Mr. Westerdawg has a post up about fan perspective that’s worth a read for most Georgia fans. Basically, life could be a lot worse – and if you’re a Michigan fan, it is.
Along those lines, Coach Rodriguez passes on some advice to college football fans who have taken things a little too hard.
“It’s amazing some of the things that people would say (on a message board) or yell at you of a personal nature,” Rodriguez said Monday. “You almost want to tell them, “Get a life.’
“There’s a whole lot bigger problems. Look at the economy.”
Umm… I’ll pass on the snarky comment about how much Rodriguez makes a year compared with the salary of the typical Michigan fan who’s endured a season which will end with the Wolverines staying home during the bowls for the first time in 34 years. But could you imagine Mark Richt telling Georgia fans to get a life?
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UPDATE: Dawg fans, it really could be worse. A lot worse.
Get The Picture 
Coaches with half a brain know better. Without the craziness, there is no $4 million per year contract. It is the craziness that drives the demand for wins, which drives the salaries of winning coaches ever higher. Without this crazy demand, the cost of labor for coaches would plummet.
So, in a very real sense, coaches can – and perhaps should – look at the economy. Then coaches might realize just how well they have it. Sure, they have to put up with bitching and moaning from a spoiled fan base from time to time. But in a broader sense, you should view this bitching as stakeholders voicing their displeasure on the lack of return on their investments much like every other CEO in the country is facing at this exact moment. What coaches endure is not exactly unique.
The only difference is that a coach’s performance has nothing to do with the economy. College football is recession-resistant. Coaches aren’t getting canned because times are bad with donations. It is strictly performance based, and it is often the coaches that decry the craziness that fail to perform. It’s perfectly irrational human behavior.
Could you imagine the CEO of Microsoft telling his shareholders to get a life for expecting Microsoft not to get blasted in the marketplace every time they unveil a new product? It’s laughable, really.
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Rodriguez said that in the context of complaining about his players and coaches getting attacked personally. The majority of his comments were fair, although I’ll agree that “there are more important things in the world” is a weak position to take when you’re making an arm and a leg to coach football.
Rodriguez is dealing with a shitstorm right now because Michigan fans have no experience with a team this bad. UM has a fairly reasonable fanbase, but this season has been a real test.
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> Without the craziness, there is no $4
> million per year contract.
Exactly.
I definitely agree that people often take things way too far. This is, after all, just a game, which is played for entertainment.
But coaches need to understand that a huge part of the fun for fans is GETTING excited about the sport, talking about it, offering their own opinions, etc. It doesn’t matter if fans are wrong, obsessed, or whatever. While there is a line that should not be crossed, it is because of this fanatacism that they make the big bucks.
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“But could you imagine Mark Richt telling Georgia fans to get a life?”
Well, he’s already told us we don’t know jack about football so…
Seriously though, no I can’t imagine him being so colossaly stupid as to bite the $2.8 million dollar hand that feeds him.
Either way, if Rodriguez is so concerned about the state of the economy maybe he can fork over some of his outrageous salary to the fans in West Virginia who forked over their hard-earned money to pay for his sorry contract-breaking arse.
There’s a little saying for which Rich Rod is now becoming closely acquainted: “You reap what you sow.” I seriously doubt many fans of CFB are shedding tears for his current state of malaise, however irrational it may be.
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