Aw crap. Really Rich?? Really.
I can't even think of anything funny to say......
I'm just going to poke my eyeballs out
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
On notice. Not so double secret probation??
Aw crap. Really Rich?? Really.
I can't even think of anything funny to say......
I'm just going to poke my eyeballs out
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
34 comments:
i'm not sure which upsets me more- that all of this is about some incredibly minor violations? or that all of this is about some incredibly minor violations?
from the Freep's articles (even today), you'd think that they'd had discovered Clarett's Lexus & Reggie Bush's beach condo in locker room. they didn't.
the actual violations alleged are almost laughable. the actual overage of practice was something like 20 minutes ONE week during 2008 season; a couple of hours a couple of weeks during the off season.
oh, and that checking on kids to see if they're in class during the off season, which apparently you're NOT allowed to do ('cause we only wanna check during the season? go figure).
and at the same time, you have to look at each of the allegations and wonder how you could screw up something that a call to Indianapolis could have answered for you.
yeah, it's a only a couple of hours a week for a couple of weeks of off season training, but you have to wonder: "what? no one looked at their watch?"?
supposedly the time lapses are in part due to whether or not "warm up" counts as "countable" practice time. we didn't think it did; the NCAA does.
really? nobody knew that? didn't anyone think to ask: "gee, maybe we ought to check on that?"?
and apparently, the QC folks weren't allowed to attend coaching meetings(then, as apparently the rule has changed and now they are- go figure). we were the only ones that didn't know that? what? we didn't get the memo? or was someone sick the day that was explained?
that almost all of these "major violations" are so petty only amplifies that they were also so avoidable.
in the end, as everyone in the MSM not associated w/ the Free Press has concluded, this isn't going to add up to anything. at the same time, that it exists at all is pretty shameful.
i guess you missed the part about one of Rich Rod's guys blatantly lying to the investigators?
or that some of this happened in September 09 - AFTER Rich Rod's tearful press conference?
i had to laugh.
the only thing surprising about this thread is that Sru's wasn't the first comment.
poor bastard, probably sat by his laptop for hours waiting for one of the Michigan posters to say something so he could "jump in".
not surprisingly, EDSBS has a fairly humorous (and balanced) take on it all:
http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2010/2/23/1323433/another-fun-august-in-michigan
most interestingly, it includes a "comment" from a tosu fan, which would remind us that some of them can actually still be funny.
not the ones around here, mind you. but some of them.
i guess 5-7 really does taste like cardboard.
no i had to laugh
i logged on this morning to see message boards filled with michigan fans saying the normal...
1. these are all minor
2. everyone does this
3. the freep is out to get us
4. the rules are confusing
etc, etc, etc.
of course there were a few that took the high road, like titleix. some posters were embarassed, some said 'rules are rules, richrod's been a d1 coach for 10 years and he should know the rules'. but most offered all of the excuses that you so eloquently laid out in your first post.
put it this way - no longer can michgan fans boast that they are "better" than other schools. "we don't do that in ann arbor". "michigan's never even been accused of a violation, much less been investigated".
you suck on the field and now you're just another d1 school when it comes to compliance. you brought in a rogue coach and look what it's brought you. heck you might even be penalized as a repeat offender since the ed martin investigation ended less than 5 years ago.
i applaud titleix and the few other wolverine fans that actually care about their school's reputation and don't try to trivialize it with excuses. i expected the opposite from you and you did not disappoint.
sru, I am kind of confused. Why do you find it necessary to come here and vent about what "michigan fans" say and think about their program ?
I know there are dozens of Ohio State blogs and boards available for you to spew. Do you get a woodie when you drone on and on about how Michigan is "just like every other program" ?
I thought I made it clear a couple of weeks ago when I deleted one of your "troll-like" posts that I was sick of your act. You went silent for a couple of weeks so I assumed you ran away.
I am leaving your comments up this time because the thread would be very confusing if I deleted them now, but keep in mind I have an itchy finger and the delete button is one of the largest on my keyboard.
I won't put up with your idiotic troll behavior for long.
Sru - How many violations has OSU been accused of in the last 10 years? 301? This is a joke. 20 minutes?
the really odd thing is that i didn't really say what his rant says i did.
yeah, i called these violations minor or petty. so has everyone else at ESPN or CNN/SI or the Detroit News. they are petty.
and that was the point of my original comment- there isn't a single allegation from the NCAA that wasn't EASILY avoidable by more diligent effort. this isn't like the basketball debacle where Ed Martin was in the shadows.
these mistakes were made by the coaching staff, in plain sight, and should have been done correctly.
someone should have known whether or not QC staff could attend coach's meetings. someone should have known the rule for following up on player class attendance (and levying punishment for non attendance) during the off season. someone should have known whether warm ups count as "countable".
we have a lot of folks on payroll whose job is supposed to be to know this stuff. not knowing these rules is inexcusable. violating them is shameful.
and that's what i said.
so i don't know what the eff he's talking about regarding me making excuses that "it happens everywhere" or "the rules are confusing". i didn't say anything like that.
his rant reads like he had this big bundle of pent up rage and just spit it out on the comments page, regardless of what anyone had actually written.
which is probably what happened.
kind of sad.
