Big Ten media day: Rodriguez has high expectations for 2009
CHICAGO - Rich Rodriguez winced when he stepped on the dais for his 15-minute press conference at Big Ten football media day Monday.
“I kind of know at Michigan, the lights are pretty bright,” Rodriguez said.
A year after leading the Wolverines to the worst season in program history, a 3-9 campaign that still gnaws at Michigan’s collective stomach, Rodriguez is back under the spotlight of scrutiny.
He said the program is headed in the right direction after a strong spring and better summer, but acknowledged, “until it shows with wins, I guess there’s still going to be questions.
“If we’re not in a bowl game, we’re all going to be ticked,” Rodriguez said. “If we’re not competing better in every game, we’re all going to be upset. Not talking about the fans, but us. We think that we should be a whole lot better in a whole lot of areas even though we lost a lot of guys on defense.”
Specifically, the Wolverines are counting on better play from the quarterback position to spark a turnaround.
True freshmen Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson are expected to compete for the starting job once practice opens Aug. 10. Forcier is a more polished passer with a better grasp of the playbook, but Robinson is a superior athlete who’s wowed strength and conditioning coach Mike Barwis in summer workouts with his speed.
VIDEO: DENARD ROBINSON
“By no means is anybody locked in as a starting quarterback,” Rodriguez said. “You’ve got Denard Robinson. Nick Sheridan is going to fight for the job. But Tate did a lot of things this spring I think to improve himself. He had a great summer. Talking to him, he feels strong. We’re excited about him.”
And excited about the direction of the program in general.
Rodriguez admitted he made some mistakes in rushing to put his first recruiting class together. The fallout, recently, has been the departure of three 2008 recruits, Justin Feagin, Dan O’Neill and Kurt Wermers.
Still, amid the turmoil, Rodriguez said players have grown closer and gained a better understanding of what he’s trying to accomplish at Michigan.
“The only thing I ever talk to them about is we expect to compete for championships,” Rodriguez said. “Are we good enough to win a Big Ten championship? There’s a whole lot of things that got to happen for that.
“That’s our first goal every year is compete for that, and there’s lot of things got to happen for us and a lot of bad things happen to someone else. But if we’re at least not competing for it and being more competitive in certain situations than I don’t think we’ve made the progress we wanted to.”
Dave Birkett covers the University of Michigan football team for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidbirkett@annarbor.com
Comments
DwightSchrute
Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 5:21 p.m.
Chill, By throwing out 1996 or 2000, I was saying anyone can say what the worst season is. My point was, the writer keeps calling last year the worst season ever when there is at least one and maybe two previous seasons that were as bad or worse. Factually speaking from a winning percentage standpoint, last year was not the worst.
Macabre Sunset
Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 4:53 p.m.
Chill, it was 40 straight years of a winning record in the Big Ten. And 40 straight years with a non-losing overall record. And 40 straight years with a winning regular-season record. And 40 straight years without a spread offense and a defense that allowed more than 300 points.
chill
Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 10:33 a.m.
Macabre Sunset, since you have all the stats in front of you, you can see that last year's 3-9 campaign (the losingest in Michigan history... maybe we can just call it that) broke a strong of 23 straight winning seasons, not 40. Even though it included a bowl game and an upset of a top-ranked team, 1984 was not a winning season.
chill
Wed, Jul 29, 2009 : 10:26 a.m.
Of course it's subjective Dwigt, but it's still based on an element of fact. Anyway you flat out disagreed with it... all i did was give you factual support for their contention. I have no idea what evidence you would use as basis for a claim that the 1996 or 2000 teams were the worst in history. I've been watching Michigan football games since 1970 (including their 6-6 season of 1984) and last year was the first i've heard anyone use the words "worst ever". Rich Rod followed his first year at WVU (also a losing season) with six straight BCS bowl berths. That's where the bar is for him this season in Ann Arbor. One more sub-.500 finish and he AND Bill Martini should be removed from their duties.
Macabre Sunset
Tue, Jul 28, 2009 : 1:43 p.m.
