On one hand, I am a serious college-sports fan. There’s nothing else in sports like the atmosphere at a big college football game.
On the other hand, I recognize that the NCAA has numerous, serious problems. At most schools, in the big college sports, money is the top concern, with winning a close second; other concerns—like academics, fairness and ethics—are secondary, at best.
For evidence of this, look no further than the UA’s hiring of Rich Rodriguez as the new football coach.
Rodriguez’s record is terrible—when it comes to ethics, if not on the football field. At West Virginia University, he skipped town for greener pastures shortly after signing a new contract. His December 2007 departure was so ugly that he didn’t even bother to coach his team in their January 2008 bowl game. West Virginia wound up suing Rodriguez for breach of contract—and eventually got all the money it sought in a settlement.
What did Rodriguez do at his next stop, the University of Michigan? He violated several major NCAA rules. When players came forward to discuss the violations—which included Rodriguez and his staff making players practice longer than the rules allow—he denied he was in the wrong. “We go by the rules,” Rodriguez said.
Later, the university admitted to the rules violations.
Now, after those disgraceful activities, he’s the new UA football coach, with a five-year, $9.55 million contract—with incentives beyond that.
In making this hire, UA athletic director Greg Byrne proved the above point: At the UA, money and winning are apparently more important than academics, fairness and ethics.
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2011.
RR is a good coach and a good man. Your viewpoint is invalid. We’ve seen this dog-and-pony show before. Good luck staying relevant through negativity and rumormongering, mainstream media hacks.
Read John U. Bacon’s “Three and Out: Three Years with Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football” and then re-evaluate your opinions.
Mr. Boegle,
I am quite skeptical of your perspective and find the majority of it to be misleading. Here are my issues-
1) According to your perspective, what constitutes an “atmosphere at a big college football game.” If you were in attendance at this game, it surely must have been outside of the city of Tuscon as the University of Arizona has been irrelevant since, well, it began. By no means does not attending a big college football game atmosphere automatically make your assertions as erroneous, I’m simply attempting to point out numerous aspects throughout this article that are incorrect.
2) Misleading information part 1- RR’s record is 120-84-2. While not stellar, certainly not “terrible” as you claim. And please don’t try to say that you are meaning that the “terrible” adjective you use only applies to the ethics aspect of his resume. Even if you claim so, you are mistaken.
3) Misleading information part 2- RR is not unethical. If you would like to comment on his character before doing proper research, you have the right to do so but you are doing an injustice to your readers who are relying on you for accurate information. The “major” violations as you say dwindle down to approximately an extra 15 minutes stretching per practice for a year. While this is a major violation, failing to extrapolate on the actual violation allows reader’s minds to explore their imagination and the word “major” seems to be more serious than the actual offense.
4) You further state that, “At the UA, money and winning are apparently more important than academics, fairness and ethics.” This, again, is inaccurate. RR was only given three years at the University of Michigan, yet one of his teams managed to attain the highest GPA of any Michigan football team. For a university that has been around since 1817, this feat is incredibly impressive and does not seem like something a team would attain under leadership of someone who neglects academics.
Your retort would be much appreciated.
What a hack job of an article..please don’t act like editors from the Detroit Free Press and actually do your homework..I suggest starting with three and out, then moving onto Google and typing in Rich Rodriguez…
This article is clearly written to get more readers to check it out…horrible job- I thought the tusconweekly produced news, not fiction
For being a “serious college-sports fan” you’re woefully misinformed or willfully ignorant of Coach Rodriguez’s history. The major NCAA infractions you refer to were described by the NCAA committee as “relatively technical” and the 29 page report cited the initial allegations as “far less extensive than originally reported.” Read John U. Bacon’s book, Three and Out, to get an insider’s account of what happened during Rodriguez’s tenure at Michigan and stop spreading this garbage. Rich Rodriguez is a good coach and a good man, and has already had his character attacked by two notoriously demanding and unforgiving fanbases. If UA supports him he will, no doubt, be successful both on and off the field.
For U of A fans, it’s worth noticing that University of Michigan followers are the ones that are taking the time to refute this claim and support Rich Rodriguez, which says more than anything in the note above. He’s a good guy who truly cares and will do well if given the opportunity, don’t try to bring him down before it even starts. Our media already tried to do that.
Wow, this is really bad journalism. I’m a Michigan fan. I was skeptical about Rodriguez when he was hired, based on similarly bad journalism here in Michigan. Over his 3 years I became a strong supporter of RichRod’s, despite the losses. He never got a fair shake here. You’d be fools in Arizona if you treat Rodriguez like he was treated at Michigan. Open your eyes and judge for yourself.
