ESPN has just reported that RR has been fired. This time it's official...

ESPN is now reporting that RR has not been fired-- yet.


http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5988308


I guess Rich is begging after all and they hate to see a grown man grovel.

Finally, Rich is out again.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110105/...been-fired

Told you. I heard it live on TV. It took 'em a while to write the story...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5991296

He made the fatal error of letting his head get too big. It is ashame. He was a home state favorite and would have owned WV, the BE and WV fans for years. Sad thing is Nehlen encouraged him to make the move IMO.

Do feel kind of sorry for the guy. He's had a rough couple of years. As an Ohio State, I wouldn't have minded one more year either :) That said, it still amazes me the effect 1 game had. If he beats Pitt, he's playing Ohio State in the national championship, LSU is #3, and Les Miles is likely in Ann Arbor. Instead, Pitt pulls the upset, Miles is going to the national championship, and RichRod heads to Michigan.

(01-05-2011 11:11 PM)Tigeer Wrote:  He made the fatal error of letting his head get too big. It is ashame. He was a home state favorite and would have owned WV, the BE and WV fans for years. Sad thing is Nehlen encouraged him to make the move IMO.

Not sure if it was his fault or the culture of Michigan. Michigan is like an old elephant, set in its ways ...

(01-06-2011 07:10 AM)ohio1317 Wrote:  Do feel kind of sorry for the guy. He's had a rough couple of years. As an Ohio State, I wouldn't have minded one more year either :) That said, it still amazes me the effect 1 game had. If he beats Pitt, he's playing Ohio State in the national championship, LSU is #3, and Les Miles is likely in Ann Arbor. Instead, Pitt pulls the upset, Miles is going to the national championship, and RichRod heads to Michigan.

Nope. I don't feel sorry for him at all. RR worked his way up the ladder, took over at his alma mater, and had WVU within a game of the national championship. Everything from that point was an anti-climax. People often don't know when they've found the right spot, and they drift on to their regret. But we have to live our own lives, mistakes and all...

RR made his bed. Now he has to lie in it. I have no pity for him what so ever. He can forget about coming home too. He burnt the bridges on his way out of town...

(01-06-2011 10:06 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(01-06-2011 07:10 AM)ohio1317 Wrote:  Do feel kind of sorry for the guy. He's had a rough couple of years. As an Ohio State, I wouldn't have minded one more year either :) That said, it still amazes me the effect 1 game had. If he beats Pitt, he's playing Ohio State in the national championship, LSU is #3, and Les Miles is likely in Ann Arbor. Instead, Pitt pulls the upset, Miles is going to the national championship, and RichRod heads to Michigan.

Nope. I don't feel sorry for him at all. RR worked his way up the ladder, took over at his alma mater, and had WVU within a game of the national championship. Everything from that point was an anti-climax. People often don't know when they've found the right spot, and they drift on to their regret. But we have to live our own lives, mistakes and all...

RR made his bed. Now he has to lie in it. I have no pity for him what so ever. He can forget about coming home too. He burnt the bridges on his way out of town...

You are quite right but I believe one day he will be remembered fondly in Moutaineer lore. Time heals a lot of wounds.

Don't bet on it, Tigeer. You don't turn your back on one of your own, and RR did that to every West Virginian. He won't be welcomed by anyone in WV, except his family...

Interesting bit from ESPN's Bruce Feldman:

A heads-up on a book I'll definitely be reading: This is John U. Bacon's story about the upcoming book's he's been working on chronicling Rich Rodriguez's program from the inside since he arrived in Ann Arbor:

For the past three years I have been granted unfettered access to the Michigan football program, from the meeting room to the locker room, to write a book about what I've seen. I thought I knew college football, and particularly Michigan football, as well as anyone. But after three years of seeing everything up close, I can tell you this unequivocally: I had no idea.
If the tenure of Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, who was fired Wednesday, looked chaotic to outsiders, it appeared positively crazy from the inside.

In this story, Bacon talks about how Michigan had offered the coaching job to Greg Schiano, but he turned it down, so they turned to Rodriguez. A source I have once told me that Schiano regretted that decision right after he made it and frantically tried to get back in on the Wolverines job, but it was too late. Rodriguez had jumped at it. I'm curious about whether things would have been different in the Big East and the Big Ten if he had taken it instead of Rodriguez.

My hunch is that whoever took over UM at that point was going to take some lumps because the Wolverines were losing so many quality players, but under Schiano, the offensive system wouldn't have required such an overhaul. Just to replace the key parts while putting talent around a maturing Ryan Mallett. Maybe it might have been a different story. Maybe not. Then again, Schiano's program at RU has lost quite a bit of momentum since that time, going 3-4 in Big East play in 2009 and 1-6 this fall.

I saw that story. It looks interesting, and I look forward to reading the whole thing when it comes out. It should make for some very interesting reading...

Sounds like a good book in likes of a season on the brink. I wonder if schiano is calling UM now or if UM would even be interested again?

LOL, at Schiano:

In this story, Bacon talks about how Michigan had offered the coaching job to Greg Schiano, but he turned it down, so they turned to Rodriguez. A source I have once told me that Schiano regretted that decision right after he made it and frantically tried to get back in on the Wolverines job, but it was too late. Rodriguez had jumped at it. I'm curious about whether things would have been different in the Big East and the Big Ten if he had taken it instead of Rodriguez.

He missed his golden goose. But in all honesty, it would have worked out better for the BE if Sciano had gone to Michigan and RichRod was still at WV. That whole uneasy and embarrassing situation would have never happed at WV.

RR probably never would have gotten in trouble with the NCAA if he hadn't gone to Michigan either, which is ultimately what got WVU in trouble with the NCAA. Somebody at Michigan b!tched about the extra work, and the NCAA started looking into everything RR ever did. Nobody at WVU ever complained...