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While at the same time he never even considered Mike Leach. Urban Meyer was a pie-in-the-sky candidate who Byrne was basically wasting time on.
lolz I can say something similar about my school, except in my case its our fans disapproving of something
While at the same time he never even considered Mike Leach. Urban Meyer was a pie-in-the-sky candidate who Byrne was basically wasting time on.
I think Byrne sabotaging Arizona while setting himself up for the ASU job is a real possibility. The fact that UA even hired an ASU undergrad as the athletic director in the first place is really stupid.
Then again it's not as dumb as ASU having a female athletic director
a woman having major decision making power in athletics
I also don't get why UA fans are high on Matt Scott. His resume as a starting QB is in horrible.
I never liked Byrne. He nearly lowballed Miller out of town earlier when he "prioritized" Stoops football with Arizona's TV contract money.
Just not sure 'bout him.
NYT says he did talk to Leach:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/sp...oach.html?_r=1
It said he spoke with Meyer and then listed other candidates. Didn't say anything about speaking with Leach.
Nobody is considering Leach as a serious candidate. Its stupid, but I think schools are afraid because of his current lawsuit against ESPN. He's not getting serious consideration anywhere and its crazy since he's easily the best candidate out there.
RichRod should win eventually have 8 wins per season in a couple of years since the Pac-12 isn't that great. Outside of USC and Oregon, the conference isn't that great. He was going to win 8-9 games this season at Michigan. I think eventually he will do the same at Arizona and then try to leave when a better job comes up.
Ole Miss should be on the phone right now with Leach offering whatever he wants, but I bet they're afraid of ESPN as well.
Nobody is gonna hire a guy who has a pending lawsuit against his former employer.
If Rich Rod gets Arizona to 8-9 wins and then leaves, it was a successful hire, but the chances of that happening are slim. Rich Rod leaving Arizona because he was good enough here to get an offer from a better school means he was a much better coach than Stoops and Mackovic were. It's not a hypothetical to worry about, if anything it's something to hope for because it means rod made huge progress here.
Rich Rod had tons of 4/5 star talent at his disposal at Michigan, and he got fired before ever getting them to 8 wins. Rebuilding a program like Arizona that can't recruit itself like Michigan can and is leaving Rich Rod with no talent on either side of the ball compared to Michigan which left Rich Rod with a good amount of talent (that he immediately ed up by forcing his spread offense on a team that wasn't fit for it) will be a much longer and methodical process than it woulda been at Michigan.
And whether or not they are the players Rich Rod recruited, the biggest difference for Michigan this year is moving away from the ball 3-3-5 defense Rich Rod was too stubborn to let go of after it repeatedly failed at Michigan. If Rich Rod was still there, they'd still be running that 3-3-5 defense, would still be giving up 50 points every week, and would still be losing 3 out of every 4 Big-10 games they played in. That same 3-3-5 defense will get steamrolled in the Pac by power running teams like Stanford or USC. The 3-3-5 might work when you're playing East Carolina and Syracuse every week, but it doesn't work in real conferences.
There's no reason to think there's a high probability rod does better at Arizona than he did at Michigan. He's coming to a less prestigious program in virtually all aspects while inheriting far less talent/incoming recruits than he inherited at Michigan. Maybe the Pac-12 South isn't the Big-10, but it's way better than the conferences rod has had success in.
Not that it means it's accurate, but several points from the book on Rich Rodriguez's tenure at Michigan en led Three & Out suggests there's much more to RichRod's failings than just RichRod.
a synopsis from a Michigan fan:
If you want to know the REAL TRUTH about what happened to the great Rich Rodriguez at Michigan, I highly reccomend reading John U. Bacon's new book, "Three and Out." If you don't have the time, here's a summary (I'll be as brief as possible without leaving important information out):
...It all starts with the coaching search. The first choice of Bill Martin (our former athletic director) and the search committee he assembled was Iowa's Kirk Ferentz. That's who Bo Schembechler said he wanted before he died, and as a result, that's who Lloyd Carr and the rest of the Michigan family wanted (Bo was a very, very powerful man here). So Ferentz was reached out to, he agreed to come, and the papers were ready to be signed. But Mary Sue Coleman (the school president) vetoed the hire. Before she came to Michigan, she was the president at Iowa, and she hated Kirk Ferentz because his players got into so much trouble there. This was the first curveball of the search process; and not including Mary Sue Coleman in the search comittee was the first of many mistakes made by Bill Martin.
