Article published November 04, 2008
Rodriguez refuses to blame coaches
By JOE VARDON
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
ANN ARBOR - On the brink of the worst season in Michigan football history, Rich Rodriguez refuses to blame his coaching staff - particularly defensive coordinator Scott Shafer.
The Wolverines' defense is ranked 96th in the country and last in the Big Ten in points allowed (30.9) and is coming off a 48-42 loss to Purdue. UM has lost seven of nine and five straight and would set a school record for losses if it falls this weekend at Minnesota.
Shafer, in his first year at UM, is directing a unit that returned eight starters from last season and was predicted to be the strongest part of the 2008 Wolverines.
Though Rodriguez said the responsibility for everything ultimately falls on him as the head coach, it is Shafer who is concocting UM's defensive plans and calling out schemes on Saturdays.
Yesterday Rodriguez was asked if he thought Shafer was doing a good job and didn't directly answer the question.
"To me, it's unfair to ask that," Rodriguez said. "It's a football team. To single out a player or a coach, to me, that's not right."Rodriguez then cast a general vote of support for his staff.
"Let me make this very clear. I am as pleased as I can be with our coaches and their effort," he said. "They're coaching as hard as they can. They're working as hard as they can. They're good people, they're good coaches, they know what they're doing.
"Because we struggled at times in different units doesn't mean they're a bad coach. I'm sure a lot of people are saying that I'm a bad coach. Everybody can have their opinion."
The Wolverines are already guaranteed of not going to a bowl game for the first time in 34 years.
Rodriguez, who went 3-8 in his first season coaching West Virginia in 2001 before building that program into a perennial winner, said his coaches have identified what is causing UM to struggle. He said fixing those problems is the tougher part.
"One of y'all asked a question, 'Have you got more to do than you thought?' Yes, I do," Rodriguez said. "That's pretty obvious when you're sitting here with our record. Do I feel confident we can get it there with the staff I have? Yes, I do. But there's a lot of things we have to work on.
"We'll get it right. I mean, everybody wants to push the panic button. [I've been here] 10 months, geez."
Unlike most of Rodriguez's staff, Shafer did not coach with him at West Virginia. He was the defensive coordinator at Stanford last year and held the same position at Western Michigan and Northern Illinois.
Last week the Wolverines came out in a 3-3-5 defensive alignment to match up with Purdue's spread offense. The move included playing cornerback Donovan Warren at safety and without senior defensive tackles Terrance Taylor and Will Johnson on the field for long stretches.
UM gave up a season-high 522 yards to a Boilermakers unit that had struggled all season and was quarterbacked by a redshirt freshman making his first start. That quarterback, Justin Siller, is the Big Ten's co-offensive player of the week after throwing for 266 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 77 yards and another score.
"Schemes don't cause you to miss 21 tackles," Rodriguez said, referring to the number of tackles he said the team missed.
UM's final three opponents all feature spread offenses.
"I don't want to blame the coaches," senior defensive end Tim Jamison. "The coaches can only do limited things. They tell us what to do. It's our job to go out and do it, we just don't finish all of the time."
NO HUDDLE: Quarterback
Steven Threet (head), running back Sam McGuffie (concussion), safety Mike Williams (concussion), and cornerback Troy Woolfolk (sprained ankle) are all expected to play Saturday.
Contact Joe Vardon at:
jvardon@theblade.com
or 419-410-5055.
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