Wow, even Ira is talking coaching candidates on WTKA right now
Tune in.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:15 AM ^
there is a strong rumor out there in the alumni base that Harbaugh already has an offer from Carolina.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:48 AM ^
I can't imagine Denard would switch positions at this point. I could see him transfer in that scenario. And that would absolutely suck.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
If a were Denard and I was asked to change positions under a new coach, I would probably take a real long look at Oregon before I agreed to do so. Especially with the redshirt season still available
October 31st, 2010 at 1:10 AM ^
Or Auburn for that matter... Cam Newton is a JR this year so he'd be gone by the end of a Denard redshirt season. God that's a depressing thought.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:17 AM ^
I think Oregon's QB is a RS freshman or Soph and he's playing really well, if I was Denard Oregon would be the last place I'd look if I wanted to transfer<please, please, please, don't do it>.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:29 AM ^
October 31st, 2010 at 12:56 AM ^
and was 8-4 in the regular season in 2009 (year 3) w/ a 31-27 loss to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl.
http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/stanford/yearly_results.php?year=2005
Either way, the decision to stay the course or the decision to switch the captain of the ship is far bigger than Denard.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:32 AM ^
October 31st, 2010 at 1:47 AM ^
also tookover a program that had better defensive personnel.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:59 AM ^
Our defense had some good (not all great) players in 2008. That was a scheme/coaching implosion on that side of the ball that year (hand in hand with offense that couldn't stay on the field, score, or stop from turning the ball over in their own territory. Other than that, they were great though).
October 31st, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^
So it's taken him 4 years to get to an "acceptable" record. The question becomes, can RR bring the program to an "acceptable" record in fewer than 4 years. I think the answer is yes.
October 31st, 2010 at 8:35 AM ^
But I think Devin has the best skillset for a true pro-style offense of all of our quarterbacks. Maybe too soon to throw him out there though? He's got a stronger arm, and perhaps more importantly, he's bigger than Tate. Tate/Denard can execute at 6'/6'1 in our offense, but I'm not so sure that's true of a pro-style approach..
October 31st, 2010 at 10:21 AM ^
Whoever comes in next needs to create some buzz for the sake of recruiting, and I think Harbaugh could do that. With the state our program is in, we need to drive home a positive narrative with recruits. One potential narrative about U-M football is that we're on the steep downward slope of historically successful run, haven't beaten OSU in a decade, and are the waning power within the state of Michigan. Another potential narrative is we had poor direction for a few years, but now we're bringing in the golden boy of U-M with a shiny HC resume to boot that includes strong player development to lift U-M from the ashes and place it atop the college football world again. This kind of stuff is really important to high school kids as they imagine where they want to throw in their hat.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:46 AM ^
brian kelly - i hear he may be available.
/s
October 31st, 2010 at 12:47 AM ^
that this team would be any better (and probably much worse) under a different coach. If Rich Rodriguez was available on the open market right now, I'd want to hire him as the coach. The offense shows he hasn't forgotten how to coach. The problem of a lack of talented upperclassmen on the defense won't be fixed by changing coaches.
I understand people being frustrated, but freshmen don't turn into All-Americans by waving a magic wand.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:51 AM ^
There is reason to believe that Greg Robinson, at this point in his career, simply isn't a good defensive coordinator. Yes, we're young and everything. I don't expect a great D. But this man hasn't fielded a good defense in a long, long time. This is the fifth consecutive year a D he's coached is near the bottom of the national rankings. At some point you have to accept that he's not likely to be the long-term answer.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:57 AM ^
I want him to succeed just for the sake of continuity - 3 DCs in 4 years is enough turnover for a while. I had hoped we'd get another year out of him, but I'm just not seeing any progress over the course of the season.
Robinson probably does need to go. Finding a good DC to replace him will be yet another headache for Rodriguez to deal with.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:21 AM ^
I don't think there's much benefit to continuity under a poor coach. Illinois bit the bullet and hired a new DC, and they're doing great. Heck - maybe we could hire him away from them.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:44 AM ^
Don't you have to dump Gibby though? He coaches special teams and secondary. Think about it...
