NCAA Football

[IATTBYB]

Anyone feel like applying to be Duke's head football coach?

 

This is too awesome--I'm definitely sending in a resume. Why not? I think I'm a perfect fit for Duke. Even if I fail miserably at my job, will they be able to tell a difference?

 

I shouldn't have told you guys about this--I'm just increasing the competition for the job!!

I'm certain the Dookies would have beaten ND this year had you been at the helm.

 

If you get the job are you going to sport the sweatervest?

[quarter23cd]

If you get the job are you going to sport the sweatervest?

Meh. That's getting to be such a clich

[the_fliz1]

Most major sports news outlets are reporting that Michigan is meeting with West Virginia's head coach Rich Rodriguez and his agent in Toledo Ohio. Here is the Sporting News link:

 

Sporting News

[mpolak21]

Most major sports news outlets are reporting that Michigan is meeting with West Virginia's head coach Rich Rodriguez and his agent in Toledo Ohio. Here is the Sporting News link:

 

Sporting News

 

Currently sweating this one out.... this is apparently Rod's job if he wants it.

 

--Mike

[Gobias Industries]

Word on the street says that Chow, the Titans offensive coordinator, is interviewing at UCLA this weekend.

[OOO]

yikes! he was quite good as the O-coordinator on the other side of town!

[PigSooie]

ESPN is reporting Rich Rodriguez is the new coach at Michigan.

[quarter23cd]

ESPN is reporting Rich Rodriguez is the new coach at Michigan.

Will be interesting to see the reaction to this. For all the nasty jabs at Petrino in the media, there were an equal number of misty-eyed, sentimental writeups of Rodriguez turning down Alabama last year and swearing he was determined to take West Virginia to a championship.

[PigSooie]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3157227

 

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan has hired West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez as its next football coach following a search that featured two other top prospects deciding to stay put.

 

Rodriguez, whose Mountaineers (No. 9 BCS, No. 11 AP) are preparing for their second BCS game in three seasons, will take over Michigan's program from Lloyd Carr, Michigan athletic department spokesman Bruce Madej said Sunday.

 

Rodriguez, who informed his players at a 1:30 p.m. ET meeting Sunday that he was leaving for Michigan, will formally be introduced by the Wolverines at a news conference on Monday morning at the Junge Family Champions Center on campus.

 

"The players are upset because he said he's going to leave before the bowl game," James Dykes, the father of West Virginia defensive tackle Keilen Dykes told ESPN's Joe Schad. "At least coach them in the bowl game. James just called to tell us and I know he is very upset about this."

 

Rodriguez, who has a 60-26 record at West Virginia, led the Mountaineers (10-2) to their fourth Big East title in five seasons.

 

Carr plans to coach the Wolverines in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1 against No. 9 Florida.

 

Rodriguez's West Virginia contract, which runs through the 2013 season, has a $4 million buyout clause if he leaves before next September.

 

When Michigan lured basketball coach John Beilein away from West Virginia last April, Beilein's contract had a $2.5 million buyout clause. Under an agreement with West Virginia, he agreed to pay $1.5 million to the WVU Foundation.

 

During Michigan's search, LSU's Les Miles and Rutgers' Greg Schiano both said they were staying put at their schools.

 

Rodriguez met with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin on Friday to talk about the Wolverines' coaching job.

 

Rodriguez, 44, was back in Morgantown on Friday after taking a flight from Ohio, and unwilling to talk about any possible interest in the Michigan job.

 

"Going to practice. I'm going to practice," he told The Associated Press on Friday, getting into his car after a trip to Toledo.

 

Rodriguez again refused to discuss Michigan's vacant coaching job on Saturday.

 

At the opening of a previously scheduled news conference about West Virginia's trip to the Fiesta Bowl, Rodriguez said he would only talk about the game against Oklahoma (No. 4 BCS, No. 3 AP).

 

"It may be disappointing to you, but I am not going to talk about any rumors or innuendo or jobs or what else is floating out there," Rodriguez said.

 

"I'm not going to address the rumors or anything of that nature," Rodriguez said. "If any questions are asked about that, the press conference will be over."

 

The questions about Michigan persisted, and Rodriguez fired back.

 

"You all have not understood what I just said. One more question and this conference, unfortunately, and you all have been super, but if the questions persist outside of that then this thing will be over," he said.

 

A reporter then asked whether Rodriguez would coach the team in the Fiesta Bowl.

 

"You're a tricky guy," Rodriguez said.

 

Some players indicated Rodriguez hadn't spoken to them about Michigan and that they were under orders to keep quiet.

 

"I'm not supposed to talk about that. I'm sorry," offensive lineman Ryan Stanchek said Saturday.

 

West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong spoke with Rodriguez on Saturday.

 

"We talked about general issues within the football program," Pastilong told The Charleston Gazette, declining to be more specific.

 

Information from the Associated Press and was used in this report.

[cryptique]

I'm cautiously optimistic about the Rodriguez hire.

 

However, I can't help feeling a little bad that Michigan has now cherrypicked both of West Virginia's major-sport head coaches. They must have some pretty icy feelings toward Ann Arbor down in Morgantown these days.

[the_fliz1]

I don't mind having Rodriguez as the coach. The only thing I take issue with, is that Michigan is not set up, personnel wise, to run the spread offense. Michigan does not have the QB or the RB's to run the system. If I was Ryan Mallet I would be seeing if I could get Pete Carrolls phone number as soon as possible. Ok, I lied that isn't the only thing I take issue with, there are 2 other things also. First, when is the last time you have ever heard of a big time recruit going to W.V.? I'm not too sure how good of a recruiter Rich is. The second thing I take issue with, is that I can never remember looking at a Rich Rodriguez led team and went "Wow, that is a great Defense". I would like to think that Michigan prides itself on defense, which is why this past season has really hurt. So, all that being said, I think that in the long run, the hiring will work out ok. But, I wouldn't look for UM to have a really good next couple of seasons until RR can get the type of players he needs to run his scheme.