...The second choice of Bill Martin and the search committee was L.S.U.'s Les Miles. Miles was reached out to, he agreed to come (after finishing his national championship season), and the papers were ready to be signed. But Lloyd Carr vetoed the hire (I guess he had enough influence to do so). Before he died, for reasons that are still debated (I can explain in detail, if requested), Bo Schembechler made Lloyd Carr promise him that Les Miles would never be the head coach at Michigan. This was the second curveball of the search process; and not including Lloyd Carr in the search committee was the second of many mistakes made by Bill Martin.
...The third choice of Bill Martin and the search committee was Rutgers' Greg Schiano. He was reached out to, he agreed to come, and the papers were ready to be signed. But once Greg Schiano learned that his assistants were actually going to have to take a PAY CUT to come to Michigan, he renegged. This was the third curveball of the search process; and not recognizing the value of assistant coaches was the third of many mistakes made by Bill Martin.
...Bill Martin and the search committee had no idea what to do at this point and couldn't agree on a fourth candidate (Jim Harbaugh was never considered as a real candidate, in either search, due to negative remarks he made about the schools academic policies for athletes). So, Lloyd Carr decided to handle things himself. He wanted to hire Mike DeBord (his offensive coordinator), Ron English (his defensive coordinator), or Brady Hoke (his former assistant head coach). But Bill Martin and the search committee agreed that none of these candidates were high-profile enough. So, Lloyd reached out to a high-profile candidate that Bo Schembechler admired - Rich Rodriguez. Lloyd sold the idea to Bill Martin and the search committee, and the papers were signed.
...Then the real trouble began. There were two major problems. I'll start with the simpler problem. Bill Martin (one of the greatest penny-pinchers in the history of college sports) wouldn't give Rich enough money to lure Jeff Kasteel, his long-time defensive coordinator, away from West Virginia. In fact, Bill Martin wouldn't give Rich enough money to lure any of the defensive coordinators he wanted. So, Rich was instead forced to hire a cheap defensive coordinator he didn't want (Scott Shafer), and then another the next season (Greg Robinson). The results clearly speak for themselves. In contrast, Dave Brandon (our new athletic director) gave Brady Hoke $1,000,000 a season to hire Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. Those results also clearly speak for themselves.
...Now the more complicated problem. Lloyd Carr (who became our assistant athletic director after he retired as head coach) wanted Rich to retain all of his assistants when he arrived (...to run the spread option!?!?). Rich interviewed all of Lloyd's assistants and decided to retain only one. This INFURIATED Lloyd and the Michigan football family. Lloyd and his friends wanted Rich out before he ever coached a single game. They wanted a "real Michigan man" to be their head coach. So, they went into full-on sabotage mode (I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, it's very, very true).
...Immediately, funding from alumni clubs dropped drastically. NFL alumni started saying their high schools and "Lloyd Carr's Michigan" in their player introductions. Former players across the board publicly ripped Rich in the media. High school coaches that Lloyd and his friends knew started encouraging their players not to go to Michigan. Former players that were in some way connected to recruits started telling them not to go to Michigan. And worst of all, Lloyd's people in the athletic department repeatedly leaked false information to the press...leading to a two year - recruiting class killing - NCAA investigation (which ultimately concluded that Rich wasn't counting 15 minutes of pre-practice stretch time towards the total number of practice hours). Eventually, Lloyd and his friends got their wish. Rich was fired. Brady Hoke was hired.
...Rich Rodriguez had EVERYTHING going against him here. He was completely sabotaged by those he was working for. And he still managed to put together one of the most prolific offenses in the country. Now that his players have an actual defensive coordinator, they're projected to play in a BCS bowl game.
LINK: http://michiganradio.org/post/john-u...try-tell-truth
Additionally, the price is equivalent to what they were paying Stoops.
Annual University Funded Compensation (Athletic Dept. self-generated)
-Year 1: $1.45 million
-Year 2: $1.5 million
-Year 3: $1.6 million
-Year 4: $1.7 million
-Year 5: $1.8 million
Each year includes an additional $300,000 salary paid by Nike/IMG
Word is Byrne has said they're going to do their best to bring in top assistants, like Casteel. Wilcox is out, now, but I've heard Lupoi is still an option should Casteel turn it down. Have to see.
the story of how he didn't get a fair shake at Michigan is irrelevant, imo.
Him singing "You Raise Me Up" would be the deal breaker for me.
