Real Kato Blog: Rich Rodriguez Named Michigan's New Head Coach

It's official, folks. Rich-Rod is coming to Michigan. Read about it on MGoBlue.com.

I think a lot of people owe Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman an apology. There were a lot of vitriolic forum posts calling them incompetent and worse. When I would post a comment urging calm, and trying to give Bill and Mary credit for doing things we didn't know about, people said I was living in fantasy-land. Well, I hate to say "I told you so", but... well, screw that, I am THRILLED to say "I told you so".

Now, Rodriguez is often credited with being the inventor of the spread offense. How will that play with Michigan's traditionally massive offensive linemen and lead-footed quarterbacks? I don't think it's unrealistic to expect a period of adjustment. But you know, Mallett played out of the shotgun for most of his high school career, and it's likely he'd be very comfortable playing the spread. And Michigan has a stable of talented receivers who will cause all kinds of matchup problems for opposing defenses. So I think Michigan will adapt pretty quickly.

Also, word on the street is that #1 high school prospect Terrell Pryor is now seriously considering coming to Michigan. Pryor is a mobile quarterback, in the mold of Vince Young and Troy Smith. Hmm.

Is the Bo Schembechler era officially dead? Are we done with grind-it-out ball possession offense, and three yards and a cloud of dust? I think it's safe to say, yes. Michigan football is dead; long live Michigan football.

Permalink 4 Comment

Posted by Ken in: sports

Comments

Comment #1 from olafandyjon (Guest)
2007 Dec 17 - 9:31 am : #

I am so psyched right now that I can't believe it. It's actually only now that I realized how dim my fire for Michigan football had become, because it's flared up quite a bit with this hire. We can now become the type of team that we could never beat before. Lloyd and his staff couldn't stop a spread offense if they had been given the playbook, but now one of its architects is coming here. And moreover, word is that he is bringing his OC and strength and conditioning coach. The S&C is huge because no less a player than former Wolverine Ryan Mundy, who transferred to WV, has compared WV's S&C program to Michigan's and declared WV's much better and much tougher.

I almost don't care about the Capital One Bowl right now. I want to see the Rodriguez stamp on the team now!

Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2007 Dec 17 - 10:44 am : #

I agree about the S&C. Michigan has had the same S&C program for 29 years, under Mike Gittleson. He runs a program called High Intensity Training, and the focus is on adding bulk... but notably, not speed. There aren't many big-time college programs that use HIT any more.

I'll also be terribly excited if we bring in a dedicated special teams coach. I'm tired of having field goals blocked, and having kickoffs returned for a bazillion yards.

Comment #3 from superman (Guest)
2007 Dec 20 - 1:37 am : #

How do you train for running? you add freaking bulk. Mike gittleson is an amazing strength coach; if you dont know what your talking, then dont talk. He's been working 30 years.

Mike Gittleson knows the body inside and out, he was a professor for many years as well, he knows very well what he's doing.

Comment #4 from Ken (realkato)
2007 Dec 20 - 8:32 am : #

Jeebus, I attracted a Gittleson apologist.

Ryan Mundy: As far as the strength and conditioning program is concerned, Mundy says West Virginia's program is much more intense than Michigan's. Other players that have transferred to West Virginia have said similar things in the past, explaining that at some other places the players coming into the program are physically bigger and more explosive. West Virginia develops it.

"Down here we do a lot of Olympic lifts – squats, power clings, hang clings and things like that – and I hadn't done that type of stuff since high school," Mundy said. "I had to get my body back used to doing those types of movements. As far as the practice down here we run after practice and we never ran after practice at Michigan."

Kirk Herbstreit: "But I think [Michigan's] strength and conditioning program has cornered the market on taking five-star guys and somehow finding a way to slow them down. It's mystifying to see it every single time they line up against that type of spread look."

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