Strategy
A frequent complaint under the Lloyd Carr regime was that the offensive play-calling relied too much on “throwing rock” - plunging Mike Hart into the defensive line, through the same hole, ad nauseum. Frequently, fans complained of a lack of “halftime adjustments” of some sort. Many hoped that Rodriguez, architect of the NCAA’s most dangerous rushing attack, would freshen the offensive playbook, providing it’s first update in virtually twenty years.
Grade: 3 Molotovs. This was a boom-and-bust area for Rodriguez. The degree to which the offensive was under-manned, under-powered, and under-experienced has been chronicled ad nauseum. The question, however, is how did Rodriguez do with what he had? Despite Michigan’s first offensive line in memory that lacked a single All-Big-Ten performer, and no discernible passing game, Michigan’s rushing attack averaged 5.1 yards-per-carry, net of sack yardage – equal to 2007 (when they had Michigan’s all-time leading passer, rusher, a first round pick at left tackle, and two NFL Wide Receivers), and considerably better than the 11-2 2006 team (which all of the above, plus a 3rd NFL Wide Receiver).
Further, Rodriguez somehow began to coax serviceable to good performances out of Steven Threet – a tall, immobile statue ill-suited for this offense. Threet played largely well against Notre Dame (16/23, 175 yards), played well in flashes again Illinois and Toledo, and phenomenally against Penn State before getting injured – an injury he’d carry with him for the rest of the season, making him largely ineffective.
Defense, however, was a different story. After being overwhelmed in an avalanche of big plays against Utah, Notre Dame, Toledo, Michigan State, Illinois, and Penn State, Rodriguez clearly took control of the defense from his coordinator, Scott Shafer, installing his familiar 3-3-5 defense – one with which his players were unfamiliar. The result – 522 yards allowed to Purdue, one of the poorest offensive teams in the Big 10, was the ultimate nadir of the defense’s season, and resulted in Michigan’s offense – struggling for large swaths of the season – scoring 42 points in a losing effort.
Maintaining “Tradition”
With Michigan making it’s first outside hire at coach since Bo Schembechler, there was some consternation in alumni circles that the hallowed traditions and “values” of the program would vanish.
Grade: 4 Molotovs. Rodriguez instituted a pre-game “Victors Walk”, and outwardly seemed to maintain every tradition that Michigan holds dear. Further, Rodriguez instituted a series of team dinners held at the homes of coaches, and the “Night of Champions” – an end-of-summer awards and competition night to honor the hard conditioning work put in by the players. The single tradition that Rodriguez didn’t maintain is likely the most important – winning.
Handling the Media
Lloyd Carr’s relationship with the sports media generally ranged from “adversarial” to “non-existent” – sometimes answering questions with a growled dismissal, or smiling pablum. Carr wanted the media as far away from his players and himself as possible, and generally succeeded. This was a point of acrimony for some, as the public’s knowledge of the inner-working of the program was negligible. Further, Rodriguez rode into Ann Arbor a voracious pack of innuendo-spouting journalists nipping as his heels. How did Rodriguez perform?
Grade: 3 Molotovs. It’s hard to envision a more difficult environment than the one that welcomed Rodriguez to Ann Arbor. West Virginia “journalists” ran stories about his abandonment of his team (done by every departing head coach since time began), his voiding of a signed contract (done by virtually every head coach ever), his “shredding of vital documents” (laughable, and disproved), and simply that he “made too much money” (arguable). This led to a hostile media environment in which Rodriguez admirably kept his composure, but occasionally allowed his frustration to slip through the cracks. On two occasions at post-game press-conferences, a visibly upset Rodriguez bemoaned the overall attitude of the press corps.
Rodriguez did, however, earn some friend in the media by opening practices, providing honest injury reports (blatant mistruths on these were a Lloyd Carr staple), and generally granting more and closer access to the media as a whole. Rodriguez will continue to have a somewhat adversarial relationship with the media until he starts winning – but once he does, it appears that the ground has been cleared for a better relationship than the one held by Carr.
Avoiding a Potty-Mouth
Rodriguez’s language was Justin Boren’s excuse for his departure, and apparently offended some in an apocryphal story.
Grade: Ahhh…whatever, here’s the point, Comrades: The harshest criticisms of Rodriguez, generally, are fabricated Internet rumors rattling around the Internet ether. Someone knows somebody who heard Rodriguez curse, or an insider saw Rodriguez yell at a player – stories that are unverifiable, stripped of context, and impossibly petty.
The bourgeois “elite” of Michigan Stadium that holds Rodriguez at arms length decries that he’s a “hick” because he speaks with a twang, comes from West Virginia, and can’t possibly “understand” what coaching at Michigan means. They claim he’s “uneducated” for the same reasons – or possibly because of his last name. They claim he “doesn’t understand” despite having not slaughtered a single one of Michigan’s numerous sacred cows – even the idiotic ones like “The Michigan Man”. They claim that he’s embarrassed the program through behavior – something for which there is literally no evidence. They seek to destroy our leader, comrades, and declare him a failure while he is still moving his troops into position for his first strike.
As this recap has intended to show – Rodriguez’s first season was not without fault. Hiring Shafer was a mistake, his seizure of the defense was a mistake, and he could have possibly been more concilatory with some existing players. He lets his frustration show at times. He hasn’t “embarassed” the names, traditions, or fans of Michigan. Expect the people crowing about his use of swears, his nebulous “lack of ethics”, and his lack of education (which is a complete fallacy) to become strangely silent as the win/loss column begins to even. Keep the faith, Comrades, and believe.
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