Hello: Defensive Coordinator Greg Robinson

We have no idea how this will turn out. This guy apparently did a good job at DC in other places. The Texas coach is really high on him so he must have something going for him. Don't think Mack Brown would back someone that can't hack it. The fact that he didn't do a good job as head coach at Syracuse has absolutely no bearing on if he will be a good DC. History is filled with situations where a guy was a superb #2 or #3 guy but didn't hack it as the head man.

i know this has nothing to do with the new DC but does anyone know how close we are to landing denard robinson?? if we even are?

In 1986, Bo made Mo the offensive coordinator and promoted Lloyd to D coordinator and LBs coach. Lloyd never played LB nor had any coaching experience at that position.

Yeah, we had Harbaugh at QB, (Jr.) Jamie Morris running the ball and a damn good offensive line. And on D we had Hammerstein and Messner.......but, we still had two "new" coordinators and a LB coach with no experience and we won the Big 10 and went to the Rose Bowl.

I guess I'm saying, nobody knows how this is going to shake out. Hopefully, we've cleaned out the bad attitude guys that "didn't buy in" (according to Minor) and the new coaching hires work out, and the offense finds it's groove.

I'm praying it does, anyway.

You people are delusional. Hey, I hope this works out, this may even work out. But this goes waaaay beyond making lemonade out of lemons. This is making lemonade out of virus-infected post-Katrina debris.

You cannot be as bad as GR was in his last position at everything related to football and be a genius at one portion of football. Maybe you can scratch out competence in a small niche with a whole lotta help (like other peoples' talent, support, schemes), maybe you cannot suck too hard at one focused job, but there is no way your are very good at your work when you suck that bad at something integrally related. Any HC who has encountered the Peter Principle still shows a pulse in their area of expertise. At some point during his execrable tenure at Syracuse he would have looked at his execrable defense and his execrable defensive coordinator and imparted some of his genius and not sucked. They still might have lost, but genius is too hard to hide under a bushel and we'd see something.

This is a demoralizing hire. I now question the RR hire for the first time.

Let's assume UM has the talent to field a talented defense, which we do. What's been missing the last few years is the fundamentals i.e. missed tackles, missed assignments, players out of position, poor angles of pursuit etc. Robinson doesn't have to be genius to correct those problems. The guy has a ton of experience and should have a chip on his shoulder to succeed. He knows the game inside and out. I don't see him failing.

Rich Rod can only blame himself for not consulting the vast field of Defensive-Coordinator-Hiring Experts here at MgoBlog. You'd think he would have learned his lesson over the whole Shav'd Beaver fiasco.

GR was DC there right? Is that the same D that we hung 37 points on in a shootout at the Rose Bowl? I hope he's all that Rich Rod hoped for, GR can't do much worse than this year.

Anyone ever think that maybe hiring a coach with a chip on his shoulder is a good thing. He wasn't succesful as a HC and thus will be constantly proving his worth as our DC. Also, he may have tried his hand as a HC and is now just looking to be the best DC he can be. This also isn't a bad thing considering he won't be looking to bounce in a few years for a HC job. The failure at Syracuse probably humbled him and I think this will work to our advantage. He will be less likely to clash with RR and will do what's in the team's best interest and not his own. RR has said that GR defenses were tough to play against...with more and more teams going to the spread probably a good idea to get a DC who has had success stopping it.

Let's give him at least a year before we jump all over him!

I'm optimistic about this hire. Why? I don't have a good reason other than I'm a generally optimistic person and I've always believed Michigan offers the resources and prestige for any competent coach to be successful. I do have to disagree with Brian when he says that Rodriguez has 'gambled his career' on this hire. My sense is that getting the spread ninja offense to come around and work the way it did for him at West Virginia is the bigger concern and bigger key to Rodriguez's future success or failure at Michigan.

I LOVE this hire.

When you're basing an opinion on something like this best to trust the instincts of the man who will ultimately have to live with the decision. For all we know this guy will be the next Peleni or Kines. Put a good coach in a position where he has a constant influx of superior players, and a soon to be monster offense to back it up, you got the makings of us calling him an ingrate 3-4 years from now when he takes the head coaching job at where ever.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Shafer also coached the secondary. Robinson seems to have more of a background coaching the defensive line, but we've already got Bruce Tall for that.
Robinson doesn't seem to have much experience exclusively coaching DBs, so you've gotta think RR will also hire a secondary coach.

i just got the official txt message from michigan.

