Coach who knows Rich Rod says Arizona promised him they'd schedule Michigan

Submitted by M-Wolverine on

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2011/11/did_arizona_promise_r…

(with video)

High School Football coach told people at the New Orleans QB Club that Rich told him...

 

His expression to me was he felt he had a better chance to win the national championship at Arizona if he recruited properly and they promised him they would put Michigan on the schedule within three years.

I will probably hate myself in the morning for posting this, as it will deteriorate, and will never happen, because the chance Michigan says yes is zero...but it's news, and I thought it was interesting how people may view things.

LSAClassOf2000

November 29th, 2011 at 5:39 PM ^

As much as I find that intriguing, I would rather we didn't do this. There is not a compelling reason to schedule Arizona other than the RR tie, but of course, we play a month of non-conference games - I would credit DB with the sense to turn that down. 

CRex

November 29th, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^

As long as we don't do a home and home bring them in. The storyline would make me cringe but they are a better OOC game than some random MAC team. Be a great OOC during a year were are at ND.

03 Blue 07

November 30th, 2011 at 1:35 AM ^

True. And, secretly, I'd love the drama of the whole thing. It would be entertaining. Then again, I am also for big-time games like the Alabama game. Although I do agree a home-and-home would've been preferrable, that game is still going to be a sweet, national event in a faraway place. It has to help recruiting (assuming we don't get blown out; then, maybe a push, but perhaps appealing to kids who like the limelight).

EnoughAlready

November 29th, 2011 at 5:44 PM ^

at Arizona than Michigan?  

Seriously?

Oh yeah...Rich doesn't forget to blame the players.  To win a national championship, he has to "recruit properly."  I guess he wasn't too thrilled with the recruits he brought in at Michigan.  He apparently doesn't think his own recruiting at Michigan was very good.  Or maybe he thinks recruits find Arizona a better place to play than Michigan.

Boy, talk about sour grapes and petty egos.

ThadMattasagoblin

November 29th, 2011 at 5:45 PM ^

What's so bad about the team we play?  It probably ends up a one game series at Michigan like Colorado and OSU this year because that's the only way Michigan will schedule a struggling BCS team after the Uconn fiasco.

In reply to by M-Wolverine

Needs

November 29th, 2011 at 6:50 PM ^

We wanted a team from an AQ conference for the dedication game. A return game is now the price of getting a game against one of those teams. Because of the money the BCS has introduced to those schools, they almost all refuse to play one-off away games (other than the Jerrydome/Chik-fil-A type games). The only recent exception I can think of is OSU's game against Colorado this year, for which they paid $1.4 million, to an AD that's substantially in the red.

If we wanted a one-off, we could have scheduled Boise, but that might not have turned out well last year.

SwordDancer710

November 29th, 2011 at 5:47 PM ^

Too soon. Let's wait a few years until Michigan and Arizona become powers in their respective conferences, maybe even meeting in the Rose Bowl a few times. By then, everything should be healed.

Smith4639

November 29th, 2011 at 5:50 PM ^

We are MICHIGAN! We will have the best talent and the best Coaches in the Nation. We welcome the Bucks and MSU yet fear RichRod? Bring it RR we will mop the floor with you!

03 Blue 07

November 30th, 2011 at 1:41 AM ^

You don't have to always use ! to end your sentences. Other punctuation marks are allowed to end sentences as well, are generally well-accepted by the populace, and won't make you seem any less cool. Or you can split up concepts and thoughts with punctuation. There exist a plethora of options; hell, I just used a comma, semicolon, exclamation point, hyphen, and apostrophe. It's totally doable.

Section 1

November 29th, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^

The part about scheduling "within three years" makes no sense if one is to take that literally.

The timing aside, Arizona could make it a rather simple proposition if they agreed to come to Ann Arbor without demanding a home and home.  That is any B1G team's dream; to get a Pac-12 team to visit without having to give away a return.  I'd presume that there is not a single Pac-12 team that we wouldn't jump to get onto our schedule under those circumstances. 

There is another, quite logical way to look at J.T. Curtis' statement (quoting, or perhaps misquoting Rodriguez) -- that is, within three years, Arizona will make a deal to play Michigan.  (A much more sensible and realistic goal.)  That means scheduling in something like 2014-17, or beyond.  Rodriguez might be thinking that if he's given the resources at Arizona, he could build it into another Oregon in six or seven years. 

How did Oregon do the last time they were in Ann Arbor? 

03 Blue 07

November 30th, 2011 at 1:47 AM ^

JT Curtis and, uhh, the high school he coaches, which is named after him, is kind of a big deal H.S. coach in Lousiana. John Curtis is a perennial powerhouse, also. That's right: the guy started a high school for (among other reasons) the purpose of leading its football program and it is named after him and he coaches D-1 talent constantly and has 500-plus wins in his career. I mean, it is somewhat admirable from a "holy shit, that high school coach has made himself quite an absurd fiefdom" perspective.