Keep Me in Your Heart

	Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart .mp3
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More often than not, sports always end up blurring our thoughts, distorting our most basic of human emotions. We refer to simple games as wars, to mere players as soldiers, warriors, etc, often without giving thought to what we're doing. But in no instance is this disconnect more evident than when the topic of termination of employment comes up. We're all guilty of it. We never consider the man, we always consider the coach. I suppose that's our obligation as sports fans. It's our job to look at the results, not the family or the person. We don't consider the ramifications beyond our own self-interests.

It was an easy decision to make, and one that had to be made regardless of "process" and who is or is not coming to do the job next. Firing Rich Rodriguez was the only logical conclusion after three years of seeing Michigan sink into a well of misery so deep that the prevailing emotion in the face of a 38-point bowl loss to a 5th-place SEC team was apathy. By every reasonable measure, Rich failed and failed historically as Michigan's head coach. The promise and overly confident optimism he brought 36 and a half months ago was long extinguished, replaced by anger from those within and laughter - or worse, pity - from those on the outside.

But the fact that this was the only reasonable endgame doesn't make me feel better. It doesn't take away the cold knot in my stomach, or the weight on my heart. The randomness of the universe is something that has haunted me for years. This ongoing process called life, where good, decent people can be struck down by the cruel hand of forces sometimes larger than themselves angers me, because it's never about what you deserve. I'm not talking about Rich Rodriguez the coach. I'm talking about Rich Rodriguez the man. He came here as a stranger in a strange land, in many ways the worst possible candidate in retrospect. Generally, being a simple person who just wants to succeed in your walk of life would be considered an admirable quality. Rich had no interest - and worse, no real capability - in navigating the minefields of politics at Michigan. He didn't want to hand-hold the people who couldn't cope with the outsider from West Virginia. He wasn't interested in providing counsel and leniency to those who had trouble adjusting. All he wanted to do was do things his way, install what he knows, and coach football. On the surface, that would be, and should have been, fine. But at Michigan, you can't just be a football coach. For better or worse, it's a unique place that requires a unique mind. And it saddens me that it had to play out this way, because I know that Rich Rodriguez genuinely loved Michigan. He felt blessed and honored to be the head coach at such a special and hallowed place. He knew the opportunity that was presented to himself, and he embraced it as best he could.

Unfortunately, as fate would have it, the best he could fell well short of even the most modest of expectations, and on a personal level, that saddens me most of all, and it produces a sort of repulsion in my gut that I find myself on the same side of the fence as people like Michael Rosenberg, Drew Sharp, Mark Snyder, and so many others who passed judgment not just on the coach, but on the man. The fact that these people are celebrating today brings me angst that is beyond words. They feel like they landed their prized scalp. They have Rodriguez's head on the plate they started polishing off three years ago. That special spot they picked out on their walls to mount Rich's head on is now ready, and they take delight in it, and it sickens me. That's another thing that really pisses me off, when the end result agrees with people whose process was beyond flawed, because it makes them feel vindicated in what they've done. Mike Rosenberg will sleep well tonight. He shouldn't.

My faith in this experiment was dealt a punch to the throat in early October when Michigan State bulldozed Michigan. My last shred of belief was dealt away when Penn State's backup walkon quarterback did whatever he pleased against our tremendously flawed defense. The Penn State game was the last straw for a lot of us, I think. Even during the subsequent wins over Illinois and Purdue, the feeling that this was nearing its end never left my mind. That didn't stop me from yelling and screaming at the TV during the Illinois game. It didn't stop me from enduring a six hour car ride to Purdue to stand in a driving rainstorm for three hours with the girl I love, because if there's one thing that approaches the love I have for her, it's the love I have for that team that takes the field in the winged helmets, and that's the solace I will take from this sordid tale. No matter the coach, my support for Michigan football will never die.

On December 17, 2007, I got up earlier than usual to turn on the TV and watch the ushering in of what we all believed to be a new, prosperous era. 1115 days later, we bid farewell to that era, in some ways weaker, and in some ways wiser.

Attention to Detail

Note: This is not my work. I did not do the research, I did not voice the opinion, I did not tell the story or transcribe the narrative. I just happen to agree with it wholeheartedly and believe that this is the most logical, most even-keeled, and overall best representation of our present situation.

If you are a subscriber to Michigan's Rivals site, you can find this under the post titled "What was, what might have been, what is, and what could be.... (long)." I have received permission from both the poster of that topic and the actual author of the words therein to post this here in an effort to spread the message it contains, not just as an effort to sway the opinion of those who still disagree, but to articulately explain and describe our collective point of view and why we hold it.

So, without further adieu:

