Everything seemed to look good when the move was first announced. Rich Rodriguez had been a great coach in his time at West Virginia, and was considered to be one of the top spread offense coaches in the country. When he was asked to join Michigan, it seemed like a match made in heaven – albeit a very big change from the way that things were in Michigan previously. In his three years as their head coach, he was not able to duplicate his success and in the end  turned out to be a failed experiment for the team.

In his time with the team he posted a total of a 15-22 record and overall was unable to  make the spread as successful in Michigan as he had hoped. This can be attributed to the fact that Michigan had not recruited players that would thrive in the spread offense. Because he did not find immediate success, Rich Rodriguez had a lot of trouble recruiting the kind of players that would succeed in his offense, and in the end it turned out to be a bad fit for Michigan.

Michigan fans are used to nine and ten win seasons. This is a number that Rodriguez did not hit in his time with the team. After the team’s huge 52-14 loss in the Gator Bowl to Mississippi State, it was celar that the team was never going to find the success that they had hoped for under the former Virginia Tech spread genius.

It is not currently clear where the team will be heading next. Tehy will begin their search for a new head coach imemdiately. Some have suggested that they could decide to hire from within the organization, but given the lack of success that the current coaches have seen, do not be surprised if they decide to go elsewhere.

Michigan hopes to get their program back together. That will start with the hiring of a new head coach, hopefully someone who is able to meet their needs and will not make the sweeping changes to the program’s philosophy that we saw with Rodriguez.