His rants follow a predictable (and boring) pattern designed to produce a response.
My response has been made.
We need to ignore the
Sorry
Rude
Usually
Drunk
Ohio
Future
Felon
and move on. :>)
Rich Rod should never have been hired in the first place. If he does not understand these rules and have better control of his assistants than he should not be coaching at Michigan or any other program. Michigan football does not operate this way and this just proves to me that he never was and never will be a Michigan man. Any future success of the football program will be in spite of and not because of him being the coach.
ok that was funny bob!
Bob
I normally find your perspective and ideas to be aligned with mine, but in this case we could not be any further apart.
I think this myth of a "Michigan Man" is standing in the way of rational thought by many fans. Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez to be the football coach. When that happened there was universal dancing in the streets because all indicators pointed to the belief that he was a good football coach. Now, after two losing seasons and a seemingly constant stream of bad news, the fan base is starting to call for his head.
Mark my word, this is not about extra practice time or not knowing the NCAA rules on practice -- this is about winning football games. If Michigan had continued the winning ways with RR as head coach -- these laughable allegations would have never surfaced or been shrugged off.
GBB,
i certainly understand your reaction, but i'm not sure i agree. that's one aspect of this mess that still puzzles me- who really screwed up here?
i know R2 is ultimately "responsible", but i can't tell how much of this is his doing, how much of it is the failure of others to do their jobs.
as a now (& more so every day) senior lawyer, i supervise junior lawyers on cases all the time- from kids a few years out of school to people who have practiced a decade. i hired most of them, and am responsible for their training & performance.
when i sign a pleading, i don't go back & double check details- like is the brief in the proper format? Are we using the right cover page? i trust the people i've hired and trained to have done their jobs. they usually do. but sometimes they screw up. Sometimes they don’t have the cover page right, or have used the wrong format. Depending on the court, this can be a small or large problem.
i guess my point is that i've had experience w/ highly trained, highly educated professionals who have made screw ups that should have been avoided. They are people I trusted to do a better job & they didn’t.
so when i look at this story, i have to wonder if that isn’t what happened here. it seems to me the R2 seemed to think they were following the rules (this is where the missing CARA forms plays a sort of reverse logic to me- if the staff was knowingly cheating, i have to believe they would have been meticulous in keeping the proper records and simply fudged them- why cheat & keep records of it?).
but, if he thought they were in compliance, then who dropped the ball? the one thing that we'll probably never know is who made the decision to conduct these acts, how much consideration was put to their compliance, and who ultimately made the mistake. And more interesting, were these people that R2 hired? Or someone from w/ in the athletic department?
we only know R2 is responsible.
But to chime in w/ Andy, i also know that it's nothing 10 wins won't solve this fall.
i learned that living in Columbus...
SiC,
You changed those Chinese finger trap golf pants? You sound a bit agitated and those babies can chafe if left on too long. Just wonderin'.
"most interestingly, it includes a "comment" from a tosu fan, which would remind us that some of them can actually still be funny.
not the ones around here, mind you. but some of them."
That just hurt, my winged-helmeted friend.
Andy... The mythical "Michigan Man" may be just that, but in my mind this means striving for excellence (winning)and doing it correctly by following all of the rules. Those involved in the first 128 years of Michigan football seemed to understand that.
I was not one of those "dancing in the streets" fans. I never thought he was a good fit and stand by my previous comments. Winning is important but winning with integrity is even more important. I may agree that these infractions are minor but why not win without any infractions? I know it is not a valid comparison, but an example of what I am talking about that you can relate to Andy would be Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire. Great baseball players? Home run record holders? But at what cost? I hate that the integrity of Michigan football is being questioned because Rich Rod could not understand and follow the rules. End of rant.
btw - a great q&A about the situation here - the guy they interviewed seems to know a TON about NCAA compliance stuff. he doesn't see any more than one of the violations switched to a secondary violation but he also doesn't seem to worried about the penalties
here
whets,
my sincerest apologies.
you are almost always good for a laugh.
even if only at my golf attire.
Here's the thing. This sucks--for Michigan and for the program.
Rich and his staff are a bunch of yokels from WVa who tried to bring their show to Broadway when they shoulda stayed in community theater. My friends in the know warned me about the shit deal we got with him and I poo-poo'd and said that they were just being mean. I haven't had the guts to call them and get the chorus of "I told you so's".....
