The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 5A Will Denard be able to maintain his dramatic run? Rodriguez discusses his critics, NCAA probe and team's future From Page 1A carries. It's a scary high number for a running back - let alone the new face of the Wolverines. After the game, neither Rodri- guez nor Robinson realized how many attempts the 6-foot-3, 193- pound sophomore had taken. "If he can carry it 29 times for 200 yards, he'll carry it 29 times," Rodriguez said, smiling. "It is a long season and we play a lot of physical teams. But he's a very strong individual. He can handle it." If Robinson were to carry the ball 29 times a game for the rest of the season, he'd end up with 348 rushing attempts on the year - a new Michigan rushing record. At the moment, Chris Perry's 338 attempts in 2003 hold the record, and even workhorse Mike Hart's heavi- est season (2006) was just 318 attempts. And for comparison's sake, former quarterback Chad Henne rushed 180 times over four years at Michigan. Robinson won't get 29 carries a game, especially after he inev- itably tallies a few more jarring hits in September. (Rodriguez admitted it was a bit higher than he'd anticipated, though most plays were planned runs.) That's COUCH BAN From Page 1A resolution. "We're disappointed that City Council never reached out to the University community to really collaborate on this issue," Ray- mond said. Raymond added that though the assembly supports fire prevention measures, they are disappointed that the council considered the ordinance over the summer and did not attempt to get students involved in the process. "When the City Council tries to impose itself on these issues with- out talking to all parties involved, then you run into problems of communication," he said. Though Taylor said he didn't think City Council targeted stu- dent groups for input on the ordinance, he argued that such a _ measure was not necessary. WESTIN From Page 1A graduated in 1974, but continued to study at the University, enroll- ing in the Law School. After graduating from the Law School in 1977, Westin served as a law clerk to J. Edward Lumbard of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and later for Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell. In 1991, Westin accepted a position as general counsel at Capital Cities/ABC. He eventu- ally became president of produc- tion, and in 1997, with almost no experience in television journal- ism prior to his counsel position, he became the president of ABC News. Westin is in charge of "World News Tonight," "Nightline," "Good Morning America," "20/20," "This Week with Chris- tiane Amanpour" and "World News Now." He is the longest serving network news division president, responsible for multiple Emmy and Peabody awards and has made crucial decisions guid- ing the network through many changes including the search for a the risk a team like Michigan takes with the spread offense, and that's why teams don't normally run quarterbacks like running backs. Yes, Robinson is resilient. But him running so much isn't necessary. Michigan has a nice supply of young running backs who can carry more of the load while letting Robinson dazzle as a dual-threat quarterback. Robinson is really fun to watch - from the press box, stands or even the field. "You'll be blocking, and two seconds later, you look up and see Denard 20 yards upfield," said center David Molk. "There's nothing better than that." He's fun for the Michigan defense to watch from the side- lines, too, because for the first time since fall camp ended, they aren't the ones trying to catch him. Connecticut got a taste of that, and its coach had a mes- sage for the 11 teams remaining on the Wolverines' schedule. "Denard Robinson is going to make people look bad," Con- necticut coach Randy Edsall said. If he's healthy, I can't wait to watch. -Auerbach can be reached at naauer@mich.edu "It is an ordinance which ... is not exclusively related to stu- dents," Taylor said. Taylor added that public con- versations about the ordinance have been happening as far back as last April, when a local resident urged City Council to consider banning upholstered porch fur- niture in light of the on-campus blaze. Despite opposing the ordi- nance, Raymond said the assem- bly is prepared to work with City Council to discuss more compre- hensive fire prevention measures in the future. City Council took up a simi- lar resolution in April 2004 that would have banned upholstered furniture on porches, noting that it could impede residents' ability to get out of the house in case of a fire. In August 2004, City Council postponed the resolution indefi- nitely. news anchor to replace Peter Jen- nings on "World News Tonight" in 2005. The search for Jennings' replacement was a turbulent peri- od in Westin's career, with "World News Tonight" going through four anchor changes in a five year period. Fellow 'U' alum Bob Woodruff - who got his J.D. in 1987 - co- anchored the show with Elizabeth Vargas for four months before Woodruff resigned after suffer- ing serious injuries while report- ing in Iraq, and Vargas resigned shortly thereafter. Westin select- ed Charles Gibson as lead anchor, and he served for three years before retiring, leading Westin to fill the position with then-"Good Morning America" co-anchor Diane Sawyer. Though he navigated the net- work through rough waters, some speculate that his struggles dur- ing a tough time for the news business could have influenced his decision to leave. In the past few years, ABC News has cut staff by 25 percent and according to a report in the Times, there is spec- ulation that Disney executives were unhappy with ABC News's financial performance. From Page1A week, Rodriguez sat down with the Daily to go on the record about the situation he now finds himself in. He bluntly discussed the past, admitting his early