Desmond Speaks @ MIS
You can find it here
Says it seems that Denard is faster and likes him under center, very comfortable...Gardner extremely comfortable
Defense seemed to be in position, aggressive, flying to the ball
Hoke great fit for Michigan
Rich Rod wasn't a good fit
same old
August 21st, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
Denard was the pace car at MIS.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^
So that's what he meant when he said he was going for a light jog.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^
he also said yesterday via twitter that they're far from where they were last year, but far from where they want to be.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
Hoke or someone needs to do a press conference here soon, I feel like I haven't gotten any real good juicy MIchigan news in a few days.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
I second this... It's been a few days since we've heard some solid news. Of all the people that were at the scrimmage yesterday, I can't believe all we've really heard is a few quotes from DelVerne and that cryptic message from Desmond. I need more information on this lazy Sunday.
August 21st, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
It is a return to the Fort. I am a bit amazed that they can keep things this quiet in today's world of instant social media.
August 21st, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
Anyone who ones some grappling hooks and some rapelling rope should go spy on the fort. This board desperately needs some new michigan practice news.
August 21st, 2011 at 2:25 PM ^
It's pretty easy. Don't let a million people in, give those you let in the riot act that they're not to go into detail about what they see, and have grad assistants looking like hawks for iPhone cameras Fort Schembechler is open for business.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:31 PM ^
Desmond also made an appearance at Saturday nights Kenny Chesney concert at Ford Field. He brought him out on stage during the song "Boys of Fall"! The crowd enjoyed that!
August 21st, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^
And there is nothing that Desmond Howard has ever said, that makes it any clearer. I understand that Howard thinks Rich Rodriguez is a good guy and a good coach. I have no idea what it means to be a good guy and a good coach but not be "a good fit."
For a guy like Desmond Howard, whose profession it is now to use words, to be a commentator and to explain the game of college football to a large national audience, Desmond performs pretty awfully. He's a Twitterer, mostly. And getting himself into hot water with about every fourth or fifth Tweet, it seems.
August 21st, 2011 at 2:18 PM ^
I maybe going out on a limb here but I think what desmond howard is referring to when he talks about being a good fit is scheme related as much as anything else. desmond has set on multiple occasions that he thinks rich rod was a good coach and a good guy. however the way he wanted to play and the athletes that he needed to play in his system did not fit michigan. it did not fit our history it did not fit our culture it did not midwest or even michigan high school recruits. rodriguez was very famous for saying that he needed to recruit places such as florida and the southeastern united states. it is pretty obvious that when you add up all those factors rodriguez was not a good fit for michigan. especially when you've been doing things a certain way for 100 years and doing quite well.
August 21st, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^
You should be killed talking about the Brother-Minister that way
August 21st, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^
" I have no idea what it means to be a good guy and a good coach but not be "a good fit.""
Now I feel like you're just being intentionally obtuse.
August 21st, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^
And as this thread goes on, I won't be surprised if we get 25 different opinions, from 20 different people, on what exactly Desmond meant. I sure as hell don't know what Desmond meant, and if you think you have some clear, quantifiable description of exactly why and how Rich Rodriguez was Not A Good Fit for Michigan, by all means you can lead off the discussion.
If Desmond Howard had really wanted to do some non-controvesial good for the public perception of the Michigan football program, you might think that he would have used his ESPN bully pulpit, to rip into the craptastic individuals who attacked Michigan through the press.
But he didn't. Desmond Howard was too lazy, or too ill-informed, or too ill-motivated, or too conflicted by his own position in the media, to do it. He let our program down on that subject. Dave Brandon, the athletic director, is a 1000% better commentator than the Michigan athlete who is the paid professional commentator.
Desmond's only newsworthy comments of late have come out of his very nasty habit, of talking shit in Twitter-speak.
August 21st, 2011 at 3:19 PM ^
In your opinion, and by your own definition of "fit", was Rich Rod a good fit for Michigan?
August 21st, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
Desmond claimed he was a bad fit. I'll let Desmond explain himself. It's his job, now, to explain college football.
I'll say this, without hesitation, without qualification, as a matter of undipsutable fact: Rich Rodriguez was treated unfairly in Ann Arbor. He was the subject of a malicious and bogus newspaper story, that turned into a very damaging and distracting NCAA investigation, and which poisoned the atmosphere around him in this state.