October 31st, 2010 at 12:55 AM ^
A sophomore walk-on got turned into an All-American today. Plenty of underclassmen have looked like All-Americans when they played us. Apparently our defense is it's own magic wand.
We all understand the depth and youth, but you have to make a few stops on one of the worst offenses in the big ten when they are missing their starting quarterback. I don't think that argument holds up for this game.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:57 AM ^
The offense shows he hasn't forgotten to coach? How about that great I formation handoff to a 5'6" tailback up the gut on third and1?
October 31st, 2010 at 1:11 AM ^
Come on man, that play has worked wonderfully the other 5 or 6 times we've run it this year. Oh wait, nevermind.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:25 AM ^
Complaining about the offense is seriously nitpicking. Not every playcall is going to work. Enough of them have worked for us to average 35.4 ppg despite a criminal lack of help from the defense and special teams. Just think how many points we'd score if our defense and/or STs could actually give us a short field once in a while?
October 31st, 2010 at 12:59 AM ^
And then coach them and make them better faster.
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<br>I mean, they are young. But with the lack of progress (regression, in fact) either they're not bring coached very well...or they're just not that good. It's not like we're lighting it up on the recruiting trails...and even our class rankings, as low as they have been, are probably adjusted downward for all the guys who we've lost or never got in.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:57 AM ^
Dude, that point is delusional. No one wants or expects the freshmen to play like All-Americans. They just want the defense to play well enough to freaking win. They want to see players develop and play with confidence. Unfortunately the defense plays like they know they are bad. As a coach, even when you know your defense sucks, you lie to them. You build them up and do your best to help them attack and call plays accordingly. If you thing Gerg, or RR, or anyone else on the staff IS doing that, we can respectfully disagree. Also, if you think other coaches wouldn't do better even given the supposedly God awful situation, I disagree. The problem is that you have to win to get talent, so it comes across as hollow to complain about talent when you're not winning.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:49 AM ^
I know it sounds hollow to once again reiterate how young the team is, how inexperienced, yada yada, but it's the truth, it can't be escaped! The one thing I don't see is a Notre Dame-esque losing situation where we have upper classmen and 4 and 5 star talent and still can't get the job done.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^
We hired RR for good reasons, and we should keep him for those same reasons.
And don't say that it can't get any worse, because it clearly can.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:48 AM ^
go to a school where he will be given 3 years?
October 31st, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
one that has confidence that he can succeed, or at least be better than 4-16 in conference play.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
Come on, you can do better than that. Having a big ego is almost a prerequisite to being a big time college football coach. There are a million guys who would LOVE the challenge of being the savior of the winningest program in college football history.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:01 AM ^
He'd have problems in Year 3. Or Year 1 for that matter.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:50 AM ^
Whether you support Rich Rodriguez or not (I'm in the former camp, by the way), the program is in the most dire crisis it has ever faced.
The thing to do is pray that Brandon handles this all with wisdom and foresight.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:02 AM ^
This decesion is more important for Brandon than any he has ever made before.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:02 AM ^
The silver lining here is David Brandon. I have supported RR from the beginning and still do. But I trust Brandon completely to make the right call here and show leadership in a time of crisis. Every call he has made since he took the job has been right on, I have no reason to suspect that this one will be any different.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
is Ira?
October 31st, 2010 at 1:14 AM ^
Ira is one of the radio guys for WTKA in Ann Arbor. He's been a fairly staunch RR supporter in the past.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:07 AM ^
and the worst D. What else do you do but throw up your hands and trust it to DB? RR is responsible for both. Everyone was open everywhere tonight. Everyone got blocked. Abject confusion on D, and mistakes on the whole team have been hallmarks. Maybe tonight wasn't the best time to make these position changes.
