Woj-Noooo! - why columnists aren't athletic directors

but I really don't think we need a parade of diaries dissecting bad journalist columns.  There are dozens about us daily, most of them bad, and most not worth reading.

You did a good job analyzing this, and I appreciate your good comments.  I just don't have any interest in reading about it here.  If I cared, I'd go read it at the DN or FP, or wherever it is.

So thanks for your good efforts, anyway. 

and was never a head coach.  Also, we don't know if the offensive transition would be "messy" or not.  There's no reason to think that we couldn't be able to play a prostyle offense using more shotgun than I as we transition back to a power football offense.

Wojo is a professional smartass who is usually very entertaining.  He is excellent at both sarcasm and mock-heroic satire.  He only sucks when he tries his hand at serious journalism.  Yesterday was obviously one of those times.

This is nonsense for a number of reasons.  First, Dave Brandon cannot talk to Harbaugh without Stanford's permission, so this isn't a slam-dunk hire.  Second, why would Harbaugh be in such a  hurry to leave at this very moment?  He has gone so far in a stellar 10-1 season, why not finish the job?   Would he suddenly  jump ship out of the blue at this point?  I imagine he wants to coach Stanford in the Rose or Sugar Bowl.

And finally, more realistically, what happens if/when Harbaugh says "NO" to a Michigan overture?  I doubt Brandon wants to start a national coaching search, when he already has a decent guy at the helm.  Tweaking the defensive coaching staff just might work.

Wojo, progress is being made, albeit more slowly than you would like.   Changes may be forethcoming, but, whoa, Nellie...down boy.

Jim would never leave his team after they have a great chance of ending the season at 10-1 with a Rose Bowl on the line.  I don't think Dave would ever talk to Jim without going through the proper channels.  If Dave does decide to make a change it would probably be after the bowl season. At any rate, I sure hope RR and the team can keep the OSU game close, and win their bowl game!

Even the SFO chronicle is picking up on this rumor  SFO .

...and a caveat: I've strayed away from making pointed remarks regarding the coaching search.  But this will be succinct.

The FireRod crowd has already crowned Harbaugh the savior of the program, yet there's very few alternative scenarios playing out in their heads.  Say RR gets canned and we don't get Harbaugh: who do we hire?  Crickets. 

I'm afraid a coaching search conducted at this point in history may prove to be infinitely more difficult than it was in 2007, a year in which I still believe we snagged one of the best in college football that was available at the time, and given the right personnel and batch of upperclassmen, will demonstrate why he's still one of the best.

I really think that the writers write articles to  entertain themselves and other writers. I will read a game summary/recap but rarely will I read a sports columinists piece because its usually shit and filled with fluff. Its like talk radio, they just talk about shit just to talk about it. They give their opinions and its not worth any more than yours or mine.

Forget the News or Press, pick up Royko's Sez Who Sez Me. Better to read something good at least you will enjoy it.

how fast you all turn on Wojo the second he writes something you disagree with. The man is an excellent comumnist..he wrote an opinion piece..take it at that. If you disagree, that's fine, but the points he makes are legitimate  facts..his solution you all may not like but that does not all the sudden make him  this dumbass douche you all are making  him out to be. Wojo is a good writer and a good person..he cares about this program 

what I would do if I were Dave Brandon or even what I would tell him if he asked, but consider the following two points:

-- Assume that Lloyd had stayed three more years and had announced that Saturday was his last game.  Also assume that RR had stayed at WVa for those three years and WVa had performed even better than it did after he left.   So now your top two candidates for the Michigan job that is opening next week are RR and Harbaugh, who would you pick?

-- Second, if Brandon does stick with RR, doesn't he almost have to give him an extension after all the angst over the last two years?  If he doesn't, how do you think recruiting is going to go next year as the rumors start to build up again?

Brandon has some tough decisions to make.

I love it when people dissect the piles of crap that journalists write. I loved it when Brian used to rebut all of the misleading lines written in a FreeP story.

Who lost 4 of those 6? I am not an LC hater but UM was in dire condition upon his departure and he knew it.  Lets not think that the bottom fell out against OSU when RR showed up. Unfortunately UM has been chasing OSU for the entire Tressell era. I live with it every year in the Dayton OH area where I live.

Harbaugh can work with DR because he won a national championship at U. of San Diego with a similar quarterback and spread scheme. Furthermore, Stanford a private school has greater academic restriction on recruiting and when Harbaugh took over the team had a record of 1-10. Within four years, despite vastly inferior facilities and tougher recruiting standards he has elevated the program to a top ten team.

RR's record for three years is taking a team that beat Florida in a bowl game  (which won the national championship the following year) to last place in the big ten.  What Wojo is referring to is what most posters acknowledge. The disparity between the better teams in the BIg Ten and Michigan has never been greater. Next year will be a carbon copy of this year. So what is the point to keep him? Is it all about hope?

Remember this. The longer he stays the longer it will take to get back to national prominence. BY then it may be too late. The program will have degenerated to Indiana levels with interest turning to basketball or hockey.

Anyone who starts with a heading like this: "Rich Rodriguez needs to go if Buckeyes whip Wolverines again" when, just by how this year has gone is a near certainly, is an idiot. If he wants to say Rodriguez should be fired, he should flat out say he thinks Rodriguez should be fired - not try to couch it in an unrealistic if/then in an attempt to make it appear he isn't flat on the side of having Rich Rod fired.

Gah!

Yes, it is indeed his opinion. That's exactly what it is. That's what opinion columnists are for: they offer their opinions. I'm not sure why you seem to think that's wrong. He does cover the sport, you'll recall. He does know the players, coaches, administration. Had he voiced an opinion that RR shouldn't be fired, you wouldn't have written this, right? Think about it.  

I like Wojo a lot, but in addition to the valid points raised by the OP, my main issue with Wojo's column:

Sometimes, you wonder why he ever left his alma mater, West Virginia, for such a profound change, and then you realize why.

He wanted to test himself and his offense, to show it could work in the big, bold Big Ten.

Forget about proving his offense in the Big Ten; it was about the opportunity to coach at the most storied program in college football, the leaders and best. No matter how much love RR had for WVU, he knew that Michigan is the pinnacle, the best tradition, the best opportunity and the best resources a coaching staff could possibly have. That is not my opinion or speculation, that's from RR himself. That's why he came to Michigan, not some made up "prove his offense" reason.