© Jerimiah B. Brown

Coach blue

Rich Rodriguez's colorful vocabulary

by Dale Leslie

posted 12/2/2008

The U-M’s miserable football season tested the patience of first-year coach Rich Rodriguez. Fans who attended practices reported hearing a lot of cussing at the young team members by the head coach and his staff. “Bo was a yeller and a swearer on occasion too,” says one U-M grad, “but these guys use four-letter words that would make Bo blanch.” But in midseason, he continues, the coaches’ language suddenly turned much tamer. His theory is that somebody within earshot reported the salty language to university higher-ups. The alum says the wives of the athletic director and head coach often watched the team practice—but, he deadpans, “I doubt if it was Sally Martin or Rita Rodriguez who complained.”   

[Originally published in December, 2008.]