[PigSooie]

Hey! You sounds like an Arkansas fan!

 

You're right. The first couple of seasons may be terrible, but what's new? In the long run, Rod and Patrino will get guys in there that fit the system. Don't freak out just yet.

[PigSooie]

Yes!

 

GREENWOOD, AR.

[Gobias Industries]

Should be interesting to see the Tressel-Rodriguez matchup now...especially since down the road they will play after Tgiving.

[the_fliz1]

Double Yes.

 

 

Terrelle Pryor has replaced West Virginia with UM on his final list of choices. Pryor is the 3rd overall recruit on ESPN and the top recruit on both Rivals and Scout.com. He would go a long way towards helping UM convert to the spread offense. From everything I have read, it seems like it was Ohio State and West Virginia leading the way. Hopefully now that UM took over W.V.'s spot, maybe UM can steal him away from OSU. Here is the link to the story at Rivals.com.

 

Rivals.Com

[mpolak21]

I'm cautiously optimistic about the Rodriguez hire.

 

However, I can't help feeling a little bad that Michigan has now cherrypicked both of West Virginia's major-sport head coaches. They must have some pretty icy feelings toward Ann Arbor down in Morgantown these days.

 

. In basketball WVU ended up getting Bob Huggins, who was their first choice before they hired Belein so for the most part that was forgiven. With Rodriguez, however, yeah I am not the world's biggest Michigan fan at the moment (I still hate Ohio State a little more though). Anyway, a few things about Rod. Don't expect him to turn things completely around right off the bat, he was 3-8 in his first year here and lost to Temple (I was there, that gamed sucked even more than the Pitt game.). For all the hype about his offensive genius, he essentially runs about ten plays a game, it was maddening this year.

 

People are buzzing for either of the Bowden brothers (Tommy or Terry, who both graduated from WVU) to replace Rod. I'd like to see them take a look at Turner Gill, who's coaching Buffalo now, he'd be a good fit and he essentially was the Pat White of his day.

 

 

--Mike

[Gobias Industries]

Damn it, Pryor, choose OSU already!

[IATTBYB]

My hunch is that Ryan Mallett is getting ready to sell that winter coat he bought last January.

[quarter23cd]

"He called me this morning and told me before he announced to anyone," said Pryor. "He said he's keeping the same offense that he had at West Virginia because it's all he knows. I love that offense. I told him I was very interested."

If UM is on his list specifically because he prefers the wide open style of Rodriguez's offense, I don't see how OSU fits into his plans at all. Just my opinion. I'm not holding my breath for this guy in Columbus.

[PigSooie]

Bill King, Rivals Radio, just confirmed the rumor that Mallett would consider a move to UA if he does not fit into RR's offense sighting Petrino/Brohm and his Ark home

[Gobias Industries]

If UM is on his list specifically because he prefers the wide open style of Rodriguez's offense, I don't see how OSU fits into his plans at all. Just my opinion. I'm not holding my breath for this guy in Columbus.

 

I guess, but I'd rather see Pryor on my side of the ball regardless.

 

Rodriguez's hire means that old-school ball will die...the Big Ten was one of the last conferences to basically specialize in power-back ball, and now with him one of the best schools for that is gone.

 

I love power-back ball, to be perfectly honest, and this hire makes me sad inside, because it means it will die sooner rather than later.

[quarter23cd]

I guess, but I'd rather see Pryor on my side of the ball regardless.

Rodriguez's hire means that old-school ball will die...the Big Ten was one of the last conferences to basically specialize in power-back ball, and now with him one of the best schools for that is gone.

I love power-back ball, to be perfectly honest, and this hire makes me sad inside, because it means it will die sooner rather than later.

I don't think it will completely die out, but yeah, the Big Ten will be a different-looking place if UM starts running something closer to a WV offense. Those three yards and a cloud of dust matchups are great, but its also hard to deny that this conference needs some new blood. Purdue's "basketball on grass" mildly shook things up for a few years, but its gonna take a shift from one of the major conference powers to really trigger any sort of widespread change in the way the Big Ten plays. UM could definitely do that, so it will be interesting to see if this has a ripple effect if UM is successful.

 

At the very least, it means that the rest of the conference needs to learn how to defend that kind of offense on a regular basis so they don't look so damned surprised/confused when they face it once a year in bowl games. That is probably for the best.

[Gobias Industries]

I just hate spread offenses, because they basically say "Hey, let's not play defense!" and "Hey, let's see if we can score 75 points in a game!"

 

Basically defense becomes secondary to offense if you run the spread.

[MrRain422]

Just because a lot of teams with spread offenses have historically had bad defenses, that doesn't mean defense is automatically sacrificed when you go to a spread offense. I mean, why would it? Doesn't make any sense. It's not like basketball or baseball where you have the same guys on offense and defense, and therefore bringing in a certain type of guy to do one thing might sacrifice something else.

[quarter23cd]

I just hate spread offenses, because they basically say "Hey, let's not play defense!" and "Hey, let's see if we can score 75 points in a game!"

Basically defense becomes secondary to offense if you run the spread.

Well, technically, there's no reason this has to be the case...but, yeah, there's a lot of evidence to support the idea that this is the way it works. I tend to think Michigan's D will remain pretty tough.

 

I dunno, I also have a hard time imagining UM undergoing a complete transformation. I'm sure that elements of the spread will become the dominant feature over time, but certainly this current team is built for a more traditional offense, so I don't think it will be a night and day switch. I honestly think they will retain some of the power-offense characteristics, too. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. It will be interesting.