Subject: What was, what might have been, what is, and what could be. (Jonathan) Chait made a point recently that Rich Rodriguez inherited a "hollowed out" roster. Is this really the case? Let's look at who the starters were for the second game of the 2008 season. QB: Steve Threet RB: McGuffie/Brown/Shaw (with Minor on double-secret probation) LT: Ortmann LG: McAvoy C: Molk RG: Moosman RT: Schilling TE: Butler WR: Stonum WR: Odoms DE: Graham DT: Taylor DT: Johnson (with Martin making early contributions) DE: Jamison (with Van Bergen making contributions) WILL: Mouton MIKE: Ezeh SAM: Thompson CB: Warren CB: Trent FS: Brown SS: Harrison That offense was young. You had a redshirt freshman QB, two true freshman WR's, and three new starters on the OL. Conversely, the defense was a solid unit. Not hollow in the least! The DL should have been the Big Ten's best that year, or at least close to it. You had a senior Thompson at SAM, a returning starter in Ezeh at MIKE, and Jonas Mouton ready at WILL - and he played some good football in '08. Warren and Trent were a solid duo at corner. Harrison was a senior at safety, and Brown was a junior. What could we reasonably have expected had Lloyd or DeBord continued to coach the team? In 2008, we would have surely played the type of football that many of Michigan's faithful wanted to see go away: conservative, three-yards-in-a-cloud-of-dust, ball control football, keeping a stout defense fresh and making just enough plays throwing over the top to beat most teams. Justin Boren would have still been here in 2008 and 2009, and Manningham and/or Arrington might have been around for 2008 as well. (I am assuming Mallett and McGuffie were gone regardless.) But Steve Threet would have had a fighting chance in a passing offense behind an OL of Ortmann-Boren-Molk-Moosman-Schilling with Manningham and Arrington at WR, and Stonum and Hemingway behind them. Certainly a better shot than he did running read-option and throwing to freshmen. When you look back at 2008, think of all the games that were there to be won: Utah, Toledo, Purdue, MSU... even PSU and ND. Under Coach Mike DeBord, that team probably goes 7-5 or even 8-4 (and DeBord gets skewered by fans for doing so). Due to some recruiting misses at safety and on the offensive line (which resulted in some shaky play on the right side for the last few years of the Carr Era), and a perfect storm of Henne, Hart and Long all graduating at once, Vince Lombardi could not have done better than 8-4 in 2008. 3-9, however, was a fail under any coach. Now play the tape through. In 2009, you lose Jamison, Taylor, Johnson, Thompson, Trent and Harrison off the defense. Martin and Sagesse step in at tackle (and in hindsight, we know Martin was ready to be an impact player, with Van Bergen at DE. Fitzgerald and Demens battle it out at the SAM. Kovacs and Brown make up a shaky safety duo. But on offense, you would have had all five OL starters returning. Minor and Brown as seniors at RB. Steve Threet in his second year starting in the passing offense we have since learned he could flourish in. And you may well have had Forcier backing up Threet. Jason loved it here and only transferred for a chance to play - the old staff probably recruits Tate and lands him. Look back on the 2009 schedule. MSU, Purdue, Iowa, even OSU... there were a couple of more wins to be had there beyond the low-hanging fruit we picked up. Probably another 7 or 8 win season. Imagine the flak Mike DeBord would have been taking! There wouldn't have been a DeBord "apologist" on De Board, despite maintaining our bowl streak and winning several more games over two years than Rodriguez did. The 2010 roster gets harder to project. But we would have certainly had Molk and Schilling starting on the OL, probably with Huyge and Dorrestein. It's difficult to project the other OL's because the rest are Rodriguez recruits - and this is one area where he and his staff have done a bang-up job (better than their predecessors). It's also difficult to project who the running backs would be - but this was not a stellar year for our RB's, so you can at least assume that whoever Carr & Co. brought in would be no worse. But instead of a first year starter in Denard, you'd have had a fourth year junior Steve Threet at quarterback, now in his third year starting in a pro-style system. He'd have been throwing to a well-seasoned Stonum and Hemingway, with probably Kelvin Grady as the 3rd/slot receiver. Toney Clemons is probably still hanging around somewhere, perhaps making more rap singles with a 5th year senior Coner. On defense, we know the anchors of the line would have been Martin and Van Bergen, and we'd have had Ezeh, Mouton, and Fitzgerald/Demens together for a third straight year under the same system, and probably getting better coaching than they have under the Rodriguez regime. That may well have been a really good linebacking corps had things been different. Donovan Warren would likely still be here at corner with Floyd and Rogers and whoever else Lloyd might have recruited competing across from him. Much better than the mess we had this year. I couldn't even begin to tell you who the safeties would be. Teric Jones and one of the Gordons? Rogers or Floyd at FS? Couldn't be any worse than what we had. Had the Bo/Mo/Lloyd program continued under DeBord, it's a good bet the last three years would have averaged about 8-4, and people would be very dissatisfied with that. Gary Moeller was ostensibly fired for the Southfield incident, but in reality he was fired for losing four games in 1993 and 1994. It would have been perfectly fair to be disgruntled with the state of the program had things continued on their old course. Almost any organization, be it business, education, whatever, can get stale without new ideas coming in from the outside. And it was frustrating to be able to see the top of the mountain from where we were, only to continue coming up short. The 2004 and 2005 OSU games that LITERALLY slipped just through our hands... the calamitous starts to 1998 and 2007... the Rose Bowl losses to USC in 2003 and 2006. Some, however, cautioned that a wholesale dismantling of the program means you are throwing the baby out with the bath water. And those people who so cautioned turned out to be spot on. Almost every year, under Lloyd, we woke up the morning of the OSU game knowing that we would have a shot at at least a share of the Big Ten title. We NEVER woke up on any Saturday assuming Michigan would lose. Many if not most people took that for granted, and assumed that anyone who came from the outside and took over after Lloyd would automatically have that and just add to it. But that's not how it works (as we have very painfully discovered). By electing to completely throw away everything that Michigan was and start with a blank piece of paper, we ended an historic streak of non-losing seasons, the longest active bowl streak, and at many points over the next three years became a national joke. Now, were there people who didn't accept Rich Rodriguez from day one? Hell yes. Many fans had reservations. You had the Rosenbergs of the world. And you had some people internally. But the fact of the matter is, this is no different from transitions at any big football program - and it's not even unprecedented at Michigan. There was great resistance to Bo Schembechler when he took over for Bump Elliott. For the rest of his life Bo maintained that he never could have gotten off the ground without the support he got from Bump during the transition, and this was a "lasting lesson" that Lloyd did not take from Bo. It wasn't enough to stay out of Rich's way and resist actively undermining him. If Lloyd wanted to do what was best for Michigan, he should have been Rich's loudest, most visible fan. And behind the scenes, he should have been telling his former players who were not "all in" to man up and f*****g GET all in! Now... Rich was not blameless, either. The special joy he took in dismantling the program in order to fully rebuild it in his own image was something that would have sickened Bo. When Bo took over, there was absolutely a new sheriff in town, but he came to the job with an acute awareness of the brand he was inheriting. He had his own way of doing things, but he was not trying to fashion a "Bo Schembechler program" or recreate any past success. His job was to do the best he could with MICHIGAN - it was bigger than he was. And he knew it. Rich doesn't seem to understand that quite so well. Further... many insiders will tell you that Rich was like a bull in a china shop within the walls of Schembechler Hall. While he said the right things publicly, inside he routinely disparaged what he had been left by Lloyd and criticized Lloyd's program, apparently too dense to realize that most of the people still involved with the program were former colleagues and admirers of Carr. He established a tone from the start that all but invited the skeptics to actively undermine him, and he did little to earn the respect that he very much needed from Lloyd Carr. In short: don't portray Rich as merely a victim of a stodgy blueblood establishment. There's plenty of blame to go around for why this marriage didn't work out, and that includes Rich. He had his own "faction". And none of this political intrigue cost Michigan a single win under Rodriguez. What DID cost us wins? I agree with those who are believers in the Rodriguez offense. It works, and has the potential with an experienced, talented group to be absolutely explosive. He's an elite offensive mind. It's easy to say, "all we need to do is improve the defense a little and we'll win 10 games!" But there's a reason that fixing the two phases at which we are historically bad is not likely, and it goes deeper than X's and O's and star gazing and all the directly observable factors. Whether it's the New England Patriots, Ohio State, Google, Apple, Hyundai, GE.... some programs are able to build a culture of attention to detail. It's a common denominator in high performing organizations in sports, in business, everywhere. In a game with 22 players on the field, with that many moving parts, everyone doing their job is critical, and it's about more than just "making plays". Breakdowns in execution, breakdowns in fundamentals, breakdowns in concentration, breakdowns in ball security... when it happens week after week after week, you may not be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the pattern, but it IS a pattern that DOES have a root cause. When Denard puts the ball on the ground like clockwork EVERY WEEK, when Lewan picks up a personal foul EVERY WEEK, when Jeremy Gallon makes a bad decision or fumbles the ball EVERY WEEK, when Roy Roundtree drops passes EVERY WEEK... it all falls under the category of "attention to detail". That culture of attention to detail simply is not there under Rodriguez. Look back at the fumble stats for Rich Rodriguez teams. Fumbling has been a problem all three years here, and it was a problem on four of his teams at West Virginia. Maybe it's that his teams consistently have the ball in the hands of small players who can't absorb a hit and hold onto the football as well. Or maybe ball security isn't worked on enough (and actively enforced through the withholding of playing time). But West Virginia fumbled away a shot at the National Championship against Pitt in 2007, losing three and having one or two others kill drives. On 7 of Rich's last 10 teams - different programs, different players - fumbling has been a major problem. There is only one common denominator: Rich Rodriguez. Attention to detail. West Virginia ended up with the nation's #3 defense this year (Catseel, without Rodriguez), and Syracuse ended up #6 (Shafer, without Rodriguez). Greg Robinson, with two Super Bowl rings in his trophy case, presided over the nation's #109 defense - the bottoming out of a three year trend. The difference in competition between the Big East and Big Ten cannot account for that kind of disparity - especially when West Virginia and certainly Syracuse don't have near the level of recruited talent that Michigan does. Attention to detail. The utter cluster*** that is our kicking and return game - despite three years of recruiting ideal kick/punt returner prototypes and having a US Army All-American kicker AND punter on the roster - is another area where attention to detail (or the lack thereof) is painfully evident. Special teams is ALL about coaching and attention to detail. Ohio State and Virginia Tech have great special teams every year. Their preparation and attention to detail allows them to be better in this phase than we are. At Tulane and Clemson, Rich was only responsible for the offensive scheme and play calling - a job at which he is nothing short of exceptional. And at Glenville State and West Virginia, the level of competition allowed offensive scheme alone to carry the day - along with catching lightning in a bottle in the form of Steve Slaton and Pat White (who in addition to great speed had exceptional instincts and timing on the read option - something Denard and Tate do not possess). When he got to Michigan, Rich was not only responsible for the whole enchilada, but the weekly level of competition - on the recruiting trail and on the field - got ratcheted up a couple of notches, as did the expectations. His offensive thought leadership was no longer enough. Factors like management and leadership skills, and ATTENTION TO DETAIL, are the difference between success and failure when you graduate to the grownups' game as Rich did when he took this job. That's why it's not a random occurrence when Denard coughs up the football at the end of a long drive against Ohio State. It's what Denard does! His 10 fumbles this year are less than only Taylor Martinez (11) and Fresno State QB Ryan Colburn (12). He's fumbled as many times this month as Mike Hart fumbled in his entire career, and it's criminally negligent that the problem hasn't been coached out of him in two full seasons. Historically, it's what Rich Rodriguez teams do. Attention to detail. And a microcosm of the offense under Rich: brilliant enough to move you all the way down the field, mistake-prone enough to not finish the job against the real good defensive competition. The scheme works beautifully. The execution all too frequently derails it. On balance, there were plenty of reasons why Rich Rodriguez might not have been able to replicate his WVU level of success at Michigan. The Big East is a BCS conference in name only. WVU was Rich's alma mater, and as a