Last night Bill Martin and Coach Rodriguez kicked off their ‘On the Road’ tour to give Michigan alumni a chance to meet the new coach. The Junge family center between Crisler and the stadium was the venue, and props to the Alumni association for running a first class event.
Coach Rod worked the room for a little while then signed autographs. Martin gave a brief introduction and Rodriguez spoke for about 20 minutes. He did a real nice job. Some old material, some new, but overall he did a real nice job. Like most coaches, I imagine that he hates this kind of stuff but it didn’t show.
The only thing I would have changed? He didn’t take any questions, at least in front of the group. This said, he was very approachable before and after the event so it’s not like he did his 20 minutes and split.
A few tidbits:
* He made no projections for next season, he said his players will play hard and physical and joked that he can predict that he’ll play eleven guys. He did indicate that he’d be playing quite a few freshman on offense this year.
* He touched on the Page Six items very briefly: his lingering WVU issues, the Ann Arbor News investigation, the ‘eroding family‘ thing, the recruiting stuff (he joked that he’s still waiting for Martin to give him his wizard hat).
* They showed a very cool highlight tape before Rodriguez spoke – great runs and hits from the last couple years. He joked “most of those players are gone” and that “Lloyd’s pretty smart” (for getting out when he did).
* Thanked alums for their support and for the money for all the facility upgrades.
Enjoy a few pics:
One Comment
andrew
is rodriguez channeling the ghost of tommy amaker with the wardrobe? seriously, though, good report. unfortunately won’t be able to make the reception in chicago.