Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan’s coaching search may have lasted longer than it wanted and the school might not have landed its top choice, yet college football’s winningest program is thrilled to have West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez.
And the feeling is mutual.
Rodriguez, who flirted with the Alabama job a year ago, said it took a job of Michigan’s stature for him to leave his home state and alma mater.
“It was a very difficult decision to leave a place where I grew up,” Rodriguez said during his introductory news conference Monday morning. “It was going to take a very special opportunity and a very special place and I think that’s what this is.”
The 44-year-old Rodriguez represents the first head coach to come outside the “Michigan family” as athletic director Bill Martin put it, since Bo Schembechler in 1969.
“Do you have to be a Michigan man to be a Michigan coach? Gosh, I hope not. They hired me,” he said.
Before hiring Rodriguez, the Wolverines apparently went 0-for-2 in their first coaching search since hiring Schembechler away from Miami of Ohio, with LSU’s Les Miles and Rutgers’ Greg Schiano turning down reported opportunities to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr. Rodriguez, though, seems to be much more than a consolation prize.
He built West Virginia into a Big East power, winning the conference championship this year for the fourth time in five seasons and going 60-26 overall.
Rodriguez said he’s aware of the heightened expectations in Ann Arbor.
“I don’t want our team to expect to win,” he said. “I want our team to deserve to win.”
Rodriguez’s hiring marks the second time in eight months that Michigan has lured a coach out of Morgantown. John Beilein, who successfully built up the Mountaineers’ basketball program, now leads the Wolverines.
Rodriguez said he was excited to be back with Beilein, whom he described as a good friend and a former neighbor.
He said goodbye to the Mountaineers during an emotional meeting Sunday in Morgantown.
“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes,” West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt said. “He did all he could for us. As far as I know he did a lot of great things for this university.”
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Rodriguez said he doesn’t expect to coach West Virginia when it plays Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. He said it typically is the university’s job to make the decision on who would coach in the bowl game.
“My focus is going to be on the University of Michigan, and I don’t think it best serves West Virginia if I’m thinking about the Big House,” he said.
Don Nehlen, a former West Virginia coach and Michigan assistant, on Sunday said he expected Rodriguez to skip the Fiesta Bowl to focus on his new job.
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“He’s got a lot of work right away at Michigan, where he has to assemble a staff and catch up on recruiting,” Nehlen told The Associated Press.
Carr has said he will coach Michigan in its Jan. 1 matchup with Florida in the Capital One Bowl.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want to be a distraction to Carr and the current team as it prepares, but he does acknowledge the desire to get started right away.
As Nehlen predicted, some in West Virginia are not happy with the means by which Michigan got Rodriguez or the end result.
“I would hope and pray ... they’ll look at what we’ve done over the last seven years there. ... That we’ve left it in a pretty good situation,” Rodriguez said.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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Rodriguez lauds Wolverines Dec. 17: New Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez says he’s excited to be with traditional football power. |
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
