DAILY SPRTRE DA N
DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
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2B - January 14, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
SAID AND HEARD
"Before the game, I felt pretty
nauseous. Then I got hit and I felt
great. It might have had something
to do with that goal I scored."
- Michigan senior Chad Kolarik on taking
a huge hit and scoring a goal within the
first 30 seconds of Saturday's game.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
ADAM
HARRIS
The iunior sprinter broke the
Michigan record in the 60-
meter dash with a time of 6.64,
.07 seconds faster than his
previous school record-setting
time, at the nonscoring Eastern
Michigan Open Saturday.
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Rodriguez: All business from the get-go
Looking for
track and field
and tennis
coverage?
It's all on the website.
Read those stories
and much more at
michigandaily.com.
The Rich Rodriguez media
tour is in full force. If you went all
weekend without seeing or hear-
ing from the new Michigan foot-
ball coach, congratulations: You
live in a cave.
Whether
you saw him
on ESPN,
heard him
on talk radio}
or ran into
him at Friday
night's hockey SCOTT
game (Coach, BELL
we'll forgive-
you for the 0-
fer in Score-O
if you beat Ohio State), Rodriguez
has seemingly been everywhere
the past week.
But as impressive and exciting
as Rodriguez's public antics are,
his antics behind closed doors are
even more encouraging.
When Bo Schembechler took
over the program in 1969, he faced
a similar situation. First impres-
sions are everything, and Bo made
sure his was a lasting one.
Some of the team's best players,
who lived in a house called The
Den of the Mellow Men, moseyed
into the team's first January meet-
ing about 10 minutes late.
How did Bo respond?
"From this day forward, you
will sit up straight - no slouching
- with both feet on the floor," the
first-year coach said, according to
his book Bo's Lasting Lessons, co-
authored by University Prof. John
Bacon. "You will have no hats
on, and you'll be looking straight
ahead, paying attention, staring
at me just like I'm staring at you.
And from now on, you'd better be
on time - every time!"
He didn't stop there. Half of the
team lived in Ypsilanti because
the cost of living was much lower.
Not on Bo's watch.
"From now on, everyone is
Mario Manningham, neither of
whom specifically told Rodriguez
they were leaving, failed to show
up to the team's first meeting.
Rodriguez could have given
them the star treatment, but
instead, he helped make their
decisions for them.
Rodriguez decided Mallett
and Manningham's actions spoke
just as loudly as words could. But
if words needed to be spoken,
Rodriguez covered that base, too.
"I don't care," Rodriguez said
about Mallett. "He's not playing
for Michigan. I'm concerned with
who is playing for Michigan."
Does that have the Michigan
football team's attention?
If not, how about his decision
to have his assistants visit each
individual player's home in Ann
Arbor? Or the threat of person-
ally enforcing a Thursday night
curfew? Or the implementation of
the hardest strength and condi-
tioning program in the nation?
Yes, Rodriguez may be a play-
er's coach. But that bond with
players won't come at the expense
of discipline.
Some fans are angry with
Rodriguez for possibly scaring
away the trio of Wolverines that
left the program last week. But
ask yourself this: If they weren't
on board with Rodriguez's vision,
are they really players you want
on the team in the first place?
Rodriguez still has a lot to
learn about Michigan tradition.
He's not Bo Schembechler, he's
not Lloyd Carr - he's not even
Les Miles.
But Rodriguez's first full week
in Ann Arbor was a home run all
the way into the cheap seats.
And he couldn't have picked a
better Michigan Man to model his
first week after.
- Bell can be reached at
scotteb@umich.edu.
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez made appearances at many Michigan athletics venues during his first week on the job.
going to live in the city of Ann
Arbor. Freshmen and sophomores
are going to live in the dormi-
tories, upperclassmen will live
in apartments near campus and
married students will live in uni-
versity married housing," he said,
according to the book.
Needless to say, Bo immedi-
ately set the tone for his 20-year
tenure. His players knew he
meant business, and Bo had their
respect for the rest of his illustri-
ous coaching career.
At his introductory press con-
ference, Rodriguez told the media
that the mayor of Toledo gave him
the book. If his actions since tak-
ing over the team are any indica-
tion, Rodriguez has already read
it.
Many Wolverine players prob-
ably saw YouTube clips of Rodri-
guez chest bumping players on
the field and thought, "Oh wow,
this is a player's coach." Maybe
they would get a little more slack
than they did under Lloyd Carr.
But just like Bo did 40 years
before him, Rodriguez made sure
there would be no confusion about
who was in charge.
Junior wide receiver Adrian
Arrington text-messaged Rodri-
guez, telling him he was going to
enter the NFL Draft. Text mes-
saging your coach to tell him
you're quitting is sketchy by itself,
but at least Arrington gave Rodri-
guez fair warning.
