Rich Rodriguez and other Michigan officials spent the better part of their Saturday in a Seattle hotel with the NCAA to discuss five major violations involving the football program. While little detail was given as to how the hearings went, it is known that it went on for seven freaking hours.
“Certainly glad this part of the process is over,” said Rodriguez briefly as he left Seattle for Ann Arbor. The hearings began at 8:30 a.m. and continued until 4 p.m.
Athletic director David Brandon was more optimistic. “We had a very fair and thorough hearing and we feel good about the fact we were given that opportunity,” Brandon said. “And the process will continue and under the rules based on the process as it’s been laid out we’re going to be very quiet. We’re going to go back, we’re going to prepare for a great season, we’re going to get focused on football and let the NCAA do their work.”
Michigan and Rodriguez were being questioned for their involvement with exceeding the number of quality control coaches allowed, exceeding practice time limits, graduate assistant Alex Herron lying to investigators, U-M’s failure to adequately monitor the football program and Rodriguez’s failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
Michigan had already admitted guilt to four of the five violations, but was refuting that Rodriguez failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance. The university has already self-imposed several punishments, including a two year probation period and a cut of 130 hours of practice time over those two years.
Michigan will have to wait anywhere from six to eight weeks for the case to close.