Michigan Nabs Rodriguez, Ending Arduous Search

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The University of Michigan ended this year’s best coaching soap opera yesterday by announcing West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez as its new head coach. He will be officially introduced at a press conference in Ann Arbor this morning. Lloyd Carr’s retirement a month ago after 13 seasons seemed to provide a natural break for Michigan’s tradition-rich but stale program, yet few could have predicted such a radical departure from the era birthed by Bo Schembechler nearly 40 years ago. Carr, like Gary Moeller before him, was a direct descendent of the Schembechler coaching tree. And though those two men modernized the offense from Schembechler’s preferred option attack, Michigan football remained rooted in running the football and stopping the run.

Enter Rodriguez, who has neither Michigan ties nor a staid offense. Rodriguez is one of the prime architects of the spread-option attack that has become the sport’s latest trend. It is an offense that has given Michigan fits over the years, but one the Wolverines appeared ill-suited to run with the pro-style, drop-back quarterbacks they tended to recruit.

The hiring of Rodriguez brings a surprising conclusion to a difficult and, at times, embarrassing search for Michigan. Carr’s retirement was no surprise; it had been rumored for nearly a year, and speculation only intensified after the Wolverines’ terrible start this season. Nor was the top candidate, LSU’s Les Miles, a shock to anyone who follows college football.

Miles played and coached at Michigan and often professed his love for the school. Yet he and Michigan seemed to be eyeing each other like a pair of wallflowers at a high-school dance, neither able to make a proper first move. Instead, there were early rumors of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who had been hired by current Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, making an intra-conference jump to Ann Arbor — a move that hardly excited the fan base. Even less palatable was the prospect of either offensive coordinator Mike Debord or his defensive counterpart Ron English being promoted. When Michigan eventually requested permission from LSU to speak with Miles, the athletic director Bill Martin appeared to make all the wrong moves, in order to hold firm to a promise not to contact Miles until after the SEC title game. Miles, unsure of his standing, had his agent contact Martin, but Martin didn’t return the calls. After ESPN reported his impending departure for Michigan, Miles announced just hours before the SEC championship that he would remain at LSU — a stance he repeated publicly despite talking to Michigan officials even after signing a lucrative contract extension in Baton Rouge.

Even last week, internet message boards were alive with chatter that Miles-to-Michigan was far from dead, but that it would have to wait for LSU to finish its season in the January 7 BCS championship game.

Miles might yet have made it to Michigan if it weren’t for his team’s miraculous elevation to that contest — the miracle being a West Virginia loss to heavy-underdog Pitt the same day LSU beat Tennessee for the SEC title. That loss kept Rodriguez’s team out of the game and may have convinced him he needed to again consider leaving. Rodriguez was in the opposite situation to that of Miles — he was already coaching his alma mater, yet he appeared anxious to escape to a more prominent program. He nearly accepted the Alabama job last year before opting to stay under a reworked contract and promises of facilities upgrades.

Rodriguez’s name briefly surfaced early in the Michigan search, but he laughed off the suggestion and the focus of both the press, and Michigan turned elsewhere. After Miles said no the first time, Martin met with Rutgers’s Greg Schiano and reportedly offered him the job, but Schiano decided to remain with the program he has built in New Jersey.

It was at that point that the remaining Michigan fans who had not already panicked began to do so. Martin was being portrayed as bumbling and incompetent, and the fan base, when it wasn’t busy complaining about the search, was preparing itself to be disappointed. Carr who had delivered to the program a level of class and integrity, if not always quite the success the fans desired, was vilified as a behind-the-scenes meddler. It was rumored that he was leading an anti-Miles wing in the athletic department, perhaps in retribution for what Carr viewed as negative recruiting tactics by his former colleague.

Others began to wonder if Michigan’s time had passed, if the traditional power wasn’t quite the prestigious post the university seemed to think it was. Yet an undeterred Martin continued to pursue high-profile coaches. NFL names such as Sean Payton were linked to the search in published reports. It was a hint that Martin understood he needed to deliver a “name” coach, especially having just broken ground on a quarter-billion dollar stadium renovation and expansion.

Even so, Rodriguez came out of left field. His name had not been mentioned since the early days of the search. But Friday, the Sporting News reported Rodriguez’s meeting with Martin and Coleman. The Michigan fan base again turned to the message boards — with many preparing to be disappointed once more — but this time Martin got his man, despite a $4 million buyout figure.

Rodriguez abandons a Fiesta Bowl-bound team to take over a program that has lost six of seven games to arch-rival Ohio State and which appears in dire need of the kind of offensive makeover he can provide. His toughest challenge will be to drag the program into the 21st century while still upholding its rich tradition.

Martin shouldn’t hold his breath waiting for a holiday card from West Virginia this week, not after hiring both Rodriguez and basketball coach John Beilein away from the Mountaineers in a nine-month period. But if both can start beating Ohio State, he won’t likely care.

Mr. Levine is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.


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