NCAA Football '11-'12

[OttoVonBismarck]

I'm not really in a position to comment on how well they teach fundamentals, but from watching WVU games when RR was there, it was pretty obvious that while they had a good offensive scheme, actual game-day playcalling wasn't a strength for him and his staff.

Rodriguez called "good plays" in that they were schematically sound, but he has no understanding of context. So in practice this meant he would call "generically good plays" at times when they weren't appropriate, and he would fail to adjust the plays he was calling to the situation on the field.

That gets at the reality that in football there is no such thing as a "generically good play", the right play is 100% defined by the situation at that moment and nothing else, and Rodriguez doesn't operate that way. I think he made his name as an OC because his scheme was strong, but I think his best potential as a Head Coach will be in a system where he installs his offense and then hires a true quality OC to actually do the play calling for him. His OC at both Michigan and WVU was a lackey who had no real control over the playcalling, at least that I've ever seen. In fact that same OC did a better job in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl than Rodriguez would have done, because he was actually making all the play calling decisions himself (he was I believe the only member of Rodriguez's staff that accepted a position at Michigan but stayed at WVU to coach the Fiesta Bowl.

I have no intention of reading the book anytime soon, but I'm surprised in grumbler's summary you can say Bill Martin comes off looking the worst of anyone, I suspect personal bias. A hired gun type AD has pretty low expectations in any case. A guy like Lloyd Carr who has received so much in terms of money, prestige, respect, and etc from a university, to intentionally harm the university and let his own petty dislikes interfere with a coaching search and then to actively undermine the new guy to the detriment of the school comes off way worse than anything else in g's summary.

Since I highly doubt anyone at WVU was willing to make statements I'm going to assume the book's depictions of the end of Rodriguez's time there is pretty one sided. I don't really know how WVU could come off looking bad, they had given their coach raises every year in response to him threatening to leave, they finally basically drew the line when he wanted various things that they didn't have the money to do and some things they weren't allowed to do (like let players sell their free text books for cash.) The way I saw it Rodriguez wanted to be the AD and WVU said no, so Rodriguez left. I don't really see how anyone really looks awful there, both parties obviously had a different desired employment situation in regards to the head coach.

[grumbler]

I have no intention of reading the book anytime soon, but I'm surprised in grumbler's summary you can say Bill Martin comes off looking the worst of anyone, I suspect personal bias. A hired gun type AD has pretty low expectations in any case. A guy like Lloyd Carr who has received so much in terms of money, prestige, respect, and etc from a university, to intentionally harm the university and let his own petty dislikes interfere with a coaching search and then to actively undermine the new guy to the detriment of the school comes off way worse than anything else in g's summary.

Mine was not so much a summary but a list of things I thought Berkut would find interesting.  Martin undermined Rodriguez more than Carr did when he refused for almost a year to back Rodriguez's contention that Michigan had always been planing to pay $2.5 milion of the $4 million buyout from WVU.  He didn't do things as deliberately as Carr (and Carr's interference was mostly passive), but he bungled things so badly that Rodriguez was left several times holding the bag for Martin's fuckups.

Not that Rodriguez helped by making decisions without any understanding of their impact on Michigan traditions (like promising a recruit he could wear the #1 jersey, when in fact that was a number that had had to be earned, and in fact was rarely awarded, for some 25 years).   Rodriguez thought he understood the culture at Michigan when he didn't really have a clue, and Martin did nothing to help him understand (in part because Martin didn't know much about it himself).

Since I highly doubt anyone at WVU was willing to make statements I'm going to assume the book's depictions of the end of Rodriguez's time there is pretty one sided. I don't really know how WVU could come off looking bad, they had given their coach raises every year in response to him threatening to leave, they finally basically drew the line when he wanted various things that they didn't have the money to do and some things they weren't allowed to do (like let players sell their free text books for cash.) The way I saw it Rodriguez wanted to be the AD and WVU said no, so Rodriguez left. I don't really see how anyone really looks awful there, both parties obviously had a different desired employment situation in regards to the head coach.