favorite son the leadership challenge of getting everyone pulling in the same direction was not nearly as daunting. Morgantown is a small town that doesn't provide the media scrutiny of a big market like Detroit. Michigan is simply a bigger, tougher job than West Virginia was for him. While Rich is an offensive thought leader - unquestionably one of the top offensive minds in the game - the challenge of being the czar of this particular program appears to be beyond his management and leadership abilities. Here's the real distillation of the arguments over the relative fullness of the cupboard and what Rodriguez could have or should have accomplished: Lloyd had left us in a position where we were going to be in a football "recession" for a couple of years. But Rich came in and turned it into a full-on Great Depression. Just as economic tweaks and a New Deal were not enough on their own to lift America out of the Depression, defensive tweaks and a New Coordinator will not be enough to lift Michigan out of this quagmire. Rich Rodriguez will someday come to be viewed as the Herbert Hoover of Michigan football: a man not lacking for technical knowledge, but too much of a tinkerer and not a strong enough manager and leader to cope with the events of the day and halt a critical downward spiral. Ending the Great Depression required World War II to get everyone to work and energize the economy. Michigan football needs its own galvanizing event to end our Depression. Michigan football needs its FDR. NOW. Just as another great Michigan football player, Gerald Ford, said after a famous transition of power that "our long national nightmare is over"... when this nightmare hopefully ends in the coming days and we have our own transition of power, Michigan Nation must turn its lonely eyes to Jim Harbaugh. He resume belies the thoroughly moronic notion that Michigan fans only care about him because he played here. He was a Heisman finalist in college, and played for fourteen years under many different offensive systems in the NFL. He played for some coaching giants, starting with Bo Schembechler, and then Mike Ditka. He played for one of the most noted offensive minds in NFL history in Ted Marchibroda when he was with the Colts, and a fairly accomplished college offensive mind in Mike Riley when he was with the Chargers. Harbaugh has studied under some big time football acumen, and since his own father was a college football coach, he was probably a more keen observer of the coaching chops of his mentors than the average player. He cut his teeth as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky, serving in an unpaid capacity under his dad, Jack Harbaugh (who was Michigan's DB coach under Bo Schembechler from 1973 to 1979). Despite playing at a big time college program and starting at QB in the NFL for many years, Jim went back to school and learned his craft as a coach from an old hand - and he did it for no money in a college football backwater. He didn't have anything handed to him. He put in his time. As a head coach, he started off at the University of San Diego - a non-scholarship program in a scholarship league. He went 7-4 his first year, then 11-1 the next two, winning the Pioneer League both times. At this point, you could have made an argument that Harbaugh was an intriguing candidate for a Bret Bielema-style transition year under Lloyd. Yes, some guys like Miles and Rodriguez were more accomplished at bigger programs, but Harbaugh was by no means a "small school" guy given his Michigan and NFL experience, and Miles and Rodriguez both carried with them questions about a cultural fit - questions that were raised at the time (and turned out to be very prescient with Rich). In any case, Harbaugh took over a Stanford program that was 1-11 the year before, and was routinely recruiting classes that were not even in the top 50. They were the doormat of the Pac 10. They were Indiana. Except worse. Talk about a "hollowed out roster", Mr. Chait! In four years, he has beaten USC - the 'roided up, player-paying Darth Vader of college football - three times. In his third year, Stanford made their first bowl since 2001. This year, his fourth, he has flipped that 1-11 to 11-1 and has Stanford in position to possibly go to a BCS bowl. Their only loss was on the road at AP #1/BCS #2 Oregon. They have shut three teams out defensively and have a top 25 defense to go with a top 10 offense. This defense is nothing to sneeze at when you look at the offensive ranks of Oregon, USC, Arizona, and Steve Threet's Arizona State - all offenses in the top third of the nation. And Notre Dame, who was also on Stanford's schedule, is in the top half. They lost a Heisman finalist, Toby Gerhart, and it affected them not a bit. Finally, Stanford is about to bring in a top 20 recruiting class - their best since Rivals has been around - and if you don't think that's an accomplishment, look through the academic numbers of Harbaugh's recruits. You'll find a whole lot of them who could get into Michigan on academic merit, and I guarantee you that "we'll find out in August" are words that you will never hear uttered on the Stanford message board with regards to whether a kid will qualify. Let's look inside the numbers at exactly what Harbaugh has done to elevate Stanford's program: Scoring Defense - Improved by 13 points per game over four years (31 to 18) Scoring Offense - Improved by 29 points per game over four years (11 to 40) Ponder the enormity of this for a moment: a positive point differential of 42. Six touchdowns a game Harbaugh has added to that program! And he did it without trying to sneak academically-deficient felons through the back door. Strength of Schedule (Per Sagarin) 2007 - 10 2008 - 12 2009 - 29 2010 - 8 (YTD) This is not the Big East. In fact, Stanford has had a stronger SOS than Michigan each year. Harbaugh just went 11-1 against a top ten SOS. Recruiting Classes (per Rivals) 2007 - 51 2008 - 50 2009 - 20 2010 - 26 2011 - 11 (YTD) You cannot do a better job at either San Diego or Stanford than Jim Harbaugh has done. Given his playing pedigree, the fact that he comes from a coaching family and studied under numerous big time coaches, that he put in his time to learn the craft, then put it into practice at two different levels and was wildly successful at each, Jim Harbaugh is unquestionably the hottest coaching commodity to be ready for the big time since Urban Meyer was set to leave Utah. When you then consider that Harbaugh was a rug rat on the Michigan sidelines while his dad coached under Bo, and then starred here as a player... outside of bringing in someone who has been winning national championships elsewhere and is just ready for a change, you could not design a better candidate for the Michigan job than Jim Harbaugh. He is significantly more qualified than Rich Rodriguez was when we hired him, let alone after three years of Rodriguez failure. If Harbaugh had this same resume three years ago, Rich Rodriguez would not have even gotten a courtesy listen from Michigan. Harbaugh may have been ON the boat with Bill Martin! As it is, it's probably now or never if we want to bring Harbaugh home, and every indication is that he wants the gig. Rich has not accomplished nearly enough for us to pass on this opportunity. Now, let's address Harbaugh's controversial comments from 2007. "I would use myself as an example. I came in there, wanted to be a history major, and I was told early on in my freshman year that I shouldn't be. That it takes too much time. Too much reading. That I shouldn't be a history major and play football." Was this true? Strictly speaking, yes. But there's a major lie of omission there. Harbaugh has mild dyslexia and a reading-intensive major is a difficult choice whether you're a football player or not. This was bad, and Harbaugh would be a better man for walking that one back. It's also worth noting that Harbaugh was honored on the Big Ten All-Academic Team as a player - so there is some indication in his background that he does take academics very seriously. He had this to say on that: "Most avid college football fans, unfortunately, just think about how exciting it is to watch college players play and not think about what happens when the football comes to a screeching halt. They need to get a degree - a quality degree - and develop a skill set that helps you for the next 60-70 years." Frankly, I like the idea of someone who takes academics seriously beyond the lip service that virtually every coach pays to the classroom. The meat of Harbaugh's thoughts were this: "Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there, but the athletic department has ways to get borderline kids in, and when they're in, they steer them to courses in Sports Communications. They're adulated when they're playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won't hire them." This is hardly "taking a dump on the university", as many have characterized it. In fact, he made sure to delineate between the school and the football program. Michigan DOES take kids who just barely qualify, which Stanford does not. While Lloyd used to get his one or two exceptions a year for borderline kids, we take more of them under Rodriguez than we did under Carr - one more piece of evidence of a problem with cultural fit. Now, unlike SEC programs, you do have to meet those Clearinghouse requirements for real to get into Michigan, as Demar Dorsey found out. You can't fudge it at the 11th hour through correspondence courses which anyone can take for you, or senior year grades and test scores that are bizarrely inconsistent with your entire academic background. But the fact remains that most of these academically borderline kids, while some may get their sheepskin in one of the athlete-centric majors, are not going to be qualified for the types of jobs that a normal Michigan student who took a normal curriculum in college would be. When Harbaugh says these kids couldn't get hired by the people who adulated them... he's right! You probably won't see Jeremy Gallon and Mike Shaw and Jake Ryan going to work for Wall Street banks and Chicago ad agencies and Detroit auto makers if/when they graduate. (Although it does appear you can get elected to Congress in some red districts with that academic background at Michigan. The qualifications there are a bit lower.) You may not like what Harbaugh said - just as many didn't like his brashly guaranteeing a win over OSU when he played here. But just like he did then, Harbaugh backed up his arguably ill-conceived words with action and got it done, winning in a big way with a higher caliber of student than the NCAA requires. (You also won't see players fitting the profile of Gallon, Shaw and Ryan on Stanford's commitment lists.) There aren't that many schools that legitimately set a higher bar than the Clearinghouse, but Stanford is one of them, Harbaugh said he would win there... and he did, with a whole team full of players who could be academic all-americans. That's just bad ass. And let's be honest here: running your mouth, sometimes inappropriately, doesn't have to keep you from being beloved at Michigan. (See also: Hart, Mike.) But why did Harbaugh say it in the first place? "My motivation was positive. I see how it's done now at Stanford, and I see no reason it can't be the same there. I have a great love for Michigan and what it's done for me. Bo Schembechler was like a second father. Michigan is a great school and always has been, and I don't see why they can't hold themselves to a higher standard." There is no reason Harbaugh could not do at Michigan what he has done at Stanford. There is no reason, as he said, that Michigan can't hold themselves to a higher standard and still win at the level we expect. Harbaugh has already gone to a challenging conference and built a culture of toughness and attention to detail and winning football, and done it with a higher caliber of student. He has also shown he can recruit at a high level at a program known more for academics than football. Hell, he has already laid down the gauntlet for himself at Michigan- just as he did in 1986 when he guaranteed a win over OSU. "It ain't bragging if you can do it," said Dizzy Dean. There is every reason to believe Jim Harbaugh would be more successful here than Rich Rodriguez has been. This is not about what is "fair" to Rich. The team, the team, the team, right? Michigan football is bigger than Rich Rodriguez - just as Bo knew it was bigger than Bo. This is a results-oriented business, and Rodriguez has not achieved anything close to the expected results - despite attempts by many of his proponents to retroactively lower the bar. 1-13 against the top five programs in the Big Ten, 5-5 against the bottom feeders. A loss to a MAC school for the first time in school history. A defense that has gotten worse each year and has transcended "bad" into a full meltdown in many games. A kicking and return game in year three that is an embarrassment. Recruiting in decline - both in terms of average rank of player and rank of student. When Lloyd Carr went 7-5 in 2005 with an injury-ravaged team playing against the #1 or #2 toughest schedule in the nation, depending on which ranking you look at, this was considered incomprehensibly bad, and the fan base was apoplectic. Yet now 7-5 under Rich Rodriguez is considered by many to be a sign of progress? We need one more year of progress just to get back to the level that many were dissatisfied with under Carr! There is no reason to believe an overhaul of the defensive staff - after two other competent coordinators failed here - will fix the problem. The common denominator is Rich, himself, and his approach to the role of defense on a football team. Rodriguez views the defense, as Denard told us a week ago when he offered up his truly bizarre opinion that Michigan has one of the best defenses in the country, as a sparring partner for the offense. They are there to get our offense ready. Stopping other teams is the secondary objective. This will likely not change with a new set of coaches. Nor will the lack of a culture of attention to detail - the foundational deficiency of all other deficiencies. All Dave Brandon owes Rich Rodriguez is the buyout as specified in his contract - a clause which Rodriguez, as we all remember, knows about all too well from when he tried to avoid paying his after dumping WVU. Karma's a bitch, I suppose. It's time for us to move on, to bring a very successful native son home, and to let our current coach try again in a situation that better suits him.

