Is Rich Rodriguez's stint at Michigan a red flag?

Many candidates are swirling around amidst the rumors of who will replace Will Muschamp as head coach of the Florida Gators after the season.

With athletic director Jeremy Foley explicitly saying his desire his to hire a coach who has been successful on offense, it helps give everyone idea of just the kind of coach the Gators are looking for.

A number of names fit the bill for Foley’s expectations, but one name seems to be mentioned above the rest — Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is widely known for his offensive successes throughout his coaching career, but that isn’t to say he’s without his flaws.

Prior to Michigan

Rodriguez quickly developed a reputation as an offensive genius. After some coaching stints at Salem and Glenville State, Rodriguez took his zone-read offense to Tulane where he helped lead the school to a 12-0 season, thanks to the success of his spread offense under quarterback Shaun King.

After a few seasons in Clemson as the offensive coordinator, Rodriguez took over as the head man at West Virginia in 2000. In his first year the Mountaineers went 3-8, but after another year under his tutelage, he turned the program around to a 9-4 record and a bowl game.

By 2005, Rodriguez developed the Mountaineers into a BCS bowl team, finishing the regular season 11-1 and eventually defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl.

All of the success was due in large part to the Mountaineers’ high-powered offense. Their combination of Pat White and Steve Slaton within Rodriguez’s spread offense was nearly impossible to stop. One year later, his success at West Virginia nearly earned him the Alabama head coaching job, but the West Virginia alumnus decided to remain at his alma mater.

Before leaving for Michigan in December 2007, Rodriguez garnered two Big East Coach of the Year awards, four Big East championships, and a number-one ranking during the 2007 season.

He was one of the hottest names in coaching.

Michigan trouble

Unfortunately for Rodriguez, his time at Michigan wasn’t nearly as present.

Marred by many losses to inferior teams, Rodriguez could never develop any rhythm with the Wolverines. In his three seasons at Ann Arbor, Mich., he finished with an overall record of 15-22 and a conference record of 6-18.

Needless to say, those numbers weren’t acceptable at a prestigious program like Michigan and Rodriguez was subsequently fired after the 2010 season.

He finished his Michigan career with the lowest winning percentage of any coach in Michigan history and never beat Ohio State or Michigan State, Michigan’s two biggest rivals.

It wasn’t just the losses that’s concerning. Rodriguez’s tenure at Michigan featured a number of player transfers with those leaving the program citing rocky relationships with the coaching staff. In the latter portions of his time at Michigan, it was also discovered that Rodriguez committed several NCAA violations in regard to practice time and forcing players to work more in the off-season than the NCAA allowed.

Eventually, Michigan self-imposed sanctions and went on probation for three years.

After taking a year off in 2011, Rodriguez was hired by Arizona and he has returned to his usual success, winning at least eight games in all three years and capturing two bowl wins.

What does this all mean for Florida?

When evaluating Rodriguez as a candidate for the head coach position at Florida, there’s a lot of positives. His ability to take two programs like West Virginia and Arizona and bring about consistent success is a big selling point for Rodriguez.

At the quarterback position, he’s turned many players into stars, especially when they possess the right skills for his spread offense, most notably Pat White and Denard Robinson.

With a guy like Treon Harris at Florida, Rodriguez’s offense would be a perfect fit for the true freshman quarterback. It would certainly highlight Harris’ strengths and would put the Gators’ offense in the best position to win games.

However, his time at Michigan cannot be overlooked. It would be one thing if his time there was damaged simply because of the losing, but the NCAA violations raise some warning flags.

If there’s one guarantee about this coaching search, it’s the thoroughness of this process in which athletic director Jeremy Foley will conduct. The baggage that would come along with Rodriguez doesn’t fit with the coaches that Foley usually decides to hire and it’s unlikely he changes in that regard.

Rodriguez’s struggles at Michigan also begs the question — if he couldn’t win in the Big 10, why would he be successful in a conference like the SEC?

Fortunately for Rodriguez’s sake, he’s been successful more than he’s failed and his offensive success is tough to ignore. On paper, he fits the mold for the kind of coach Foley wants in Gainesville next season.

Rodriguez’s genius on offense combined with the talent on Florida’s defense could quickly get the Gators back to the top of the SEC East.

But the three years at Michigan are engrained in the minds of college football fans everywhere and it may just be the reason why Foley ultimately decides to go in a different direction.