Rich Rodriguez: Train Wreck at Michigan

So its over.  Three years of losses and embarrassments.  Three years of NCAA Probation underway.  Three years of the Rich Rod era. 

David Brandon just concluded his press conference and was his regular professional self: he makes an announcement and then answers an hour worth of questions that really don't tell us anything. 

In reading between the lines, David was clearly upset at how Michigan played in what he called "red letter games" against Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State as well as the bowl performance. 

David also made it clear that the new coach would need to understand what it means to be the Michigan coach and the expectations that comes with that.  

Maybe RR didn't understand the rivalries or thought his rebuilding process could have taken a few years longer. 

Obviously, a new coach was not named during the press conference and it seems that DB has been in contact with Harbaugh and the people close to him.

Maybe Harbaugh had a handshake agreement with Brandon and broke it or maybe he didn't.  He clearly seems off the table now. 

It seems DB is looking for someone with head coaching expertise who can recruit in the Midwest and nationally and that can win right away.  

I'm really worried about two groups of people: the current Wolverines and the 2011 recruiting class.  As David Brandon said in his press conference: "they will have to trust I will make the right decision for Michigan." 

He said he was going to be very active in communicating with the players and has an open-door policy.  

This time table has been a total failure by Brandon.  It seems his first choice did not work out and now he is left with few to no options and the potential loss of valuable players and an entire recruiting class. 

How are those odds for winning now?  He did say he is willing to "pay" for a good head coach.  So we have that going for us. 

It is time to question everything, and anything can happen from here.  This is a sad day for the Wolverines who are creeping towards (if not already there) Notre Dame status. 

As for RR, I expect that Pitt and UConn will be very interested in having discussions with him on his next job.  

Or he can just sit home and count his $2.5M.  Those WVU payments he had to make sure do suck for him.