Many people at and around WVU (though not athletic department staff, but including Don Nehlen) were willing to talk about what happened, though the then-President and then-AD didn't.  Rodriguez wanted better facilities and, most importantly, better pay for his assistants.  He was willing to fund-raise, and did so, but the AD then took all of those funds to pay other department expenses, and left RR and the boosters with nothing.  The book says nothing about Rodriguez wanting to be AD; just about the struggles he had with then-president Michael Garrison to get better facilities and pay for his staff.  Nehlen says he advised Rodriguez to leave for Ann Arbor, because staying would just lead to more frustration in a no-win situation.  No one knew, of course, that Garrison would be ridden out of town on a rail eight months later.

The book is, as I said, written from a view qute sympathetic to Rodriguez as would be expected from the circumstances in which it was written.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Craig James will no longer be shitting up the TV screen during football games (at least not for now). 

http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/story/_/id/7369298/former-espn-football-analyst-craig-james-runs-senate

"Craig has decided to run for the U.S. Senate," a spokesman said. "He will no longer work for ESPN."

[jimmy olsen]

Craig James will no longer be shitting up the TV screen during football games (at least not for now). 

http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/story/_/id/7369298/former-espn-football-analyst-craig-james-runs-senate

"Craig has decided to run for the U.S. Senate," a spokesman said. "He will no longer work for ESPN."

By the way MBM, where's that Craig James killed 5 hookers while at SMU meme come from?

[MadBurgerMaker]

By the way MBM, where's that Craig James killed 5 hookers while at SMU meme come from?

I've seen it on ShaggyBevo, EDSBS, and a couple of times more recently in SAS.  I don't know where it started or what really caused it to get going (aside from Craig James being a huge douche), but seeing it pop up in google searches fo "Craig James" is just fantastic.

[CountDeMoney]

I don't want to talk about anything.

It was a spirited effort, my friend.  Spirited.

[CountDeMoney]

Also why the crap directed at Iowa State?  Paul Rhoads and his staff are doing a great job.

Iowa State suffers from the same malady as Michigan State: a lack of legitimacy.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Mine was not so much a summary but a list of things I thought Berkut would find interesting.  Martin undermined Rodriguez more than Carr did when he refused for almost a year to back Rodriguez's contention that Michigan had always been planing to pay $2.5 milion of the $4 million buyout from WVU.  He didn't do things as deliberately as Carr (and Carr's interference was mostly passive), but he bungled things so badly that Rodriguez was left several times holding the bag for Martin's fuckups.

I don't necessarily doubt that in a void Martin's actions may have been worse. As a fan without a team (well, I support Army but that's a sad endeavor), I think if I had a favorite college team that I followed religiously I'd be a lot more upset at a former coach who retired after a long career with the school doing things to undermine the next guy than I would some gunslinger AD doing bad things. I mean Carr was a Bo Schembechler guy, I'd have expected him to have the same high standards of personal behavior that Bo did. Heck, even as a non-Michigan fan I always respected Carr, and if it's true he was making things hard on his replacement that really shows that he is lacking in the sort of class you'd expect him to have.

Many people at and around WVU (though not athletic department staff, but including Don Nehlen) were willing to talk about what happened, though the then-President and then-AD didn't.  Rodriguez wanted better facilities and, most importantly, better pay for his assistants.  He was willing to fund-raise, and did so, but the AD then took all of those funds to pay other department expenses, and left RR and the boosters with nothing.  The book says nothing about Rodriguez wanting to be AD; just about the struggles he had with then-president Michael Garrison to get better facilities and pay for his staff.  Nehlen says he advised Rodriguez to leave for Ann Arbor, because staying would just lead to more frustration in a no-win situation.  No one knew, of course, that Garrison would be ridden out of town on a rail eight months later.

