Brandon turned down Sumlin after RR
So Dave Brandon interviewed Sumlin, but wanted a "Michigan man" and we got Hoke. Starts around the 39 minute mark.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:20 PM ^
So you're quantifying Hoke over Sumlin by essentially saying "how were we supposed to know he was going to end up being so successful?" Isn't the the job of the AD and the search committee to determine potential success from unlikely (i.e. - less expensive) places? A&M's coaching search didn't seem to have much trouble figuring that out...
September 30th, 2014 at 4:23 PM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^
No I am not quantifying Hoke over Sumlin. I am saying that Sumlin, like Hoke, had some question marks at the time and was not an obvious choice like a Harbaugh/other big name proven coach would have been.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:17 PM ^
He turned down a coach who was 5-7 at Houston? Yes he turned into something great, but image the outrage if that would have happened around here. It was the right move at the time.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
He turned down a coach who was 5-7 at Houston?
He turned down a coach that was 23-16 at Houston - with a conference championship and a bowl win in 3 years - for a sub .500 coach who had never won a conference championship and had one bowl win in 8 seasons.
...and Sumlin was a pretty highly regarded coordinator prior to being a head coach, something Hoke never was.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:36 PM ^
He turned down a coach who was 5-7 at Houston?
He turned down a coach that was 23-16 at Houston - with a conference championship and a bowl win in 3 years - for a sub .500 coach who had never won a conference championship and had one bowl win in 8 seasons.
...and Sumlin was a pretty highly regarded coordinator prior to being a head coach, something Hoke never was.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:18 PM ^
Sumlin would have been a great hire. However nowadays we need a pro style guru because no one wants to go through a 2-3 year transition again.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^
This is one that I won't second guess. Sumlin had a questionable resume at the time, having taken over the Houston program from Art Briles and compiling a decent but uninspiring 23-16 record.
We also needed a guy with some defensive credibility to fix the RichRod/Tony Gibson disaster and Sumlin had none of that. I would argue that he still doesn't.
September 30th, 2014 at 8:31 PM ^
Air raid vs. RR-spread changes the run-pass mix, of course, but otherwise:
| 153.25 | 61 | Rushing Offense | 13 | 238.54 |
| 327.25 | 5 | Passing Offense | 36 | 250.15 |
| 480.5 | 11 | Total Offense | 8 | 488.69 |
| 37.67 | 13 | Scoring Offense | 25 | 32.77 |
| 208.75 | 114 | Rushing Defense | 95 | 188.92 |
| 131.95 | 73 | Pass Efficiency Defense | 103 | 144.79 |
| 432.83 | 103 | Total Defense | 110 | 450.77 |
| 32.17 | 96 | Scoring Defense | 108 | 35.23 |
| 35.53 | 77 | Net Punting | 69 | 36.07 |
| 14.25 | 9 | Punt Returns | 67 | 7.43 |
| 22.18 | 55 | Kickoff Returns | 69 | 21.44 |
| -0.5 | T-88 | Turnover Margin | 109 | -0.77 |
| 224.08 | 68 | Pass Defense | 112 | 261.85 |
| 144.67 | 28 | Passing Efficiency | 23 | 145.97 |
| 1.75 | 79 | Sacks | 98 | 1.38 |
| 6.5 | 33 | Tackles For Loss | 77 | 5.38 |
| 1 | T-15 | Sacks Allowed | T-10 | 0.85 |
Michigan's defensive woes were skewed a bit more towards the pass than the run, by comparison, and Houston had more success with their return game. Otherwise they might as well be the same team.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:20 PM ^
A leap of faith could've brought him here...are you kidding me??
September 30th, 2014 at 4:21 PM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^
Turned down for what?
September 30th, 2014 at 4:40 PM ^
Another round of shots
September 30th, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^
This is why we need to get away from the whole must have connections to Michigan thing. We need someone innovative. The 90s football doesn't work anymore.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:28 PM ^
WTF is going on?
I realize that Sumlin wasn't as successful at that time as he was when A&M hired him, but still amazing given what we've seen from him since then -- especially as compared to Michigan over that same time period.
Would he have been as successful here? Who knows. But, RR was laying the ground work for a "spread offense," and he would have inherited Denard so I have to imagine something good would have come from hiring him.
The saddest thing to me is that I really like(d) Hoke and had the highest confidence that he was up to the task. I want(ed) him to be "the guy" so badly, and seeing now that he's just uber depressing to me.
