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]
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Coach, Why are campus manhole covers round?
Just like they did with the head coaching job, the University is following the requirement to post all job openings to the public. Today they posted the Assistant football coach openings: Market Title: Assistant Football Coach Department: Athletics FLSA: Exempt Salary Range: $130,000 – $150,000 Hours/Week: 40 Shift: Days – Frequent evenings and weekends required Note: This posting will fill multiple vacancies. Job Description and Responsibilities: Assist in the planning, organizing, directing, and implementing of all phases of a Division I football program. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Identifying and recruiting athletically and academically qualified student-athletes, organizing and planning practice and match strategies, participating in public relations and fundraising efforts, observing team members and determining the need for individual or team improvement; determining position assignments of team members; recommending contest strategy for a facet of the sport; insuring adherence to all association and conference rules by athletes and supporting staff; assisting in the monitoring of academic progress and status of team members. Qualifications/ Skill Requirements: Bachelors degree is required, prior participation and coaching in collegiate and/or professional football is required, proven ability to train and motivate athletes, excellent communication and organizational skills, ability to serve as a mentor and leader, thorough knowledge of NCAA rules and regulations, personal computer and related software skills are all desired. Geez, eliminate…
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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:
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Victors Club PSD Points mixed up
For those of you who are season ticket holders and/or Victors club members, don’t fret about the recent totals in the Preferred Seats Donation (PSD) renewal mailer. I know that many of the mailers included screwed-up PSD totals; mine for instance showed 0.00. Sources inside Weidenbach Hall tell me that: a) there was a screw-up transferring the PSD totals from a spreadsheet to the mailer [they’re using the hottest technology I see], b) an email will be going out explaining this, and c) if you are worried about the location of your Capital One bowl tickets, I’m told that they were assigned according to your correct PSD. **Note: This site is NOT AFFILIATED in any way with the Victors Club or the University. If you have questions about your PSD or anything related to your ticket or Victors club status, please refer to the official site. Update: Speak of the devil…just got an email from Marty Bodnar of the ticket office explaining the mix-up.
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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:
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If you’re waiting for an email reply from Martin…
Don’t hold your breath. All your emails were tightly filtered and placed neatly in the virtual circular file. Excerpt from MLive’s recap of the post press conference interview with Bill Martin: Q: What took you by surprise? Anything? MARTIN: The passion of Michigan fans. The absolute passion. I had to put filters on my e-mail, because of the number of e-mails I got on this search. Anything that said football was dumped and put into a bucket, and ultimately deleted so it couldn’t be FOIAed. It’s all gone. Gee thanks man. I hope no one wrote him to “donate millions to the football program”.
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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.”
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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…