Saigon

I would hope that at this point I would've gained a reputation for being at the very least, fair, if not decidedly in the "pro" camp for Rich Rodriguez. All the essay-type posts I've typed up over the last three years, I would've thought some sort of credence would be given. But alas, the moment I started questioning things, the moment I dared to speak out, I had people questioning my fanhood, calling me fake, berating me, etc. I'm not terribly surprised - if there's one thing I've learned in the last three years, it's that the Michigan fanbase is ultimately spineless and afraid.

So, as it stands now, there are two camps: one still throws out offensive ranking statistics and "youth"; they want Rodriguez back. The other throws out defensive ranking statistics; they want Harbaugh.

Before the season, I was "all in"; I have since grown to despise this term, as it is disingenuous and screams of bleating by sheep who cling to whatever they can cling to. It's the same sort of thing the (sorry, about to get political here) Bush administration did when they questioned the patriotism of those who criticized the war and other things. Same sort of nonsense I hear democrats throw out when people criticize President Obama. The "all in" crowd has tried to blur the line. They try to say if you're not "all in" for Rich Rodriguez, then you're not "all in" for Michigan; that somehow you're not a true fan. Well, there's something to be said for loyalty. But there's another thing to be said for blind devotion and thoughtlessly following your leader into the fire.

I dare anyone to question my fanhood. I was at Purdue and stood through the monsoon as we yakety sax'd our way through the game and managed to stumble into a win. I was at Iowa and UMass when the defense couldn't stop a thing. I sat in front of my TV for every play of today's game. My heart hurt as yours hurt when OSU scored, when we fucked up, etc. So no, I will not tolerate anybody saying I'm not a real fan because I refuse to stand in lockstep with the Rodriguez supporters.

There are legitimate reasons for our incompetence on the football field, some that are indeed out of Rodriguez's hands. Once again, Rodriguez did not break Troy Woolfolk's ankle, didn't put JT Floyd in the ankle lock, didn't tell Donovan Warren to leave and go undrafted, didn't turn Boubacar Cissoko into a thug, didn't tell JT Turner to be lazy, etc. But he does employ Tony Gibson, who has shown not one iota of coaching ability. He did force some bastardized, pathetic version of the 3-3-5 on this defense. He has shown, in three full years, zero ability to put together any form of cohesion on defense. There is nothing redeemable there. No coaches, no scheme, no fundamentals. Nothing. After three years. What makes anybody think that's suddenly going to change moving forward?

And despite the screams from certain significant people about the statistical prowess of this offense...well, you saw what happened today. It wasn't some outlier. The offense was similarly squashed when it mattered by Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Putting up a ton of yards and points isn't really worth a whole lot when you don't do it until you fall behind by three touchdowns. Every single aspect of this team has proven to be tissue paper soft against the real Big 10 competition. So we're able to beat Indiana, Illinois and Purdue now. We look like "Michigan" against MAC teams. Congrats, our coach has built a MAC champion. Against every single Big 10 team with a winning record, the defense has been meek, undersized, and bulldozed into submission. The offense has been tenative, turnover-prone, and they make mistakes like they're still learning how to play football. Penalties, fumbles, dropped passes - against the physical elite in this conference, this offense turns to goo, because they're soft, both mentally and physically. The wide receivers are pretty good at catching the ball...except against legitimate, "old school" Big Ten defenses. Then they get alligator arms and start dropping everything. The running backs are physical...until they face physical defenses, then they go down on first contact and cough the ball up. The quarterbacks are accurate and make plays...until they play good defenses, then they turn the ball over and are wild with many of their throws.

So yeah, I'm off the bandwagon. I'm "all in" for Michigan, and that means I'm ready to abandon this wild experiment, admit it was a sunk cost, and ditch everything associated with it. And the whole "We can't go through another 3-4 years of rebuilding" is a red herring. If that's your best justification for keeping a coach, then that says it all.

I don't take pleasure in any of this, I hope people realize that. There are those who secretly (and perhaps not-so-secretly in some places) took delight in what happened today because it serves as more vindication for their stance. Not me. My heart is broken over all this. I never want to see Michigan swirling the drain like we are now. And I desperately wanted Rodriguez to win because I saw and am aware of how unfairly he was treated when he arrived, how he had essentially zero support on the inside when he took over. But I've reached the point where I no longer trust him to turn the corner. Getting revenge against no-counts like Illinois and Purdue was important, but, for me anyway, we had to show something more than we did against the upper tier of the conference. Watching the games against MSU, Iowa, Penn State (who isn't even upper tier this year), Wisconsin, Ohio State...I saw no difference in these games than what was on the field in 2008 and 2009. In some cases, it was even worse.

So, for those of you who remain loyal to the coach and still believe he is the man for the job and think he deserves more time, I admire your conviction, even if I no longer understand it. And for those who believe the time for change has arrived...I begrudgingly ask for a seat at the table.

At the end of the Vietnam War, there was no war at all, really. The violence had long since ended, the gunfire long silenced, the ambush attacks by the rebels long quieted. Instead there was a steady, solemn withdrawal by US forces as they realized everything they had invested was going to be for naught. And as the Communist forces finally closed in on the city of Saigon, the final helicopter loaded up what it could, trying to get as many people as it could to safety before the city fell. They were allowed to leave, and shortly thereafter, PAVN tanks rolled in, the final candle of democracy in Vietnam was extinguished, and all the blood, sweat and tears poured into the country in the name of freedom were rendered moot.

I'm certainly not comparing something as ultimately trivial as football to something as real and horrifying as war, but as a history major, I can't help but see the parallel. And right about now, Michigan football is reaching the point where the final helicopters are warming up on the roofs of the embassy, with refugees trying to board as enemy tanks and winds of change close in.

I predicted after the end of last season that 2010 would be the end for Rich Rodriguez. A year later, my prediction remains the same. And my heart is heavy.

Disillusionment

Michigan State 34, Michigan 17; 5-1, 1-1

I said yesterday we'd find out a lot about this Michigan team based on the actions and events that took place during this football game.

Well, as it turns out, we did. As it also turns out, a football team takes on the personality of its head coach; and that matters. If you had to treat a football team like some sort of dish with a bunch of ingredients, the personality would be something that has to be thrown into the mix. Other things matter, like how you recruit, how fast your players are, how big and strong they are, etc. It's a very complicated process that is even harder for outsiders like us to decipher.

Today, it was simple: Michigan State takes on the personality of its head coach. Dantonio is a lot of things. He's a hypocrite, a trash talker, and way too dramatic. But he's also tough, hard-nosed, determined, and he has successfully instilled that mindset in his football team.

On the other side, Michigan's defense plays like it's an afterthought - just like their head coach treats them.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, or even any of the answers, really. If you come here looking for seer-like wisdom about what has to happen for things to be fixed, you're probably better off going elsewhere. All I can offer here is my opinion about the state of affairs and why things are the way they are. I don't pretend to have all the facts. I base what I believe off the information that becomes available to me. So if what I have to say here upsets you and you accuse me of being a "fairweather" or "fake" fan, I respectfully tell you to kiss my ass. I've been keeping this inside since the UMass game because I didn't want to be one of "those guys" that feels the need to harp on negativity when the overall outcome is still positive. Well, after today, I no longer have that obstacle, and I'm about to bust out the flamethrower. So here it is.

Rich Rodriguez is an offensive genius. It's not his fault that Denard Robinson missed Stonum in the endzone, and misjudged a pair of crossing patterns that resulted in redzone interceptions. Certain people in certain circles will use this game as more "proof" that the spread doesn't work in the Big 10. I don't buy that even a little bit. Before the game got out of hand, Michigan went up and down the field against MSU, and their sophomore QB in his 6th career game finally cracked under the weight of having the carry an entire program on his shoulders. What Rich and the offensive coaches have done is very, very impressive.

