Five Reasons Why Michigan Should Fire Coach Rich Rodriguez

After another beatdown at the hands of Ohio State, many fans believe that Michigan should fire Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.

While that final determination is still up in the air, here is a list of five reasons why Michigan would be justified in firing Rich Rodriguez, although it may be a tougher decision to make than some think:

5. Rival losses-

0-3 against Ohio State is bad enough, but Rich Rod is also 0-3 against the Spartans of Michigan State. Michigan fans are tired of the in-state rivals stealing their thunder and it makes for many unpleasant days at the workplace.

Rich Rod is 2-1 against Notre Dame but the Irish have been so bad that it doesn't mean much.

4. Blowout losses-

It's one thing to lose but to get beaten by 30 and 20 points respectively against OSU and Wisconsin is unacceptable, and it's been a pattern in the past three years. It's also a pattern that provides good reasons for Michigan to fire Rich Rodriguez.

3. Bad record vs. top teams-

Rich Rod is winless against Big Ten teams with winning records in conference. Even his "signature win" against Wisconsin in 2008 was against a Badgers team that only went 3-5 in conference.

2. Poor Big 10 performance-

Michigan used to dominate in the Big Ten. They have 42 conference titles, the most by a solid margin. But Rich Rodriguez only won three Big Ten games his first two years and three in 2010. Teams UM used to handle easily like Purdue, Illinois, and Northwestern have all had their way with Michigan at times.

1. Similar problems-

Rodriguez has seen a pattern of mistakes and problems arise. Fumbles and injuries from undersized players, especially on kick returns. Poor secondary play. Missed tackles galore. Awful special teams play in general.

While Rich Rodriguez might indeed be able to turn things around for good in 2011 if he makes changes on defense and gets rid of his secondary coach and defensive coordinator at the least, Michigan might not give him that chance.

An argument can be made either way but as of right now there are an abudance of reasons for why Michigan should fire Rich Rodriguez and perhaps bring in a certain Stanford head coach if possible.