I Feel Fine Again

Our long national nightmare is over. Michigan has a coach, and it's not Mikey DeHoke.

The rumor fueled hysteria of recent weeks can now subside (as can my ulcer, hopefully), and we can move forward in a spirit of peace and Humptiness.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't preach some sort of caution. But I don't feel like droning on about expectations and program differences. I'll direct you to two superbly written pieces to cover that side of things.

The MZone:

'Bama fans nearly wept with joy after their school lured Nick Saban to Tuscaloosa. But after a 6-6 season, including a loss to Louisiana-Monroe, now they might just be weeping, period. Pete Carroll was USC's 38th choice when he was hired to coach the Trojans. Southern Cal fans wanted the AD run out of town for picking some failed NFL coach to lead them. The end was near - the end of being average as Carroll returned the team to new found glory. And after Bo Schembechler was hired way back when, the headline of the Detroit Free Press screamed, "Bo Who?" Gee, I didn't know Drew Sharpe was that old.

So while we can be excited, whether or not it was great is yet to be determined.

and Michael Rosenberg:

Mostly, Rodriguez would be wise to talk to the people who helped make the Michigan job so attractive. He should ask the former players who wanted Miles what they expect from their program. He should ask Carr, who has been on staff since ESPN was a fledgling new channel, what it means to be the public face of the University of Michigan.

At West Virginia, Rodriguez was the ultimate insider: His father was a coal miner in the state and he attended the school. Now he is an outsider.

It would be hard to find two public schools that view themselves as differently as Michigan and West Virginia. Rich Rodriguez can absolutely make this transition, but first he must recognize it.

One interesting subplot of the last 18 hours that I would like to touch on has been the questions about Ryan Mallet (best exemplified here at the MZone). Maybe I'm alone here, but I think that this could be a great fit for Mallet.

In high school, Mallet ran a spread offense from the shotgun almost exclusively. He compared it to the offense that Texas ran with Vince Young.

No, Mallet isn't Pat White...but he isn't John Navarre either. Anyone who watched the Penn State game knows that Mallet has the ability to move in the pocket, elude pressure, and run for the sticks when necessary.

Are we really going to believe that a coach who has been running variations of the spread offense for seventeen years can't make something work with Mallet in the gun; Matthews, Stonum, and Arrington (I hope) spread out, and a running back by committee approach featuring Carlos Brown, Kevin Grady, Brandon Minor, and Sam McGuffie?

Nonsense.

For some historical precedent here, check out Shaun King's highlights at Tulane while Rodriguez was the OC.

Set an NCAA season-record with a 183.3 passing efficiency rating, topping the old mark of 178.8 by Danny Wuerffel of Florida in 1995...Ranked sixth in the nation in total offense, averaging 342.2 yards-per-game ...Finished the season with a string of 166 consecutive passes without an interception... Became the first player in NCAA Division 1-A history to throw for over 3000 yards & rush for over 500 yards in the same season...Completed 223 of 328 passes (68.0%) for 3232 yards, 36 touchdowns & only six interceptions.

That's a lot of throwing.

Maybe Mallet will decide to leave. Arkansas has a new coach who likes to wing the ball all over the place. He might decide that's in his best interests.

However, to think that a highly rated QB who is used to running the spread offense is going to be forced out the door by an offensive coach who utilizes the spread simply makes no sense.