ESPN’s Chris Low wrote a great story on how Rich Rodriguez’s decision to pass on Alabama in 2006 and take the Michigan Wolverines job in 2007 changed the landscape of college football as we know it.
After Rodriguez rebuffed the Crimson Tide in 2006, they were able to get their man in Nick Saban, who has won five national titles since then and was in the SEC title game as quickly as year two under his watch. Rodriguez’s road was, well, much different.
Michigan hired “Rich Rod,” as we would come to know him, to succeed Lloyd Carr and he would wind up going 15-22 in three season on the job and never saw a fourth.