I've always heard the facilities argument, but during all of this WVU Basketball Coach Bob Huggins was able to get facilities improvements, I believe every single season where Rodriguez was HC there was a facilities improvement being done. I don't buy that WVU is unwilling to upgrade facilities. Rodriguez was a player/GA at WVU, was from West Virginia and etc, he wasn't a big city coach who didn't know the situation when he signed on at WVU--from the eyes of an outside observer WVU was continually spending the money that it could to upgrade its facilities. Without being involved in the negotiations, it always seemed like to me Rodriguez felt that if he threatened to leave his job every single season he was somehow always going to be able to get more money for himself, his assistants, and facilities. That's sort of where I feel he was trying to be AD, he basically felt that he should be in charge of how much money the Athletic Department was going to spend and making all of the facilities decisions as well as policies governing student athletes. I find it interesting the perk Rodriguez wanted for athletes in which they could sell their free textbooks for cash wasn't mentioned in the book, it was a big part of the public story at the time as part of the disagreement he had with the AD.

If Rodriguez wanted unlimited facilities budgets I think he was right to be moving to Michigan, but it's kind of ridiculous to fault a school like WVU for being unable to spend more money than it has on facilities, but FWIW I do know they had made continuous facilities ugprades every season Rodriguez was at WVU (in fact they continue to make upgrades.) Back when it all went down my understanding was that the AD had literally gone through a herculean effort to keep Rodriguez from going to Alabama, and had basically prostrated himself before various boosters to get all of the facilities upgrades Rodriguez wanted that year, in addition to boosting his personal pay to over $2m/year. To me it's hard to fault the school for balking when Rodriguez was essentially back less than 12 months later demanding the same thing. If it's true they had done fund raising throughout the year that was supposed to be for football and then the AD redirected the money elsewhere, that's not good practice. But if the fund raising was just for the athletic department then it would be the AD's decision where to spend it...I know football is the money sport but you have to spend some money even on the money losing sports.

[grumbler]

I've always heard the facilities argument, but during all of this WVU Basketball Coach Bob Huggins was able to get facilities improvements, I believe every single season where Rodriguez was HC there was a facilities improvement being done. I don't buy that WVU is unwilling to upgrade facilities. Rodriguez was a player/GA at WVU, was from West Virginia and etc, he wasn't a big city coach who didn't know the situation when he signed on at WVU--from the eyes of an outside observer WVU was continually spending the money that it could to upgrade its facilities.

According to the book, Rodriguez didn't want a facilities improvement, he wanted specific facilities and staff improvements.  He wanted an academic center and an academic support staff.  He wanted the locker rooms upgraded.  Every school makes facilities improvements every year.  That isn't the issue, according to the book.

He also wanted other non-facilities items like free tickets for high school coaches, a university plane to transport caches for recruiting, control over access to the sidelines during games, and better compensation for his assistants.  He didn't ask for more money for himself.  Oh, and the textbooks thing (which other BE schools did, and WVU could have easily done as well).

Without being involved in the negotiations, it always seemed like to me Rodriguez felt that if he threatened to leave his job every single season he was somehow always going to be able to get more money for himself, his assistants, and facilities.

The book doesn't cover any threats to leave.  It mentions that he turned down a 50% better salary offer from Alabama.  Where does the information that he "threatened to leave his job every single season" come from?

That's sort of where I feel he was trying to be AD, he basically felt that he should be in charge of how much money the Athletic Department was going to spend and making all of the facilities decisions as well as policies governing student athletes. 

So he wasn't trying to become AD, you just "feel he was trying to be AD?"  I don't think the entire thrust of argument sounds very credible.

I find it interesting the perk Rodriguez wanted for athletes in which they could sell their free textbooks for cash wasn't mentioned in the book, it was a big part of the public story at the time as part of the disagreement he had with the AD.

The book mentions it, as a recruiting issue (other schools gave textbooks to the student athletes and so allowed them to sell them after the season - RR and his staff noted that this was a recruiting advantage that could be cheaply overcome).  I didn't bring it up because I thought it arcane and trivial, not having followed RR's travails at all at the time.

