Michigan Football and the United States Economy.  Ostensibly speaking the two have very little in common.  But read the following excerpt and decide which one it describes:

Peaked in the mid to late 90s, puttered along the past decade living off past prosperity with some good times, some bad, before ultimately imploding.  A charismatic, yet controversial leader was selected to drastically changed the way things are run.  Immediate changes led to further despair in the short term, but which leaders hope will make them stronger over the long haul.

Michigan Football

Michigan Football peaked in ‘97 with a co-National Championship.  The Championship was the Wolverines first in 49 years and kept head coach Lloyd Carr employed the next ten years–even though he won it on the backs of players recruited by Gary Moeller.  U of M fared well the next decade finishing no worse than 3rd in the Big Ten, but lost three or more games eight times during that stretch including five games in 2005.  Making matters worse in Ann Arbor was the 3-7 record against rival Ohio State from 1998-2007, after an 8-1-1 record the previous decade.   After another mediocre regular season in 2007  (8-4) , which included an embarrassing loss to I-AA Appalachian State, the Wolverines got a modicum of redemption for the retiring Carr by beating a heavily favored Florida team on New Years Day 2008.

Believing that the current pro-style system would lead to more of the same–beating up on bad teams and losing to good ones–Athletic Director Bill Martin hired spread-offense guru Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia.  Many Wolverine fans belittled the hire as un-Michigan and felt the change would hurt the program.  However, the thought behind the switch was to revamp the program to fit the spread offense style that has succeed elsewhere in college football–including Ohio State.  Supporters saw Rodriguez as a breath of fresh air that would recruit better talent and in the long run give the team a chance to compete for more than a thrashing in the Rose Bowl.

Their first season in the new system the Wolverines crashed and burned worse than the beginning of season six of Entourage.  U of M compiled a disastrous 3-9 record, with five losses at The Big House, including one to lowly Toledo, and finished 9th in the Big Ten, lowest since finishing 10th in 1962,  snapping a 33-year bowl streak.

The debacle was followed by several players transferring and more recently players complaining of being overwork and alleging the coaching staff broke NCAA rules restricting mandatory workout times

The upcoming season could be a pivot point for the new staff as they try to integrate their style and players with those remaining from the slug-it-out style of predecessors.  If it’s another season like the previous it could lead to more problems for the tradition-laden university as impatient fans clamor for on-field proof the change was worthwhile.

The U.S. Economy

After a hiccup in  early 1990 the U.S. economy grew throughout the decade as personal incomes doubled and the Welfare Act of 1996 decreased poverty.   Silicon Valley technologies and the dot.com boom fueled the stock market growth while unemployment fell.  At the end of former President Bill Clinton’s term of office in 2000 a projected budget surplus over the next 10 years was said to be able to cover national debt and pay for Social Security.

However, the growth wouldn’t last. The dot.com bubble burst, and billions of dollars were spent on fighting The War on Terror following the 9/11 attacks.  The nation coasted on the wave of the prosperous 90s, on both personal and governmental levels.  Once expensive commodities became essentials to daily life and led to immense borrowing and debt accruing by the American people.  The U.S. government continued to fund broken projects and pumped billions into foreign wars necessitating borrowing from the Chinese government.

The bubble finally burst after faulty business practices lead to the U.S. banking crisis and the automotive bailouts.  Millions of Americans lost homes–many of which they couldn’t afford to begin with–and jobs as the unemployment rate continues to rise.

Riding a promise of change Democrat Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States.  Yet that change has come painfully slow for millions of Americans unemployed and debt-ridden.   The $700 billion government bailout has yet to provide tangible proof it will fully work, and even the government funded Cash For Clunkers program that on the face looked like a success might have only mitigated problems in the acute short term.

The President who campaigned with a promise for healthcare reform is also struggling to push forward his agenda, which he believes will save money for the country in the long term and allow more Americans to lead better lives.  Yet, it is a battle he is losing hold of by the day as conservatives are forcing less reform and AR-15 toting protesters are clouding any real discussions, either pro or con.

It is evident that while the President might have the intelligence and charisma to convince voters his plans will work, he needs to do much more to make real changes and move America forward.

The Leaders

Two traditional powers both going through painstaking transitions have tapped very unique men to lead them through the troubled times.

Both Obama and Rodriguez are arguably young for their positions (48 and 46 respectively) and have risen fast.  In 11 years Obama went from the Illinois State Legislature (1997-2004) to President of the United States–with only 2 1/2 years in the U.S. Senate.  During the exact same time period Rodriguez went from offensive coordinator at Tulane (1997) to the head coach at one of the biggest football programs in the nation (2008).

Both men are known for their character and intelligence.  Obama is Columbia and Harvard educated, and can speak with the intelligence of a scholar and the clarity of a grade school teacher.  While Rodriguez is a fireball and known as one of the most inventive offensive-minded coaches of his generation.

Both men were put in a position to change the approach from their predecessor.  Both have avid supporters and bitter cynics.  And both have found the job far from a cake walk, as one led a 3-9 team and the other throws pebbles at a persisting recession.

Yet, both preach patients and have faith their long term strategies will be for the better.

The futures of both the U.S. economy and Michigan Football are as cloudy as a Midwestern winter, and no economist or pigskin expert can fully tell when they will return to the prosperity they once had.

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Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do or teach, write.  Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Southern California studying Online Journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science & Fun.  Patra is still working on a font that indicates when sarcasm and humor are being utilized in written works.