Arizona Football: Will Rich Rodriguez Leave?

Fans didn’t expect a College Football Playoff berth for Arizona Football, but we thought it could be another fun season.

I am puzzled by what is going on with Arizona Football. I don’t know how a team that went to the Fiesta Bowl last year could get blasted by 46 on the road, to a less than stellar Washington club.

I didn’t expect a College Football Playoff berth, but I thought it could be another fun season.

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The excuses for the poor performance of our Cats has been like a bad freeway car pile up.

Middle linebacker injuries, concussions, 3-3-5, other injuries, recruiting, more injuries and Rich Rodriguez.

I’m disappointed.

Tucson is disappointed.

Some of you will probably think what I’m about to say is crazy, but here it goes.

I believe Arizona Football’s best chance to ever become relevant is to keep Rich Rodriguez and hope Coach Rod doesn’t jump ship.

When Rich Rod was hired in 2012, I was skeptical because of what happened at Michigan.

He didn’t win in Ann Arbor.

The year after Rodriguez was fired, Brady Hoke led the Wolverines to 11 wins and a Sugar Bowl Victory, all with Rich Rod’s players.

The rest of the Hoke era did not go as well as the team that danced in New Orleans.

That Sugar Bowl team would have been Rich Rod’s fourth year at Michigan.

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Rich Rod is in his fourth year at Arizona. Fans and pundits are wondering why the Cats do not have the depth and recruiting that Rich Rod would have had his fourth year at Michigan.

The answer?

Because it’s Michigan.

Michigan sells itself. It is known for football like Ohio State and Alabama are.

Arizona fans don’t want to hear this, but it’s a fact.

Arizona is a basketball school just like USC is a football school. Have you noticed any noise from USC basketball lately? They have a good squad every time Hailey’s comet comes around.

Arizona football is not nearly as bad as what USC basketball has been the past few years. Recruiting to Arizona for football is a tough sell, but it can be done. It just takes time.

In Rodriguez’s weekly press conference, he said, “It used to be that you’d have four, five, six years to build a program. Now the patience is a lot less. Three is the new five.”

This quote screamed at me because of the recent internet buzz about Rich Rod’s name being linked to a handful of jobs to legitimate football schools who have been great once and others that are possible sleeping giants.

Mandatory Credit: USA Today Sports Images

Greg Byrne is not going to fire Coach Rod after one bad season, but will Rodriguez decide to look for greener pastures instead?

I would not blame him if he did. The attendance of the past two home games has looked atrocious. Why continue to coach where you are not appreciated if you could go to a place where football is important?

But if he did leave, it would make his quote about patience look a bit fishy. If he really thinks it takes six years to build a program and left after four years voluntarily, that would seem like he was giving up.

Rich Rodriguez was a home run hire and still is. If he leaves, Byrne will try and sell the fan base on his next golden boy, but the fact is no one wants to come to Tucson to coach college football. At least no one Arizona fans would fall over backward for.

Tucson is the center of the universe for us who live here, but in the college football landscape it’s looked like an old west frontier outpost.

Rich Rod can change that perception with time.

I’ve waited this long for Arizona to be consistently relevant in football. What’s a season or two more in the big scheme of things?

Bear Down!

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