The New College Head Coach Rite of Passage

Interesting article this morning on MLive.com by Steve Grinczel...an MSU columnist. He talks about Rich Rodriguez's halftime address to the Crisler crowd. He applauds Rodriguez for taking cues from Tressel at OSU and Dantonio at MSU, who both, shortly after being hired, went on the record in front of a basketball crowd and claimed there was no one more important to beat than their most hated rival. And I have to say, I thought it was pretty cool to see our new ball coach out there too. (In case you missed it, two posts down is the YouTube video of the speech).

I think its important to embrace and, for a better term..."call out" your rival like that. Hey, thats what rivalries are all about. And with all due respect to Lloyd Carr, he just didn't seem to have the itch to beat OSU like he did in his earlier years as head coach. Oh, I'm sure it bugged the hell out of him to lose 4 years in a row, but maybe that was a sign to himself that he just simply didn't have it anymore. But what do I know?

But getting back to Rodriguez, his words were not "Lets go out and pound those suckers!", but he did pronounce that he is well aware of OSU, and he is well aware that we must start beating them again soon. His body language, both on Sunday and in other instances since his hire here, has been like watching a bull being put in a cage before being let loose at a rodeo. Rodriguez is a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve. Every time I watch his speak, I just think he's about to burst out and tell everyone that he is going kill every team on the face of the planet. He has a very Bo-like way about him. He's uncomfortable with the media, stand-off-ish. He seems like the kind of guy who'd be much happier in a room full of past Michigan letterman that he's never met, than in front of one television camera.

Of course, it's way to early to tell how he'll do here. Odds are he'll have success. Michigan is the kind of place that just sort of has success without trying to hard...at least it seems that way. They guy inherits some great talent from Lloyd both returning players and recruits, the greatest facilities in the country, and also inherits a program that has maybe the the most storied tradition of any program in college football. And after watching him work for the past month and a half, it seems to me that Michigan got their man. He's a Michigan Man now. And it's time to bring the bite back to the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.