recognition of looming on- and off-the-field problems and also saying that the NCAA's investigation of his pro- gram is "embarrassing." At the same time, the coach jumped at any opportunity to discuss the future and signaled his steadfast belief that he will turn the program. THE CRITICS AND HIS TENURE The interview offered a glimpse of the unvarnished Rich Rodri- guez, not the caricature collaged from press conference sound bites and newspaper clippings. But the Rich Rodriguez who admits his regrets from the past two years and gets emotional during talk of his tenure as Michigan's head coach. At times light-hearted and at times sternly serious, Rodriguez was brash, off-the-cuff, a ball coach - but a ball coach who was willing to reflect, analyze, introspect. He discussed his frustration with what he called "misinforma- tion" and "misperceptions" about him and his program. "It's almost been an avalanche of things that maybe have caused a certain wave of discontent that maybe didn't have to be there," Rodriguez said. While some were caught off guard by the team's struggles on and off the field these past two years, the coach himself was not. on the field, Rodriguez under- stood the challenges the team faced in getting the right talent to fit his system from early on. Asked if he was surprised that the program isn't further along as season three gets underway, the coach said, "in some respects I am, and in some respects after the first spring, I'm not." "I mean I knew after the first spring it was going to take a little longer to do what we wanted to do. So I didn't have a particular, I didn't come in with a particular window of say it's going to happen by this year, or that year. I just expected it to happen - and hopefully sooner rather than later." off the field, Rodriguez points to his controversial departure from West Virginia as the seed of the dis- content he's faced in Ann Arbor. "It all started when I left West Virginia and there was a big back- lash from back home about that and I didn't talk publicly, talk to the media before I left," he said. "I wish, looking back, I wish, I prob- ably should've done that." Rodriguez said he opted not speak on advice from legal counsel, as he was in the midst of a lawsuit with West Virginia and several complications regarding the buy- out from his contract there. "Looking back I should've, I should've said this is the rea- sons why we're leaving, this is my thoughts about that place," he said. "And I think there was so much misinformation that got it all start- ed in a wrong fashion." What surprised Rodriguez though is just how long complica- tions from those initial problems have lingered. "I thought that would dissi- pate after a few months, it didn't. It lasted a year and a half - and it may still be going on," he said with a chuckle. Much of the criticism of Rodri- guez from within circles in Ann Arbor is that the coach isn't Ann SAM WOLSON/Daily Michigan head coach tich todriguez on the sidelines daring Michigan's 30-10 victory oser Llconn on Satarday. Arbor enough, he's not of the fabled Michigan Man lineage. The criti- cisms are part elitist condescen- sion, part collegiate jingoism. He's from West Virginia and he didn't earn his stripes in the Michigan system, critics have said. The first charge is also true of Fielding Yost, the second is true of Bo Schem- bechler. In the interview, Rodriguez rebuffed that talk, but said he understood it - at least in part. "No, I think that comes with the job," he said when asked if the criticism surprised him at all. "You know when you're not winning, there's skepticism and doubt. And when you are, there's less of it." But Rodriguez did say that he finds some of the criticism of him so far off-base that it's laughable - especially those claims that he doesn't fit in here. "As far as like the traditions of Michigan and all that, I studied it a little bit," he said. "Some of it, I didn't have to study, you already knew about it, you knew about the Ohio State game, you knew about Bo Schembechler, you knew about those things. "So you know, this mispercep- tion that this new guy was coming in and trying to change all the tra- ditions was silly," he continued. "I mean it really is just kind of comi- cal to look and think thatsomebody would think that." NCAA INVESTIGATIONS While he couldn't discuss details of the NCAA's investigation into his program for violating rules regarding offseason workouts and practice times, Rodriguez did talk about the impact the investigation has had on his program and him personally. Asked if he was embarrassed by the investigation, the coach said yes. "Oh yeah, I mean sure. Anytime you get 27 years of coaching and never have any issues at all and all of a sudden you have this and your program has to go through that type of thing, it's embarrassing to deal with it," he said. Rodriguez did note however that, in his mind, the wrongdo- ing the NCAA ultimately found through its investigation was far different from the initial accusa- tions published in the Detroit Free Press last August that prompted the investigation. In its notice of allegations, the NCAA reported discovering five violations including that the team exceeded the number of coaches it can have working with student- athletes and that it had coaches monitoring football players in vol- untary, offseason workouts and conditioning, which is against NCAA policy. The Free Press reported in August of last year that the team "consistently has violated NCAA rules governing offseason work- outs, in-season demands on players and mandatory summer activities under coach Rich Rodriguez." Rodriguez said in the interview that the Free Press's allegations and the NCAA's findings weren't the same. "I think we tried to explain our- selves both from an institutional standpoint and from me and the staff as well as we could, try to tell everybody what was really