Staff
Coach Rod brought to WVU assistants along with him for the press conference. Expect Offensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach Calvin Magee and Secondary Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Tony Gibson to join the Michigan coaching staff. Conventional wisdom suggests that Rodriguez will also want to bring his (stellar) Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, Mike Barwis as well. The comments he made regarding summer conditioning, which implied a change in culture, certainly would give credence to this belief. He doesn’t have the entire staff in mind, but he will interview several UM assistants.
Team Intensity
“I don’t want our team to expect to win, I want them to deserve to win” He noted that offseason workouts will be “unpleasant.”
Offense
Rodriguez was asked several questions, and his responses were somewhat enlightening.
He said the staff would “do what we’ve done” offensively. However, he made note that this meant over the past 17 years, not just that past 7.
Rodriguez lamented the misinformation that has been perpetuated about his offensive schemes. He responded with the following points.
- The scheme is not restricted to being a running offense. With the personnel they have now, that is the smartest choice.
- The scheme aand gameplan are adapted to the offensive skill players that he has.
- With great throwers and great receivers, it could be expected that they’d throw 55-60% of the time (as they did at Glenville State and Tulane (with Shaun King)).
- With great runners like Pat White and Rasheed Marshall, the offense can be a running option.
- The spread is a varied offense, and it’s not a “seen one, seen ’em all” system.
Defense
The “Odd Stack” (known ’round these parts as the 3-3-5) that he ran at West Virginia this year was 4th in the nation in total defense. He plans to run something similar, but not the same at Michigan.
Editorial Notes: Seeing as how Ron English loves the system, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as one of the assistants sticking around with Rodriguez. However, I have concerns that the Big Ten requires some 4-3 or 3-4 defenses, with teams running more I-form and Twin-TE sets than Big East teams do.
The Coaching Search
Thanks Mike Wilcox, Mike Brown, BM, & MSC for making this deal happen. He doesn’t care if he was the third choice. He may have been his wife’s third choice as well, but in the end, he ended up with her.
Bowl Games
Rodriguez will not coach West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl, because he will worry about Michigan and their bowl game. Bill Martin and MS Coleman offered to let Coach Rod coach the Capital One Bowl, but he chose not to out of respect for Coach Carr, and because some of the assistants he would want to coach with him will be unavailable. He will, however, talk to Coach Carr about being involved with the bowl preparations.
Job-Hopping
He plans to, and will tell his assistants to “take the job as if it’s the last job you’ll ever have.” Michigan is a “special opportunity that doesn’t happen very often.” He also claimed it would be his last job: “I will plan to retire here.”
Recruiting
The dead period started today. He is not allowed any on-campus or in-home contact with recruits, and is only allowed one phone call per week. He contacted some committed and uncommitted recruits yesterday, and may try to recruit a few guys they were thinking about taking at West Virginia.
Michigan/O-State Rivalry
Some guys were heckling him with that dumb “O-H” thing as he got on the plane yesterday. He understands that it’s one of the greatest rivalries in college football. However, Michigan has two other rivals (Notre Dame and Michigan State) to worry about, and every team that plays Michigan thinks of them as a one-sided rival.
Paul will probably have some stuff from the PC up later today.
Posted under Coaching
