The Arizona Wildcats are reportedly on the verge of hiring Rich Rodriguez, although nothing is official. If Rich-Rod is indeed the new man in town in Tucson, he comes with a somewhat checkered history as a college football head coach.
The good: Rodriguez is 120-84-2 in college. He's considered one of the great innovators on offense with his spread option attack. He enjoyed his greatest success with the West Virginia Mountaineers, taking them to four Big East titles and two BCS bowl bids in his final three seasons, and was one win away from a national championship bid in his final season.
When Rodriguez's offense gets going, it's one of the most exciting things to watch in college football.
The bad: Pretty much have to look at how Rodriguez performed at Michigan, leading them to two straight bowl-less seasons before bowing out with a 7-6 season. Rodriguez was never able to adjust to his spread system with Lloyd Carr's recruits, and just as he was starting to get the hang of things he was let go.
Additionally, Rodriguez had trouble dealing with the Michigan establishment, and he was not liked much by many of the older Michigan players (some ended up transferring). The Wolverines were also handed five major rules violations after failing to comply with practice times and conducting unofficial scrimmages. His departure from West Virginia to Michigan was hardly harmonious either.
There's definitely a lot of excitement that Rodriguez brings, but it's best to be cautious too.
To discuss the possibility of Rodriguez as Wildcats head coach, go to Arizona Desert Swarm.