Michigan Wolverines: Rich Rodriguez May Be Safe But Assistants Should Not

In his season-ending press conference, Rich Rodriguez said he would evaluate all of his coaches and make changes as he saw fit. I’ll believe that when I see it.

Rodriguez also said before the Capital One Bowl that he would adapt his system to his players...we can all agree that didn’t happen. The interesting thing is that Rodriguez has been described as being extremely loyal to his staff, loyal to a fault. Almost all his staff has been with him from the start, and I don’t see him cutting longtime friends after one year.

Ironically enough, Lloyd Carr’s critics said the same thing, even though he let go of Jim Herrmann and Terry Malone, among others. Here is my breakdown of each position coach and how I would change the staff. If RichRod makes no changes to his staff, I have no idea how he will sell that to the Michigan fan base, but if he can pull that off he could sell sand in the desert.

Calvin MaGee—Offensive Coordinator

Michigan’s offense ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten, and the entire country for that matter, the passing game was horrific, and the running game was OK at best. What was most concerning was the fact that there didn’t seem to be any adjustments throughout the season.

Rather, it seemed Michigan ran the same three passing plays-bubble screen left, bubble screen right, deep ball on the sidelines-and three running plays-sweep right, sweep left, and up the middle, all season long. The tight ends were an after thought and apparently you are not allowed to throw over the middle in RichRod’s spread. Add to all that McGee throwing Threet under the bus in the media by saying the QB was “consistently inconsistent, same as always” and McGee is as much to blame for Michigan’s woes this season as Rich.

However, McGee has been with Rich from the start and he calls Rich’s plays. They have a track record of looking like a terrible high school offense in year one and then turning things around in year two. They better hope they repeat that feat in Ann Arbor in 2009.

Coaching status—totally safe

Greg Frey—Offensive Line

One of the main reasons for Michigan’s struggles moving the ball this season started up front. The line lost four starters, including number one draft pick Jake Long. The only returning linemen was Stephen Schilling and the team went with six different starting combinations throughout 2008, including converting a defensive tackle into an offensive linemen.

Frey gets a break for the youth of the line, however, this is still Michigan and it’s not like Lloyd Carr was recruiting offensive linemen whose offers read Eastern Michigan, Rice, Temple, and Michigan. The guys waiting in the wings were all 4 star guys who had offers from Michigan, Ohio State, and Texas among others. It’s also not like Michigan just switched to a zone blocking scheme this year, Carr made that switch back before the ‘06 season, so they were familiar with the system.

The line was perhaps one of the most disappointing parts of the team, it also didn’t help they they didn’t improve all that much either. Still, with 4 new starters you give Frey the benefit of the doubt, next year he won’t be able to play the inexperience card.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?