In only two years, the University of Michigan’s football team has made serious strides towards ruining their long-standing reputation as one of the cleanest programs in the country. Head coach Rich Rodriguez and six other U of M staffers have been “reprimanded” by the school in some form or another. The school plans to force the football program to practice 120 hours less over the next two years, as well as, limit the number of quality control staffers to five to three. I seriously doubt these self-imposed restrictions will deter the NCAA from issuing the school some infractions of their own, but it doesn’t hurt. We shall see how the Wolverines limit their practices over this season. If Rodriguez is unable to have a good season this year, it’s likely he’ll be fired anyway. When the Wolverines pressured Lloyd Carr to retire and hired Rich Rodriguez they broke a line of coaching ties that date back to Bo Schemblecher’s first year as head coach in 1969. The Wolverines have taken two giant steps backward the past two seasons, and things don’t appear to be getting any better.

University of Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez is in trouble again. The NCAA has published its conclusion stating the Wolverines violated NCAA rules in the first year and a half in Rodriguez’s reign in Ann Arbor. Players were required to practice more than the allotted time for collegiate players to practice during the season and off season. “Rich Rod” hasn’t been a hit on the field either with his Wolverines going 8-16 during his two seasons in the job. Michigan may pull emulate USC by inflicting self-imposed sanctions to lessen the apparently unavoidable NCAA sanctions that will be decided in August. Michigan’s athletic director David Brandon gave Rodriguez a vote of confidence stating that his job is safe in 2010, but if the former West Virgina head coach doesn’t have a good season this year it could be his last at U of M.