Thoughts on retaining Nuss
So I have seen in various reports now that Coach Nuss would like to stay on at Michigan and help re-build this team to what he believes it should be. Just was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on this? Would people be up in arms if he was kept on or is that something we would be open to.
I don't know nearly as much as some on this site when it comes to watching the tape and whether last years offense was bad becuase of poor exucution and talent missing at certain posititions or if it just really poor coaching. I just don't see how he could have been so sucessful at Bama and then come here and look that poorly. Would seem to me that there had to be other factors as to why we looked so poorly on that side of the ball.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:32 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:24 AM ^
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December 20th, 2014 at 9:25 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:27 AM ^
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December 20th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
What ever issues we are having are the problem of the guy with the biggest paycheck. He is not stuck with players drafted by someone else, or with an owner who wants to play gm + coach. I understand what you are saying but the right guy never seems to have those isues. Going somewhere else and winning does not mean you were the guy at the previous place.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^
He was good at Washington and MSU. If Saban wanted him, that probably means he's pretty good.
December 20th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
It's common consensus that Saban told him to find a new job so that Saban could bring in Kiffin.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:28 AM ^
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December 20th, 2014 at 9:33 AM ^
People just do not get the multi-year transition that happens when you change systems. This is not NCAA 2015 for Xbox One. When you have multiple years of transition it adds further number of years to the process back to normal/functioning.
Now, if JH does not want Nuss, I am ok with that. But Nuss has been very successful at other schools and walked into an offensive tire fire (young, inexperienced, oline with little previous success; an PTSD QB on his 3rd OC in 5 years; young and inexperienced RBs and WRs). By the end of the season we had an almost functioning running game. The passing game lagged, but there was something not right with Gardner and I would not be surprised if he has some kind of surgery in the off season on his shoulder. When Nuss would open the playbook, I like what came out... and I cannot blame him for . I would be OK if JH wants to keep Nuss about having Nuss stay on and allowing the system to grow.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:39 AM ^
I'm still unsure because I don't know whether to pin most of the offensive struggles on Nuss or all of our QBs being awul. It is a bit interesting that Bama's offense has done exceedingly well with a new OC and a new QB right after Nuss left though...
I think I'm slightly in favor of a change. I imagine if Harbaugh takes the job he will too
December 20th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
The effects of a Coach are felt for 1-2 seasons after they leave. So, a new Coach took the tools that Nuss helped build into them and use them for an explosive offense... I would give partial credit to Nuss, not be used against him.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
The effects of a Coach are felt for 1-2 seasons after they leave. So, a new Coach took the tools that Nuss helped build into them and use them for an explosive offense... I would give partial credit to Nuss, not be used against him.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
The effects of a Coach are felt for 1-2 seasons after they leave. So, a new Coach took the tools that Nuss helped build into them and use them for an explosive offense... I would give partial credit to Nuss, not be used against him.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
to what extent can the offensive woes of the 2014 team be attributed to the offensive coordinator? Well, a large extent, it seems. Gardner's 10-TD to 15-INT passing ratio indicates regression, not progression. Morris's lack of development while possessing more than adequate talent can to a large extent also be attributable to coaching, or lack thereof. The offensive line showed improvement, but after Funchess apparently contracted give-up-itis sometime late in the season no other true go-to receiver emerged.
In short, despite an adequate but not great defense (much better against the run than the pass) M could not generate enough offense to beat Rutgers or Maryland. M barely beat NU and Penn State (had that Penn State LB held onto the pass Bellomy threw at him, that might have been another loss). Had M been able to convert just three of its losses (Rutgers, MD, maybe Utah), M would be 8-4 and Hoke might still have his job.
So with the head coach fired and against such a record, what arguments are available for retaining Doug as the offensive coordinator? I'd guess very few.
December 20th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
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December 20th, 2014 at 9:51 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:28 AM ^
Shane played well in the bowl game.
You have a poor memory. Morris was only allowed to throw screen passes in that bowl game. The very first shot he took down the field was promptly intercepted. He didn't have a good game. He would have had an even worse game if Borges had actually allowed him to throw down the field.
December 20th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
Nuss consistently develops QBs and it consistently takes him two years to do so.
December 20th, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^
I am really interested in what happened to Nuss this last year. I really wish mgoblog had done more analysis on this.
Looking back at Nuss' career, I wonder where you are getting this idea that he develops guys specifcally in year 2. I do not see much improvement from Jake Locker from year 1 to year 2. Keith Price had very nice passing stats in year 3 but I assume some of that apparent improvement over Locker is not taking into account Locker's running success. I don't see much improvement in AJ McCarron during Nuss' time at Alabama either. The team certainly did not do any better either.
