We know Nick Saban has claimed the scalps of coaches like Tommy Bowden, Phil Fulmer and soon Tommy Tuberville, but did you know he is making life difficult for Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez too?

From Keeping Score by Drew Sharp

Rodriguez preaches patience, but it doesn’t strengthen his argument for time that Nick Saban’s only been in Tuscaloosa for 22 months and he’s already got Alabama sitting atop the Bowl Championship Series rankings.

The Crimson Tide were in worse shape than Michigan prior to Saban’s arrival, having only won 55% of their games following Gene Stallings’ departure in 1996. They went through NCAA probation, five head coaches in the previous 11 years and won only one Southeastern championship — sacrilege for a fan base certain that regular championships are a birthright.

They’re no different at Michigan…..

Saban’s quick Alabama transformation just made it harder for every other coach.

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Who is happy Alabama didn’t land Coach Rod? He has been a disaster at Michigan. He would have been a disaster at Alabama—not because he is a bad coach (he is a great coach.) He would have been a disaster because he was unprepared to be CEO of a major program. From the Alabama perspective he would have been another Mike Dubose.

Rodriguez will do a better job at Michigan given time than Dubose did at Alabama; however, just how much time he has remains to be seen. The gulf between Michigan and Ohio State seems larger today than when Rodriguez took the job. That can’t be good for job security.

The best thing for Michigan fans and Coach Rod is the second year usually provides dramatic improvement. We’ve seen that at Alabama this season and at OSU under Tressel.

5 thoughts on “Saban making life hard for Rich Rod”

  1. this story goes to show how incredibly lucky this program was to land nick saban.

    rodriquez was our coach………until he caught stage fright. mal thought he had him. mal HAD hired him.

    sometimes……it truly is better to be lucky than good.

  2. When bama tried to get richrod I was hoping that would NOT happen. At WVU he had great offense, however, his defense was lousy. Be thankful that he did not decide that bama would be his first big time college gig…

  3. BamafaninMI, I felt the same way you did, and for the same reason. I’m not fond of coaches with an “offense first” mindset. Most of these “run and shoot”, spread type coaches have horrible defenses.

    I was relieved that Bama didn’t get Rodriguez.

  4. We should all send the Rodriguez family Christmas cards this year! lol…

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