If there were any justice at our University, they would set up bleachers in the diag, they would frog-march Michael Rosenberg in, and burn his diploma on a flaming pile of his books and copies of the Free Press. Desmond Howard ought to be the MC of that event, but he's not even a good choice anymore. We'd need some real Michigan Men. Rick Leach might be available.
August 21st, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
I asked a pretty simple question and specifically gave you the flexibility to interpret the definition of "fit" the way you want. I was curious to your opinion on whether or not RR was a good fit.
August 21st, 2011 at 4:26 PM ^
If he did give you an answer, he'd have to come up with the most convoluted bullshit definition of "fit" to claim that RichRod was a perfect "fit" for Michigan.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:16 PM ^
There needs to be a new meme: a picture with a caption that reads "Aw Jeez not this shit again ... it's the damn Aw Jeez, not this shit again" pic.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:35 PM ^
"Not a good fit" is no negative commentary on Rich Rod.
I think you take it like it is.
The poor reception Rich Rod got in Ann Arbor is evidence that he was a poor fit. What that means about our fanbase and local media is up for interpretation - but you can't deny that somebody that was a "better fit" would have had a softer landing on campus. In fact, I think we've seen an example that proves it these past few months...
August 21st, 2011 at 8:19 PM ^
There is no question that you are right about that, but "up for interpretation" is a pretty nice way to put it. I think it's pretty obvious what it says.
This fanbase has an INCREDIBLY large segment of whiny, snotty people and the local media - while acting as a lapdog for their subjects in almost every other sport - has attitudes on what a college football coach in this state should be that are nothing short of xenophobic.
August 22nd, 2011 at 12:58 AM ^
Are you really the right person to be lecturing fans on proper behavior?
August 21st, 2011 at 4:25 PM ^
It should be obvious that for whatever reason Rodriguez didn't fit in. By that I mean that despite being a proven coach with a great track record (especially when given time to build a team), virtually no one close to the program (aside from Brandstatter and maybe somebody like Rick Leach) seemed interested in making a case in the guy's favor. The second Michigan didn't have a good football team (which coincided perfectly with the day Rodriguez coached his first game), it was his fault to a huge portion of the fanbase and probably a larger section of the "football family".
No depth or experienced talent on the o-line? A freshman QB (or a walk-on) who has never thrown a pass? No, they suck because Rodriguez is forcing everyone to play his crappy system that can't work in the Big Ten.
Two years later we have one of the most productive offenses in school history with enormous room for improvement (all 3 QB's, 7 of the top 8 leading rushers, and the leading receiver are all underclassmen, the only graduating skill position player is back up TE Martell Webb, 4 starters coming back on the offensive line). The answer: Points and yards aren't the same as wins, dumbass (as if anyone was unaware of this keen insight).
Defense sucks? Rodriguez must not be recruiting enough defensive players. But you know he recruited more defensive players than offensive players? Yeah, a bunch of midgets. Have you heard of BWC, Cam Gordon, Ash, Black, Roh, Washington, Robinson, Furman, etc.? So what, they still suck. Well, you are aware that freshmen and sophomores do tend to suck, that is why coaches don't normally/ever play so many young guys unless there is a dire roster emergency? Good coaches make players good because I said so, no excuses. Did Lloyd Carr just coach worse in 2005 than in 2006? Did Bo forget how to coach in 1984? Stop being gay for RichRod. His loser ways are done and now we're going to be awesome because a Michigan Man is coaching (certainly not because Rodriguez did a spectacular job rebuilding this program in a very short period of time).
Maybe no coach would have gotten the benefit of the doubt with Michigan struggling for the first time in basically anyone's memory. But clearly there was a case to be made that other factors than "RichFraud sucks" contributed to the struggles and there was every indication that the immediate future would look nothing like the immediate past.
The future remains bright, but I will be shocked if/when someone close to the program gives Rodriguez any credit for this coming season's success. Though obviously I view it as a bigger indictment of us than him, when that kind of perception gap exists it is hard to describe it as anything but a "bad fit".
August 21st, 2011 at 8:23 PM ^
Post of the year.
The cliche "bull in a china shop" has been used to describe Rich Rod. This may be true, but while a million words have been written about why RR was a bull, many Michigan fans neglect to do any soul searching on why this place insists on being such a damn china shop.