If Rodriguez wanted unlimited facilities budgets I think he was right to be moving to Michigan, but it's kind of ridiculous to fault a school like WVU for being unable to spend more money than it has on facilities, but FWIW I do know they had made continuous facilities ugprades every season Rodriguez was at WVU (in fact they continue to make upgrades.) Back when it all went down my understanding was that the AD had literally gone through a herculean effort to keep Rodriguez from going to Alabama, and had basically prostrated himself before various boosters to get all of the facilities upgrades Rodriguez wanted that year, in addition to boosting his personal pay to over $2m/year. To me it's hard to fault the school for balking when Rodriguez was essentially back less than 12 months later demanding the same thing. If it's true they had done fund raising throughout the year that was supposed to be for football and then the AD redirected the money elsewhere, that's not good practice. But if the fund raising was just for the athletic department then it would be the AD's decision where to spend it...I know football is the money sport but you have to spend some money even on the money losing sports.

RR didn't make $2 million a year, according to the book (and the web).  After he turned down Alabama, he got a new contract with the same salary (at least $1.3 million but less than $1.7 million - the book isn't clear), some additional pay for his assistants (not enough, but with the promise of more), and the buyout clause.  Nor does the book mention any herculean effort by the AD (one of the complaints of the boosters is that Pastilong worked fewer hours per week than any of the coaches worked per day).  Nor does the book mention any attempt by Rodriguez to get a pay raise in 2007.  That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but it would be a surprising omission, since the book talks about everything else (including the wish list I mention above, which was given to Garrison and didn't include a raise for RR himself).

The fundraising to date had been specifically for an airplane to carry coaches on recruiting trips.  This was the 1100 Club http://mountaineerathleticclub.com/page.cfm?storyid=88 whose proceeds were diverted by the AD.

[MadImmortalMan]

Huh. Well every day you learn something. Today I learned that Lloyd Carr is a dick.

[grumbler]

OSU gets hammered by NCAA, to everyone's surprise:
http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/stories/2011/12/20/ncaa-report.html

The NCAA today stunned Ohio State University's football program by banning it from postseason play after the 2012 season, multiple sources told The Dispatch.

The penalty means Ohio State automatically is out of the running for any bowl, or a Big Ten or national championship next year, just as newly appointed head coach Urban Meyer is wooing recruits to the Buckeyes.

Athletic Director Gene Smith said previously that while Ohio State has been declared a repeat violator that failed to properly monitor its football program, a bowl ban would be out of line with penalties handed to universities with similar violations.

In its ruling to be made public this afternoon, the NCAA Committee of Infractions will levy the bowl ban and two other penalties on top of the ones the university already imposed on itself, the sources said. The NCAA will:

* Strip four more football scholarships over the next three years on top of Ohio State's prior forfeiture of five scholarships over that span.

* Add an additional year of probation to OSU's self-imposed two-year probation for the football program, meaning any violations through the 2013 season could draw harsher-than-normal penalties.

The NCAA also will hand a show-cause penalty to former head coach Jim Tressel for failing to report that some team members improperly sold memorabilia and for allowing ineligible players to compete throughout the 2010 season.

So much for Meyer's assurance to recruits that there would be no additional sanctions.

[Valmy]

USC would have raised holy hell if they hadn't.

[grumbler]

Huh. Well every day you learn something. Today I learned that Lloyd Carr is a dick.

Well, he can be a dick, but we knew that already.  He's no Bo.  He's not even a Gary Moeller.  But he did care about the kids, graduate them, and keep them in line, all while winning a national championship, so I can't say he was a bad coach.

[grumbler]

USC would have raised holy hell if they hadn't.

They should have raised holy hell about the fact that the NCAA pretty much ignored what was really going on at Ohio, and agreed to pretend, along with the OSU administration, that tatoogate was all there was.  The paying of star players with free use of expensive cars, jobs without work, and the like was ignored for Ohio but not USC.

However, this hit makes it pretty clear that the NCAA wouldn't formally investigate the payoffs, but maybe would take them into account.

It'll be interesting to see if any recruits back out now.

[Barrister]

Huh. Well every day you learn something. Today I learned that Lloyd Carr is a dick.

Well he's a Michigan man, so I just assumed it.