I haven't looked it up but I doubt Mark Bulger improved much from year 1 to year 2 when Nuss was coaching him with the Rams because they all got fired.
So, where are you getting this idea?
Nuss did a great job in the running game but the passing game was histotically bad. They were also pretty historically bad at scoring.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
If Nuss was unhappy with how controlling Saban was, when Saban's main focus is defense, I doubt he will be happy with how controlling JH especially given that JH coaches qbs and likes to call plays.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:56 AM ^
How many games did Nuss' offense lose at Alabama? Maybe 1? In two years. If Saban really fired him, it was not entirely peformance based. Perhaps he did feel Nuss' offense wasn't 'open' enough, but I bet it is personality connfilct more than anything else.
December 20th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
Yeah, I see it the same way. I just don't think it was as simple as Nuss saying, "nope, too controlling, I'm out," which would suggest that Nuss just can't get along with a hands-on head coach, which would make a Harbaugh marriage a bad fit. I don't think Nuss's parting with Saban really says much about his compatibilty with Harbaugh.
All this to say, I'm not crazy about the idea of Nuss being retained and can't really imagine why he would be.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:10 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^
I'm behind whatever the new coach decides. I assumed Harbaugh would bring Roman, though, and I've mainly wondered if he would try to keep Mattison. I've heard some rumors (likely false) about Sumlin getting Durkin and Mattison as co-DCs, which I'd like for Michigan.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^
I'd rather just start over.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:49 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 6:44 PM ^
Funk had the OL for four years. In year three they sucked, which many (myself included) attributed more to AB's scheme-of-the-week. But I still was not at all impressed with
Funk. I think Nuss' scheme overcame Funk's shortcomings with respect to the run game, and I think both OC's would've been much better (Nuss probably wouldn't have happened) with a competent OL coach - and that's all on Hoke.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:53 AM ^
It might end up being Nuss as the HC when no else wants the job.
December 20th, 2014 at 10:01 AM ^
If Harbaugh wants him then I want him.........if everone falls through for the HC job, I think NUSS would be decent. Obviously thats just wild speculation seeing he has no experience. But man........the offense looked bad last year. Just as everything else with this CC...........I know nothing.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:57 AM ^
" I just don't see how he could have been so sucessful at Bama and then come here and look that poorly."
Probably the same way Lane Kiffin can look so terrible at USC, then look good at Alabama.
Nick Saban
December 20th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^
Kiffin was a pretty darn good OC at USC under Carrol, just not so much as HC.
December 20th, 2014 at 9:59 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
1. Vanilla play calling is the number one sign the players don't know the system yet. It was also an on-purpose reaction to the complicated Borges schemes. Vanilla was to give the players a chance to do something simple but well. They would have only performed worse with more creativity.
2. The reason Funchess wasn't targeted downfield was likely the thing you mentioned one sentence earlier. Gardner was injured and/or couldn't throw the route dependably. It defies belief that any modern OC would hamstring his own offense voluntarily by not "stretching the field".
He might have botched some other things, but I don't believe it was these two things.
December 20th, 2014 at 7:09 PM ^
Totally agree. Also, I don't know the stats, but it sure seemed (by far) that the most frequent O-drive killer was some mistake by the QB: bad incompletion, failure to hit open secondary receiver, unnecessary sack, turnover.
Hard to score when you can't sustain drives. You can blame QB preparedness on Nuss if you'd like, but it seemed he was just asking for some basic game management competence, which these QB's fell way short of delivering with any consistency. I put it more on the QBs. If we'd consistently had a respectably accurate QB with a cool head this year, things would have been much different.
December 20th, 2014 at 10:07 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:08 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:10 AM ^
The new HC will bring in his staff. Like you, I have heard reports that Mattison wants to stay on and interview with the next HC. He has a shot at being retained if it's JH. However, I think Nuss is done in A2 IMO.
December 20th, 2014 at 7:20 PM ^
Perhaps Mattison stays on as a position coach? I think he's a good guy to have on the staff, but maybe not directing the D. In four years, that attacking, aggressive, dominant D I was expecting from him just never developed.
December 20th, 2014 at 10:12 AM ^
December 20th, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^
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December 20th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
Just everyone needs to leave.
December 20th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
I am rather with the people that wouldn't mind seeing what a clean break from everything looked like, but at the same time, I don't think I would necessarily complain if Nussmeier were retained in some capacity. I guess my reason for saying that is that a lot was already hosed about development and skill when it came to the offense when he came and part of me says we don't have a lot of data on what he might be able to do with a different boss, position coaches, etc... Ultimately, I think that makes me indifferent to the prospect - it wasn't impressive, but there are certain things Nussmeier may have been too late to fix.