You can't get a cup of coffee for 1.95million these days

FWIW, Rittenberg of ESPN thinks this is an "excellent move" essentially restating the mostly consensus view here that he is a better DC vs HC:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-2-1137/Robinson-an-excellent-choice-...

Syracuse had a grand total of four (4) four-star recruits on defense between 2002 and 2008. Two (2) of them were true freshmen in 2008. Robinson does not have to be a good recruiter now, because Michigan does not rely on its coordinators to recruit.

Some have said his success only happened when he had great players. Well, what coordinator does that NOT apply to? Besides, he will have great players at Michigan. He may not be the best Michigan D-coordinator ever, but as long as he is at least mediocre I think Michigan can get by with him.

and then go on to be great elsewhere. I am not saying this IS the case here but it is not outside of the realm.

Pete Carrol, Bilichek, Spurrier and that coach guy from the movie Hoosiers. Gene Hackman. In fact, Hackman went on to coach a football team in the movie The Replacements.

Whatever. We got history, logic and stats and opinions, but no crystal balls.

So, I'm taking the high road. Torches and clubs back in the closet. Besides, it isn't that big of a focking deal anyway. DC's don't make tackles. I like what Gsimmons said--get the best recruiter you can. How that bodes in this situation is still a toss up.

Go blue! I don't bet so I can afford to be optimistic.

This guy has the vote of his former players, not to mention RR - both sets of people much closer to him than anyone here...

Also he has had more success doing this job than our recent previous DCs before taking a job at M...

Probably more likely he sees it as a chance to get back to something he loved doing and was good at, than it is he taking it as he is "in decline"

Lots of premature condemnation. I think better to give the guy a chance to see what he can make happen...

Although I think patience is in order as the crop of young talent we have by and large probably won't be ready to set the earth on fire for a couple years, and still lacks players at key positions such as LB.

The AP is now reporting this.

Also: WOOOO PIPELINE TO UPSTATE NEW YORK!!!! I.E....MICHAEL HART

He did win two Super Bowls and four Rose Bowls when I was -5 years old, so we have that going for us...

Best of luck G-Rob and GO BLUE!!!

I went to BYU undergrad and suffered through Gary Crowton as head coach. Crowton looks similar to GR, except on the offensive side: fairly successful college OC, not-so-impressive NFL OC, dismal head coach. He took a pretty decent BYU team and ran it into the ground. After getting fired, he was OC at Oregon and did great. He is currently at LSU, doing some good stuff there too. Maybe some dudes just can't be head coaches and need the right fit. Maybe GR will flourish at U-Mich.

not bothered by this one bit. especially when you consider that RR wanted someone to coordinate the input of the defensive staff rather than "run" the defense. not sure that RR could have gotten any better candidate under those terms.

and God speed to you as you try to go forward. Hopefully since he is not the one in charge it will work out. Our condolences to you and yours from the Syracuse Blogisphere.

I don't have much to add other than he's probably much better than a hiring a n00b or an "up and comer".

Also, that picture is awesome. Wonder what that dude did wrong? I must imagine that Robinson was like that in many many 'Cuse games. He has to swear, I mean, look at that face.

for all of us, doesn't it?

The greatest achievement of Greg Robinson happened back in 1997 and 1998 as DC of the Denver Broncos. Ironic that such success was around the same time of UM's national championship with then DC Jim Herrmann.

Maybe Greg Robinson, who is 57, has some fantastic years ahead of him as the new Michigan DC.

Rich Rodriguez and Pete Carroll (Robinson's good friend) must both know something about how well Robinson can coach the defense.

I'm not a fan of this, but at the end of the day, if we recruit good players, and teach them proper fundamentals, we'll have a good defense. Really.

per rivals

Here is another emotional argument that I think isnt that reflective of history: He was an abject failure as a head coach, so what the fawk are we doing hiring him as a DC!!!!

His abject failure as a head coach means absolutely nothing towards his ability to be a DC.

Ted Roof was awful at Duke and Cutliffe improved the program in his frst year. However, Roof helped lead a big improvement in Minnesota's defense this season in his first year as DC.

Dont forget folks, Gary Moeller went 6-24-3--an abject failure--at the Univeristy of Illinois. He ended up being an excellent OC for Michigan. Mike Debord was an abject failure as HC at CMU, but as OC for UM led the team to a national title and almost directed a second offense to another unbeaten season.

I'm not a DeBord fan, but if Robinson's work as DC falls somewhere in between Moeller and Debord as OC, then he will be doing well.

And, there are tons of other folks who failed as a HC, but excelled again in the coordinator role once they went back to that sort of job.