Allow me to join the chorus of voices denouncing this stupid article. I don’t know what the threshold is for entering the profession of journalism, but it must be profoundly low and lax. This “article” is the definition of thoughtless. Unfortunately, this kind of thing matters, as fans of Michigan football, and Rich Rodriguez, became painfully aware of for the past three years. The worst thing that could happen for Arizona–and Rodriguez–is for the new coach to be greeted as an outsider, unworthy of his new post. It was one thing for the arrogant blue-bloods at Michigan, full of their own cherished traditions, to act the way they did. What has ever happened in the history of Arizona football that warrants this kind of ill-informed, knee-jerk judgment? Nothing, of course. Nothing except the carte-blanche columnists are given to be pin-headed nitwits. Congrats on that honor, Mr. Boegle.
U of A fans you have hire a great coach and better person. Michigan did not give RR a fair shake. Read “Three and out” by John Bacon. This editor should read it as he sounds like a moron. Congrats from a life long Michigan fan.
Boegle punches dolphins. We support Rich Rod.
Rich Rod is a coach who has always put his players before himself or furthering his career. Additionally he has always emphasized strong academics. This is a fantastic hire here in Tucson and I would hate to see it undermined by hack journalism the same way it was in Ann Arbor.
wow! that’s 12 for 12 as far as comments go telling you your article is terrible. Oh, you’re article is terrible by the way. That’s 13 for 13 now. RR is a good coach and a good hire. You give him time and the best pac 12 game every year will AZ vs. Oregon.
Do some actual journalism instead of just scanning headlines. Your assumptions are dead wrong, what a joke. Rich Rod deserves better than “journalists” that come to conclusions before getting both sides of the stories. What a joke.
Also, did Arizona neglect to honor their contract for Stoops? I guess you should hold different people to different standards… What a terrible editor…
Uninformed troll is uninformed. Michigan fan here, now an Arizona fan. It’s already in the comments three times, here’s recomendation number four; read John U. Bacon’s Three and Out. The only thing that will keep Rich from being successful at Arizona is Arizona…
So I guess poor journalism is not unique to Michigan….RRod is Bo Schembechler II, it’s a shame that the people that buried him at Michigan won the day and are still thumping their chests around while one of the few honest coaches in college football left in disgrace….don’t let this kind of crap happen here and you’ll have one of the greatest coaches ever.
As an “Editor” you should get your facts straight. Rich Rodriguez wanted to coach the final game at West Virginia, the school would not let him. West Virginia got half of what it was seeking in the lawsuit. And the rule violations for going over the allotted practice time started under the Lloyd Carr regime. Arizona is lucky to have him. To be able to hire a coach of any stature is a first for the program with so little tradition, unless you consider not winning your conference a tradition.
Wow, ignorant and poorly researched attack job. Mr. Boegle, I encourage you to investigate more thoroughly than reading headlines, at least some of which were later PROVEN TO BE FALSE!
His “terrible record on ethics” at Michigan involved incorrectly judging a grad assistant to *not* be a coach, thus resulting in an extra 15 minutes of stretching per practice. Had the grad assistant not been overseeing the stretching, no infraction would have occurred. When Michigan players broke team rules, they received consequences. When their behavior was deemed too extreme, they were off the team. This included the one 5* recruit in a defensive backfield that was laughed at by opposing offensive coordinators.
If you give this man time to install his system, your teams will score. If he has learned from his mistakes at Michigan regarding his meddling in the defense, your teams will win – big. His players loved him, and he put together a collection of some of the best young men in Michigan football history. I only met Rich once, and spent a few hours with him, but during that time, I found him to be sincere, down-to-earth, humble and friendly.
Congratulations to UA football fans; you have found an excellent coach who will make you excited about your team. Despite the worst three-year stretch in Michigan history, and despite my agreement that it was time for a coaching change, a huge part of me remains sad to miss what would have been a very fun Year 4 for Rich Rod.
I will be cheering your team and your coach from Ann Arbor. Go Blue!
I thought Coach Rodriguez never had a chance at Michigan. After reading Three and Out, my feelings were justified. I wish nothing but the best for Coach and His Family……….
Speaking of unethical… How do you assassinate a guy’s character and record when you’ve clearly done ZERO research on the matter? Does Michael Rosenberg write for the Tuscon Weekly?
The only one without ethics here is the editor of this piece. As editor of a newspaper, I thought your job was to promote an environment of fair principled journalism? Yet I can tell from a simple 8 paragraph hack job that Jimmy Boegle and the Tuscan News is more concerned with money, readership, and circulation than fairness and ethics. The hypocrisy of the last line of this article is stunning.
