The University of Michigan held it’s football bust at Laurel Manor in Livonia, Michigan.
The annual event honors it’s departing seniors and gives out it’s yearly team awards. This year, the team MVP was given to QB Denard Robinson who was also named the Big Ten offensive player of the year last week.
However things got awkward when head coach Rich Rodriguez gave his speech towards the end of the night. The speech lasted about 15 minutes long and contained the song “You Raise Me Up” by singer Josh Groban.
Here are some quotes from his speech last night courtesy of Angelique S. Chengelis of the Detroit News:
- “I got into coaching so we could make a difference,” Rodriguez said. “The kids raise us up as coaches. There are times we are down, we’re thinking about, ‘Geez, is this worth it? Is this worth it for your family?” Rodriguez paused, and took a sip of water as he gathered himself. “So when you think (during) those times, you start to feel sorry for yourself a little bit …”
- Early in his speech, Rodriguez noted that it was time for Michigan fans to unite and be One Michigan. “We all need to be one Michigan,” Rodriguez said. “One Michigan, proud of every era, proud of every young man, every student-athlete that went through this program.”
- Rodriguez also mentioned that the worst was for the program was behind them. “We went through some battles and some things that happened in the last three years when I came here three years ago, leaving my comfort zone (at West Virginia), because I thought this is a great opportunity to be on a great stage at a great university with great support, because I had great support where I was at and I was at a great university,” Rodriguez said. “But this was another challenge.”And so since the day we got here, the coaching staff and the players, we told them it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew after being on the job a few months that there was going to be some challenges, and some more came out in front of us. But we never hid away from it. We never quit believing in what we were doing and who we were doing it with and where we were doing it at.” Rodriguez said what he has said for weeks, that he believes in the direction of the program. “Our time is coming, and it’s coming in a big way,” he said. “We’ll let people jump on the bandwagon.”
- Rodriguez also spoke of the awkward song choice in Groban’s “You Raise Me Up” “It may seem kind of cheesy, sappy, what have you,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been listening to it the last couple of weeks and kind of gets the mood we’re in right now.”
- After everyone stopped holding hands and dancing, Rodriguez made this final statement; “My name is Rich Rodriguez. I’m honored to be the head coach at the University of Michigan,” he said. “I hope you realize I truly want to be a Michigan man.”
This was clearly the final plea of a coach that probably won’t be returning next season. According to some who were in attendance, Michigan Athletic Director David Brandon remained very neutral and very uncomfortable during the entire evening, especially during Rodriguez’s speech.
