According to a recent article by the Detroit Free Press the University of Michigan may have violated major NCAA rules regarding practice, more specifically the amount of time a college team is permitted to practice in both the off-season and season.  Anonymous players, anonymous as to avoid potential repercussions from the university and coaching staff, reported these possible infractions.  Again according to the Detroit Free Press the anonymous players were quoted as saying, “It’s one of those things where you can’t say something,” one current Wolverine said. “If you say something, they’re going to say you’re a lazy person and don’t want to work hard.”

The Detroit Free Press indicated, "That player was one of six current or former players who gave lengthy, detailed and nearly identical descriptions of the program to the Free Press."

This is just another clue that points to Rich Rodriguez being a "win at all costs" kind of coach.  It all started with then Michigan and now Ohio State offensive lineman Justin Boren.  Boren was a Big Ten honorable mention player as a freshman yet surprisingly transferred from the University of Michigan to attend rival Ohio State becoming the first player in the storied history of both schools to transfer between the two schools.  Boren upon leaving the Wolverines cited an erosion of family values as being at the root of the reason why he left the university. 

The response from the Michigan program in none so many words was that some players had a hard time adjusting to the coaching style of Rich Rodriguez and the high pace environment he fosters.  Implying that those who were leaving were lazy... sound familiar?

Going further into the realm of transfers, during the short time that Rich Rodriguez has been a head coach at the University of Michigan he has had a surprising number of recruits transfer from his school each year.  Starting with the likes of Boren and it has continued each and every year during his short tenure.  Here is just a short run down of players who have transferred from Michigan under Rich Rod's reign in Ann Arbor.

1. OG Justin Boren - Cites "Lack of Family Values"  people at Michigan paint him as "lazy".
2. OL Dan O'Neill - Came to Michigan with high hopes due to good size (6'8", 300lbs) but the word from Michigan was he "never picked up the offense" and subsequently transferred to Western Michigan.  Surrreee...
3. QB Ryan Mallett - Transfers to Louisville (In Rich Rod's defense he didn't really fit into his offense anyway.)
4. WR Toney Clemons - Transferred to Colorado.  Actually said he still loved Michigan but didn't feel like he could get a chance in the Maize and Blue to show his skills.
5. RB Sam McGuffie - The YouTube sensation came to UM with much fan fare, actually started a few games as a freshman and was productive.  Then there was some behind the scenes back and forth between him and the coaching staff concerning some concussions as well as other things eventually leading to his transfer to a school closer to home in Texas when a close family member became ill.
6. LB Marquis Slocum - Committed to UM but ruled Ineligible before playing.
7. LB Marcus Witherspoon - Committed to UM but ruled ineligible before playing.
8. Safety Artis Chambers - Played in four games as a freshman before suddenly being ruled ineligible as Michigan made a mistake regarding Big Ten eligibility rules.  Again a pretty shady situation. 
9. RB Avery Horn - Transferred from Michigan to be closer to family and friends in California.
10. WR Zion Babb - Reportedly kicked off the team for a "violation of team rules."   After some research he was kicked off the team for "texting during a walk-through" before one of the games.  Seems a bit harsh and more likely an excuse for Rich to open up a scholarship by removing a guy low on the depth chart anyway.
11. OL Kurt Wermers - Basically like fellow OL Justin Boren cited his dislike for the coaching staff for his reason for transferring."I really didn't get along with the new coaches," Wermers said. "They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd. Coach Carr's staff was a whole different ballgame. It was like a family. But when Rodriguez came in it was a whole different feeling. It was more of a business.  "I figured I'd get out while I could."
12. QB Steven Threet - Basically another quarterback just not cut out for the spread offense favored by Rich Rodriguez.
13. QB Justin Feagin - It is only fitting that he would check in as the whopping 13th recruit to transfer from Michigan under the reign of Rich Rodriguez.  Feagin was dismissed from the team for a "violation of team rules".  It later came out that the "violation" was Feagin trying to arrange a drug deal with a fellow University of Michigan student.  The plot thickened as it came out that it was no secret that Feagin dealt drugs in high school and made little to no secret about his affinity for doing so.  According to a report by ESPN.com:
    

    Feagin also told police that he used to sell drugs in Florida and had been arrested for battery and trespass but faced no repercussions. Though Feagin said he didn't sell drugs at Michigan, Burke told police it was "common knowledge" that Feagin sold marijuana.

    According to the police reports, Burke admitted to setting a fire near Feagin's dorm room after not receiving the drugs from Florida. The fire didn't cause any injuries or major damage.  Rodriguez indicated he had no idea about Feagin's prior transgressions with the law but in this day and age it is very hard to believe that a coach would not be aware of such things about a player unless he simply didn't care to know or knew and didn't care.  Either way it speaks volumes about the character and principles of Rich Rodriguez.

Also thus far under Rich Rod's reign Michigan has not been a picture of academic integrity either as the majority of their juniors and seniors had either yet to actually declare a major or were declared in the vague "general studies" major. Let's also not forget the recruiting practices of Rich Rod going after players already committed to other Big Ten schools ruffling the feathers of fellow coaches in the process.  Then Purdue head coach Joe Tiller called Rich Rod, "a Wizard hat wearing snake oil salesman."

From the transfers for one reason or another, to a lack of academic integrity at the university, to some underhanded recruiting practices, to recruiting players with very suspect backgrounds, to now possible major NCAA violations regarding practice time it seems that Justin Boren was right all along, the family values at Michigan University have eroded under Rich Rodriguez.