Mr. Thomas P. Lee should fire Mr. Boegle for blatantly misleading and lying to the Tucson Weekly readers. It is time for someone to step up to the plate and make sure what is reported is accurate and truthful. How the man ever became editor beyond belief.
I want to join the chorus of sentiment that finds Mr. Boegle guilty as charged in using headlines news as the basis of his opinion.
Arizona is getting a tremendous coach, one who cares and will do exactly what he says he will do. He will be committed to your program’s success, and his family will do the same. He will make the Wildcats a difficult team to play and one fun to watch.
As a Michigan fan, I can attest that Rich Rodriguez was treated poorly in Ann Arbor, and his failure there had as much to do with lack of support by a divided fan base and terrible internal support from admin as it did with his own mistakes, of which he made a few. This coach will win, if you do as he asks and pull in the same direction and support him.
Finally, this coach was railroaded into an NCAA probe that was orchestrated by media critics from the Detroit Free Press who helped sabotage his program. The fact that Mr. Boegle fails to even review the material he comments on, bespeaks his lack of professionalism. He is a hack columnist. Seven paragraphs some blogger from nowhere could have done better. Cheap thrills and lousy opinion.
Give this guy a chance and you will succeed.
Looks like Tucson already has its own Detroit Free Press anti-RR jihadist ready to go! Sounds like vintage Mike Rosenberg/Drew Sharpe here.
Arizona fans; DON’T Believe this shlock. The guy who wrote this article is just repeating the meme that WVU started and the Detroit Free Press perpetuated. He clearly hasn’t done any INDEPENDENT investigations into RR, he’s just repeating the headlines he’s come across over the years while visiting ESPN.com. SUPPORT Rich Rod, disregard the rhetoric by sports writers who subscribe to the “wash, rinse, repeat” school of journalism, and you’ll be happy with this hire.
I’ll echo the comments of so many others here; read Three and Out. Michigan wasn’t a great fit, and RR made some mistakes, but the accusations made in this article are intellectually dishonest at best and pure fabrications at worst.
As a lifelong Michigan fan, graduate, and season ticket holder for 20 years, I am in the odd position of stepping up to defend RichRod even though I wanted him gone from Ann Arbor. Despite that, I hope and I believe Rodriguez will succeed at Arizona.
At Michigan, many wanted Rodriguez fired. There were many legitimate reasons. The biggest reason was the abysmal defensive performances of his teams. Rodriguez intitially hired a capable defensive coordinator from Western Michigan — Scott Schaefer. The defensive assitants he brought with him from West Virginia (who were clearly incompentent) ended up clashing with Schaefer. Rather than hand the reigns to Schaefer, the assistants and Rdriguez dictated the defense.
It didn’t help that RR’s offense makes the job of a defense harder than it should be. There is no such thing as clock managment or time of possession with Rodriguez. It’s all about pace. Identical to Oregon. Without a strong defense, this is a killer against good teams who can possess the ball for long periods of time — which is what happened to Michigan against B1G opponents far more often than not.
Nor did Rodriguez understand how important physical play is the Big 10. He failed to recruit to the defense his first year, instead stocking up on short fast players on offense.
The biggest failure of Rodriguez on the field was his inability or unwillingness to adapt to the players who were on the team when he arrived: Ryan Mallet, Steven Threet, Adrian Arrington, etc. Had he been willing to adapt his style to fit the skills positions on the team that first year, he would likely have taken the team to a bowl game, and might still be the coach today at Michigan.
Off the field, Rodiguez is not a typical Michigan coach. He is not particularly sophisticated or worldly. He was, in many respects, the antitheses of Lloyd Carr off the field. Rodriguez too often didn’t say the “right” things about the Michigan tradition. He should have been more up to speed on his arrival. He shouldn’t have proclaimed Michigan had 3 rivals — we have one. This is a big deal at Michigan. I don’t blame this entirely on Rodriguez though, he could have used some instruction before being cast into the public eye.
Rodriguez is a simple, and sympathetic character (he never quoted authors, rather referred to the Lion King movie) He wears his heart on his sleeve (heck he played a Josh Groban song at his last football gathering at UM and told UM he wanted to be a Michigan Man). These are attributes that some will find endearing. At Michigan, with the microscope that our football team brings, it did not serve him well.
The Free Press allegations against Michigan (practicegate) were VASTLY over done. I believe Rodriguez genuinely thought he was following the rules. If you read the conclusions of the NCAA, you would understand his belief. It is an archaic, difficult to enforce rule that the NCAA had to deal with given the publicity. While Rodriguez was responsible as the head football coach, it is hardly a character or cheating issue as the author above would have you believe.
