Rich Rodriguez: Hiring at Arizona Is Wrong Move for Both Parties

The hiring of Rich Rodriguez to be the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats football program is the wrong move for both the coach and the program. 

It’s hard to believe that, since anytime a fired head coach gets a second chance at coaching it’s a good thing. However, in this instance the pairing of Rodriguez and Arizona just does not fit. 

According to Arizona's Athletic Director Greg Byrne's Twitter page saying, "And the new Arizona football coach and his family is......." 

The official announcement will be made Tuesday in a press conference with Byrne, Rodriguez and his family all there. It will have a lot of pageantry and hype around the event as Rodriguez has a proven track record while at West Virginia. 

However, that was in a weak football conference in the Big East. When Rodriguez went to a good conference in the Big Ten, he was unable to run his spread offense. The end result saw him as a horrible failure. It was so bad in those three years, that Michigan was willing to pay his large buy-out fee just to get rid of him. 

Arizona is desperate, as they are currently 3-8 overall and 2-7 in the Pac-12. They needed someone to come in and fix the problem. However, there is a difference between fixing the problem and just adding a name. 

In adding Rodriguez they got a name, but not a solution. For Rodriguez, he is back coaching a college team, but he should have waited. He should have gone to a program that already has a quarterback that can run his quarterback option spread offense. 

When Rodriguez is successful it’s when he has a fast quarterback that can run the pass option. If he would have stayed at Michigan he would have had as successful of a year as first-year coach Brady Hoke. Hoke is using recruits that Rodriguez brought in, like Denard Robinson, to lead this Michigan team to a potential 10-2 record. 

What Rodriguez is walking into at Arizona is a place that has two senior quarterbacks and an offense that is used to running the exact opposite of what Rodriguez is used to. They do have quarterbacks and an offense that throws the ball a lot. However, passing is their first and only option. 

If Rodriguez can recruit his style of quarterback, he’ll have to play them as a freshman, which will put his team at a huge disadvantage. That first year with a new quarterback will result in this Arizona team being just as bad as they are now.

Just like at Michigan it will take three-to-four years before Rodriguez can get his offense up and running. However, in today’s win now world, it will be hard for Byrne to have patience with Rodriguez. 

Rodriguez will have a lot of hype coming into his first year. However, once the new coach smell wears off and Arizona fans realize that their team is still 3-9 or 4-8 they will wonder what they were doing in hiring Rodriguez. While Rodriguez will realize that he has done more to hurt his coaching legacy than help it.

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