriguez begins employment at Michigan with coach-in-waiting job

December 19, 2007
By LARRY LAGE
AP

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Rich Rodriguez began his employment Wednesday at Michigan, where he observed his future team practice.

Rodriguez was introduced as Lloyd Carr’s successor on Monday morning, then returned to West Virginia later that day.

His resignation as the Mountaineers’ coach was moved up from Jan. 3 to midnight Tuesday, a West Virginia spokesman said.

Rodriguez’s $4 million buyout clause in his West Virginia contract still must be worked out.

His agent, Mike Brown, said Rodriguez’s previous comment, “The lawyers are working on it,” still stands and declined to say whether the buyout clause would be contested.

Michigan and Rodriguez have agreed to the structure of a contract, but Brown deferred comment on the timetable to finalize the deal to athletic director Bill Martin.

A message seeking comment was left with Martin.

Carr will coach the Wolverines on Jan. 1 against Florida in the Capital One Bowl, then will retire after 13 seasons as Michigan’s head coach. Carr said Rodriguez would have all the access he wanted, welcoming him to watch practice as well as to talk to Michigan assistant coaches and players.

Rodriguez said he didn’t think it would be in his or West Virginia’s best interest for him to coach the Mountaineers against Oklahoma on Jan. 2 in the Fiesta Bowl.

Associate head coach Bill Stewart has been named West Virginia’s interim coach.

“I think the players understand more than some of the general public,” Rodriguez said Monday. “It’s never easy. I mean, when is the right time or an easy time to leave a program? I don’t think any coach will tell you there’s a right, easy time.”

Rodriguez was 60-26 over seven seasons at West Virginia, where he built the program into a Big East power with four titles in five years.

The 44-year-old Rodriguez said goodbye to the Mountaineers during an emotional meeting Sunday in Morgantown.

His agent hoped fans in West Virginia would appreciate what he did for the program, and not hold his move against him.

That hasn’t seemed to happen.

The signs proclaiming tiny Grant Town, W. Va., population of less than 1,000, as the hometown of Rodriguez have come down.

Less than 24 hours after Rodriguez announced he was leaving to become Michigan’s new football coach, Mayor Robert Riggs ordered two signs taken down that proclaim Grant Town as the “Home of WVU Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez.”

Riggs said Tuesday he wasn’t doing it out of anger, but to pre-empt vandalism or theft by outraged Mountaineers fans.

Grant Town is about 20 miles west from West Virginia’s Morgantown campus.

Last year, when Rodriguez was considering an offer from Alabama, one of the signs was pulled out of the ground by a chain attached to a vehicle.

Once Rodriguez signed a new contract with West Virginia, the sign was left across the street from town hall with a note attached: “Since the coach is staying, here’s your sign back.”

Now that the coach is definitely leaving, Riggs said it was just a matter of time before someone went after the signs, which he plans to return to the resident who originally paid for them.

Gov. Joe Manchin, a fellow Marion County native, said the coach is a “victim” of high-priced sports agents. A shop that sells cemetery memorials in Charleston put the words “Coach Rodriguez” on one of the headstones displayed in a shop window.

Rodriguez’s wife, Rita, who is also a West Virginia native, hopes time will ease the hard feelings.

“Someone told us, ’You’re never going to be able to come back to this state again!’” Rita Rodriguez said. “You hope at some point, people realize we’re not rejecting the state of West Virginia. We just decided to make a career move.”

GO BLUE!