Punching Dolphins, eh?

It was nice to see Michigan students step up with visual signs of support for the Wolverine football coach both on campus and at the game. The Michigan student section and crowd also chanted "Rich Rod-Ri-Guez!" several times during the Western Michigan game on Saturday.

Nothing to See Here! Please Move Along! Please?!

Rosenberg and Snyder of Police Squad: "Move Along! Nothing to See Here! Please!"

As predicted, deductive reasoning falls on the heads of mainstream sports media reporters like a ton of bricks. They stop feeding at the trough of dumbass just long enough to look up and say: "Hey, that hurt!. Where did it come from?", plus some other not so difficult questions.

If Rich Rodriguez is an evil, megalo-maniacal coach who exploits his football players at every opportunity, lies like a son of a bitch on national television, and flagrantly breaks NCAA guidelines while cackling like a possessed woman from the Evil Dead series, then might it not be possible that Mr. Rodriguez, who is purportedly also a vampire, also performed similar satanic rites and baby killing down at West Virginia between 2001 and 2007?

Let's find out, shall we?

What does Mr. Fragale, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at WVU have to say?

"Based upon our looking back over the weekend, we don't feel we have any concerns," WVU's Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Michael Fragale said Monday. "We have checked it out and there has been nothing flagged and nothing out of the ordinary.

"There were no student-athlete complaints during the time (Rodriguez) was here."

Hmmm....and Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance at WVU, Mr. Patrick Hairston?

"I worked with the previous compliance people and the (current) staff and I went through all the records," said Hairston, who was hired Aug. 5. "Nothing has been identified as a problem from the time (Rodriguez) was here."

"I worked with the previous compliance people and the (current) staff and I went through all the records," said Hairston, who was hired Aug. 5. "Nothing has been identified as a problem from the time (Rodriguez) was here."

WVU, like virtually every other school, conducts rules education classes and there is always a section devoted to what is called "defining countable athletically related activities."

Coaches prepare and players sign a "weekly athletically related activities log" that is submitted to the compliance office.

"It's closely monitored," Hairston said. "Any student-athlete that has issues with it are encouraged to come to us and from what I'm hearing about what was done in the past, there were no complaints from any student-athlete or any coach and nothing was brought to their attention about something that might have been a problem."

So yeah it turns out Rodriguez didn't break any NCAA practice rules while head coach at West Virginia between 2001-2007.

Well for Christ's sake don't tell those two professors over at the Detroit Free Press any of this, Mr. Michael Rosenberg and Mr. Mark Snyder, because this information royally fucks up their game about all of their interviews corroborating with each other.

They want us to stay latched on to the notion that Rich Rodriguez first unhatched his evil plot to destroy the free-time and personal lives of Michigan football players only when he first arrived at Schembechler Hall in December 2007 and not before.

OK.

"Nothing to see here Freep readers! Move along. We'll tell you when there's more information available to support our previous allegations. Move along please!"

Where There's Smoke

An interesting question for Detroit Free Press columnists Michael Rosenberg and Mark Snyder would be whether they bothered to research a little deeper into Rich Rodriguez's past seven years as head coach at West Virginia (2001-2007) to discover whether there had existed a similar pattern of such wanton NCAA rule breakage in Morgantown.

This is a reasonable question to consider since Rodriguez brought virtually his entire coaching staff from WVU with him to Ann Arbor (sans defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and special teams coach Bill Stewart). Furthermore, Rodriguez has been cited multiple times for referring to his "system", his "way of doing things", his "strength and conditioning staff" and what they have typically experienced in transition years.

Yet for some reason, we are led to believe that the investigative leads of wrong doing for Rosenberg and Snyder stopped at the city limits of Ann Arbor and/or rested solely with current and former Michigan players alone.

Why not make a few extra phone calls to former West Virginia players? Some of them may have had an "axe to grind" with Rodriguez too. Some may have absolutely loved the man. But who knows what juicy, malicious, NCAA rule-shattering took place down in Morgantown during Rodriguez first stint at a head coaching position? Afterall, he was taking over for a legend their too in former Michigan assistant and WVU head coach Don Nehlen.