Just presenting what an author considered to be facts that found many influential en ies behind the scenes at Michigan were openly sabotaging Rodriguez so their guy, or, at the very least, a Michigan guy, could be hired.
Rodriguez still made some silly and stupid mistakes, for sure. He doesn't get a free pass from me. But I don't expect him to exit Arizona with a losing record. My issues with the hire extend beyond Rodriguez and into who comprises his staff, specifically on defense, and who he is as a person, salesman of the brand, and how long before Arizona is looking for a new coach because he's not the loyal 12-15-year guy he's claiming to be in his presser today. Maybe he intended to be at Michigan, but I don't expect him to turn down jobs to stay at Arizona.
If RichRod hires a good defensive coordinator and only focuses on offense, he will win 8-9 games a year starting in year 2.
And regardless of how low rod's budget for a defensive coordinator was, hiring a defensive coordinator in Greg Robinson who's never coached a 3-3-5 defense in his career and making him use a 3-3-5 defense week after week of it giving up 50+ points is an example of an overbearing coach who doesn't know what parts of the team he should leave alone.
That was interesting. I didn't know about a lot of that stuff. I knew that Lloyd Carr had a big part in the coaching search and hire. I knew he didn't want Les Miles. I knew Schiano turned down the job, but I didn't know why. I didn't know Ferentz was offered the job, let alone agree to it. I knew his name was out there, but that's certainly news to me.
That sheds a lot of light on things. I didn't know the reasons for the reports that Carr had disdain for Rodriguez other than him not doing it the "Michigan" way. Changing the uniforms and bringing the spread. Stuff like that. I didn't know it had to do with Rodriguez not retaining most of Carr's assistant coaches. And the news about the defensive coordinator position really makes things a lot clearer now.
For all the drama with the West Virginia violations and then the subsequent violations regarding coaches surpassing the hours they could work with players in the summer, there is no question that Rodriguez had an innovative and effective system for offense once he got the right players and had time to implement it. His spread might not guarantee national championships, but it did prove to be very potent against most teams.
It always came down to the defense. They were bad. They were beyond bad the last couple seasons. And they seemed to get worse season to season. Greg Robinson and that crazy 3-3-5 scheme was a disaster. just didn't make sense. Still doesn't. And now with Greg Mattison as the defensive coordinator this season with largely the same players and seeing how much better the defense has been, that's a huge factor if the stories about Martin penny pinching on the defensive coordinator for Rich Rod.
I agree above with Hornets that if Arizona allows him to bring in not just a decent but very competent defensive coordinator, he should have some success there. Rich Rod's offense should be fine. It works. It's proven. And a lot of players like playing in it. All about the defense. Oh and he better recruit a kicker and punter. His failure to do so at Michigan also cost him in a lot of Big Ten games.
I'm leery of the hire, and have stated why. DoK and I are in agreement as to needing to fire Stoops, and we both agree that this is a questionable solution. It's high risk, for sure, but it does have a potential for higher reward. I know DoK doesn't think so. Have to see.
I'm hearing his buyout is either half his next-year's salary, or, half of the remainder of his contract. The latter would be nice, though if a place like Florida came calling, they'd be paying enough to swallow that since he's had so cheap.
Good luck to rod bringing in an elite defensive coordinator when he has a reputation of forcing coordinators to use a 3-3-5 defense
and if I had known rod was the alternative, I woulda said keep Stoops. At least Stoops tried to make UA a good defensive team.
Tried and failed. Stoops needed to go. I know that things were getting toxic. I'm not sure Rodriguez fixes that, but Stoops no longer offered the promise of potential, and no longer really offered even potential. He'd peaked at 8 wins and spiraled from there. I was excited initially with Stoops, but he never could put it together and eventually the finger-pointing and demeanor turned off many early supporters.
Everything I'm hearing from Rodriguez he sounds like a guy who's learned his lesson. We'll see. Not optimistic, but I'm not nailing him in his coffin already, either. Several I talk to say the community has been energized with the hire. Controversy aside, he's a significant name with some clout, having been wooed by both Alabama and Michigan.
I know he failed to live up to billing in Michigan. I know. It bothers me. But even if he's not Michigan good, he consistently defeated teams like Virginia Tech, Georgia, etc. He's more proven than Stoops at his best, even in failure.
Kinda like Rich Rodriguez when he doesn't get to play Syracuse and East Carolina every week.
It's a real concern. Good news is Arizona is still in the Pac-12 South.
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