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Rich Rodriguez and Michigan football face investigations heading into week 1 against WMU. (AP/Photo)
Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez irrefutably denied recent allegations that he and his coaching staff have exceeded the amount of time allowed by the NCAA to have his players working during the week.
As student athletes, the NCAA puts forth strict rules that state a player cannot be involved in more than 20 hours of mandatory workouts and football related activities throughout the week. But the recent report in the Detroit Free Press indicated that Rodriguez and his staff have routinely broken that rule.
Former players who have since left the program due to graduation or transferring told tales of players being at Schembechler Hall for up to 12 hours on Sundays, and often for more than the four hours they are suppose to be there Monday through Friday.
It’s tough to determine what's mandatory and what isn’t. A player can workout as much as he wants throughout the week, but it has to be voluntary. A coach cannot demand a player workout more than the allotted time allowed by the NCAA, but if a player wants to be there and asks the coaching and training staff to be there with them, that time does not count against the 20 hours. Neither does time receiving treatment in the training room and other various activities that can take place throughout the week.
There were a few things I didn’t like about the story that was broken by Michael Rosenberg of the Free Press. First, there were very few facts throughout the report. It was a lot of assumptions and fill in the blanks, but no hardcore evidence.
Secondly, Rosenberg routinely said ‘six former or current players’ when describing the players he spoke with to come to the conclusion that the team was working more than they’re allowed. That could mean anything, and as it turned out, it was five players who have either transferred or graduated since Rodriguez took over and one senior left over from Lloyd Carr’s recruiting. Former players Toney Clemons and Morgan Trent are two of the men who have rolled against the program -- Trent graduated following the 2008 season and Clemons transferred to Colorado -- while senior wide receiver Greg Matthews was the only current player who described a coaching staff that pushed players too hard. That’s the problem, you have five players who didn’t like the new coaching staff and one current player who was recruited by a different coach and has had to go through a transition during his final two years in college describing these violations.
Another problem I had with the article is the way Rosenberg squeezed out information from two freshman who clearly had no idea they were doing anything wrong when describing the workout regiment. Knowing full well what he was looking for, Rosenberg asked these unsuspecting kids what the day-to-day activities are and got a full description from the two 18-year-old young men. They never showed any discontent when describing the weekly hours they were putting in, and in fact showed nothing but excitement when explaining how hard the coaching staff has pushed them and how demanding it is in strength and conditioning coach Mike Barwis’ program. Rosenberg took those statements and used it to back up his allegations that the program is working the players too much. But what wasn’t asked was how many of those hours were mandatory and how many were the players putting in on their own time.
There was one quote that was given by both a former Michigan player and a former West Virginia player -- Rodriguez coached at WVU prior to coming to Michigan. It stated that coaches are often heard saying “working out isn’t mandatory, but neither is your playing time.” Rosenberg worked that quote in as if to point out that the workouts were mandatory even though they were supposedly not. But here’s my response to that quote…….DUH!
Of course that’s the case. Sure the workouts may not be mandatory, but obviously the player who puts in more time, who works harder and who shows he’s more committed is going to have an edge when it comes to playing time. We have no idea how that quote is used by the coaches, whether it's simply motivation to drive the players to workout more on their own or as a straight forward demand by the coaches that all players must put in extra time, but Rosenberg used it as the latter, as if he knew for a fact that’s how the coaches intended it to be. But he obviously doesn’t know that since he’s not at the practices. He simply went by what a handful of players who don’t like the direction of the program since Rodriguez took over said and put it in print as fact.
Of course we have no idea what’s true and what isn’t. Everything Rosenberg wrote could be 100% fact, but much of it could be hearsay as well. That’s my main beef with the piece; it put assumptions in print and made it sound like truth.
Rodriguez became very emotional when addressing the media yesterday afternoon, often having to choke back tears. He said the most disturbing thing about the report were the claims that he and his staff have no regard for the players' health or safety, and that he demands players to miss study sessions, tests and classes to put in extra time at the practice facility. He denied all allegations and made it clear that he and his staff love his players and follow every NCAA rule.
Yet he and the program will have to deal with Big Ten, NCAA and in-school investigations all week long as they prepare for the first game of the season against Western Michigan this Saturday. It could make for a major distraction, but it appears the players have rallied around the coaching staff and are more ready than ever to start this season on a high note following last year’s dismal 3-9 record.
I can’t be sure what’s true and what isn’t. I’m sure much of the things said by former players are correct, but they could be the players who didn’t want to work the extra time and felt they had to in order to keep their playing time up. One thing is for sure, all the players currently on this roster, the ones who have remained with the school and who are here because of Rich Rodriguez have nothing but praise for the direction of the program and are making it clear they want their coach and his staff leading them back to the top of college football, but with these investigations going on indefinitely, only time will tell if that will happen.
For more info: Check out Michigan Examiner Frank Benson.
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