Despite these misgivings, I can emphatically say that Rodriguez treats his players well, he cares about them. They His players liked him. He has many loyal fans, still today, at Michigan, and you can see some of that in these comments.
Importantly to Arizona, most of the issues Rodriguez could not overcome at Michigan aren’t going to be a problem in Ariona. Rodriguez can have success at Arizona and I’m betting on it.
First, from where I sit, Rodriguez will be able to recruit southern california well to fit his offensive style: we often called them “ninja slot midgets”, but basically, super fast, waterbug type guys that can go the distance in open field. I think southern california will fit this style nicely, and provide ample recruiting ground. Second, Arizona’s expectations are relatively low. He’s not expected to win the PAC every other year — though he could after three years if he can the defense sorted out. Third, the competition in Arizona’s division works to his advantage. Utah, Colorado, UCLA, ASU are all the type of teams RR faced in the Big East — I expect Arizona to fare well against these opponents under Rodriguez. That leaves, SC, which is much more physical than the others, much more like a traditional OSU, Michigan type of team. Arizona will have problems with SC, but that’s true now. To my understanding, Arizona also has a genuine dual threat qb now who will fit his offense — if so, his “system” will fit now, and won’t require him to adapt to pro-style talent. This is probably the biggest reason to expect a good marriage. The short terms results will likely be better than at Michigan, while the expectations at the same time are far less.
Ultimately, if RR has learned some things during the last three years, if he hires a good defensive coordinator and lets him do his work without interference, if he would not be quite so ready to answer every dumb reporter’s question like it really mattered, Arizona and RR do well together, and there’s no reason that after a few years, ‘Zona can’t compete for the PAC division title regularly.
I wish him luck, as do so many here in Michigan.
As a Michigan fan I agree with all the aforementioned. RR is a great coach and didn’t get a fair shake at Michigan. WVU had their own in-house issues and waged a smear campaign once he decided to leave.
Give the guy 5 years…you’ll find yourselves better off than you are now.
The writers of this article are abusing their powers as members of the media…no wonder newspapers are dying.
Go Blue!
Jimmy, based on your editorial I’m sure the Detroit Free Press has a job waiting for you if you want it. Poorly researched journalism is a big part of what has painted RR as a cheater, bad guy, and unethical coach. Welcome to this esteemed club. If proclaiming your viewpoints to the masses based on flimsy evidence is your way, I’m sure you have a bright future ahead of you as a politician.
Rich Rodriguez is the perfect coach for Arizona. He’s a douchebag who is out for himself and wouldn’t hesitate to throw his team under the bus for a better position. He must have been Jim Click’s choice. I just hope they didn’t pay him $1 million like the previous idiots.
Wow….Jimmy Boegle, could you possibly know less? Aren’t you actually supposed to, you know, do some small amount of research before writing something…you know, like a journalist might? Do you have a good friend/coward working at the Free Press by any chance? Are you, in fact, yellow, or just your ‘writing’.
As a lifelong, loyal UM fan and alum, I was (still am) sorry that Rich Rodriguez was not given the time or tools to be successful in Ann Arbor.
Like others commenting above, I would urge Arizona fans to go beyond poorly written, biased and unfounded accusations like what Little Jimmy has posted here. Clearly he is trying to generate traffic for himself and really has no shame in doing so. Desperate times call for desperate measures when you are a hack reporter at a backwater paper.
Don’t make the same mistake that Michigan fans made and allow people with ulterior, self-serving motives to spoil a good thing before it has the chance to become something great.
I know a whole book might be too long for Little Jimmy Boegle to get through, but like others said, read ‘Three and Out’ and judge for yourselves.
You got a great coach and a great man, and one more fan in me as I will cheer him wherever he goes.
Jimmy: You know what’s “disgraceful”. Your inability to research a subject. Good thing you don’t actually run a serious newspaper
what bothers me is that he took the job without ever visiting the school! smells of desperation on both our ends. pun intended
Its all about the W’s, sir. Rich Rod is a great value hire for U of A and Greg Byrne. This hiring is a long investment into improving the football program for good. You obviously are not a true sports fan and I question your ability as a journalist as you did not give any facts, just opinion of how you perceive the hire. It is unfortunate you have the Soap Box to stand on to spew your BS. I usually agree with your Editor’s Notes but it wasn’t until this one that realized you just like pulling things out of your ass and throwing it out there. Your narrow-minded opinion will be proven wrong in the next few years and I look forward to the day you wipe the egg off your face and issue an apology to all the UA faithful.