ShareThisEverywhere Rich Rodriguez goes he hears the same question.
"All I get is, 'You're going to be better, right, coach?' And I tell 'em, 'Geez, I hope so.'?"
It would be hard not to be better for the University of Michigan's football team.
Rodriguez was an embattled coach last year. Actually, from the day he got the job.
There was the acrimonious parting with his alma mater and previous employer, West Virginia, and the bitter contract buyout dispute that dogged him almost right to opening day of the 2008 season.
UM paid a large part of the price for his freedom, and Wolverine fans were hoping coach Rod was worth the expense.
They're still hoping.
The immediate return on such a large investment was the worst Michigan season in more than four decades and the first without a bowl trip in 34 years.
It started with a season-opening loss to Utah, fairly forgivable after the fact as the Utes went 13-0 and won the Sugar Bowl. Not so forgivable was a 13-10 loss at home to Toledo, a team that would match UM's 3-9 overall record. And there was little forgiving or forgetting by the Michigan faithful as the Wolverines suffered lopsided losses by a combined 158-62 margin against their four biggest rivals -- Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan State and, of course, Ohio State, which buried UM in the traditional season-ender, 42-7.
As much as Michigan fans groused, there were probably few who felt the pain more than Rodriguez himself.
"Last season was the most frustrating in 20 years of coaching," he said. "I felt good about the progress we were making from week to week, but it wasn't showing on Saturdays and it wasn't showing at the level it had to be."
Will it appear in Year 2 of the "Rich-Rod era"?
"I love the attitude of the team and I think there has been significant progress," he said. "There is less apprehension this year than when a new coach comes in. There's less to explain and there's a greater understanding of our expectations.
"That said, we still have some of the same concerns about depth at some positions. Plus, a lot of positions are wide open and we still have the same concerns about the ability of young guys to play at the level we need them at."
A large part of last year's disaster was rebuilding the entire offense, but without a full complement of recruits suited for Rodriguez's spread-option type of attack.
There is still building to do, including at the most important position, quarterback. But there are suitable newcomers ready to dive in, joining a veteran who at the least got his feet wet a year ago.
Rodriguez affected significant improvement from his first season to his second at West Virginia, but he seems hesitant to promise a jump similar to one that saw the Mountaineers move from 3-8 to 9-4.
"We weren't dealing with as much youth," he said. "You want to see juniors and seniors dominating the depth (chart) with freshmen and sophomores backing them up. That's about where you want to be. We're not there.
"I think we learned from last season, we addressed the issues and now we move on. I realize, unfortunately, it hasn't happened as fast as everybody would like. It hasn't happened as fast as I'd like. But it'll happen."
Maize-and-Blue Nation remains hopeful.
But patient?
(Contact Dave Hackenberg at dhack(at)theblade.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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