Just three days after Michigan suffered its worst bowl loss in school history, the university has decided to fire head coach Rich Rodriguez according to FOX News Detroit.

Rodriguez finishes his three-year stint at Michigan with a 15-22 record. He lost a school-record nine games in his first year and went 5-7 after starting 4-0 last season. He also managed to turn a 5-0 start into a 7-5 finish in 2010 and apparently Michigan AD David Brandon had seen enough after Mississippi State embarrassed the Wolverines 52-14 in this year’s Gator Bowl. (Michigan was also 1-10 against ranked opponents and was a combined 0-6 against Ohio State and Michigan State under RichRod.)

This news hardly comes as a surprise. Rodriguez was a freaking embarrassment to a proud program like UM and obviously a total mismatch for the Big Ten. He found a gem in quarterback Denard Robinson but his offenses struggled against top competition year in and year out. When a team racks up 65 points on Bowling Green or 42 on Indiana but only scores 17 against Michigan State and 7 against Ohio State, there’s an obvious problem with consistency. Making matters worse, Michigan’s defense was brutal this year and special teams were an absolute embarrassment. (Brandon should demand that the coaches he interviews bring a place kicker with them for on-the-spot tryouts.)

That said, if UM doesn’t land Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh (who is currently mulling over his choices after his team destroyed Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl), then whom will they get to replace Rodriguez? Brady Hoke? No offense to the current San Diego State head coach but would he really be the right fit to turn around a program in disarray?

Regardless of whom Brandon hires, the next head coach has a long journey ahead of him. Not only does he have to recruit heavily on the defensive side of the ball, but he also has to work with offensive players that Rodriguez handpicked to run his offense. Brandon will no doubt go with a “Michigan Man” as his next head coach, which means someone who will implement the run-heavy attack that they employed before Rodriguez was hired. It’s tough to go Power-I when your personnel is built for the spread-option.

Just because UM has rid itself of Rodriguez doesn’t mean its problems will be instantly fixed.

Update: Check that: TheWolverine.com reports that RichRod has not been fired. What the devil?

Update on the Update: Okay, now Michigan has officially fired Rodriguez.