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It’s been a restless couple of years for Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez.
Ever since his scorned departure as coach of his native West Virginia in December 2007, he insists that he hasn’t once slept more than three consecutive hours.
Instead, Rodriguez, 47, wakes up in the middle of the night thinking, among other things, about proving that Michigan football is in “good shape.” During his controversial tenure, the Wolverines have experienced unprecedented defeat, the team has undergone self-imposed probation for NCAA violations, and Rodriguez has been named in three separate lawsuits.
“There’s just so many things that go through my mind,” Rodriguez said Monday during a sit-down interview at Big Ten media days.
Rodriguez’s 8-16 record in his first two seasons has made school history: marking the worst two-year stretch and the lowest winning percentage. That’s apocalyptic for college football’s all-time winningest program, a school with a fight song refrain of “Hail! To the victors.”
Of course, the folksy Rodriguez knows all too well that his future at Michigan hinges on this season and that he’s become a divisive figure among maize-and-blue loyalists. Unlike last year, when he said he would be disappointed if his team didn’t make a bowl game, Rodriguez fully expects his team to play in the postseason.
But he knows that accomplishment in and of itself might not be enough to satisfy Michigan Athletic Director David Brandon, who was hired in January. The former chairman and chief executive officer of Domino's Pizza, Inc., played for the Wolverines under legendary Coach Bo Schembechler.
“Michigan has to compete for championships,” Brandon said. “We have to go to bowl games. That’s the tradition. That’s the expectation. We need to move affirmatively in that direction. This is an important season for our football program.”
It’s never been as easy as just football for Rodriguez at Michigan, though. The job hasn't been more than he expected, but he’s been sidetracked by what he calls “drama” — and there’s been more of that than on a season of “Jersey Shore.”
It started shortly after he left for Michigan, when West Virginia sued Rodriguez to collect on a $4 million buyout clause in his contract. That lawsuit that was eventually settled, but in the last year Rodriquez also was among those named in two separate lawsuits for defaulting on loans to build condominiums near Alabama's and Virginia Tech’s stadiums.
In May, Michigan admitted to four major NCAA violations involving in- and out-of-season practice sessions under Rodriguez, putting itself on two years of probation that includes reduced practice time and restrictions for quality-control coaches. The NCAA infractions committee could further punish the Wolverines and Rodriguez. Brandon will appear before the committee in Seattle on Aug. 14, causing the preseason practice start date to be pushed back a day.
There have been other flaps, like Rodriguez’s initial decision to allow a freshman defensive back to wear the jersey No. 1, which traditionally has been worn by a wide receiver.
“It’s almost been like a perfect storm,” Rodriguez said. “But there’s not been anything that we don’t feel that we can’t get through. If adversity makes you stronger, then we ought to be able to lift this building. I’m just tired of the adversity. I’d rather things go smoother and I expect it to go smoother.”
Rodriguez said the constant controversy got to the point that his wife, Rita, used to wake up every morning and ask him, “OK, what drama is happening today that we have no idea about?”
“We just finally gave up and said, ‘Hey, let’s just do our thing and not worry about it,’” Rodriguez said.
“You think you don’t understand the rivalry with Ohio State?” Rodriguez said. “You don’t have to even be coaching at those two schools to understand how important that is, let alone when you’re coaching one of those places or playing one of those places. You know it from day one. You think about it every day.”
Rodriguez said he also continues to be perplexed by those who maintain that his coaching staff’s methods are “so different” from those of former Michigan coaches.
“They coached hard before, and we coached hard when we got there,” he said. “There’s a lot of different ways to do things. We never said our way was the best way. It was just the way we knew.”
With Michigan’s pending appearance before the NCAA infractions committee, Rodriguez declined to discuss specifics of the violations, but disagrees with sentiment that NCAA rules aren’t a priority for him and his staff.
“Mistakes have been made, but that doesn’t mean it was less important to us,” he said. “It’s very, very important. It always has been and always will be.”
Yet so far at Michigan, Rodriguez has failed in at least two of the areas that Brandon believes define the school’s tradition.
“We play by the rules, we recruit great student-athletes who do a great job on and off the field, and we win,” Brandon said.
And while Brandon emphasized that Rodriguez’s future at Michigan will not be based on a certain number of wins this season, he was forthright about the coach's performance so far.
“The last two seasons have been disappointing,” Brandon said. “We have not been as competitive as we need to be both within our conference and nationally. We’ve got to get better.”
Rodriguez wouldn’t say if he would understand getting fired by Michigan should the Wolverines fail to make a bowl game this season, but he did say this year’s team will be better. He expects improvement from a porous defense that has surrendered an average of more than 27 points in both his seasons. Meanwhile, he will wait until preseason practice to determine if his spread-option offense will be triggered by returning starting quarterback Tate Forcier or Denard Robinson, the latter seeming to be the leader for now.
But like any coach facing uncertain job security, Rodriguez is preaching the virtues of the future.
“Our best football is going to keep coming in the next two-to-three years,” he said.
Asked for examples of Rodriguez's progress, two of the three Michigan players at Big Ten media days cited the usual clichés — players working harder in the offseason and having a better understanding of his coaching style — hardly ringing endorsements.
“We trust in Coach Rodriguez,” fullback Mark Moundros said. “We’ve got his back 100 percent.”
With all the turmoil that Rodriguez has endured at Michigan, he said he’s constantly asked, “Are you happy?” He said the answer for him, as well as his family and coaching staff, all depends on victories.
“We don’t coach football,” Rodriguez said. “We live it. And not winning the last two years has been brutal on top of all the other stuff.”
Even with all that’s gone wrong, Rodriguez still has grandiose dreams of coaching for another 15 years and finishing his career at Michigan. But for now, he has a more short-term goal, one that only winning can satisfy.
“I’m hoping to at least get one good night’s sleep sometime this season,” Rodriguez said.
Until then, the Michigan faithful also will be restless.
