Know your enemy: That team up North edition

On November 11th, I made a trip out to Irvine, California for an extended weekend visit.  That evening my friend and I were doing some shopping for dinner and decided to stop in at the local Trader Joe’s for a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck.  At the checkout, I pulled out my credit card and the cashier, whose name was Ramy (pronounced Rahm-ee), asked me for my id as well.  Trader Joe’s, which began in California, promotes casual conversation between its employees and customers.  The reason I bring this up is not to provide an informational post about Trader Joe’s, but rather to relate the brief conversation that ensued upon the cashier seeing my driver’s license…

Ramy: Oh, all the way from Ohio!
Me: Yep.
Ramy: And from Columbus, huh?  Are you a Buckeye?
Me: Absolutely!
Ramy: That Jim Tressel seems like a real stand-up guy.  I think he’s probably one of the best coaches in the country.
Me: Yea, we’re definitely proud to have him.
Ramy: He’s not like that Rich Rodriguez.  That guy’s a dirtbag.
Me: Haha, yea!  Hey, I do some writing for a sports website, and I’m going to quote you on that.  I’m going to say that…(looking at nametag)…Raym-ee from Trader Joe’s said…
Ramy: It’s pronounced Rahm-ee.
Me: Okay, I’m going to say that Ramy from Trader Joe’s said RichRod is a dirtbag!

Now, the truth is that I don’t have anything personal against Rodriguez.  I’ve never met the guy, and I’ve obviously never been coached by him.  But, you know, I just felt like Ramy should have his voice heard.

But what could make a UC Irvine Anteater say such a thing?  Was it just the “Trader Joe’s way” coming through, making fun conversation with a customer?  Sure, that was probably part of it, but why were those comments the fun conversation of choice?  Rodriguez’s coaching style has been documented and commented upon, but it’s hard to say the belittling and vulgarity is truly out of the norm in the world of football.  Bobby Knight certainly had a controversial image due to his style as a coach, but many players would say that he was a great coach who knew what he was doing.  RichRod’s NCAA violations have also been reported, but who doesn’t get tripped up by all those rules once in awhile?

No doubt these issues make it a bit easier for the scUM faithful to become increasingly critical of Rodriguez as his teams continue to come up short against the Buckeyes (as well as against the majority of other teams over the past few years), but the negative perspective will likely reverse course pretty quickly if Rodriguez can turn the ship around (that is, start winning consistently) in time to keep his job.  He is headed for his first winning season in Ann Arbor (third time’s a charm apparently), regardless of what happens on Saturday, so there seems to be some hope for him.

Rodriguez has shown that he can produce winning teams, experiencing significant success at West Virginia before deciding that he’d rather lose to Ohio State every season than stay in the Big East, and his past accomplishments were enough to have writer Tom Dienhart rate him as the second best coach in the Big Ten, ahead of Tressel and just behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.  That’s all fine and good.  Now put up or shut up.  Even Dienhart may be willing to adjust that order a bit now, whether because of continued losses or because of a sudden change in the list of names available.

Rodriguez’s presence at TSUN in a way presents a dilemma for Ohio State fans.  Do you love having the guy there because he’s putting losing teams on the field, or do you hope for his firing?  Do you enjoy the fact that he brings controversy with him, or do you wish for a more “respectable rival” to face each season?  The answer is probably just that we’ll take on whoever happens to be coaching scUM in any given season, taking an “equal opportunity” approach to our disdain.  Saturday is another opportunity to have it out on the field.  This series of posts all season long has been intended to learn more about the coaches we are facing.  I expect that in one way or another we’ll learn some more about RichRod this weekend.