On the other hand: Rich Rodriguez is guilty of borderline criminal negligence in regard to this so-called defense. Did Lloyd Carr leave a stocked cupboard? No. But this is Year 3, and we have no direction, no goal, no ANYTHING on defense. Why? Because our head coach is a glorified offensive coordinator who pays no attention to the other side of the ball. Because Rich Rodriguez hired Scott Shafer in 2008, and then stood by as his buddies cut Shafer's balls off and ousted him as defensive coordinator. Shafer was fired after the season, rendering the entire 2008 season moot. The stench of 3-9 sticks, but any miniscule lessons any of the players learned along the way went swirling the drain when the coordinator and scheme changed.

And then, as if trying to one-up his own stubbornness, after another catatstrophic meltdown in 2009, Rich Rodriguez "recommends" the 3-3-5 defense to his second year coordinator, Greg Robinson. It's bad enough that in Year 3, we were once again headed down a new path, defensively. It's even worse that we decided to go to a scheme that takes a defensive lineman off the field and puts an extra defensive back on. I don't have an issue with the 3-3-5 in principle. With the proper personnel and proper coaching, just about any scheme can succeed. But we decide to install a scheme (with a coordinator who has never run it before) that marginalizes our defensive line, puts more strain on our worst unit, and calls on our linebackers to react quickly and fill gaps, something they have almost no capability of doing. It's asinine, it defies logic, and it'd be laughable if it wasn't so ridiculous.

So who's to blame? Obi Ezeh was a Lloyd recruit...and in year 3 Rodriguez has failed to find anybody to get Obi off the field. Rodriguez has failed to dedicate himself to a scheme on defense like he did on offense. Rodriguez has failed to hire the proper coaches to coach the defensive side of the ball. There are massive, massive personnel deficiencies in the defensive backfield, I understand. Rodriguez didn't tell Boubacar Cissoko to lose his mind and become a thug. He didn't tell JT Turner to be lazy and not put in any effort. He didn't break Troy Woolfolk's ankle. He didn't tell Donovan Warren to leave early and go undrafted.

But he did take a gamble on Vlad Emilien after an ACL tear; didn't work out. He chose to pursue Demar Dorsey and Adrian Witty instead of trying for other recruits with better academic prospects. He has chosen to leave Tony Gibson in charge back there, when Gibson is universally mocked as nothing more than Rodriguez's drinking buddy. This kind of nepotism had Michigan fans breathing fire at Lloyd Carr for employing Mike Debord as offensive coordinator. Rodriguez isn't exempt.

So what's the solution? I ask, because I don't know. There is not a single redeeming quality about this defense. It does nothing well. I thought they'd be able to hold their own against MSU's running game. That thought was comically extinguished when Edwin Baker was GONE the second he got past the line of scrimmage, because I knew our linebackers had blown it and our DBs weren't going to be able to stop him. In a sense, this game was lost in the first quarter just like last year, because our own ineptitude allowed MSU to dictate control of the game. Last year, it was the defense being unable to get off the field despite three (!!!) MSU personal fouls, giving up a 12-minute drive culminating in MSU's touchdown to make it 7-3. This year, in a situation where we know the defense sucks and we know the offense had to be balls to the wall...we get 3 points in two drives in the redzone. Should've been 14-0 Michigan and an entirely different complexion to the game. Instead, it was only 3-0, and MSU was allowed to get into a rhythm with their offense, and of course, our defense was entirely incapable of doing anything correctly.

This is a radical thought considering what we've seen the last two and a half years, but it really DOESN'T take an act of God to install a sense of toughness and basic fundamentals in a defense. All you need are competent coaches and the proper attention to detail. Michigan has neither. Rodriguez pays no attention to the defense and leaves them to their own devices, running a scheme they (and their coordinator) are new to. The results are predictable. Apocalyptic, but predictable.

And with that, my patience runs thin with this whole experiment. Having a glitzy, rock and roll offense only goes so far. Try to remove the maize and blue glasses and look at today's game from an objective point of view. One team was physical on both sides of the ball, more or less fundamentally sound, tackled well, played solid assignment football and executed their gameplan brilliantly. The other team failed to execute in the redzone and lacked any kind of competence, execution, or toughness on the other side of the ball. Which program looks to be in better shape going forward?

Again, this isn't a blind "Fire RR" post. I'm asking. What's the solution? If you think Greg Robinson is the problem, what coordinator is out there that can stabilize things? Who can step in and install some form of toughness? Look at how the tables have turned. In a matter of what, four years, Michigan and Michigan State have become complete opposites. Michigan has gone from the old-school "boring" offense and more or less smashmouth defense to the explosive spread offense with nothing even close to a mediocre defense, while MSU has gone from the John L spread and no D to the old Michigan look of run, run, playaction, play D. Curious how this reversal of attitudes has accompanied a reversal of game results...

I'm out of answers. Disillusionment has set in, and I now look at every game left on the schedule as one we could very well lose. What's different about Iowa that will make it a different result from today? Wisconsin and Ohio State will do the same. Penn State? On the road? At night? Even with their issues, do you expect this defense to shut them down? Illinois and Purdue? Even with their personnel losses, after all the points they've put up on us the last two years, how can they be viewed as slam dunks?

With this defense, nothing is a slam dunk. And against the first truly sturdy, competent defense they've seen, this offense stalled. How many times this scenario repeats itself will determine the future. But even then, if he survives, has Rich Rodriguez done anything to cause any sort of optimism about the defense after this year?

Sure hasn't for me. In fact just the opposite. Frankly, I'll believe a Rodriguez-coached Michigan team will field a competent defense when I see it. And the way I see it, we're light years away.

What Do You Go Home To?

Some form of judgment: Saturday, 3:30 ET

	Explosions In The Sky - What Do You Go Home To? .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

What do you go home to?

For the majority of people, folks like you and me, life is, despite the drama we make of it, largely simple. We wake up in the morning, perform the tasks we have carved out for ourselves, eat at some point, socialize with colleagues at other points, and at the end of the day, at some point or another, we find our way back home, more often than not into a safe place where the world is simple and the sweet release of sleep undoes any type of stress we accumulated during the previous day. Life is a vicious circle in that the pattern of stress and agitation repeats itself; and life is cool in that there will always be that warm, cozy bed to collapse into when the day is long past and the sun is long set, and for hours, there is no trouble, no turmoil, no trepidation.

For an unlucky portion of us, the setting of the sun on the onset of fatigue offers no quarter. The soundless hours of night reserved for sleep sometimes offer a hauntingly lonesome silence, which some of us find ourselves trapped in, knowing the issues of one day are not erased by eight hours of unconsciousness. For some, what we do on any given day stays with us, no matter how terrible, and no matter how responsible we actually are for the circumstances. It's a cruel fact of life, I suppose, that even if you're a good, decent human being, sooner or later, you will find yourself awake at 3:00 AM, staring at the ceiling, unable to escape into the land of hope and dreams, trapped in the real world where there are people who despise you for what you've done and are intent on seeing your poor circumstances worsened, no matter what.

This is a situation Rich Rodriguez has found himself in for over two years now. The debate about how responsible he is for the given situation over the past 24+ months will never end, even long after he's dead and buried. But at some point, the time for debate passes, and the time for action arrives. Rarely is an opportunity presented to someone where they have the chance to exterminate a massive portion of the cancerous monkey that occupies your back, heart, and mind 24/7.

Tomorrow around 3:30, that opportunity will present itself to Rich Rodriguez.

It's been mentioned before, and has increased in frequency this week, but it's not hyperbole: This is the biggest game of Rich Rodriguez's Michigan tenure. But it's bigger than that. This is the biggest game for the winged helmets since that fateful, wretched day in Columbus in November 2006. Everything that has plagued the Rodriguez era in Ann Arbor, it all boils to the surface tomorrow afternoon at Michigan Stadium. Back to back losses to "Little Brother." Back to back seasons without a bowl game. A mythical perception of in-state dominance being lost, both in recruiting and in the eyes and minds of the public. The equally mythical perception that Rodriguez's offense is "finesse" and cannot succeed against physical Big Ten teams.

All of the above can be doused in gasoline and set ablaze in front of 110,000+ people tomorrow under the Ann Arbor sun. It will be difficult. It will be nerve-wracking, physically draining, and heart attack-inducing. With the defense being what it is, nothing is assured, no matter what. A shootout seems likely. And if I could pick only one coach in America to coach my team through an offensive explosion, I would pick Rich Rodriguez.

The moment he arrived in East Lansing as Michigan State head coach, Mark Dantonio had one priority in mind: Make the Michigan-Michigan State game matter again. Under John L, the game became a farce because MSU was so woefully coached. They could always be counted on to make the critical mistake and were just generally outclassed in essentially every aspect. It became an afterthought on Michigan's schedule. Dantonio vowed to change that, to make the Spartans tougher, to make them matter to everyone of the maize and blue persuasion; players, coaches, and fans alike.

Congratulations, Mark. You have our complete attention.

