Mr. Yost

December 2nd, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^

If we got thrashed by 40, and only scored single digits, there is no question that Borges would be gone.

UF is going to keep Muschamp and fired their OC...the same was going to happen with us, IMO.

That game saved his job. Period.

I had a question about Jackson too, I still think it's time for him to retire and work in some sort of Lloyd Carr advisory role.

We need much more youth on our coaching staff. OC and RB coaches would be a great start.

And since I'm a solutions oriented person...I'll even give you my replacements.

OC: Mike Sanford (Stanford) http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=749929&SPID=127013&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=208167745&Q_SEASON=2013

RB: Tyrone Wheatley (Buffalo Bills)

Mr. Yost

December 3rd, 2013 at 5:35 PM ^

He's my 2nd choice without question. Another guy that is going to be a GREAT position coach (not sure if he'll be much else), fantastic recruiter, and he'll infuse some energy into the coaching staff.

I think Wheatley is more qualified which is why he's my clear #1, but I'd take Hart #2 and not look back.

And for the people that say "it doesn't have to be a Michigan Man"...that is true, so true. But these guys are good at what they do AND they know/love the program. Notice I didn't say Cam Cameron or Scot Loeffler for the OC position.

I had a post a couple weeks ago where I put my favorites in a "dream staff" scenario.

Sanford was the OC, Wheatley was the RB coach, Mike Tice (longshot) was the OL coach, and Mike Mallory (yes, another brother) was the ST coach.

*TEs were coached by Hecklinski and Tice.

BlowGoo

December 2nd, 2013 at 7:58 PM ^

I think nothing summarizes my opinion more than the first line of this post.

 

Borges back?  Without question.  Completely agree.

I'm frankly excited about him coming back and I think next year will be great.

 

One year from now, I think the idea of getting rid of Borges will be laughable.

 

Funk?  Hmmmm.... That's a tougher question.

 

But if Hoke wants him back, good enough for me.

Creedence Tapes

December 2nd, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^

Penn State, 7-5, though we had  a 7 point lead with about a minute left. and missed 2 game winning field goals in OT. MSU 11-1, only game we didn't have a shot. Nebraska, 8-4, we were leading with 8 minutes to go and couldn't hold on. Iowa, 8-4, again, we had a lead in the 4th and couldn't hold on. Ohio, 12-0, couldn't convert the extra point. We lost 4 games by a total of 11 points. 

Last year, MSU lost 5 games by a total of 13 points, and finished 7-6. One year later they are 11-1 . The sky is not falling, we've had some bad luck combined with youth on the interior line. I'm glad Brady Hoke decided not to fire anybody and stay the course. Things are not as grim as mgoblog thinks.

CR7

December 2nd, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^

Why do people mention Akron and PSU as bad games for Borges? If not for 3 redzone turnovers from Devin, M scores 40+ on Akron. With those TO's, they had 425 yards of offense. Not overly impressive against MACtion but again, turnovers. Same with PSU. They had nearly 400 yards of offense and scored 27 pre OT. Not great but good enough, all things considered (Bryant getting yanked, Lewan being out, 3 turnovers).

NOLA Wolverine

December 2nd, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^

It goes back to who you want to assign accountability for those turnovers to. Devin turned it over at an alarmingly high rate to begin the year and Borges basically shortened his leash to nothing for Big Ten play outside of the OSU game. Borges got the bulk of the blame for both of those things. 

Ron Utah

December 2nd, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^

The only reason to mention Akron as a poor offensive performance is ignorance.  It was a very good offensive performance; the defense was bad.

PSU is more understandable; the first half offense was pretty bad, and Borges seemed to stick with the run for too long.  It was not a bad game offensively, but there were a few calls that may have cost us the game.  Of course, Gibbons making any FG he always makes would have won us the game.

westwardwolverine

December 2nd, 2013 at 6:00 PM ^

Anytime you can put up 7 points in the first half on a 5 win MAC team, you have to mark that down as a quality offensive performance. 