Freshman quarterback Ryan
Mallett and junior wide receiver
9I~
Brunemann sets record in
second place finish for Blue
In return from
stomach flu, junior
qualifies for NCAAs
ByRUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND.- It may be one
of the most grueling events in
swimming, but Emily Brunemann
has made the 66-length mile look
easy.
At the Notre
Dame Invi-
tational last
weekend, the
junior took a ,
sizable lead in
the 1,65o-yard
freestyle after
20 lengths and
never looked BRUNEMANN
back.
She continued to distance her-
self from the competition and eas-
ily cruised to victory, fueling No.
13 Michigan's second-place finish
in the four-team field.
Brunemann has yet to lose in
the event through four meets this
season.
"Emily is just about as tough
as they come," Michigan coach
Jim Richardson said. "When she
races, she doesn't back down to
anything."
Brunemann's time of 16:21 set a
pool record by six seconds at the
Rolfs Aquatic Center and earned
her an NCAA automatic qualify-
ing time. Despite a recent bout
with stomach flu, Brunemann
continued her aggressive racing
in the 500-yard freestyle, earning
another first-place finish and pool
record (4:47).
"It was really good to see what
I could do this weekend and to
know that I could step up after
being sick," Brunemann said.
Brunemann's record-setting
weekend wasn't enough to cata-
pult Michigan to the top of the
scores, though.
No. 22 Indiana walked away
with the team trophy, 53 points
ahead of the Wolverines with
1,055. Michigan finished well
ahead of host Notre Dame and
conference foe Illinois.
The two-day invitational was
broken up into three sessions. The
Wolverines got off to a sluggish
start Friday and headed to the
locker room looking for answers.
"(Friday) was really hard men-
tally because we hadn't (raced) in
so long," senior Justine Mueller
said. "But we got it out of the way
and Saturday was much better."
Michigan went to work on day
two focused on sharpening its
technique and giving attention to
each individual race.
The approach worked. Michi-
gan outscored defending Big Ten
Champion Indiana in each of
Saturday's sessions. Saturday's
highlights included sophomore
Margaret Kelly's victory in the
100-yard freestyle and Mueller's
close second-place finish in the
400-yard individual medley.
Richardson recognized the need
to improve the team's preparation
before Saturday's races.
"We needed to tighten up our
pre-meet preparation on the deck
and then in the water," Richard-
son said. "In both sessions, they
did a really nice job of making
those adjustments."
The Wolverines added to their
totals by seizing control of the
springboard. Seniors Katie Skend-
rovic and Elyse Lee took first and
second place in Friday's three-
meter competition.
Michigan further established
its diving dominance Saturday,
nabbing four of the top-five spots
in the one-meter springboard.
'M'posts
win in
Senior
Day meet
By CHARLES CLINTON
Daily Sports Writer
It had been a month since
they last swam in a meet, but you
wouldn't have known it watch-
ing the fourth-ranked Wolverines
take on No. 7 Indiana. The Wol-
verines took nine of 16 events to
win the meet, 165-133.
Michigan didn't get out to its
best start, as its "A" relay team
came up less than three-tenths of
a second short of Indiana in the
200-yard medley.
The Wolverines eventu-
ally came back, winning three
straight events. They were led
by junior Bobby Savulich's come-
from-behind win in the 200-yard
freestyle.
It was Michigan's first win
against a ranked team since Nov.
17 against Northwestern. The
Wolverines took the win in stride
as preparation for the upcom-
ing Big Ten dual meets and the
conference championships next
month.
"Indiana is always a battle for
us," Michigan coach Bob Bowman
said. "They always bringthe heat,
but we were up to the task today.
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Senior Alex Vanderkaay won the 200-yard butterfly in one of his final meets at
canham Natatorium.
To come in and win by 30 points
or so makes me feel happy."
Senior Alex Vanderkaay, the
defending national champion in
the 400-yard individual medley,
won the 200-yard butterfly but
finished third in the 400 IM.
"It was a little bit of a disap-
pointment," Vanderkaay said.
"We have four really good swim-
mers in that event and we should
have all finished in the top four,
but with every meet we get closer
to where we need to be."
Although the Wolverines have
three more home dual meets on
the schedule, it was Senior Day
at Canham Natatorium and, as
one of Michigan's leading seniors,
Vanderkaay took the time to
reflect on his time in Ann Arbor.
"It feels weird that I only have
a few more times swimming here
as a student," Vanderkaay said,
"It's kind of emotional."
The meet was the second
matchup between Michigan and
Indiana this season. Michigan
also beat Indiana on Nov. 2.
"I don't think there was much
difference between the two
meets," said Bowman. "We're
both two teams that have put our
programs up there in excellence
and have translated that into the
national rankings."
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