This one is for all you Michigan fans out there.  May all your Christmas wishes come true!

Driving home from work today while stuck in traffic, the late John Lennon's Christmas song, Happy Christmas (War is Over) came on the radio.  As I pondered my fate in that four lane parking lot, it hit me!  So this is Christmas.....So Rich Rodriguez........and another song parody was begun.

Rich Rodriguez (Search is Over)

So Rich Rodriguez

Let's see what you've done

A Maize and Blue lover

Offensive spread and the run

And so Rich Rodriguez

I hope you have fun

A Michigan man now

Just please everyone

A happy coach Rodriguez

Joins the mighty Wolverine

Let’s hope he’s a great one

With drive to be mean

And so Rich Rodriguez

Left weak to join strong

Coach Rich left the poor ones

This world can’t be wrong

And so Rich Rodriguez

For Maize and for Blue

Beat Buckeyes and Spartans

You’ll pound them won’t you?

A happy coach Rodriguez

Joins the mighty Wolverine

Let’s hope he’s a great one

With drive to be mean

And so Rich Rodriguez

Just what have you done?

Another search over

And a new one just begun

And so Rich Rodriguez

Do pass more than run

The Big 10 is better

Than Mountaineer dung

A happy coach Rodriguez

Joins the mighty Wolverine

Let’s hope he’s a great one

With drive to be mean

Search is over...over

If you want it

Search is over

Now…

Rich Rodriguez, newly annointed savior & coach of the Maize & Blue Michigan Wolverines, late of the West Virginia Mountaineers is the newest inductee into the Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute Hall-of-Shame.  He is the first Hispanic to win the award.

Unbelievably, Rodriguez left his alma mater to take on the task of bringing Michigan back to respectability in the Big 10 conference and in the national rankings. 

According to Coach Rodriguez, "It was a very difficult decision to leave a place where I grew up.....It was going to take a very special opportunity and a very special place and I think that's what this is.....Unless you're a Hatfield or McCoy, Michigan is defintely a better place to be than West Virginia."

Let's hope that there are no home games scheduled against Division 1AA teams in the "Big House" in the foreseeable future.

Apparently Rodriguez was Michigan's third choice after both Les Miles (LSU) and Greg Schiano (Rutgers) turned down the Maize & Blue's attempt to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr.  I guess the third time's a charm!  Hopefully he won't end up like Ty Willingham at Notre Dame.

"[I] might have been my wife's third choice, too," Rodriguez quipped.

Rodriguez met five of the seven criterions needed for induction into the Male Prostitute Hall-of-Shame notably:

1) Accepting coaching positions that either moves them from Division 1AA or a lesser Division 1A program to successively bigger Division 1A programs, culminating in a job at a traditional BCS power.

2) Significantly improves his financial compensation package.

3) Taking his next job (Michigan) after his former team (West Virginia) made it to a bowl game, but before the bowl game is actually played.  

4) State that the school he was at (WVU) was his dream job, or deny rumors that he is looking at other opportunities.  

According to West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, Rodriguez, is a native West Virginian  "whose only wish was to play football at WVU" and as "a young man whose only wish was to coach at WVU!"  So much for loyalty in this day and age!

5) Generate controversy.  Rodriguez barely skates in under this criterion, as his only controversy involves the handling of the buyout clause in his West Virginia contract and whether or not he will coach the Mountaineers in the upcoming Fiesta Bowl. 

Rodriguez is no stranger to success, having served as Tommy Bowden's offensive coordinator at Tulane, where the Green Wave went 12-0 in 1998 with quarterback Shaun King (who?) running his spread offense.  After following Bowden to Clemson, Rodriguez was selected to lead the West Virginia Mountaineers out of obscurity and into the upper echelon of the Big East conference. 

His penultimate accomplishment of the 2007 season was leading his then #2 ranked West Virginia team to a devastating & demoralizing loss against an underdog Pittsburgh Panther team (led by a crippled coach) in the backyard brawl.  The loss eliminated any possibility that the Mountaineers would play in the national championship game.

Good luck at Michigan Rich!  Let's see if you can do any better than Lloyd Carr against Ohio State!