September 30th, 2014 at 5:25 PM ^
Sumlin's offense is very different from RR's - much more passing-centered. I'm not sure Denard would have looked much better than he did under Borges.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
Yeah, in hindsight wish we could've made it happen, but I think Brandon was justified in looking elsewhere. Don't know Sumlin's record from that year but he wasn't big until the following year.
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September 30th, 2014 at 4:37 PM ^
Monday morning QB. Who says Sumlin comes here and produces similar results. Two completely different programs. Sure they both play footbal but the details are not the same.
If Michigan wants to win now. Its going to cost a lot. I mean a lot. For a coach that is.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
So now we find out Brandons was making dumb-ass moves even before we learned what a enourmous, fan-alianating butt wipe he really is.
Awesome.
FWIW I've listened to Sumlin speak a bit and he's pretty sharp. Trying to imagine how and where the interview went south. Probably here...
DB: "Yes Kevin all that's fine and good but have you ever coached or played at Meeechigan before today? And how many times do we say "hail" in the Victors?"
Sumlin: "No and I have no idea"
DB: "Alecia - can you show Mr Sumlin how to get his parking ticket validated. And bring in Brady please."
September 30th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^
why not give him another call?
September 30th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
where this guy got that info?
We all kinda follow Michigan football...and I've never heard anyone say that Sumlin was turned away.
September 30th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
Wow, everyone points to Sumlins 2010 season, ok lets point to it. In GAME 2 AGAINST UCLA HE LOST KEENUM AND THE AND 2ND STRING QB TO SEASON ENDING INJURIES.
Had to play with the 3rd string QB the rest of the year. I mean how had is that to understand. He won his conference already which again is more than Hoke has accomplished to that point. He was a great OC at OU for 2 yrs which is more than Hoke accomplished as a simple DL coach before going to his alma mater for their job.
Man, I just dont understand this fanbase as we constantly find a way to be negative and second guess any and every thing. Absolutely amazing.
September 30th, 2014 at 5:36 PM ^
Calm down dude. Sumlin's feelings aren't going to be hurt by what someone on another school's message board wrote.
Even if that 2010 season deserves an asterisk, we're talking about a guy who had only two other years of head coaching experience at the time, at a program that had been in good shape before he got there. It would have been pretty cool if Brandon would have had the foresight to hire him, but I don't know how many big-name programs would have done so at that point. It was the following season that made him a hot commodity.
September 30th, 2014 at 8:50 PM ^
So what? What had Sumlin ever accomplished up to that point? 3 years coaching in the C-USA with one 10-4 season where he never had a better record than his immediate predecessor? Hoke took Ball State to 12-0. If we are going on the basis of resume, Hoke had done far more with far less.
September 30th, 2014 at 9:30 PM ^
Hoke doesn't know how to fucking coach. It can't get much simpler. You can outrecruit people in the MAC and win; not so much in the Big + 4.
September 30th, 2014 at 5:12 PM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 5:39 PM ^
Let's not rewrite history here. RichRod went 6-18 in B1G play. Six conference wins in three years is not "amazing", no matter how crappy your roster is.
September 30th, 2014 at 6:05 PM ^
Minnesota and Purdue each won eight conference games. Illinois won nine.
Just how bad do people think our roster was?
September 30th, 2014 at 5:45 PM ^
Sumlin would have done a lot better job with Denard and Devin, too. Rich Rod had the roster just where he wanted it; his young team had turned into upperclassmen. Rich Rod or Sumlin could have gotten Michigan to the Rose Bowl or the BCS Championship game in 2011.
Thanks, David: that decision probably cost Denard a Heisman.
September 30th, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^
There probably isn't a single person here that would have thought this was the right move at the time. The people who would have tended to back Sumlin as a forward-thinking offensive mind would have been pushing to keep RR, not to replace him with somebody else with less pedigree and with the same liabilities on the other side of the ball.
A google search doesn't turn up a single mention of him on the blog during the 2010 search, though there was no end of bizarre names being tossed out, if only as jokes. There was one mention earlier in the season that he might be a candidate at Minnesota; otherwise, Sumlin speculation for any power-conference job isn't a thing until 2011. (Unless you count Kansas--I found a KU sportswriter that wanted Sumlin in '09.)
September 30th, 2014 at 8:02 PM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
My gawd...we are ND
September 30th, 2014 at 11:31 PM ^
This is wayyyyy more damning than anything else Brandon has ever done. Brandon gets paid the big bucks to make the big decisions correctly. He failed miserably and it has set Michigan football back another decade (if not more), otherwise we'd already be back to the top.