<br>But Harbaugh's not coming. And no one could coach this D personnel even to mediocrity. RR can coach. He deserves the season to let it play out.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:02 AM ^
Bullshit. You cannot say that no one could coach this defense to mediocrity. Throughout the history of college football coaches have started there successes by getting good results from subpar talent. You can't complain about not having good talent when you can't deliver results with what you have.
October 31st, 2010 at 5:02 AM ^
and that's a simplistic view. Position-by-position, w/out Martin in the game there are few starters on D capable of winning their match-up, few that would start for above avg B10 teams. They're too young or simply lack talent.
<br>Personnel is ultimately on the HC, however.
<br>To your point, he's done a terrific job coaching the O. Decisions will come at the end of the season, let it play out. I'd swap a win against Wiscy with this loss, assuming we beat Illinois and Purdue. If we lose 3 of 4 you'll have an opportunity to get your full Rabble on.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:12 AM ^
when did those with the most experience and best background shouldn't make the decision on this program's fate? Yeah, lets have the irrational, slightly drunk Michigan fan base make that decision. Let's have a vote to fire rich. It will be a ballot decision on the Nov. 2nd midterm election. If it passes then we can have a run off election for the next michigan HC.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:53 AM ^
At least then I bet we would see more than a 20% voter turnout for a mid term election, we haven't seen that in my lifetime.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:14 AM ^
Jesus man, when did you annoint Ira the keeper of who coaches Michigan? Is he only legit in your eyes if he starts on the, "Fire Rich Rod" band wagon?
I hope you aren't one who wants Les "Can't tell time" Miles?"
All of you who think firing RR after this season and starting from scratch again is going to help this team must be smoking some really bad pot bought from that stinky hippie behind some dumpster on Church St.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:20 AM ^
Dude you are the man.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:45 AM ^
Possibly my favorite post of the evening.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:50 AM ^
3 straight losing seasons at Michigan is unacceptable. Therefor, all we need is one more win and all is ...ok... for now.
It's in the hands of the team and coaches. if they can't beat purdue at the very least, any change is a good thing at this point.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:06 AM ^
That Ira is one of Rich's biggest slappy's...and for such a change, it might reflect a turning point in the fanbase.
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<br>But thanks for the nuanced analysis.
October 31st, 2010 at 3:07 AM ^
I love me some church st. dumpsters... the ones behind ricks and charlies were invaluable pissing spots.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:34 AM ^
if Rich Rod is relieved of his duties...Harbaugh. Fitzgerald should have beaten Sparty last week and showed some definite weaknesses in his coaching execution. Furthermore, why would he leave his alma mater to come here? Harbaugh was an all-american type player here under Bo, his dad was a coach here, he played 15 years in the NFL, worked his way up the coaching ladder and is running shit at Stanford, fucking STANFORD. No one outside of the M family understands the nuances of being the coach here. Harbaugh could come in and change the offense (why that is such a concern I don't know) and still win ten games next year. Gardner and Luck have very similar skills and are almost identically sized. Transfers are a reality with any coaching turnover but I bet Harbaugh, who has Stanford ranked #9 in rivals recruiting rankings, could get the majority of our players to stay on board. While Malzahn has done some nice things he does not get Michigan. He is from the south and has no clue how to handle the pressure that comes with leading this team. While I worry about us ending up like Notre Dame and being stuck in neutral, Harbaugh will come here and crush the opposition. He may be arrogant and stubborn but he wins, recruits well and punishes those who oppose him. We all want a coach who will come here and coach for 15-20 years and win multiple NC. That is Harbaugh. Do not even think about replacing with Rich Rod with anything else than a 100% born and bred Michigan Man.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:43 AM ^
I agree entirely. If Coach Rod is replaced, anyone other than Harbaugh would turn this program into Notre Dame by not being able to meet unattainable expectations in a short amount of time.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:28 AM ^
There can't be only one option. That one option is not guaranteed to come here.