Worst Michigan records, going back in history: 2009: 3-9 (2-6 Big Ten),.250, 243 PF, 347 PA (old record was 279). 1984: 6-6 (5-4),.500, 214 PF, 200 PA. 1967: 4-6 (3-4),.400, 144 PF, 179 PA (last time outscored by opponents, last losing record in Big Ten play). 1965: 4-6 (2-5),.400, 185 PF, 161 PA. 1963: 3-4-2 (2-3-2),.444, 131 PF, 127 PA. 1962: 2-7 (1-6),.222, 70 PF, 214 PA (this was statistically probably Michigan's worst season). 1958: 2-6-1 (1-5-1),.278, 132 PF, 211 PA (this finished off Oosterbaan and brought the team into the forgettable Bump Elliott era). 1936: 1-7 (0-5),.125, 36 PF, 127 PA. 1934: 1-7 (0-6),.125, 21 PF, 143 PA (another excellent candidate for worst statistical season). 1919: 3-4 (1-4),.429, 93 PF, 102 PA (significant in that it ended a string of 27 consecutive winning seasons). 1881: 0-3,.000, 4 PF, 28 PA (Michigan's only winless season). So Dwight is right in one way, arguably there have been worse seasons statistically. I'm sure the 1919 season was very hard to take, coming off an undefeated national championship in 1918 and 27 straight winning seasons. And 1934 and 1936 (coming off of national championships in 1932 and 1933) were statistically worse, and tied for the most losses ever until last season. 1962 was the dregs of the decade of mediocrity. But, for me, the end of Michigan's 40-year streak of winning records in the Big Ten - to me one of the more remarkable streaks in sports history - marks an all-time low. Just a non-stop one-way plunge since that horrible loss at Ohio State in the 1-2 game in 2006. Then getting killed in the Rose Bowl a month later, then Appalachian State, then the Oregon disaster, then the endless Lloyd is the devil crap. And then the Les Miles hiring fiasco and then everything associated with RichRod and last season. Anyway, a summary of Michigan football, from 1968-2007: - 35 bowl appearances in 40 seasons (records of 8-2, 9-1, 10-1, 10-0-1 and 10-1 in the seasons when only the top team in the Big Ten could go to a bowl). - 368-103-8 overall record (.777), 260-56-5 in the Big Ten (.818). - A share of 21 conference titles and a national championship. - Records ranging from 6-6 to 12-0, and from 5-4 to 8-0 in the Big Ten. - A record of 216-37-4 at home (.848). - 13951 points scored, 6921 points allowed. - 20-18-2 versus Ohio Stats (including losses in the last four). - Just as one example of a team Michigan lost to in 2009, a 31-3-2 record against Illinois.
DwightSchrute
Tue, Jul 28, 2009 : 1:20 p.m.
Chill, then that needs to be quantified in the story. Because it is a subjective observation. Otherwise I can call the 1996 or 2000 season the worst in school history.
Paul
Tue, Jul 28, 2009 : 10:28 a.m.
The fact that Sheridan is even in the running for the job REALLY concerns me. I'm sure Rich Rod is just being courteous, and all...but if Forcier or Robinson plays just as well as Sheridan did last year...hello 3-win season.
NoBowl4Blue
Tue, Jul 28, 2009 : 7:54 a.m.
A freshman QB is a freshman QB is a FRESHman QB. Tate or Denard will have to grow up quick and learn how to control the clock because "D" may be in game longer than any UofM fan will want. WM will be a tough game in fact I look for an upset along with losses to Ill,MSU,ND,PSU,Wibc and OSU. The fans battle cry will be thesame as last year "Wait until next year".
chill
Tue, Jul 28, 2009 : 7:50 a.m.
By worst team ever, they mean that last year's Wolverines lost more games than any in school history. Their defense also gave up more points--and yards--than any Michigan team ever. No way to sugar-coat that, Dwigt. Geesh.
tater
Mon, Jul 27, 2009 : 9:26 p.m.
RR had to say that Sheridan would compete for the starting QB job, because he does need to have a third-stringer on the roster in case of injuries. That doesn't mean Sheridan has a chance in bleep of winning said job. Anyway, I'm looking for RR's typical first to second year improvement this year.
DwightSchrute
Mon, Jul 27, 2009 : 8:52 p.m.
It's not the worst season in hisory. There was a 1-win season in there decades ago with a lower winning percentage. it was the worst in the recent era but not school history. Geesh.
Gina Valo
Mon, Jul 27, 2009 : 8:51 p.m.
I'm just crossing my fingers for no embarrassing losses. Our giant football egos simply can't handle another Toledo or Appalachian State.
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Jul 27, 2009 : 7:19 p.m.
"If were not in a bowl game, were all going to be ticked." "Nick Sheridan is going to fight for the job." Since I am a graduate of Michigan, and I took several courses in statistics, I can safely call this an excellent example of the concept of mutually incompatible statements. I am very worried about another 3-9 season.