going on," Rodriguez said, "...what pre- empted the investigation in that article in the Free Press and what came out later was really two dif- ferent things." Rodriguez also expressed his frustration with what he deemed "a perfect storm of miscommunica- tion ina whole lot of areas" that led to the investigation. "The thing that bothered me the most was that everything that happened through the investiga- tion or because of it, we could've fixed in literally hours or minutes had we just communicated better," he said. The only NCAA charge that Michigan is fighting is the claim that Rodriguez "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance with- in the football program" and didn't sufficiently monitor the activities of his program with regard to the other allegations. Asked if that claim in particular is tougher to swallow as it has his name on it, Rodriguez nodded. "Sure," he said. "I think any- time you have your name on any- thing like that it's just something that you ... have a hard time deal- ing with, so that's one reason why we made our case, but we'll see what happens." Michigan is still awaiting final word from the NCAA after com- pleting its hearing in Seattle in late August. LOOKING FORWARD Rodriguez isn't a big fan of dwelling on the past. Several times in the interview the coach made reference to put- ting these past couple years behind the program and focusing on what's ahead. "You know I really haven't looked back too much to reflect because I don't - other than to look back and learn - I don't know how much good it would do as far as going forward," he said at one point. "I think you have to look back and learn, which we've all done," he said. "But I think you just try to focus on doing what you've got to do to build the best program in America and I still believe we've made strides to that end." He said he doesn't think the last two years were for naught, they were part of a learningcurve - just one far steeper than anyone, espe- cially Rodriguez, had hoped. "I don't think the last two years have been wasted in any stretch, I think there's a lot of things that we've tried to do in the program that will help us set up for the future," he said. "I just, I know everybody hopes it happens right now and so do I." During the interview last Mon- day, Rodriguez said the much- anticipated season opener against Connecticut on Saturday wasn't even in the forefront of his mind. "We're always worried about what's next," he said, "and for us it's not even, right now it's not even Saturday, it's today, it's Monday's practice, what we got to do today and once today's over, what we got to do tomorrow." Though in the interview Rodri- guez addressed off-field issues like the NCAA investigation and his reputation, he prefers to talk foot- ball - his program, his players, his coaches. The resthe'llleaveforoth- ers to talk about. "Most coaches like to talk foot- ball, talk about their preparations for the games and their opponents and all that as opposed to, you know there's way too much talk about other stuff - I mean that's society today," he said. "It's more exciting to talk about the other stuff I guess, I don't know," he said with a pause. "Not to me." The off-the-field problems have weighed on him, it's clear. But he says they haven't affected the job he's done. "There's been a few more obstacles, things to overcome," he admits, "but I don't think it's wavered our approach." Asked if there's any doubt in his mind that he can turn the program around, Rodriguez responded quickly. "No, none whatsoever." - Managing Sports Editor Ryan Kartje contributed to this report. Petraeus: Images of burning Quran bad for U.S. cause in Iraq and Afghanistan WANT TO CHECK THE LATEST *N HEADLINES ON YOUR CELL PHONE? O CHECK OUT OUR NEW MOBILE SITE: M.MICH IGANDAILY.COM General responds to threat to burn copies of Muslim holy book KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The top U.S. and NATO com- mander in Afghanistan warned Tuesdaythat anAmerican church's threatto burn copies of the Muslim holy book the Quran could endan- ger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide. "Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan - and around the world - to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen. David Petraeus said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. His comments followed a protest Monday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Flor- ida-based Dove World Outreach Center - an evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy - to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States that provoked the Afghan war. Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist that it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive. In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story. At Monday's protest, several hundred Afghans rallied outside a Kabul mosque, burning Ameri- can flags and an effigy of Dove World's pastor and chanting "death to America." Members of the crowd briefly pelted a pass- ing U.S. military convoy with stones, but were ordered to stop by rally organizers. Two days earlier, thousands of Indonesian Muslims had rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and infive other cities to protestthe church's plans. Petraeus warned images of burning Qurans could be used to incite anti-American sentiments similar to the pictures of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Graib (ah-booh GRABE) prison. "I am very concerned by the potential repercussions of the pos- sible (Quran) burning. Even the rumor that it might take place has sparked demonstrations such as the one that took place in Kabul yester- day," Petraeus said in his message. "Were the actual burning to take place, the safety of our soldiers and civilians would be put in jeopardy and accomplishment of the mission would be made more difficult."