Michigan And Rich Rod
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by Cbothe
Rich Rodriguez is the latest in the rumor mill and coaches meeting with Michigan AD; Rich Rodriguez really doesn't have any connections to Michigan and yet maybe the perfect fit for the program. Lets take a hypothetical look into Michigan the rest of the year and up until the '08 if Rodriguez was hired by next week. :ets just say Rich will continue to coach West Virginia and finish his time there with the matchup with Oklahoma; after that his is all for Michigan until he moves on, gets fired or retires.
Rich Rod brings a completely new philosophy to the Michigan program, a spread offense with a 3-3-5 style defense neither of which has been used recently by the Blue. While the defense may change with the amount of athletes Michigan and the fact that West Virginia has not been considered a Defensive power in any sense over the past couple of years. IT has to be assumed the spread offense will come with him. There are some pros and cons with this match, Currently Michigan does not have any spread option quarterbacks. The QB of the future is Ryan Mallet which couldn't be a further fit from the type of athletic QB the spread option offense needs. However, as of today the number 1 prospect in the country Terrelle Pryor has not yet commited to any college. Pryor is the dual threat type of quarterback that the Spread-option offense needs and West Virginia is in the top 5 of his schools of interest. Rich Rod already has a relationship with Pryor and if Rich comes to Michigan, he may be able to convince Pryor to join him based on the fact that Pryor could be the starter as a freshman. You may ask can the Spread option work in the Big Ten, well lets just remember Illinois went 6-2 this year running the offense and beat Ohio State, something Michigan hasn't done in 4 years.
So the offense can work with the correct quarterback and coach, Pryor and Rodriguez could be that matchup. The thing that may be able to help that offense succeed and run better than it had at West Virginia is the fact that Michigan has more athletes and will be able to recruit better athletes than West Virginia. Rodriguez has the fact that he's working for Michigan on his side and may be able to get players he never dreamed of. A constant top-10 recruiting class has become the norm for Michigan and its something Rodriguez has never had on his side.
However, Rodriguez does have 3 negatives working against him in him coming to the University of Michigan.
The first negative would be the fact that he never has been accused of having a great defensive mind. Really this isn't as big a problem as it may appear, Rodriguez could keep Ron English on the staff, English has proven that against all the traditional types of Offenses he can develop great Defensive gameplans that slow them down or shut them down totally. Practicing against the spread everyday can help English develop a Defense that can slow down the Spread enough that it doesn't score 50 on us as it has every other time.
The second negative is his history of taking chances on players with questionable backgrounds; that's one thing that does not fly at the University of Michigan. While he has never actually had any recruiting violations against him, he would have to stop taking chances. The final negative is the report that he has a $4 million buyout in his contract, after he almost left for Alabama last year. Michigan has never been the type of school that goes out and spends every penny they have on their coaches in any sport.
If Michigan can somehow negotiate a smaller buyout fee Rodriguez seems to be a great fit for the University of Michigan. Assuming he can get Pryor or there is a running quarterback we don't know about currently on Michigan's roster, Michigan would be set up for a long time. Rich Rod and Michigan seems like an ideal fit and a match that works out well for both parties.
EDIT: Rich Rod has told his players he's leaving for Michigan, good hire.
