Michigan didn't give Rich Rodriguez much of a chance, many people believe. The man who had been oh-so successful in his previous stops finally had himself a traditional football program to adapt to his style.
But maybe that's not how Michigan works.
I've gotten a few emails, all of which were filled with RichRod love. I received the above video link from Mike, who wrote the following about the creation of the YouTube clip:
Parts of it were previously intended to be a video to show UM fans what they were getting with Rich Rod ... But after RR was fired I couldn't live RR's firing down & stopped rooting for UM and making video. Mind you, I had been rooting for UM for 24 years of my life & have only missed 3 UM games this century.
I've also gotten positive responses to the hire from West Virginia fans, despite his ugly leave from the Mountaineers.
Here's a comment that I received from a WVU fan:
Sure he has a big ego, although it seems to have been deflated a bit by Michigan, but that is how he made it to the top. You can't take a high profile, high stress position without a strong belief in yourself. He is a very good coach and a good recruiter (he can spot a diamond in the rough), although he will take risks on players who may not be emotionally mature (Chris Henry, Pacman Jones, Steve Slaton, Tate Forcier). Hopefully he has learned his lesson. There are numerous reasons why he left WVU and some of them are cultural to WV. They would say in WV that RichRod "got above his raisin'" and he was bigger than the university. But these are problems endemic to WV and RichRod was caught in the turmoil. WVU has traditionally been a poorly run institution with political appointees, and that includes the former AD Ed Pastilong.