Rich Rod comfortable in second year at UM

By TEDDY GREENSTEIN

He no longer has to tiptoe through Michigan’s football offices, worried about stepping on the wrong carpet square or perhaps forgetting a secretary’s name.

Year One of the Rich Rodriguez era was spectacularly awkward, with endless talk about his West Virginia buyout, his break from school tradition on captains, lineman Justin Boren’s defection to Ohio State and his initial failure to reserve the No. 1 jersey for a veteran receiver.

“There were a lot of things,” Rodriguez said in a telephone interview. “Some were a result of my ignorance and could have been avoided. Everyone’s happy to get all that behind us.”

Now Rodriguez is completely free to do his job — coach football.

The Wolverines’ main goal has been to revitalize an offense that ranked 99th in the country — and last in the Big Ten — at 20.3 points per game.

You don’t have to be the godfather of the modern spread-option attack — as Rodriguez is — to know that it all starts with the quarterback. Michigan again has a blank canvas at that position.

Nick Sheridan, a redshirt junior who showed slivers of promise in Michigan’s 29-6 victory at Minnesota, was lost for the spring on March 24 after breaking a small bone in his right leg.

That injury put all the attention on Tate Forcier, an incoming freshman who has drawn raves for his quick feet and accurate arm.

Still, Forcier has no college game experience, has to learn a complicated system and carries just 185 pounds on a 6-foot frame.

He’ll be challenged in the fall by Sheridan and another smallish incoming freshman, Denard Robinson.

“They’re really very similar,” Rodriguez said of Robinson and Forcier. “They’re not the biggest guys, but they both can throw on the run and are very accurate.

“The biggest thing is learning a new system. You don’t want their minds to tie up their feet.”

Rodriguez is being optimistic — or maybe he’s dreaming — when he says he hopes his offense will rate a 7 out of 10.

If his Pat White-led attack at West Virginia was a 10, how would he rate last season’s?

“We were a 2,” he said, “at best.”

That’s why Michigan went 3-9, its worst performance in school history and a shocking turn for Rodriguez, who went 32-5 in his final three years in Morgantown.

“I’d have taken it hard if we’d lost four or five games,” he said. “Our great fans, they’re not used to that. Neither am I.

“But it wasn’t a total washout. We put the foundation in that will help us for the future.”

Rodriguez said it’s important to focus on the big picture. The first year is only one year, after all.

“As a coach you think about Years 4-5,” he said.

“But it’s also important to enjoy the process of getting there.”