Michigan AD gives Coach Rodriguez his support despite struggles

The University of Michigan isn’t used to losing and with the team at 2-4 and off an upset loss to Toledo it’s understandable that their backers would be getting impatient.  Some have even suggested that first year coach Rich Rodriguez be shown the door after six games.  On Thursday, school athletic director Bill Martin admonished fans for this sentiment, stressing the importance of “patience” and giving Rodriguez his full support.

The Wolverines opened 2008 with a home loss to the University of Utah, which seemed a lot worse at the time now that the Utes are ranked #14 and have extended their winning run to a 7-0 record.  Rodriguez managed to get his first win the following week against Miami-OH but aside from an upset win over then #9 Wisconsin it’s all been losses for the former West Virginia head man.  A 17 point setback to Notre Dame and last Saturday’s 3 point upset defeat at the hands of Toledo have been the biggest blows.

While to the outside observer it’s hard to see what direction the team is going in under Rodriguez, Wolverine AD Martin issued a call for calm and reiterated his belief in his new coach:

"There's absolutely no question I'm totally supportive of Rich Was I surprised with the loss last Saturday? Sure I was, no question about it. But I think he's the right man for this program at this time. You always have to, when you're sitting in my seat, look at long term. You can't look at instant gratification."

Martin also gave the disgruntled Wolverine boosters a little history lesson, reminding them that Nick Saban suffered a loss to the University of Lousiana-Monroe in his first season at the Alabama helm:

"And where is he now? [No. 2] in the country?  Second year. So things turn quickly."

Rodriguez fell back on an excuse from “college football coaching 101” in his comments, suggesting that the team was having difficulties “implementing his system” before giving his charges a tepid vote of confidence:

"Most coaches will tell you in the first year they expect a few bumps in the road, some places maybe larger than others. Honestly I didn't think we'd have this many bumps. Unfortunately we haven't helped ourselves in some of the things late that have happened in games [because of] crucial errors. But it's nothing we don't think we can overcome. And I certainly don't think there's anything the players don't think we can overcome."

They’ll have a lot to “overcome” this weekend as the Wolverines travel to play #3 Penn State before returning home a week from Saturday to take on #20 Michigan State.