Tony Ding / AP

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, center, directs freshman running back Sam McGuffie (2) and quarterback David Cone (12) earlier this month.

“It’s amazing, though, how he’s completely different off the field. He really cares about his players and he’s a family guy, who loves his wife and children.”

While some coaches talk about the importance of family, Rodriguez does more than that. He meets with his coaches late enough in the morning so that they can take kids to school or spend a some quality time with them.

Rodriguez encourages his assistants to invite their wives and children to practice, where his wife of almost 20 years and two children are fixtures, and to go home from Thursday evening through the middle of the morning on Fridays.

“If people knew more stuff like that, maybe there wouldn’t be so many misconceptions about who he is,” said assistant head coach Tony Gibson, who played for Rodriguez at Glenville State and coached with him at West Virginia. “He’s just a great guy.”

Rodriguez truly wants people to believe that, despite what they’ve read or heard over the last several months involving him and the dispute with his former employer.

“It does bug me that a portrait has been painted that isn’t close to who I am,” Rodriguez said. “If I was a job-hunting coach, I wouldn’t have turned down a chance to leave West Virginia to coach at Alabama. I simply made a move to Michigan that was a great opportunity for me and my family, coaching at one of the best places in the country.”

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