Now that I HAVE had the opportunity to watch this new band of "coaches", I find it completely mind-boggling that a) they can't count, b) they don't already know the rules, c) NO ONE was providing quality control, and d) some doofus lied to the NCAA....
add to that the crap about #1 and many of the "decorating" changes made to Schembechler, the changes made to the Captains and I'm convinced this crew DOESN'T GET IT.
THEN when the shit hits the fan, who gets trotted out? Dave Brandon. Not Bill Martin---who, by the way---has completely disappeared from view around town....
That to me speaks volumes as well. BM is the current AD. Why isn't he around to take the fall??
Rich Rod will be the coach "next year"---those are Brandon's operative words. Once the allegations become full-fledged major sanctions the U will have probable cause to terminate his contract, meaning we won't have to fork out yet another 2+ million dollars to 'compensate' him.
And I will be glad for the carny show to hit the road.
This is bullshit you guys. These boys from WVa just "delivered" and I hear banjos......
w/r/t sru: dude, stop poking the bear. or at least be a bit contrite. or make reasonable comments about what IS, not about what "we Michigan fans" do or say. your attempt to stimulate discussion is lost thru your standard "Michigan fans suck" theme.
My apron strings are only so long, and Andy has had it....
Come on Mom... it was his fault.
Is the Michigan football program sailing in uncharted waters considering its 128 year history?
I would say no. This entire episode started with a few disgruntled players; something that has been quite rare at Michigan. I could interview any malcontent player from any college in the country and use his grievances to find NCAA violations. Violations are not justified but they happen in every program. Like it or not, they occurred under Carr, Bo and I would guess Yost too; not intentionally for the most part, but violations none the less. I would challenge any of you to read the thousands of pages of regulations and see if you could understand them, let alone, follow each rule to the letter. I would also accuse many of you of being very naive about the current nature of college football . College football today is out of control for one very high stake reason.....money. The pressure has never been greater, the personalities have never been so egotistical, the star players have never been so pampered and the money flowing to the colleges has never been more voluminous. For better or worse this is the current state of college football and we, the fans, have pushed it that way. In general, we are self-centered, low self-esteem, intellectual lightweights who only care about a WIN. In my opinion, RR and UM have not lowered their standards or parted from 128 years of tradition. They simply are stuggling like every other college to stay afloat and competitive in the tsunami that is driving college football and once in awhile they are going to be pulled into the undercurrent.
Wow.
I guess we should post a sign on Packard: "Hillbillies need not apply (I'm talking to YOU Fielding Yost)".
That should keep us riff raff out.
Maybe we can hire a smooth, polished urbane guy like Pete Carroll?
Cause you have to be from WVa to not follow the rules, right?
Oh Snap.
Ok, sorry, I need to chime in here. I just found out yesterday when I grabbed the Michigan Daily after class. After reading the lengthy articles and then coming here to check it out........I must say:
I respect that Michigan is taking this seriously, I am surprised that Brandon was at the presser and not Bill Martin (but I will assume there is good reason for it). I am not saying that I was super pleased with choosing RR as our coach, but I AM willing to give him a chance.
I am annoyed that 'these fans" of Michigan think that they are doing the right thing by doing everything that they can to run RR out of town on a rail. From the moment he came here, there have been people behind the scene doing or saying whatever they can to get this guy tossed out on his ear. They may end up getting their wish, but I dare say it is unfair, Not only to RR and his staff, but to the kids who are playing for him and to the entire program. Because, however you taint him, that taints the program. If he is going to get cut loose, all that he needed to do was have 3 loosing seasons, he has 2. So why all the other crap that only puts Michigan in the position to look bad. No I don't want 3 loosing seasons, but I also don't want all of this other bull crap just because some rich alumni were upset that he was hired in the first place. The poor guy doesn't have a chance in heck unless he comes out with at least a conference championship this year and continues on from there. And then I think there are still going to be haters and they are still going to do what they can. I remember my first year here, all over campus there were "Fire Carr" t-shirts. There are always haters, but this has been horrific and the losing seasons have only created more problems.
Taking the NCAA seriously is the right thing to do. It is stupid that it happened, Like SIC said, I don't know which makes me more upset. I am not going to say "It happens everywhere", however I am going to say....WORSE happens at many other places and they are fortunate to not have old rich alumni who have a desire to run a new coach out of town on a rail.......
That said, the pressure is on now, even more so to have a spectacular season. I hope he can do it. The fact that RR is still standing and showing his face in public tells me he has more balls than most, I hope he gets a chance to prove it by winning games this year. Our program needs something good for a change.
Go Blue!
Spending ones entire career in WVa at a mid-tier D1 school does not prepare one very well for the challenges of Michigan.
