Rich Rodriguez continues to catch some heat

[hifigator]

(Before anyone says anything, I figured this was so tangential to college football, that it really shouldn't clutter up the regular college football thread)

In addition to "leading" Michigan to it's worst season in 40 years, and maybe ever, Rodriguez seems to be doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire. I heard a piece on Gameday where in response to the grumblings from Wolverine fans and boosters, Rodriguez responded, "we don't pay too much attention to that ... some people just need to 'get a life' ..." At least on this particular clip, they didn't play the entire interview, but from the way they showed it, it was pretty clear that he was responding to fans and boosters that were disenchanted with the team and the season and more importantly, the implication was something to the effect that they were taking it too seriously. That was certainly the impression of the "get a life" comment.

Then in another clip he said that he didn't pay too much attention to the Michigan situation when he accepted the job. He went on to clarify that he was talking about the personel that they had returning and the sort.

My impression is that he is simply a guy that you need to keep out from in front of the camera. I don't think he really meant anything to objectionable, but he just has the knack for things coming out wrong. My opinion is that he really meant to convey that "Michigan is a great program and a great institution with excellent resources and facilities." But that the rebuilding will take time. With respect to the fans and boosters, I'm not quite so sure. At least from the out of context comments, there did seem to be an "edge" to his words. It seemed to be a bit more than an "it's going to take time" kind of answer, maybe approaching some sort of passivie animosity towards vocal (and particularly influential) boosters.

Did anyone else see the comments and did anyone see the entire interview? If so, what are your thoughts?

[AustinHoya03]

Nov 22, 2008 11:35:29 GMT -5 hifigator said:

(Before anyone says anything, I figured this was so tangential to college football, that it really shouldn't clutter up the regular college football thread)

In addition to "leading" Michigan to it's worst season in 40 years, and maybe ever, Rodriguez seems to be doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire. I heard a piece on Gameday where in response to the grumblings from Wolverine fans and boosters, Rodriguez responded, "we don't pay too much attention to that ... some people just need to 'get a life' ..." At least on this particular clip, they didn't play the entire interview, but from the way they showed it, it was pretty clear that he was responding to fans and boosters that were disenchanted with the team and the season and more importantly, the implication was something to the effect that they were taking it too seriously. That was certainly the impression of the "get a life" comment.

Then in another clip he said that he didn't pay too much attention to the Michigan situation when he accepted the job. He went on to clarify that he was talking about the personel that they had returning and the sort.

My impression is that he is simply a guy that you need to keep out from in front of the camera. I don't think he really meant anything to objectionable, but he just has the knack for things coming out wrong. My opinion is that he really meant to convey that "Michigan is a great program and a great institution with excellent resources and facilities." But that the rebuilding will take time. With respect to the fans and boosters, I'm not quite so sure. At least from the out of context comments, there did seem to be an "edge" to his words. It seemed to be a bit more than an "it's going to take time" kind of answer, maybe approaching some sort of passivie animosity towards vocal (and particularly influential) boosters.

Did anyone else see the comments and did anyone see the entire interview? If so, what are your thoughts?

I haven't seen the interview, so I can't say whether the quotes are taken out of context. However ... with comments like this, I wonder if it's only a matter of time before Rich Rodriguez at Michigan=Bill Callahan at Nebraska. Again, I haven't seen the interview, but heard on the radio this morning Rodriguez also complained he didn't have any talent on his team this season.

Setting your usual terrible rationale aside, this really should have gone in either the CFB thread or the Coaching thread, both of which you started. Same goes for your head-coach-in-waiting thread. There's your meal for the day, troll.

[HoyaFanNY]

funny you post this nonsense but ignore one of your own getting into trouble. stay classy gators.

www.news4jax.com/sports/18037799/detail.html

[hifigator]

FanNy, I am not avoiding that story at all. They are totally unrelated. It did come as a shock when this story broke late Friday, and it is certainly a shame. There is another kid who pretty much threw his future away. There's no telling how much he would have developed, but he was talented in the limited time we got to see him play. In the Spring John Brantley was battling injuries and Newton got a lot of snaps. But in the fall, Newton has been plagued by nagging injuries and Brantley has won the backup QB spot. Whether or not that played into Cameron's very bad decisions or not, I don't know. In any case, Newton had received nothing but praise in his time on campus prior to this. Unfortunately for him, unless there are some really extraneous circumstances -- which I seriously doubt -- then he is gone. This is a one-strike type of behavior, and Meyer doesn't and shouldn't give up another chance.

One detail that that particular story left off is that after the police had come to investigate, Newton asked for privacy to confer with his lawyer, Huntley Johnson, and they agreed. Then when they returned, the laptop was nowhere to be found. Apparently it took them several days to piece everything together. EIther way, somehow I doubt that Huntley Johnson, who is a fairly respective local lawyer, gave him the advice that he ultimately followed.

I wish Newton well, but I think he's looking at 30 to 60 days minimum, in addition to restitution and at least a year of probation. Regardless, there's no excuse for such behavior and there certainly is no place in the Gator Nation for such individuals.

As for the Rodriguez story, NY why do you say it is "such nonsense?" Did you hear conflicting reports? As I mentioned, what I heard was only from Gameday Saturday morning.

As to whether this should get its own thread or be put in the college football thread, then I guess we have a difference of opinion. This is a very particular story, and it isn't really about the game itself. I see no reason to clutter up the normal thread with it. But using your logic, we have entirely too many threads already. We only need about 10 or 12:


college football
NFL Football
NBA Basketball
etc...

Any thread should be able to condense down to one of those boards.