Michigan Manhandled

Michigan coach denies wrongdoing
ESPN.com

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday that his football program has abided by NCAA rules, despite allegations from anonymous players and former players who say the team has practiced far beyond the time allowed.

"We know the rules," Rodriguez said, "and we follow the rules."

At a news conference in Ann Arbor, Rodriguez became emotional and had to gather himself several times with glassy eyes as he denied any wrongdoing.

"I guess I'm here to tell you that whatever you've heard or want to believe, the truth is that this coaching staff cares very deeply about the young men in our program," he said.



The school on Sunday launched an investigation into allegations that the football program regularly violates NCAA rules limiting how much time players can spend on training and practice.

Call Ripley's everybody. I'm about to defend a Wolverine. I don't think Rich Rodriguez has really done anything wrong. He violated some NCAA rules that basically every other team breaks. Name me one team that isn't "encouraging" aka pressuring their players into working more than 20 hours a week on football. And I mean power conference teams, not the Ivy League or the MEAC.

It's ludicrous to believe a team could be competitive by only putting in 20 hours a week. Now, players can volunatrily work more than 20 hours and I assume that at most colleges the players respect the coach enough and care enough about their own development as a player to put in the extra time. It's just my hunch, but I would imagine Rich Rod isn't well liked by his players and thus, they don't want to give him extra effort. When he pressed them too, they blew the whistle on him.

I'm not trying to tell 18-22 kids how to live their lives, but if they looked at Rich Rod's past, they'd know he can make them and that team better. They may not like his methods, but they'll like his results. If you want to play for a nice guy, go play for Bill Stewart. Just forget about ever playing for a national title. Freaking brats.