There will be no more underestimating. No more overlooking. No more dismissive waves from Michigan fans who can't be bothered to invest any time worrying about State. Since he opened his stupid, childish, hypocritical mouth three years ago, I've wanted to see Mark Dantonio suffer. He's made it abundantly clear how important this game is to him, black mark on the soul, all that theatrical nonsense like he's some kind of character in a dramatic football movie. When he had his heart attack last month, all that was set aside. That's not the kind of fate I wish upon the man. I want him to live a long and very healthy life. The kind of suffering I have in mind for that miserable wretch is the kind that Michigan can inflict on him tomorrow. I'd prefer to see 60 points and 700 yards and Sam the Eagle (Google it) trudging off the field with that same hateful look on his face like he just watched his dog get plowed by the mailman's truck in slow motion. Those extravagant numbers aren't realistic, so I'll settle for a small victory. One point more is all that's needed. A one point differential is all that's needed to extinguish the Big Lie, to push the mute button on the noise, to put the kids back in the crib.

I alluded to it last summer. The doomsday clock is ticking down once again. Around 6:30, 7:00 tomorrow evening, it will strike 0 for somebody. When that happens, what will we go home to?

Two Suns in the Sunset

Pink Floyd - Two Suns In The Sunset Found at abmp3 search engine

When he arrived in December of 2007, it was a brave new world for all of us. For the majority of us, we saw it as the melancholy-but-necessary closing of one book and the exciting opening of another; the time where Michigan would finally join the 21st century and shake up the rusty sense of malaise that had slowly but surely crept into all the nooks and crannies. We needed new blood, we said. The country club atmosphere had to go, we said. The program needed a shot in the arm, we said.

32 and a half months later, and it wasn't a shot in the arm that was given to the program. Instead, it was a full-on enema. Short of a plague of locusts descending on Michigan Stadium, you name it, and it's probably happened in Rich Rodriguez's tenure. There have been many exits, as a certain mouth-breathing corner of the internet likes to remind people. There have been controversies, back-stabbings, deceptions, lies, character assassinations, message board meltdowns, shouting matches, newspaper exposés, and above all, some pretty bad football, which in itself has produced an entire subsection of who's to blame, how much said people are to be blamed, what has to happen for it to be fixed, and why the hell was it broken in the first place.

As this firestorm unfolded, logic, common sense and reason were the first casualties, as they always are. I spent halftime of the Utah game in 2008 pressing my head into a wall, murmuring to myself about how it's just one half of one game, and anybody who passes judgment based on such a laughably small sample size probably doesn't have the brain capacity to argue coherently anyway. It was probably right around then that I fell into the pro-Rodriguez camp. Maybe in a sense, I always was. I suspect that even if most of us don't realize it, the majority of Michigan fans formulated an opinion of Rodriguez one way or another very early on, well before the 2008 season started, and every event that has occurred since then has been spun to fit our pre-determined mindset.

West Virginia buyout lawsuit?

Pro-RR camp: The Michigan brass is working behind the scenes, trying to get out of paying all of the buyout.
Anti-RR camp: Rodriguez is trying to weasel out of paying the people he just turned his back on.

Justin Boren spewing feces from his mouth on the way out?

Pro-RR camp: Finally, the country club is gone and players aren't being coddled!
Anti-RR camp: Who the hell is this guy to come in here and start throwing around these obscenities and insults and hurting our players' feelings?

Changing the policy regarding team captains?

Pro-RR camp: This isn't the kind of tradition worth getting upset over.
Anti-RR camp: WTF is he doing changing things?

The #1 jersey snafu before the 2008 season?

Pro-RR camp: Why did nobody sit down with him and explain some of the things like this that he needed to know?
Anti-RR camp: Why did he not do research on his own to acclimate himself to his new job?

And so on and so forth. The largest and most obvious of this split is obviously the on-field results. People who support Rodriguez try to rationalize some of the ineptitude. In an amusing case of real life imitation, there are those who blame the previous leader for today's problems, and those who lay the blame entirely on the current man in charge. As is the case with pretty much everything, the real answer falls somewhere in between. But because the debate is so heated, the psychology of it sometimes prevents usually rational people from "straddling the fence", so to say. When emotions run high, you're viewed as a coward taking the easy way out if you try to use common sense and say that Lloyd Carr left a roster with no good quarterbacks behind Ryan Mallett, no especially competent linebackers or safeties, and an atmosphere of sloth, while at the same time saying Rich Rodriguez has failed completely on the defensive side of the ball regardless of the personnel he inherited. See, it's no fun if you lay blame at both men's feet. The nature of the beast requires you to take a side as battle lines are drawn, even if truth and reason are on the front lines and are the first to be cut down.

And ultimately, it's irrelevant. In about three months, one of two things will happen. Either Rodriguez will have overcome the odds and secured a future here, and the senseless bickering will end, or he will have failed, and blogs like this one will compose mournful lists of reasons why he's gone, and bloggers like this one will forever bear some kind of stigma for having been a "Rodriguez supporter", even if that label is miscast. Well, sort of miscast. Don't get things twisted, this is personal for me (and for most of us). I'm a cold-hearted jerk 99% of the time, but one of the decent qualities I possess is unrestrained disgust for situations in which genuine people are treated unfairly by forces usually out of their hands. If you've ever spoken to Rich Rodriguez, if you've ever had any amount of time to actually speak to the man or listen to him, you'll know what (seemingly) precious few of us know, that he is NOT a degenerate or an asshole or whatever. He's just a coach. He's a simple guy, but he's a good guy. He has a passion in his heart that we could all use, and his desire to win is one of his best qualities. Those who cast him as a villian, as a cheater, as a moralless dog, I would wager have either never met him, or are operating on a set of pre-determined views that support a negative viewpoint they want to exist. Like those people who see the Virgin Mary in danishes and crap like that, they see what they choose to see, even if it's not there, because they make it there.

Rich Rodriguez is, in many ways, the worst man for this job. He's also, in many ways, the best man for it. He's a simple man in unsimple times at an abstract place. All he wants to do is coach his football team and do his job. Unfortunately, at a place like Michigan, you can't just coach a football team. This is probably the one area where Bill Martin failed most of all. He looked for a man who would satiate the public's desire for "change." He ignored the political aspect, the one that Lloyd excelled at. "Factions" have existed inside Schembechler Hall and the UM Athletic Department long before Rich Rodriguez got on a plane in West Virginia on a cold December night. And they will exist long after he's departed, whether it's in three months, three years, or three decades. Lloyd Carr was, in all aspects, a successful coach. He had his flaws, but if you took "coaching approval polls" like Presidential approval polls, I'd wager that Carr's approval rating would've steadily been in the high 60s and above, with a brief dip in early September 2007. And yet despite that, there were always grumblers in the AD who disagreed with his methods and pushed for a new direction. That's the nature of the job at Michigan. You will never have 100% approval, no matter what you do. You have to play the game behind the scenes, you have to negotiate and bend to make certain people happy. You have to play politics, and in that sense, Rich Rodriguez is the last guy you'd want. He's not capable of it, and worse, he's not interested in it. But at the same time, the number one factor in making people happy, in reaching that high approval rating, is winning on the field and dedicating yourself fully to reaching excellence on Saturdays in the fall. In that aspect, Rodriguez excels. He's obsessive to the point where nothing else matters to him. At a place where you have to be a coach and a politican, Rodriguez is 100% coach and has had to have on-the-job training when it comes to the politics. It's unfair in a sense, but it is what it is.

When I do these songy type posts, I always try to find some sort of song that fits the mood and tone. Sometimes it's difficult. Sometimes I have to bend and twist it in my own mind for it to fit. With this one, it's real simple, especially if you're familiar with the song I chose. For the first time since Rich arrived, we can see the light in the distance. The difference is, it's coming from two places. There are two suns in the sunset: One holds the promise of nirvana, the relief that comes with a successful 2010 season and the propelling into the future with a successful Rodriguez as coach. Some people don't buy this, but those people are beyond convincing because they're entrenched, but it remains true that if Rodriguez defies the odds and wins enough to save himself, we will jetison into the stratuosphere in every aspect. We look at programs like Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Florida, etc, with jealousy, because we either envy where they are, or we envy the fact that we used to be there. The best case scenario involving Rodriguez involves a Michigan joining those elite ranks, at a plateau above even Lloyd Carr's zenith. Recruiting will reach levels even our lofty expectations don't reach. The vast majority of the Big Ten will quiver. The three-part series I just completed will be rendered 100% moot.

The other sun in the sunset, however, carries both the end of days and the promise of the future. It is the apocalyptic flash of Rodriguez flaming out this year and the entire thing being nuked. If the worst should come to pass and the Era of Harbaugh is ushered in under a greasy layer of hypocrisy, we will start again and listen to our coach speak about the process and the promise of a brave new world in which Michigan's quarterbacks once again line up under center. Ultimately, it's a test of our faith. For those of us who are personally invested in seeing Rich Rodriguez succeed: at the same time, realize that the world is not a warm, fair place. Sometimes good people don't succeed because they're good. Sometimes, against all the standards of justice, good people are struck down in their prime. To that end, it's best to place your undying faith in David Brandon. Don't believe that he is on the side of Rodriguez or the side of those against him. To help sleep at night, believe that he is our white knight and is above the battlefield and is on the side of Michigan. Don't believe the theories that an 8-4 season could still get Rodriguez fired because Brandon is one of those who have already judged. Believe that no matter what happens, Brandon will do what's best for the future of this football program. If that's a future with Rodriguez, so be it. If it's a future without him and a new voice for a new time, so be it.

