Tom Dienhart, Rivals, wrote a article on the woes of the Michigan defense last year and how the Wolverines plan to fix them.
Rodriguez on Last Season: "I don't think you ever anticipate 3-9 bad. I didn't even back in my first year at West Virginia. I thought defensively we'd be better. I don't know if it was because the offense was ineffective that it put pressure on the defense. We just didn't play as well defensively as I thought we would.”
"But there never is just one reason why you lose. We had so many unforced turnovers. I mean, we just dropped the ball. The Notre Dame game, we didn't even give ourselves a chance. Some areas, we were going to struggle regardless of what we did.”
Opposing Coach on Last Season: "I still think they had the players. I thought their front seven was very good, but the secondary wasn't what I expected.”
"I don't know if they really knew what they wanted to do philosophically. Scott is a 4-3 guy and Rich is a 3-3 guy [WVU ran a 3-3-5 set under Rodriguez]. There was a time when Rich was letting Scott do his thing, and then had him do some others. They never seemed to be on the same page."
Rodriguez on Changing Coordinators: "It wasn't so much scheming, even though there were some philosophical differences. A lot of it – I didn't feel the chemistry was there between the defensive staff and most of the players. I thought that was important. I said, 'Greg, this is what I want. I need someone who can help and develop the chemistry among the staff and defensive players.'”
"For whatever reason, it was missing last year. I thought Greg had the personality to do that. That was as important as anything. He is a positive guy and has a lot of experience. We need someone to bring all of the defensive assistants' minds together, and I thought Greg was the guy to do it."
Rodriguez on Next Season: "There are a lot of tough kids who want to be good in the worst way. And I think the players will do what's demanded of them. I say that to our coaches and players all of the time: If we demand it, they'll do it. We have been very specific in what we are looking for in the area of effort, and we have gotten a great response. I have been very impressed."