Is Rich Rodriguez The Right Fit For Michigan?

Rich Rodriguez is one of the college football's most respected coaches, but is he really the proven star Michigan thinks its getting? Will the Wolverines have to adapt to Rodriguez's style, or will it be the other way around? He's an elite coach, but Pete Fiutak wonders if he's the perfect fit for right now.

West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez Goes To Michigan

By Pete Fiutak   

Yost, Schembechler, Carr ... Rodriguez?

West Virginia alum Rich Rodriguez was pulled away from his alma mater to take over as the head football coach at Michigan, one of the top five premier gigs in all of college sports. All he has to do now is win national titles (notice the s on the end). No pressure.

Going 60-26 in seven wildly successful seasons at West Virginia, Rodriguez took an already good team to another level. Don Nehlan had put the program on the map, and even had it in a position to win a national title, but Rodriguez gave the Mountaineers a next-level attitude that they really could compete with the big boys, whether that was really true or not. Helped by the exodus of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College to the ACC, West Virginia became the Big East's elite team, complete with a defining win over Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl.

It's not like Rodriguez was being paid tip money in Morgantown, making roughly $1.9 million a year, but he's not going to make anywhere near the dough at Michigan he would've received had he taken the Alabama job last year, which he was extremely close to doing. However, this isn't about money; this is about spite, and it's about Michigan. Rodriguez had a frosty relationship with the West Virginia higher-ups, and at the end of the day, this was Michigan calling. You know, the self-proclaimed Leaders and the Best. The winningest program in the history of college football. West Virginia has become big, but Michigan is Michigan.

The big question right from the start will be how Rodriguez fits in with the personnel. Michigan has a lighter, more athletic offensive line, by design, than it had three years ago after former head man Lloyd Carr switched up philosophies a bit and chose to go to a quicker front five. The building blocks are in place to run the spread offense like Rodriguez likes, but while Michigan always has the potential to come up with a Steve Slaton or two to run the ball, it needs a Pat White to operate the show. And there will be the initial problem.

2007's top recruit, Ryan Mallett, is a 6-6, 250-pound bomber with 2010 first round draft pick potential if he gets the right coaching. He's more in the Tom Brady/Elvis Grbac/typical Michigan quarterback mode, and he's certainly not the right fit for what Rodriguez is going to want to do. The starting quarterback for the 2008 Wolverines might be picking out a tux for his high school winter formal.

And then there's the pedigree of receivers. While Rodriguez has had a few NFL-caliber targets in Morgantown, can he get the superstar receivers to come to Ann Arbor to play in a run-oriented attack? Sure, he convinced Noel Devine to come to West Virginia in a do-it-all role, but Michigan has been a receiver factory and it might not get all the same playmakers like Braylon Edwards and Mario Manningham if there isn't a Mallett-like passer throwing to them.

Rodriguez certainly has the name recognition and he certainly has the star power, but he'll have to win over some Maize and Blue fans right away by proving that either 1) he can coach Mallett and make a passing game sing or 2) convince everyone to be patient by taking a few steps back to potentially take a giant leap forward. After all, if Illinois can go to the Rose Bowl using the spread-rushing attack, then certainly Michigan can do the same with Rodriguez.

But Michigan fans don't want to go to the Rose Bowl; they want national titles. To get those, Rodriguez has to be an even better overall recruiter than he's been at West Virginia. Despite being known as a terrific recruiter, West Virginia has had a mere seven players drafted since 2003 and none last year. That might fly in the Big East, and there are several pro prospects on this Mountaineer team, but for Michigan to be the every year national title power it's supposed to be, Rodriguez has to up his overall game. By comparison, since 2003, Michigan has had 23 players drafted including seven last year.

Problem two that'll get the Michigan message boards buzzing: coffee's for closers only.

Yes, the spread can work at the highest level with the right personnel. Vince Young proved that the right player can carry a great team to something special in the offense, and Urban Meyer showed that the right coach can make all the difference. However, Meyer had gotten it done before going to Florida, going 12-0 at Utah. There are still questions with Rodriguez.

Basically, West Virginia had one phenomenal quarter in the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, but the Bulldogs came roaring back in the second half with only a fake punt from the Mountaineers holding off the charge in the 38-35 win. The next best win in the Rodriguez era was against ... um, uh, Rutgers last year? Louisville in 2005? With everything on the line this year, West Virginia came up with an all-timer of a choke in the home loss to Pitt to go to the Fiesta Bowl instead of the national title. Is that what Michigan wants when it's having so many problems with Ohio State? That's not to say Rodriguez can't coach, but he's not necessarily the be-all-end-all proven commodity many might think he is. Then again, neither was Les Miles or Greg Schiano.

Michigan made overtures to Rutgers' Schiano, but he'll probably end up in the NFL or at Penn State sometime in the next three years. There was the bizarre dance with Miles, which begs the question of whether or not things would be very, very different right now had West Virginia beaten Pitt and been off to the national championship instead of LSU. Did Michigan actually get the guy it really wanted when pro coaches like Bobby Petrino, John Fox, Lane Kiffin and Sean Payton were supposedly in the mix?

So now the pressure is on. There will be no grace period. There will be no time allowed for adjustments. Rodriguez has to come up with a top-shelf recruiting class, he has to beat Ohio State, and he has to have Michigan in the national championship chase, not necessarily in that order. Did Michigan make the right call? If nothing else, the Big Ten just became even more interesting.