I enter this season not with lofty expectations nor cynical apprehension as I wait for the other shoe to drop. No, I enter this season with the narcotic ecstasy that regardless of what transpires in the next 13 weeks, there will be a light at the end of this tunnel. Instead of an ellipsis at the end of this sentence, there will be a period. Don't quibble about the details, relish the greater good. No matter the question, answers are just around the corner, and knowing is always better than not knowing.

Go Blue.

Fighting to Live, Waiting Around to Die

There are those inside the walls in his workplace who have tried to force him out. More inside those walls who despise him for what he's done and long for the day where they get to pass his office and see him packing his personal effects into boxes, whereupon they shall stop and offer their superficialities and then scurry to their own offices and secretly celebrate what they will amount to a personal victory. Outside the walls, he has seemingly fewer friends and allies each day, to the point where it seems special when a supporter speaks up. The other day, one of Michigan's most trusted insiders told a tale of being at practice in the spring and seeing the wives of a couple coaches watching. So he goes over to say hello, and when he tells them he still believes in their husbands' work, one of the ladies begins to cry, because support is so fleeting nowadays.

Also outside the walls, those who carved out their own unique legacy during their time inside continue to wage their war, determined to drive this "hillbilly" away, their own xenophobia pouring from their mouths, and their own ignorance too enormous for them to be aware of it. And those who created careers here now turn their swords inward, using their positions and pens to spread exaggerations and mistruths in an effort to drive out a man they aren't even trying to pass judgment on anymore. For them, judgment has come and gone.

The cloud of toxicity and poison that hovers over Schembechler Hall builds by the day, and while it serves to destroy those beneath it, it serves to aid and comfort many observing it. 64 miles to the northwest, the Official Owner of the State of Michigan feasts on it. He channels it and spreads it as he pleases, because in reality he isn't the Official Owner of the State of Michigan, he in fact has to fight and scratch and claw for what he gets, and he does whatever he has to do to do that.

And through all this, Rich Rodriguez continues to put on a happy face, gets into his plane, and continues to promote his dream and vision to recruits. He continues to sell the virtues of the university, knowing full-well he could very well be months away from unemployment. He's confident, make no mistake about it. All these coaches are. They're confident, arrogant, and cocky. All football coaches, good or bad, have egos bigger than the average man, the good ones even larger than that. And despite what's happened the last two years, I believe Rich Rodriguez is much closer to "good coach" than "bad coach." And with that comes an ego, and a belief that things will be better. If you have the fortune to be in Schembechler Hall and speak to one of the coaches before fall camp starts, you will encounter eternal optimism and grisled determination. Not "coachspeak" optimism, but a real, genuine belief that this team is going to be capable of winning enough games to ensure the future for the coaches. But while that optimism exists, these are not stupid people. Rodriguez knows, although he won't discuss it openly, he knows there is a real possibility that this will be his final stand. And he will still sit in kids' living rooms and put that smile on his face and sweet talk recruits and their parents. He will speak to them as if there is no chance that he will be fired before the kid arrives on campus. He will talk to these recruits knowing that he may not ever coach them, that they may never end up at Michigan. When coaches at rival schools tell recruits like Ed Davis and Anthony Zettel, "Oh, you don't wanna go to Michigan, they're gonna fire their coaches. You don't wanna commit to a school that's gonna bring in a coach you've never spoken to", Rich Rodriguez and his assistants can't really do anything to refute that. He can't tell recruits "Don't worry, I'm going to be here, guaranteed", because there is no guarantee. None can be given by anybody. Not Rodriguez, not Dave Brandon, not Mary Sue Coleman. The best Rodriguez can do is say, "I'm not gonna lie to ya son, it's possible...but I promise you, we're gonna win this year, and I'm gonna be around for a long time." That's the best thing he can say. The rest is up to the recruit, and his parents.

Nobody signed up for this. Rich Rodriguez didn't leave the place that worshipped him for what amounted to a rebuilding project and two years of hell that has his name raked through the coals. The brass at Michigan, both present and past, didn't sign up for an ongoing firestorm that results in ugly, fractured in-fighting that produces an NCAA investigation, costs the university millions, and puts a nebulous stain on the cleanest football program in history. The former players who once donned the prestigious winged helmet, both those who have shot their mouths off and those who have fumed silently, didn't sign up to see the program they put so much blood and sweat into seemingly come undone in two short years. The fans and alumni of the university didn't sign up for this. While some of us have stayed loyal, and others gave up about midway through the Utah game, we all feel the same pain. It's been over 2400 days since Chris Perry bulldozed Ohio State's defense and sent Michigan to the Rose Bowl. Since then, that final game in November has brought us one nightmare after another, and while it's debatable as to how much Rich Rodriguez is to blame, there is no doubt that we are well, well below them at this point. There is so much to theoretically be miserable about as a Michigan fan. The quarterbacks are still young. The defense is young and still not that good. The recruiting has promise but it's all shaky because the coaches could be gone after this season, and if Lloyd was still here, our commit list right now would most likely include Anthony Zettel, DeAnthony Arnett, Justice Hayes, and Trey DePriest.

Perhaps the worst part of all? Nobody knows what it will take for Rodriguez to be safe. How many wins? Eight? Nine? Is seven acceptable? If so, do certain teams have to be beaten? We all know a bowl is required; is a bowl win mandatory? Or is the unthinkable that has been promoted by certain people in certain corners of the Michigan internet possible, and David Brandon has already decided that vast, sweeping changes will be made after the season? For now, I reject that notion outright. If Michigan wins eight games, and among those eight wins are Notre Dame, Michigan State, and a bowl game, the vast majority of people on the fence for Rodriguez will fall into his camp, along with many in the anti-Rodriguez faction defecting. Those who remain against him will always remain against him, and will be nullified. Simply put, it would be outrageous for Brandon to fire him if such a season should unfold, and thus, it is an outrageous assertion that he has already made up his mind.

But on the other hand, that doesn't mean he's going to go out of his way to do Rodriguez any special favors. Brad Labadie and Scott Draper are still employed in the athletic department despite their egregious abdications of duty that led us down the path to NCAA violations, which in turn led to Rodriguez laying down on the sword at the press conference (which, as an aside, almost cost Michigan one of their most valuable recruits this year). At the end of the day, I would like everyone (and I mean everyone) to remember: Dave Brandon is, above all else, a politician. Aside from the fact that that means he is very opinionated (and very stubborn), you cannot dismiss the possibility that he may still have an eye on political office down the road. With that in mind, you know he will demand immediate results, and could possibly want them from his own people. You could definitely make the case that if Rich Rodriguez rights the ship and starts to win, Brandon gets credit for aligning the factions within and smoothing things over. But it would be much more dramatic, and he would get much more credit, if Rodriguez fails this year and Brandon sweeps him out and brings in someone (like a certain friend of his currently coaching on the West Coast) who revives the program. In that scenario, Brandon is everybody's white knight, and his stock is sky high, and he's able to ride the wave of momentum into a cushy political office.

(Disclaimer for those who like to create tags on their blog disparaging me: That last paragraph is just me thinking out loud. None of the scenarios I mentioned are "confirmed" to exist. I'm conjecturing.)

I spoke to a friend the other day. This friend has a friend who once said to my face, "I'm a bigger Michigan fan than you." This person apparently refers to Rich Rodriguez as "Rich Dick", which, like...I dunno, I guess that's supposed to be demeaning. Anyway, I would love nothing more than to actually have a face to face discussion with this person, because I could tell just from a few snippets of what he said, he's the type of guy who still reads the Free Press, because he's oblivious to how badly they tried to burn Rodriguez with Stretchgate. He's the type of Michigan fan who listens to Jeff DeFran and Mike Valenti. He still believes so many untruths and lies, I would love nothing more than to take him to task in a debate. But I realize, he's not the only one. I don't believe it's a majority - at least I hope not. But there's still a sizable portion of Michigan fans who are still in the dark about the man coaching their football program and the events and actions that have gone down over the past 30 months. They're the type of fans who get their news from print newspapers, don't subscribe to paysites or anything, and simply tune in on Saturdays and expect victory. That latter part, I get. I understand that feeling, and I miss it, believe me. But to be so in the dark and not even try to acquire all the information you can, I don't get. I'm not saying the information from Rivals and Scout should be taken as gospel. Trust me, they have their biases just as everyone does. There is a moderator over at UM's Rivals site that is virulently anti-Rodriguez, to the point where he showed a stunning display of hypocrisy when voicing his opinions on separate incidents on the playing field involving Rodriguez and Beilein last season. Over at GBW (Scout), there is a very, very pro-Rodriguez atmosphere, to the point where sometimes you have to step back and take a deep breath. The Kool-aid flows freely there, that's for sure. So you always have to be careful. But to completely ignore the real "insiders", which these sites are, and to rely on a known and admitted anti-Rodriguez shill (DeFran) and a Spartan (Valenti) for your Michigan football news - that's borderline irresponsible.

It's July 1st. In one month, our favorite team will hit the practice field once again, gearing up for the most important season of our lives. In two months, that most important season will begin. In three months...? In four? In five? Where will we be in six months? Will we be replaying a late-December bowl game in our minds and on our Tivos? Will we be anxiously preparing for a marquee January bowl game against a formidable opponent? Or...will we be reeling from another culture shift and another coaching change, while impatiently waiting to see how our once-promising recruiting class is salvaged by the new guy?

