Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Mailbag question: With a new AD coming in next season


Posted at 12:00pm -- 12/9/2009


Mailbag question: With a new AD coming in next season

Guys,

At this point I think we all realize that with a new AD coming in, Rich Rodriguez's job security is hardly secure, his pitiful record notwithstanding. The trend in college sports for the past 10-15 years has been new AD's have very short leashes for under performing coaches, and it's not as if Rodriguez is a beloved figure around Ann Arbor as it is. And while many fans on message boards still seem to be loyal, it is no secret the vast multitude of prominent alumni and former players are not fans of the Rodriguez regime.

Therefore, if you are not really sure Rodriguez is going to work out, and you know someone like Jim Harbaugh would crawl over broken glass to become the next head coach at Michigan, and his mere presence could go a long ways towards re-uniting the Michigan family, why wait another year to make a move? Why not just make it now, rather than prolonging the inevitable?

Thanks for considering my question.

Steven

----------------------------------------

Thanks for the question.

First off, athletic director Bill Martin and president Mary Sue Coleman obviously both still feel they made the correct choice. Remember, they both went to Toledo for that secret meeting with Coach Rod and his agent while he was still at West Virginia. So their legacy is riding on Coach Rod turning this around. Both have done a very good job as far as getting Michigan back to having very nice facilities that can compete with the elite programs out there today.

In our opinion, as long as Bill Martin is in control Coach Rod will have an opportunity to turn this around. Now if the NCAA comes out that major or even minor violations occurred, then this might change the story. Remember Michigan’s football program has never had a violation we believe in the history of the Michigan football program. So and whether or not Michigan gets a black eye from the investigation might determine the final course of action the school determines.

We do agree that with a new athletic director coming in, it is obviously in Coach Rod's best interest to have a big turnaround next year. Remember though, Mary Sue Coleman is helping make the decision, or is making the final decision, so she will give Coach Rod every attempt to turn this around as well. Also, she is likely going to try and put an athletic director in place that likes what Coach Rod is doing and will give him a fair chance to turn it around.

If the team is not at least bowl eligible next year and does not show major improvement, Coach Rod will give a new athletic director many reasons to replace him and bring in his own guy.

The big question, depending on who the new athletic director will be, is what happens if the team goes 7-5 next year? What does the new athletic director do? Does he see progress, or does he insufficient progress and determine it is time to move in a different direction.

Will those in authority be happy enough at 7-5? To GBMW it depends and that is the borderline or the least amount of wins Coach Rod can have next year. We prefer that Michigan goes at least 8-4 next year, and that would, in our opinion, secure him and his future. The problem with 7-5 is, sure it is improving the team record, but when the previous two seasons were 3-9, 5-7 at a place like Michigan, 7-5 really would be three years of disappointing records. Would people be happy going 7-5 and losing to Ohio State, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Wisconsin? Or insert UConn in for Notre Dame or Wisconsin. In our opinion, fans, media, alumni, donors and even the coaches/players would not be happy with losing to those teams and having a 7-5 overall record.

The thing is with a new athletic director, he or she might know a few "hot coaches" who are willing to come to Michigan. Then what do you do?

Our best advise, and like we have been saying for a long time, is "WIN" and problems like memories fade away.

Written by GBMW Staff

Go Blue -- Wear Maize!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I heard that Brandon is out so that might buy some time for Coach Rod.

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