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Nehlen: Better days ahead for Rich Rod? | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Former Michigan assistant Don Nehlen says his successor at West Virginia, Rich Rodriguez, doesn't deserve as much blame as he got for U-M's lousy season.

And things will get better this year, but maybe not that much.

"Rich is a good coach, he's a very good coach," Nehlen told the Defiance (Ohio) Crescent News. "He's very demanding and I was surprised, I thought they'd do a little better last year, but I don't know enough about what he had to work with.

"But in talking to some of my Michigan people, they tell me the cupboard was really bare. They'd lost almost their entire offensive football team and the kids they had coming back went pro, they had no quarterback that had ever played ... couldn't run Rich's offense. ...

"I think Rich will improve this year some, not as much as people want him to, but I think he'll improve."