The most important months in the history of Michigan Football lie ahead, my friends. And while it's easy for us fans to be nervous and hectic and apoplectic and borderline psychotic at times, the man who will lead us into the inferno - the man who has everything to lose from the flames of that inferno - will be upbeat and positive and fiery and determined. All while secretly furrowing his brow and lightly kicking the dirt because ultimately, his fate is out of his hands.

Fighting to live. Waiting around to die.

64 days.

A re-post on Lawrence Thomas

So. Now that the 2010 class is all wrapped up, most fans are jumping headfirst into the 2011 class, and for many, this is the first time they start to learn about the elite players in the state, in the country, on the radar for Michigan, etc...

With that comes a lot of repetitive inquiries and questions, and one of the most common revolves around the best player in the state for 2011, 5-star Detroit Renaissance linebacker Lawrence Thomas.


I'll put it as bluntly as I can, and hopefully the message gets out so the questions can stop: It is highly, highly, highly unlikely that Lawrence Thomas comes to Michigan.

Why? A few reasons. One being Michigan State has done a great job building a pipeline to Renaissance High School, landing Chris Norman and Dana Dixon from there two years ago, and Mylan Hicks last year. All three are friends with Lawrence Thomas, with Norman being a "big brother" type. Thomas has been to MSU numerous times, and he chose to go to the MSU/Penn State game last year instead of Michigan/Ohio State. It's crystal clear that he feels more comfortable at State.

Another reason may be this: [Ed. note, 5/17: link removed for the time being]

It's understandable if you're a bit...agitated after watching that (if you're a Michigan fan, that is). I have actually linked that video and discussed this situation here before. But it is what it is, I guess. Antonio Watts is completely off base with his feelings toward Rich Rodriguez and Michigan. Carson Butler and Andre Criswell were not mistreated at UofM. Butler was given every opportunity, by both Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez. They kept opening doors for him, and he kept slamming them shut. He wore out his welcome with his antics. Look, it's obvious that Coach Watts cares about the players that come through his school, and he wants them to succeed in life and be all they can be. But sometimes you have to admit when one of them just screws up instead of blaming other people. Is Thomas Wilcher holding a grudge against Rodriguez because of what happened with Boubacar Cissoko? No, and it has nothing to do with Wilcher being a "UM guy." He could just as easily fall into the anti-RR camp of "Michigan guys." Would've been really easy to make up some crap about Cissoko being done wrongly at UofM. But Wilcher chose not to do that, because he realizes that Cissoko's problems were one person's fault: Cissoko's. It's a shame that Coach Watts can't see the same about Carson Butler.

And as for Criswell? He was a 2-star fullback that Lloyd Carr offered late in the recruiting process. He was never in trouble, was a model citizen...he just wasn't good enough to get onto the field much ahead of other players on the roster. He decided to stick it out, and was given a graduate assistant spot on Rich Rodriguez's staff. In what world is this some form of mistreatment? He gets a world-class education (for free) and gets a job on a coaching staff involved in the game he loves? If that's being treated badly, sign me up.

Moral of the story: For whatever reason, whether it be the perception that Rich Rodriguez ignores in-state players, some negative recruiting by Mark Dantonio, or something else, Antonio Watts doesn't like UM (or RR, either way, it doesn't matter). Fact is, Lawrence Thomas ain't comin' to Michigan, folks. Yeah, it blows. Superbeast of a middle linebacker in our own backyard, and we're not going to get a serious look. The world's not a fair place.

Time to move on.

Hey You

	Pink Floyd - Hey You
	Found at skreemr.com

I'm not going to comment about Demar Dorsey. I'm not going to comment on him for a couple reasons: One, there is no coach in the country that deliberately seeks out bad character kids for their program, nor is there any coach in the country that doesn't do due dilligence when it comes to finding out about a kid's background. Two, I trust Brian at MGoBlog almost implicitly. If he says he has a source that told him Vance Bedford (two-time UM assistant under Carr) called Rodriguez and personally vouched for Demar Dorsey's character, that's good enough for me.

I'm also not going to comment (much) on people like Drew Sharp and Dave Birkett. Sharp is what he is - a miserable, trollish sonofabitch who has admitted he doesn't care what fans think. He's a megalomaniacal bomb thrower only interested in poking the hornet's nest and then laughing as the swarm futilely stings at his bee suit. His comments were stupid, ignorant and pompous - three character traits he is intimately familiar with. I will take pleasure in watching his industry continue to wither away into irrelevancy. If there is a God, he will sink with it.

As for Birkett, well...he writes for AnnArbor.com. Why? Because the Ann Arbor News went under. Wanna know a good way to accelerate your demise (aside from being an obsolete medium of news information)? Hire guys that loathe the biggest thing in the town you're based in. Guys like Jim Carty and Michigan State University graduate Dave Birkett. Birkett is insignificant. He was fishing at the Signing Day presser, trying to show the room he had the balls to stand up to the 8-16 Michigan coach. If Rich Rodriguez was 16-8 instead, he tells Birkett to shut up, and it's done. If Lloyd Carr was still the coach and he heard a question from Birkett he didn't like, he would give a glare, and roughly 3.9 seconds later, Dave Birkett hustles out of the room with a dark stain on the front of his pants.

A few things interest me. Like how the Free Press can have an extensive seven-page background check into a teenage kid's past completed and ready to go in a little over a day. I'm interested in that. I'm interested in how much longer it will take for someone - anyone - inside Michigan's athletic department to show some kind - any kind - of support for their coach. I mean, you hired the guy, and he's getting raked over the coals (again). Wouldn't it be smart business to fight back, to stick up for the man you picked to represent your biggest product? Unless...maybe after two years of horror on the football field, some people of importance have secretly decided that an awful mistake was made in mid-December 2007, and they're now subtlely feeding the beast intent on running the man out of here. Beats me. I'm just musing.

But the double standards are still piling up. Michigan State allows Glenn Winston onto the practice field the same day he gets out of jail, and someone at the Freep (it might've been Sharp, actually) says that might've been naughty. Michigan kicks a drug dealer off the team immediately after learning about his habits, and Rosenberg's got his "win at all costs" column ready to go. These "journalists" hide behind the charade of wanting to do what's right and maintaining a standard of decency and integrity at the University of Michigan, when in reality Rosenberg doesn't like Rodriguez because he (Rosenberg) is an elitist snob who can't stand seeing a "hillbilly" coaching his alma mater. When in reality, nobody would be saying anything if Rodriguez was winning. In the end, these "journalists" are just as shallow as the rest of us - they aren't looking out for core values like integrity and personal responsibility. They are interested in the darker sides of humanity. They're interested in advancing their own beliefs and interests at the expense of someone they passed judgment on long ago.

Just wait for it. If they succeed in their jihad, and Rodriguez is gone, wait for the reaction if Jim Harbaugh is hired. Wait for the media stroking about how Michigan righted a wrong and brought a Michigan Man back to Michigan. Watch as they gloss over Harbaugh's own run-ins with the law, as they conveniently forget the words Harbaugh spewed about UofM. They will burn Rodriguez about his recruiting methods, and will cover their ears when confronted with Harbaugh's practice at Stanford of blindly taking commitments from kids only to have to drop them in November and December because Stanford's admissions were too tough and Harbaugh never should've taken them in the first place. Harbaugh is no cleaner than Rodriguez, but because of the Detroit media's bizarre xenophobic attitude toward the latter, the former would be greeted like a king should he return to the place he spat on three years ago. It's selective memory and sleazy, irresponsible, bullshit journalism like that that is driving the newspaper industry into the ground, and I welcome it. I have true, genuine disdain (I won't say "hate", but it's probably closer to that) for people like Mark Snyder and Michael Rosenberg (along with the rest of them, really). Does anybody actually believe either of these "journalists" care about NCAA rules? They're both Michigan grads. Snyder has been to many, many Michigan games, not as a "journalist", but as a fan. Do you think he really would have a problem with Michigan players exceeding the allowed practice time to - gasp - improve as football players? No. Their issue is squarely with Rodriguez, and it's personal to them. Jim Schaefer, who apparently wrote the latest hit piece (I haven't read it, won't click the Freep links, etc)...he is an Ohio State grad. Letting an Ohio State graduate and two virulent anti-Rodriguez shills report on the ins and outs of Michigan football and Michigan recruiting...and Free Press editor Paul Anger lets it go on, even encourages it.

My endgame is this, and I hinted at it a while back, but sadly, I'm starting to firmly believe it: 2010 is starting to look like the end for Rodriguez at Michigan. Not because of one specific incident, but because of everything. The list is long, we all know what's gone on. But the longer we hear silence from the UofM athletic department, the longer we can only assume that it will take an enormous improvement in 2010 to save Rodriguez. Could it happen? Maybe. I could definitely see an 8-win team. Would an 8-5 season calm the storm? In a perfect world, yes.

But as we've all become painfully aware of, since we lost Bo in November 2006, nothing is perfect about this situation, this university, this athletic department, and this football program.