Why stop at the Lloyd Carr transition alone?

Why not try some deductive reasoning on for size?

1. Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez blatantly violates NCAA practice rules.

2. Rich Rodriguez was a head coach at West Virginia for 7 years (2001-2007).

3. West Virginia blatantly violated NCAA practice rules.

Oh man! Is it really that easy?

If there's more smelly tidbits to be discovered here, Rosenberg and Snyder decide to leave such rocks in West Virginia completely unturned.

Here's what Bob Hertzel of the Times West Virginian had to say about the Freep article:

During his seven years at West Virginia, no such charges were publically leveled at Rodriguez or his strength staff, although few doubted that Rodriguez’s burning desire to succeed could open some doors that would be best left closed.

Then Hertzel mentions this from an unnamed former West Virginia football player under Rodriguez back in the early days (2001-2002?):

The WVU player, contacted Sunday, wrote in a message sent via Facebook:

“I can honestly tell you — it was ONLY in Coach Rod's first fall as WVU's head coach (Sept '01 - Nov '01) that I felt we were at the stadium far more than the NCAA allowed. Coach Rod made the team report to the football office on Sundays during the season only and attendance was checked.

“We had to change into our workout gear, stretch/warm-up, and the strength staff would conduct light lifting sessions and put the team through moderate conditioning on the football field. This, of course, was after 1-2 hours of treatment for injured players (if needed). When you add all of the hours, it made for a less than desirable Sunday. I can remember missing all of 1:00 NFL games which didn't end until 3:30-3:45.”

The player said other than that first year, there were no violations in this area.

“The rest of my days at WVU were business as usual — and acceptable to all of the players. Of course, Sunday sessions at the football office were no longer implemented, in part, because of the obvious displeasure among players the year before and we were winning on Saturdays.”

It seems to me that many current and former college football players simply do not understand the rules themselves. The former West Virginia player in this facebook entry is unfortunately making zero distinction between what is voluntary and involuntary in terms of his time practicing and working out for football. Also, player taping (ankles, feet, legs, etc.) and medical treatments are not countable periods of time that would lead to an NCAA infraction. Actually, the football coaches like Rodriguez and his entire football staff are supposed to be first line of defense in the enforcement of practice rules. Compared to Lloyd Carr and Don Nehlen, Rodriguez had an absolutely massive staff of personnel. He was not for want of resources. Secondarily, universities like WVU and UM also have their own independent compliance departments and officers who run periodic checks on football practices and workout sessions and review documentation of player participation, etc. to ensure full NCAA rule compliance and cite any inconsistencies for self-reporting of violations.

One thing is clear. Rosenberg and Snyder decided to omit WVU from consideration in their allegations against Rich Rodriguez and staff.

Where's The Fire?
I live in Southern California. Sure, when you see flames and smoke on the hillsides 15 miles away, you're a little scared. You're not scared so much about those same flames 15 miles away hurting you. So WHAT are you worried about? I'll tell you. You're worried about the hot embers traveling via the renowned Santa Ana winds several miles in the dry air and possibly landing on your home roof or on some dry thicket near your house and starting a brand new uncontrollable fire.

If there's smoke in Ann Arbor, the Laurel mountains around Morgantown should be burnt to a crisp by now. Former Mountaineer players and staf under Rich Rodriguez should be foaming at the mouth to substantiate or refute both Rosenberg and Snyder.
Then again, maybe not.

Chad Henne on the 20 Hours

Dave Birkett of AnnArbor.com does a superb job here going to former Michigan quarterback Chad Henne for his view on the Freep article and allegations of former WR Toney Clemons. Chad Henne never played for Rodriguez. However, he was a four year starter at quarterback for Bo Schembechler-disciple and former Michigan HC Lloyd Carr:

Here's Henne's views:

“Twenty hours is a very, very small portion of what you do, especially if you’re a quarterback at a high-profile school,” Henne, now with the Miami Dolphins, said in a phone interview Sunday. “Twenty hours isn’t enough for you. You have to be in there by yourself, studying film, no coaches around, and doing it on your own. That’s where the leadership comes in and that’s where, if you want to get better and play better, you have to do it on your own.”