This is not about football schemes or young players. This is about leadership (or lack thereof), integrity, and the ability to manage a major, highly visible football program. One that holds itself to a much higher, and probably conceited, standard than others. It's about judgment, political savvy, and just plain smarts.
All of the off-the-field events over RR's 18 month stint have accumulated to the point where I have had enough. Fire Fred Jackson? NO wait, hire Fred Jackson....Hire Scott Shafer, no wait FIRE Scott Shafer. Weekly team captains. Disrespecting fundamental traditions to put in your own? That would be like the new CEO of Coke changing the formula to something 'new'...oh wait, they tried that and it FAILED. One needs to understand the corporate culture, the key stakeholders, "the way" of the environment. From the very beginning RR exhibited poor understanding and questionable judgment. In my not so humble opinion.
RichRod is in the deep end of the pool without the compliment of skills to manage it. Is he a nice man? Yes. Is he a good football coach? Yes. Is he a good manager, leader, savvy corporate citizen. Hell no.
It doesn't matter how big or how small these infractions are. It doesn't matter how big the penalties. The fact is..the guy doesn't have the skills to manage the WHOLE program. Or the people whom he hired are not capable. Either way it all reflects back to him.
Bad hire. Not happy.
ps--Andy: I meant that mom's apron strings could only protect sru from you for so long. Although after this post I may be the one needing protection!!!
Steve Fisher spent 15 years at Michigan, as both an assistant & a head coach. he was literally Bo's "michigan man" who coached michigan. he wasn't from some hick school. he didn't have some bad "cracker" accent. he probably could have given you the name of a few Irish poets, if you really pushed him.
he also presided over one of the worst scandals in NCAA history.
so, we can't blame his small time experience or lack of "getting it" because he wasn't a michigan man, can we? we can't blame the poor ethics learned at WVU or some other hick location, either. he was already here when he became head coach. he worked w/ the AD staff that had been here before hand. and he still epically failed to run the program cleanly.
Fisher, Ellerbe, and Ed Martin were OUR creation and our problem from top to bottom.
i'm sorry, but the whole "michigan man" wouldn't have done something like this schtick is pretty hollow to me.
"bad hire"? really? and who would have been a good hire? Urban Meyer? Nick Saban? Larry Coker? Tressel? go down the list of MNC's won over the last decade and you don't find too many coaches who have won who haven't had more significant compliance accusations, signed (or oversigned) questionable players, & had multiple off field problems.
since 1948 michigan has hired exactly one coach from "outside" the program (obviously, Bo).
since 1948 michigan has won exactly one (1) split MNC.
i'm not sure the whole "michigan man" thing is working the way it's supposed to, anyway.
R2's obviously over focused on winning (and done so poorly) at the expense of emphasizing compliance. that's not because he's a hick. Pete Carroll did it too. it's because he's a young coach w/ an emphasis on winning, like all the others mentioned above. and if you think that if we'd have hired someone else w/ better diction, we'd have avoided something like, this? i have to disagree.
Steve Fisher spoke flawless English.
Nice seeing activity on the ol' blog.
what can i say whets?
i finally know what it feels like to be a buckeye fan???
Long time reader, infrequent poster here.
I'm starting a slow clap for Surrounded in Columbus. Excellent posts and a cool ray of sanity amidst the madness.
I would take it further and offer this link:
http://www.hailvictors.com/showthread.php?2729-I-don-t-get-it.
I'm usually the last one to scream conspiracy but I really believe that if one thinks that rules haven't been skirted (intentionally or otherwise) since the dawn of time at UofM then one is truly blinded by the blinders of blindness. And no, I have no proof to back this up, just common sense.
thanks CT, but let me be clear (again), i still think this is embarrassing & shameful. it's a mistake we shouldn't make and shouldn't tolerate.
that said, i just don't think it's on the same level as Steve Fisher/Ed Martin's cash & cars debacle or Bud Middaugh's problems w/ "loans" to baseball players in the '80s.
but if this happens a second time, i may change my mind.
and conspiracy theories aside, i actually have to laugh at the comparison of how convicted, violent criminals are treated by the freep:
http://freep.com/article/20100226/SPORTS07/2260343/1055/sports07/Rucker-reinstated-to-MSU-team-attorney-says
imagine how they'd have written this story if ONE of these kids played in A2?
Seriously, I am glad to see activity on this blog-site. The amount of work that goes into this site deserves fan/reader participation. Now, on to the mundane:
"i finally know what it feels like to be a buckeye fan???"
Sic,
Don't let the dizzying heights get to you. You'll acclimate soon enough. BYOC.
"but if this happens a second time, i may change my mind."
Get those mental Pampers ready, my friend. It's a new era in college football.
"Get those mental Pampers ready, my friend."
ah, whets, that's why we keep you around.
you may be a pain once in a while, but you are entertaining.
"Stay thirsty, my friends."
Post a Comment