College Football | Michigan's Rodriguez denies allegations of rules violations

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Rich Rodriguez gripped the podium, bowed his head, paused and appeared to fight back tears. The click-click-click of cameras was the only sound.

Instead of being peppered with quarterback questions five days before the season opener, the Michigan coach Monday found himself addressing allegations the Wolverines have been violating NCAA rules relating to how much time they spend training and practicing.

He insisted, repeatedly, that college football's winningest program has followed the rules since he was put in charge 20 months ago.

Rodriguez became emotional when he talked about the perception he and his staff do not care about their players.

"That is disheartening," he said. "To say that is misleading, inaccurate and goes against everything that I have ever believed in coaching."

The school launched an investigation Sunday after the Detroit Free Press published a report in which players from the 2008 and 2009 teams said the amount of time they spend on football during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeded NCAA limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches.

Big Ten compliance officials arrived on campus Sunday to assist with the investigation, according to two sources at the school.

Rodriguez suggested the complaints were an attempt to "tear up" the effort to rebuild a program that lost a school-record nine games last season. It was Michigan's first losing season since 1967 and its first without a bowl in 34 years.

"I'm all in for Rich Rodriguez," athletic director Bill Martin said after the news conference.

Notes

• UCLA plans to play its opener while monitoring the wildfires in the hills above the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. UCLA will host San Diego State on Saturday at the stadium, which is less than 10 miles south of the fires burning in the Angeles National Forest.

"We're going to leave that to the experts, the people in Pasadena and the people fighting the fire," said UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, a former Washington coach. "We just wish them all the best and send out our best to the families and the people who are fighting it."

• USC junior cornerback Shareece Wright, a projected starter, has been declared academically ineligible and will be forced to sit out the upcoming season.

Wright will be replaced in the lineup by Josh Pinkard, a first-string cornerback last season who had been slotted as a starting safety this season. Pinkard's move opens up a starting role for safety Will Harris.