CR7

December 2nd, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^

The D was woeful against Akron, I agree. PSU is different. They did only have 10 but again, DG lit 2 of those drives on fire by throwing picks. Not a whole lot the OC can do about that. Second half they got it going and should've won that game but for the lord and savior Greg Mattison's defense.

westwardwolverine

December 3rd, 2013 at 9:53 AM ^

Yep, 30 rushes for 28 yards by your running backs definitely doesn't fall on your OC at all. Having the ball at your opponents 30 with three minutes left and running the ball into the line three times in a completely ineffective way doesn't fall on your OC at all. 

AgonyTrain

December 2nd, 2013 at 3:11 PM ^

I respect Brady's loyalty but hope he consulted with Brandon first and was told he was free to make this decision but would be facing a pretty stringent review at the end of next year if he kept Borges.  If we are 7-5 again Hoke and Co need to go (absent having massive injury issues), assuming there are good candidates available.  When you are a CEO coach decisions like this make or break your career.  Hoke is making an incredibly important decision that is contrary to the available facts (regression of the offense over the past 3 years) and there needs to be consequences if his blind loyalty to his assistants harms the program

Space Coyote

December 2nd, 2013 at 2:49 PM ^

But I do think Hoke had a similar opinion as I had in regards to the coaching staff and the problems that faced the team. If the OSU game saved anyone's job (and I don't think it did, necessarily), I think it was Funk's (though I don't think a single game saved it, I think if they are starting to see things click throughout the past couple weeks, it may have; also take into account the untimely loss of his father).

My guess is next year is Jackson's final year though (due to retirement).

FWIW: In my opinion, if the OL plays consistent football like they did against OSU, where they are at least something other than a sieve, then I think this is the type of game plan (minus a couple of the trick plays) that you can expect from Borges. I said it after the Indiana game -and I understand that was Indiana but it was also the only other game that the OL established itself as at least mediocre - but the balanced offense with PA, deep passes, short passes, run, etc is where Borges wants to go. Without the extreme limitations and being forced to go to the "what is the defenses biggest weakness and can we do anything about it" prayer, this offense becomes much more diverse. That means executing, for those that hate that word. But that's been my feeling all along.

I Like Burgers

December 2nd, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^

If you're Jackson, I don't really see the point of sticking it out one more year and then retiring.  Unless he's going to hit some magic retirement threashold with an extra season.  The time to walk off into the sunset is when your kid graduates.  If he comes back for next season, I don't see him retiring for a while.

Space Coyote

December 2nd, 2013 at 3:01 PM ^

That he didn't want to coach much longer after his son graduated. This may mean that they wanted him to stay on one more year for consistency, I could also see his son possibly being a GA and that's why he's sticking around a bit longer.

I do not believe he will be coaching more than 1-2 more years though.

Space Coyote

December 2nd, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^

I'm not saying Jackson's son is possibly going to be a GA and should be the RB coach one day, it's just that usually GA's are former members of that team and Jackson seems to fit the bill, particularly with his dad coaching and there not being a next level opportunity for him. The elder's decision to stick around may be because he wants to be a part of that as well.

I, for the record, believe Wheatley would be the optimal choice, but that's only minorly due to his previous connections with the school. Outside of that, I think you look around elsewhere (take a look at Hart, but he needs to be better than other candidates, he hasn't proven that by his track record to date, and I have other reservations about him coaching outside of that).

Reader71

December 2nd, 2013 at 5:43 PM ^

Why do we hate Jackson again?

He has had a long distinguished career, producing great back after great back. He got 1000 yards out of Fitzgerald Touissant, who in all of his carries might not have broken 10 tackles when the defender touched him.

The freshmen RBs looked pretty good last game, although it took longer than we would have hoped. Fitz isn't that great and he came back from the most gruesome leg injury any of us have ever seen with a player in a Michigan uniform.

The results have been poor for two years running. But do we think Fred Jackson is the reason for that? I don't.

westwardwolverine

December 2nd, 2013 at 6:06 PM ^

Fred Jackson has had 4 and 5 star backs from 2008 to 2013. In that time, only one has looked like a real gamebreaker and that was Fitz for one season. Before that, he had Mike Hart who pretty much looked like he was college ready. 

I don't think Fred Jackson got that out of Fitz. I think our OLine was really good in 2011 and Denard took a lot of pressure off the backs. 

What I really don't get is the 10-15 posters on this site who seem incapable of believing that any coach under Brady Hoke can have a negative affect on the team or player.