Bill Martin called The Huge Show, which is broadcast on a few stations around Michigan including 1050 WTKA. Martin talked about the search process: – Said he knew that this would be a hire outside the coaching family from the get go. – Talked about the challenge of convincing Rodriguez and his wife to take this job and move to Ann Arbor sight unseen. – Joked about taking the President Coleman to the giant Cabela’s off of US-23. – Great quote, said Mary Sue Coleman “could sell coal in Newcastle”. He didn’t say that Coach Rod is the dog’s bollocks. – Thought it was 70/30 that he would come to Michigan after Rodriguez left Toledo. – Martin said he was excited based on the emails received about the hire. Perhaps he took his football filter off now! – Rodriguez will be at practice tomorrow. The audio is in two parts, missed a few seconds of the interview in the middle: [display_podcast]
-
-
We Score Every Play! Really
Today mgoblog published some great stuff, including a link to the 2005 West Virginia playbook. A lot of the plays involved a wiggle, and waggle and the quarterback taking it to the house. It’s TOO EASY! Run, Ryan Run. Elsewhere: I added a few Big Ten Blog links on the right toolbar. If you’ve got some other suggestions let me know. All these seem to be updated fairly frequently. Funny, after reviewing these I learned quickly that other Big Ten blogs like to talk about Michigan about as much as I do. But sometimes they’re just not very nice about it. A few examples:
-
Reaction on hire from Drew Sharp & Valenti (audio)
Free Press rabble rouser and Michigan grad Drew Sharp filled in on the Sports Inferno radio show on WXYT. Here’s Sharp and regular host Mike Valenti’s take on the hire. I post this because neither of these guys is very popular in Wolverine circles. Sharp because he’s a jerk; Valenti because he unapologetically bleeds Spartan green. Me? I can’t stand Sharp but think Valenti is solid. Summary: Both guys like the hire. Valenti adds a huge “we’ll see” on the defensive side, rattling off six teams that will crush RR’s traditional defensive scheme. Here you go:
-
Post press conference audio from Carr
For those of you waiting from some comments from Coach Carr, here’s some audio posted on MLive of Carr addressing questions after the Rich Rodriguez introduction press conference. Sounds like all the big Michigan beat writers were on it, Chengelis, Albom, etc: [display_podcast] Carr: “I’ll be there if he needs me.” Carr: “I’m happy for Bill Martin.”
-
Shades of Yost: Is Rodriguez a Meechigan Man?
Rich Rodriguez isn’t the only West Virginian to walk the sidelines for a Michigan football team. Many of you may know that the great Fielding H. Yost was born in West Virginia. A quick scan of Google maps determined that the old coach’s birthplace of Fairview is a mere four miles down the road from Grant Town, where Rodriguez was born. [Ed 11/28/08: Per John U Bacon, Bo’s Lasting Lessons author, this is completely false. I read this in several places but apparently, Rodriguez was not born in Grant Town. Bacon interviewed Rodriguez, here’s a note from Bacon to a few folks that challenged Bacon’s assertion of RichRod’s correct birthplace: No matter how many sources list Grant Town as Rich Rodriguez’s place of birth, he was born in Chicago, and raised there until the middle of second grade. (I’ll take his mom’s word on that.) His family did leave their home late at night, and suddenly, and Rodriguez had not heard of West Virginia until they were leaving for the state that night, as the article says. Yost brought so much to this University, from starting a legacy of dominant football to building Michigan Stadium. Fans of great Michigan announcer Bob Ufer may know that Ufer referred to the Wolverines as “Meechigan“, a tip of the hat to old Yost…
-
Rich Rodriguez Era Starts today, WVU coach Hired
Reports breaking minutes ago, Rich Rodriguez has accepted the Michigan job. As speculated here, looks like this was locked up on Friday. So what happened? 1. Martin went to Toledo to close the deal and not let Rodriguez out until he accepted. Looks like that happened. 2. Something happened after the Pitt game that turned Rodriguez against the WVU officials, not sure what. He kept them in the dark during this whole process. 3. Assume they worked out the details of the $4M buy-out, just like they did with Coach Beilein. If this money is also going to the West Virginia Foundation that campus is going to have some Thornton Mellon phat facilities soon. So what’s next? 1. Looks like Carr will of course coach the Capital One bowl game but Rodriguez won’t be coaching the Fiesta. Will Carr need to pull an Al Haigesque ‘I’m still in charge’ plea? 2. Should be interesting to see how Rodriguez uses the current players, especially Mallett. 3. Jim Carty has a Big East background and there’s talk (just talk) of some questionable recruiting incidents related to Rodriguez. If true, you can bet Carty will be looking into it. 4. Hopefully talk of assistant coaches will occur soon. I’d like to see him keep Fred Jackson, possibly Ron English but without knowing how…
-
Rich Rodriguez not talking Saturday (audio)
Yes, I understand the irony of the title. Here’s audio from his press conference Saturday. You’ve got to love those beat writers. He instructs the media to that he only wants to talk about practice, the bowl game, opponent or recruiting. Check out how the writers try to push the envelope on Rich’s Rules.