It goes both ways and, yes, we look worse in all of this than he does. There should be no doubt about that.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^
And I can tell you that when we recruit new talent, "not a good fit" comes up all the time regarding talented people that wouldn't culturally fit within our firm.
I don't see why it's inconceivable that a similar conclusion can't be reached in the arena of college football.
August 21st, 2011 at 9:24 PM ^
I've been on a plane for 8 hours and heard there was something happening somewhere. Could someone write my copy for me before I have to go on air?
Sorry, love Desmod and all for many things he's done, but get pretty tired seeing this type of tweet.
August 21st, 2011 at 4:37 PM ^
...this webpage for a reference to "Rich Rodriguez" and found none. As such, it appears to me that Mr. Rodriguez is not a current employee of the University of Michigan. This fact leads me to the conclusion that arguments about how he "fit" at Michigan are meaningless and unconstructive.
August 21st, 2011 at 5:09 PM ^
..."meaningless and unconstructive"... Then Desmond should just shut the fuck up. If it is all water under the bridge, if it is all history and we are all just moving on for the good of the program, then what the fuck is Desmond talking about?
He was a great football player. He was a different level of excitement, and he had a wonderful smile. But now he's in a position that requires intelligence and articulation, and I don't think he's got what it takes. He's not shown it, that's for sure.
Kirk Herbstreit is better in that job, than Desmond.
August 21st, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
But Desmond is a thousand times better than Jesse Palmer and the corpse of Lee Corso. By ESPN standards he is downright awesome.
And no one is cooler than Chris Fowler, so that isn't really a fair comparison.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:25 PM ^
Fowler is smug and by a lot of accounts, a total prick.
August 21st, 2011 at 5:22 PM ^
Give it a rest, you'd be just as pissed off If Desmond said he wasn't going to answer a question about Rich Rod or if this quote,
"He (Rich Rodriguez) wasn't a good fit," Howard said. "It's not that he wasn't a good guy or a good coach. (But) Brady Hoke is a great fit for the program. He's exactly what we need. He's coached there before. He knows the landscape. He knows what it takes to compete in the Big Ten."
was only this:
"Brady Hoke is a great fit for the program. He's exactly what we need. He's coached there before. He knows the landscape. He knows what it takes to compete in the Big Ten."
Face it, you're an angry old man who's only joy in life is bitching on the interwebz.
August 21st, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
Who's going to correct your grammar, if not me? Someone whose interest level is higher than mine, I suppose.
August 21st, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^
you got me there.
August 21st, 2011 at 5:44 PM ^
...going to make this same point? We get it. You think Desmond shouldn't say anything negative about RichRod. Guess what, he's a commentator. He's paid to express his opinion, man.
The only reason I would want him to stop talking about RichRod is so that I don't have to read another one of your broken fucking record comments about his comments.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
Section1 did not accuse Desmond of saying something negative about Rich Rod. He criticized him for a comment that he felt demanded clarification but had no follow-up.
The ambiguity of RR's critics has been noticeable from the beginning. I always thought the crowd who pretended they actually cared about how captains were selected were really just looking for a more politically way correct way to say they didn't want a coach here who had a funny accent.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:47 PM ^
If there is a sophisticated, intelligent, insightful case to be made against Rich Rodriguez, I might find it interesting, but Desmond Howard is certainly not the guy to make it.
I'll be happy to let the chips fall when John U. Bacon weighs in, having been given access that Desmond never had. (Apart from Desmond's having been appointed to Bill Martin's super-secret ad hoc advisory committee of former football players, who generally leaned toward Schiano, and who were as surprised by the Rodriguez hire as anybody.) I expect that one page of Bacon's writing is going to be more valuable than a year's worth of Tweets from Desmond.
August 22nd, 2011 at 8:03 AM ^
That's just like, his opinion man....lol.....War Desmond punching Herbstreit in the face.......
August 21st, 2011 at 5:26 PM ^
that he's trying to be the Michigan version of Herbstreit. He's a talking-head with little credibility. Just another former player that feels he has to say something controversial in order to stay relevant. He didn't have to say a word of Rodriguez but chose otherwise. You guys can neg all you want upon this truth. Maybe Des should run for office!
edit: I guess Section 1 beat me to it! (Herbie reference)...and yeah, absof'in-lutely it's flamebait. You betcha!