• 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.

  • Reporters grill Rich Rodriguez, get nowhere

    From WVmetronews.com, looks like reporters had a chance to ask Rich Rodriguez about the rumors Saturday morning but it sounds like he told them he flat out wasn’t talking about it. No denials, no nothing really: “It may be disappointing to you, but I’m not going to talk about any rumors or innuendos or jobs or whatever else is floating out there. I’m not going to talk about that at all,” Rodriguez told reporters. “I’m not talking about anything other than this year’s team, this season and this year’s bowl preparations.” The reporters did lock onto Michigan transfer Ryan Mundy and other players, but they have nothing so far: Ryan Mundy, who played at Michigan before coming to WVU offered a unique perspective to the rumors. He tod reporters that at Michigan there is a lot of pressure on not only the coaches, but also the players. Mundy said at Michigan a national championship is a “reachable goal” every year. The only relevant new info is that apparently, Rodriguez has not yet talked about it with his WVU bosses, another good sign if you want him coming to Michigan: Meanwhile sources tell MetroNews that both athletic director Ed Pastalong and WVU president Mike Garrison have been trying to reach Rodriguez to talk about the reports.

  • A Fab Five Christmas

    There are thousands of Michigan football-related items on the eBay and this time of year including all kind of items for on or for under your tree. This one has to be top of your list, Juwan Howard in Fab 5 gear dunking on your face: A while we’re on hit, how about this beauty of Jim Harbaugh:

  • Done Deal?

    Several things point to me that a deal is likely to be closed on Rich Rodriguez: 1. Given they lost on Miles and Schiano, Martin and Coleman went to Toledo to close the deal, whatever it took. 2. The fact that Rodriguez took the flight to Toledo to meet already tells me he’s definitely willing to leave under the right circumstances. 3. His wife took the trip to Toledo, if I properly matched the coachrod.com photo with the plane footage. 4. Players are reporting they heard nothing on this from the coach at today’s practice: “Beat Oklahoma, that’s it,” linebacker Bobby Hathaway said of Rodriguez’s rumored interest in the head coaching job at Michigan. “There’s nothing else to hear.” “Nah, nothing,” said wideout Darius Reynuad. Added assistant Rod Smith: “About what?” {democracy:37}

  • Michigan contacted UConn Coach

    Per this report out tonight, Michigan contact Connecticut coach Randy Edsall “to gauge interest.” Guns are blazing. Here’s a bio on Edsall. The photographer for that bio pic must have said ‘Say boobies’ to get a smile. Worked and then some. As did the tanning lotion. Meanwhile, local Morgantown TV has footage of Rich Rodriguez landing. The update? RR says he’s going to practice, and warns media “don’t get run over” by his massive vehicle. Looks like his wife went with him, comparing a family photo from CoachRod.com. Perhaps this was serious.

  • Angelique Chengelis: “No Deal Cut” (audio WDFN)

    Full audio from WDFN’s Stoney and Wojo show, Angelique Chengelis on the meeting with Rich Rodriguez and Mary Sue Coleman, Bill Martin in Toledo. Per ‘The Angel of the Big House’: – “No deal cut” tonight but “offer made”. – No one knew where Rodriguez was today. – WVU AD didn’t know about it (apparently asking the LSU AD was a special courtesy) – Per Angelique, this should be perceived as a desperate move by Coleman and Martin. – Unknown if Beilein was involved. [display_podcast] Take: If they haven’t closed the deal it’s not a good sign if you’re a fan of this move. They got him to Toledo. If they didn’t close it there that’s not good. Of course, we really don’t know whether anything was agreed upon. We’ll surely know this weekend. {democracy:37}