Rich Rodriguez (official thread)

[osugrad21]

CPD

Welcome to the rivalry

Raucous OSU fans hassle Rodriguez

Monday, February 18, 2008 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Ann Arbor, Mich.- Add it to the rivalry's lore - in Rich Rodriguez's first public appearance as Michigan's football coach, Ohio State students interrupted his halftime speech at Sunday's basketball game with a "Tressel" chant from the upper rows of Crisler Arena.
"We owe it to the rivalry and the history of the tradition to cheer," said Ohio State junior Luc Nutter, who was holding a sign the size of a sheet that read "1,548 Days," which is the length of time since Michigan's last football victory over Ohio State.
"If we had stayed quiet during such a big moment, it wouldn't have been honoring the tradition."
That wasn't exactly how angry Michigan fans saw it.
"It was classless," said Wolverines fan Mark Leonard, seated a few rows in front of the students. "I couldn't hear anything [Rodriguez] said. If my kid went to a game, I would hope they wouldn't do that."
Another Ohio State fan in the area walked over and admonished the students, angry himself at the representation.
"That showed a lack of class, and Ohio State fans are classier than that," he said without identifying himself. "It was funny at first, but that was too much."




Cont...

[osugrad21]

DFP

AWKWARD ADDRESS: U-M coach Rich Rodriguez addresses fans over Buckeye boos

February 18, 2008
BY MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
New Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez learned Sunday that he can't escape Ohio State.
Holding a microphone while standing with his family at center court at Crisler Arena at halftime of the Michigan-OSU basketball game, Rodriguez received a thunderous ovation from the hometown crowd.

But a small group of Ohio State fans in the last rows of the arena made the moment a bit awkward, chanting "Tressel" and holding a bedsheet with "1,548 Days" written on it -- the period since U-M's last football victory over the Buckeyes in 2003. "I hope you guys up there enjoy your seats," Rodriguez said with a smile as U-M fans booed the scarlet-clad contingent.
Ushers moved in to quiet the OSU group, and as Rodriguez wound down his speech, the "Maize Rage" cheering section cranked up a "Beat the Buckeyes" chant.



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[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Bob Hunter commentary: Rodriguez speech ruckus helps rekindle rivalry

Monday, February 18, 2008 3:09 AM
By Bob Hunter


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
TONY DING | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez, addressing the crowd in Crisler Arena while wife Rita and son Rhett look on, didn't go so far as to promise a victory over Ohio State.




ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This was it. This was Rich Rodriguez's chance to one-up that villainous Jim Tressel, to go him one better before his Michigan football team has played its first game. Everybody remembers when the new Ohio State coach took the microphone at halftime of an OSU-Michigan basketball game in 2001 and assured fans he would make them "proud" of his team "310 days from now in Ann Arbor."
Well, here it was. A new Michigan football coach being introduced at halftime of another OSU game, this time to the crowd in Crisler Arena. Rodriguez getting the chance to assure the Michigan faithful that his Wolverines were finally going to make someone besides their moms proud of them in the big game.
The place went crazy as Rodriguez began to speak, just as it did for Tressel that day in Columbus. "I really want to thank everybody here for welcoming my family ?"



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[Steve19]

I love the irony of him asking for his wife and kids to be left out of things and then bringing them out center court.

But I like the part best where he told the crowd that a former player told him, "Coach, you're a Michigan man."

Just think. If we could pull identity changes off like that in places like the Middle East, Balkans, etc., we could have world peace in a matter of weeks.

[BB73]

His snake oil tastes like shoe leather.