OT. Arizona and Rodriguez

Submitted by massblue on

Happened to be in Utah and went to Utah-Arizona game.  Rich has lost his magic.  Defense was as bad as it was in Ann Arbor.  His offense had trouble scoring.  Utah played horribly in the first half and was trailing by only 2.  Watched an interview with him on the local station and he was as densive about his team's performance as he was here at UM.  

I think he  has lost his confidence as a coach and now everyone is running spread and teams have a better handle on how to defend it.  I thought Arizona was perfect place for him, but this could be his last year there.  

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bamf16

October 9th, 2016 at 7:56 PM ^

Except that no one ever said that about Brady Hoke, a coach who'd never been a coordinator before, nor was he ever viewed as some innovator of sorts while a head coach.  The speculation surrounding Hoke was that if he wanted to have a successful career at a Power 5 school, he'd have to go back to being a position coach, and if he wanted to continue as a Head Coach, he'd end up in the MAC, Mountain West, or Conference USA coaching a school like Toledo, Colorado State, etc.

Joined: 01/05/2014

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Blueblood2991

October 9th, 2016 at 6:48 PM ^

See, I don't buy that either. As a head coach, he robs the defense of the best athletes for his offense (i.e. if he were still at Michigan Peppers and Lewis would be full time offense), he won't have that luxury as a coordinator.  Plus any defense with a pulse has figured out how to stop his scheme years ago.  

He would have to go somewhere in the Big 12 like Texas Tech where defense is optional.

Joined: 06/11/2015

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jmblue

October 9th, 2016 at 6:42 PM ^

I don't know if he's lost his confidence.  It's just one of those cases where a guy comes up with a good idea, everyone else copies it, and then eventually some of them improve upon his idea.  And now he doesn't really stand out from the crowd, so his performance fades.  He's sort of the AOL of football coaches.

 

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Cosmic Blue

October 9th, 2016 at 6:56 PM ^

i think you hit the nail on the head. not to bash the guy (too much) but i never thought of him as that smart of a guy. Just a dude with a good idea. and since you cant patent a system in football, everyone else is free to use your idea. once they did, he no longer had any real advantage unless he continues to innovate - which it appears he cant (or at least not as much as is needed).  

i wanted to work in that quote of 'good writers borrow, great writers steal' but couldnt quite get it to work how i wanted

Joined: 10/13/2008

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snarling wolverine

October 9th, 2016 at 6:50 PM ^

Rich Rod, Brian Kelly, Charlie Strong = three coaches who became hot names based on their performance in the totally awesome Big East Conference.  This is the same conference that made Rutgers look halfway decent.  Maybe it's not quite the measuring stick we thought.

And now who's the hot name on the block?  Tom Herman, who coaches in the latest reincarnation of the Big East.  Hmmm.

 

 

 

Joined: 12/14/2011

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Wolverines05

October 9th, 2016 at 6:50 PM ^

OP,

His offense is struggling becuase of insane injuries. Defense will get better... but really undersized atm.

Khalil Tate is their 4th string qb, although in reality, hes their 3rd string qb. Brandon Dawkins was working through an injury, and just couldnt play anymore midway through third quarter. Theyre also down to there 4th and 5th string running back. A wide receiver is starting at tailback. As for their line... their starting center died before the year, their projected starting guard was arrested, and currently two of their starters are out to injury. They'll be fine there. But no team can overcome that amount of injuries to key positions.

AZ really not that bad. They'll get better. Rich Rod will have that team back next year. 

Joined: 10/05/2015

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Brodie

October 10th, 2016 at 12:37 AM ^

It is Arizona. How many seasons had they lost fewer than four games before he arrived? He has clearly made a difference in that program. He is never going to take them to the promised land, but he's building the same kind of foundation that someone like Rich Brooks built at Oregon. His successor at Arizona will thank him

Joined: 11/19/2008

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evenyoubrutus

October 9th, 2016 at 6:54 PM ^

It feels like he has never really recruited at an elite level. I know his recruiting classes at Michigan were highly rated but in reality they weren't very good when you consider how many highly rated players never even played because they left the program for one reason or another. At AZ his recruiting has been barely mediocre. Even the best coaches can only do so much with mediocre players. And he's not the best coach.

Joined: 11/04/2008

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Danwillhor

October 9th, 2016 at 6:55 PM ^

that he runs Spread 1.0 and by 2007 there were teams running 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 beta, etc (ha). He may have innovated the offense snd helped it.....spread.....but he never evolved it. Now everyone recruits to run and stop the spread.

Joined: 12/02/2008

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jsquigg

October 9th, 2016 at 6:57 PM ^

I supported Rodriguez and thought things would turn out differently, but for God's sake can we just enjoy the moments we have with Harbaugh and let the past bury itself?!  Fuck!

Joined: 09/06/2009

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Cosmic Blue

October 9th, 2016 at 7:04 PM ^

and the OP wasnt particularly inflammatory. if you just never want to hear rich rods name again why did you click through to this thread?

i (and im sure other michigan fans) wasnt super familiar with rodriguez before he came here, so it's nice to get some more context to his ability as a head coach. 

Joined: 10/13/2008

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Hotroute06

October 9th, 2016 at 7:01 PM ^

My personal take on Rodriguez is the guys a good talent evaluator and can find diamonds in the rough at times. Mostly skill positions. He struck gold with Slaton and Pat white at WVU but overall he's a completely average coach and he gets too emotional during games when under pressure. I've never seen a coach flip out on his players as much as Rodriguez does. That includes Brian Kelly. I agree with you op on that he's lost whatever magic he previously had. His teams just seem flat out undisciplined and fall apart quickly.

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