Michigan
Rodriguez was introduced by Michigan as its new coach at a news conference held on December 17, 2007 at the Junge Family Champions Center on the University of Michigan campus. After arriving at Michigan, Rodriguez installed a new staff. He brought several members of his West Virginia staff with him, including Tony Gibson and offensive coordinator Calvin Magee. Fred Jackson, the running backs coach, was the only coaching holdover from Lloyd Carr's staff. Rodriguez also changed the strength and conditioning facilities, completed a top ten incoming recruiting class in 2008, which was recruited mainly by Carr and his staff, and installed his own recruiting to serve his spread offense. Equipment manager Jon Falk also stayed with the Michigan football program; he had been with Michigan since the days of Bo Schembechler.
Rodriguez began his Michigan coaching career on August 30, 2008 with a 25–23 loss to Utah. His 2008 team finished with a record of 3–9, the worst season in school history. Michigan's losing record meant that the team did not play in a post-season bowl game for the first time in 33 years, the longest such streak in college football up to that point. One of the few high points of the season came on September 27 when Michigan made the second-largest comeback in program history to defeat #9 Wisconsin 27–25 after trailing 19–0 late in the third quarter. That contest was also the 500th game played in Michigan Stadium.
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