Rich Rod Should Have Followed Frank Beamer's Example and Stayed at West Virginia

Rich Rodriguez is a good coach. His record and accomplishments attest to it.

But Rodriguez was in over his head at Michigan and these last three years prove it. While Rodriguez was at West Virginia, he was 60-26, won four Big East Titles (one outright) and went to six straight bowl games, winning three of them.

His success at WVA did not follow him to UM. University of Michigan Athletic Director, David Brandon, said these last three years was the worst winning percentage of any period of Michigan’s one hundred plus years of Football. 

A change needed to be made. 

So why did Rich Rodriguez fail? A common Greek aphorism states, “Know Thyself.”

Rodriguez seemed to be blinded by his ambition to advance in the ranks of college football. 

He could not see that he was where he needed to be. Ambition is not a bad thing but without knowledge and self awareness, ambition can lead to suffering. 

“The grass is not always greener on the other side” is a common quote we use to describe how we need to appreciate the present and not hope for something else because when we get it, it is not necessarily better.

I thought Rich Rod knew this when he turned down the Alabama job. This created a false sense of security among the WVA faithful. Soon afterward, Michigan came calling and Rodriguez left quickly and without grace and left a sour taste in people’s mouths.

I have written before on the issue of applying the Peter Principle to evaluate College Coaches. One can spot whether or not a coach will fall victim to the Peter Principle early on.

In a 1969 book by L.J. Peter and Raymond Hull, the hypothesis is that people will be promoted until they reach a position that they are incompetent to complete. If you are competent at one level, you will be promoted to a higher one and if one is competent there, another promotion occurs until one reaches a level of incompetence. 

One principle of competence is that at higher levels, one must have people who function at high levels. Hence, successful college football programs will always have assistants that move on to either head coaching jobs or higher level assistant posts. 

I was saying at the time of Rodriguez’s hiring that he would not do well at UM because to me, he exhibited traits that he had been promoted to a position of incompetence. 

I wrote in early August that I thought he would be fired this year: http://uponfurtherreview.kansascity.com/?q=node/2406, note specifically paragraph ten of the article. 

How did I come to this conclusion? I have argued elsewhere in the Bleacher Report about other coaches based on the same principle.

I argued that Brian Kelly will not win a National Championship at Notre Dame: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/545178-notre-dame-football-prediction-urban-meyer-or-skip-holtz-will-follow-kelly-at-n and why I believe Will Muschamp will succeed: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/561331-why-university-of-floridas-new-head-coach-will-muschamp-will-succeed. 

There were many factors I felt Rich Rod would not do well, but the main thing I saw was that he essentially fired all the current coaches from Lloyd Carr’s staff and brought in mostly assistants that were with him at WVA.

I did not think WVA to UM was a lateral move and felt Rich Rod should have hired more people from places like the NFL or other major college coaching programs while retaining enough UM staff to preserve a little continuity. Fred Jackson was later hired back, but an argument could be made that he was a primary contact in the recruitment of Terrelle Pryor as the main reason.

Was I lucky? Maybe. Are there more factors than the Peter Principle and how I illustrated it? Of course, but we must start from some point in research.

Rich Rod should have followed Frank Beamer’s example at Virgina Tech. Like Rich Rod, he is coaching at his alma mater but unlike Rich Rod, he has stayed at VA Tech and has not been tempted by other jobs that may seem more high profile. Heather Dinich of ESPN writes:

“Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer hasn't won a national title, and he is now 1-18 against top 5 teams.”

“But Beamer's career won't be defined by what he didn't do. His legacy as a coach who should be destined for the College Football Hall of Fame has already been established with his 18 consecutive bowl appearances, four ACC titles, four ACC Coastal Division crowns, three Big East titles, two major bowl victories and a trip to the national championship game.”

Had Rich Rod followed Frank Beamer’s example, he likely would have been headed to the Hall of Fame too.  

Rich Rod could have gone down in history as a great football coach who spurned other programs to stay at his alma mater and enter into the Hall of Fame with glory. Frank Beamer will definitely be in, I am not so sure Rich Rod will. 

I hope where he ends up next will be a place he can succeed.