Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez got what he wanted.

He better hope it’s enough.

Rodriguez had stressed that his next defensive coordinator needed to mesh with the rest of the staff. After all, that’s why Scott Shafer lasted just one season with the Wolverines.

Shafer came to Ann Arbor as an outsider and left as an outsider. He never gained the trust of his fellow coaches. Michigan's schemes didn't always match Shafer's defensive philosophy, and he never really connected personally with the other coaches.

Rodriguez thinks former Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, the Wolverines' new defensive coordinator, will be a better fit. A story from Robinson’s lone year as defensive coordinator at Texas in 2004 shows Rodriguez probably got this part right.

After then-Longhorn linebacker Derrick Johnson, now a Kansas City Chief, intercepted a pass against Oklahoma, Robinson turned to a group of fans who had been heckling him. The fans alleged Robinson let out a string of expletives at them. Robinson said he simply gave them the “hook ‘em horns” gesture.

Passionate, intense and slightly immature. Robinson should fit right in with Michigan’s coaching staff.

But will he be good enough to turn around the Wolverine defense, which, by far, had its worst-ever season statistically last year?

Even if Rodriguez gets his spread offense clicking, the defense has a lot of work to do to help Michigan get to the level the coach was hired to reach.

Those in favor of Robinson’s hiring will point to 10 games — two Super Bowls (with the Denver Broncos in 1997 and 1998), four Rose Bowls (including one against Michigan in 2005 with Texas), a Fiesta Bowl, a Cotton Bowl, an Aloha Bowl and a Freedom Bowl.

A perfect 10-0 record in college bowl games and the only NFL bowl. But then there are the three words that make Robinson a risky hire — as an assistant.

In one sense, it should be comforting for the Wolverines that Robinson is again an assistant, a role in which he has appeared phenomenal.

But the collection of legendary coaches Robinson has worked under is astounding — Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, Terry Donahue, Monte Kiffin, Mike Shanahan and Dick Vermeil. Maybe Robinson is more of a product of their systems, especially considering his complete failure at Syracuse.

The Orange went 10-37, including 3-25 in Big East play, during his only head-coaching gig.

Robinson’s sound bites, or Gregisms, were widely mocked. He once said the team’s attitude “can maybe snowball into something that can catch fire.”

In July, Syracuse’s top-rated recruit decommitted in favor of Central Michigan because the Mid-American Conference Chippewas were more attractive than Syracuse.

Because Rodriguez spends so much time with the offense, his defensive coordinator almost serves as the head coach for half the team. So it's tough to completely ignore Robinson's shortcoming with the Orange.

But Rodriguez has a record of making the right choice here. He's in his fourth head coaching job. And for the fourth time, his defensive coordinator in year one won’t see year two.

Phil Elmassian was ousted after one year at West Virginia. His defensive coordinator at Glenville State retired. And football was dropped at Salem following Rodriguez's first year there.

After suffering losing seasons in the first year of his last three jobs, Rodriguez found the right coordinators to help turn his programs around.

Rodriguez hired Todd Graham and Jeff Casteel as co-coordinators at West Virginia. Dean Hood moved from offensive to defensive coordinator at Glenville State.

Graham is the head coach at Tulsa, which went 11-3 and trounced Ball State in the GMAC Bowl this year.

Casteel, still at West Virginia, is one of the most-respected defensive coordinators in the nation.

And Hood is the head coach at Eastern Kentucky, which qualified for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs this year.

Can Robinson live up to that pedigree? After he failed miserably once realizing his lifelong dream of becoming a head coach, my biggest question is whether he can show the same fire he did with the Broncos in the 1990s.

But a story relayed by Nick Santiago, a defensive tackle at Syracuse last year, provides some relief.

Robinson used to call the Orange into a huddle on the field after their pregame warm-ups.