And his views on those hurling the accusations:

“I really think whoever’s saying it really doesn’t want to be there,” Henne said. “If they’re saying that then they’re not really worried about the team, they’re not worried about what they’re going to do during their season and they’re kind of just giving themselves up. That’s just negative talk right there. So whoever it is just really doesn’t care about the team, I would say."

Wow. Right now I'm stroking my Michigan Mustache and thinking to myself in a fake Russian accent "bearry interestink!"

Speaking of stink, maybe I'll go back and read Mr. Rosenberg's article one more time.

J'accuse

Detroit Free Press columnists Michael Rosenberg and Mark Snyder have today accused Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff of violating NCAA rules by:

a.) monitoring player attendance to voluntary workouts,

b.) purportedly "requiring" Michigan football players to participate in 100% voluntary activities (workouts, practices, exercises, and preparation drills)

c.) issuing punishment to Michigan football players for not participating in voluntary activities (workouts, practices, exercises, and preparation drills).

I'm not sure I agree with their police work here. Gannett's stock basically tanked right about the time of the Michigan spring game. You remember, when there was a lot of good news coming everyone's way about the early enrollees, offseason conditioning, etc. Well, the Gannett stock is finally making somewhat of a comeback in late August. Leaning on trusty, sensationalist stories by Rosenberg and Snyder can only help the Freep and its ownership in the backdrop of declining sales and subscription renewals.

Look if there's something wrong in Schembechler Hall, then the NCAA search dogs will be sure to find it eventually. And if they do uncover that Rodriguez and staff have been breaking the rules at Michigan, I will be very surprised. Here's why:

No Big Ten football coach that I know of has so frequently and so publicly cited NCAA rules regarding football player recruiting, guidelines for involuntary offseason workouts of football players, and NCAA guidelines regarding early enrollees, and all of the UM athletic department's frequent compliance monitoring processes, as Rich Rodriguez. Bo Schembechler rarely if ever talked about such things. Neither did Moeller. Lloyd Carr personally installed a "Cone of Silence" around the football program back in 1995. Rodriguez changed all of that and opened the Michigan football kimono so much, it's been lying on the floor collecting dust for over 18 months.

What Rosenberg and Snyder fail to address is how Rodriguez has been pretty forthright about the whole "you gotta love football" agreement with his players, and that Rodriguez has repeatedly stated that playing time too is voluntary. After reading their accusatory release, I was asking myself whether it is possible for Rosenberg and Snyder to be a little more vague about who the "quality control staff" of Rodriguez actually are or were? And what kinds of questions were actually posed of the freshman players to elicit the responses they printed?

I would be very surprised if a coach like this one who has been coaching NCAA Division 1 football since 1999 and who is so overly open, and who talks to the press about virtually everything and anything under the freaking sun, is eventually found guilty by the NCAA of something so well understood by the coaches and his staff, and so well-monitored and documented by the university athletic department staff.

As for the timing of Mr. Rosenberg's and Mr. Snyder's column, it couldn't have been better planned. Both writers are doing a fantastic job of attempting to undermine Rodriguez at every opportunity. They will continue to drive wedges of doubt into the hearts of Michigan football fans going forward, regardless of how the season plays out. It will be very interesting to see how the Michigan coaches and players respond to these accusations in the upcoming week of practice and in the opening game versus Western Michigan next Saturday.

As for Rodriguez himself, I'm hoping that he will respond appropriately to these accusations. By this I mean he should respond with both clarity and brevity. Whether or not Rosenberg and Snyder are on target or have completely missed the mark with their story, I'm confident the truth will come out. If true, there will be and should be consequences for Michigan.

The much bigger issues at hand in my view, aside from the allegations themselves, is that kickoff lies but 6 days way, and Rich Rodriguez simply cannot seem to put the turbulent past behind him. Michigan football fans are not used to the river of negativity about the coach and the program

Also, it's abundantly clear that no matter how hard certain coaches and players try to cover it up, not all of the 2009 Wolverine football players are "All in for this Michigan".

The best thing and the only thing the Michigan coaches and team can do right now is focus on game preparation. Winning football games will silence most of the hell-bent critics eventually.