CC: Newsflash, Rosenberg makes sense. (Stay away CC post bashers)

Look, I'm on the fence about RichRod and open to any halfway intelligent "CC" discussion, but all we have here is Rosenberg repeating a point that's been made and dissected weeks ago.  Yeah, okay, he managed to go through an entire article without slandering anyone.  Yippee.

Maybe one of the mods should create a single sticky "inane CC blather" thread where we can post things like this along with random fan ventilations and half-baked sports-talk radio speculations.  (Except we call it something nicer, like "Ongoing Coach Change Dialogue")

I understand that the media has to pontificate and fans want to vent, so we have a "safe place" for that.  At some point I might even want to chime in myself.  When some real news comes out from a reasonably reliable source then the mods can put that up on the main board for all to see.

If Brandon had hired Rodriguez back right after a nasty loss to OSU, a lot more people would've been upset because they were still fully pissed off about the loss.  The season ended poorly, so it felt worse that in it really was.  As a few weeks go by, people can get a little perspective about the accomplishments in the season as a whole.

However, I agree with the majority that Brandon has Harbaugh #1 and Rodriguez #2 and is delaying to keep his options open.

which I think he's going to do, waiting until Jan. 1 save the Univ. $1.5M.  That's a good reason to wait.  Also, if he is planning a change, he most likely cannot announce it until after at least Jan. 3.  An open position without a "lead candidate" will draw more scrutiny than what is currently happening.

by beating Mississippi State, stop making jovial remarks in public about his future employment status with Michigan, and continue recruiting like a maniac. If he's fired, Rodriguez will land a great job as an OC or HC elsewhere. 

Brandon is decisive. I think he's already made up his mind to keep Rodriguez another year. I don't think he's waiting for Harbaugh's season to end, or to save the university money in the deal.  Such savings will be stricken anyway with a new coach and staff.

However, I do think Brandon is smart to wait.  He probably intends to keep Rodriguez, but you can imagine how a poor defensive showing against Miss State, a bowl loss and a 7-6 finish might push Brandon over to the other side of the ledger and activate an offer to Harbaugh.

Then I got to thinking, what if after the Orange Bowl Harbaugh said "no"?  That'd be interesting.

DB has mentioned all along that the program will receive an evaluation after the season is over. It's fair to presume that this evaluation includes an evaluation on the coach and his staff.  Fair enough!  But all things considered, most of the news and debates have been focused on that very specific point - the evaluation of the coach and not the program as a whole.  Yes, he (RR) runs the program but hear me out.

I'm not making light of the "RR stays or goes debates" but I believe this perception of just focusing on the coaching decision has placed the focus squarely on that sort of 'microcosm' where as DB has to make an evaluation on the program as a whole.

I would guess that many of us would like to know the metrics used to evaluate the athletic programs.  It's a given that W's vs. L's, Fan Sentiment, Revenues, "Branding", Alumni Sentiment, Coach Relations (Is DB comfortable with his subordinates?), ect...are all to be taken into account.  My guess is that DB has a scorecard of type to truly inform him on what he deems necessary to build and run the best college football program in the nation.  The coaching eval. being just one of the metrics  (albeit, a metric of major importance! Perhaps, the most important!) on the scorecard.

Just something to think about!  Have a great weekend to all.  I may drive up to SB to root the soccer team on.

Stay True Folks & Go Blue!

(1) By sticking to the timeline he set in February 2010, DB avoids the consequences of giving into pandering followers apropos his release of information on RR's job status (either because the public begs him to or because the media berates him for not doing so), all of which undermines his leadership and
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<br>(2) DB could--putatively--be waiting in this way because he recognizes that doing so takes a significant amount of focus off of RR and onto himself (as we see with each new day in the electronic and paper media).
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<br>Clearly, some things are much more important than perceived recruiting risks, perceived coaches' uneasiness, and perceived fan impatience (OMGtellUSnowz!). These two things qualify, in my opinion.

It would be better said "DB is only doing this because he is considering firing RR as a POSSIBILITY."

Three coaches since 2000 have been fired after coaching their team in a bowl game:

1. John Cooper at OSU in 2000-2001

2. Paul Pasqualoni at Syracuse 2004-2005

3. Glen Mason at Minnesota 2006-2007

Three coaches since 2000 were given a choice to coach their team in the bowl game but were fired before the bowl:

1. Karl Dorrell at UCLA 2007-2008

2. Dirk Koetter at ASU in 2006-2007

3. Larry Coker at Miami in 2006-2007

Eight other coaches, based on performance only, were fired before their team's bowl.

though I disagree with the OP's concurring opinion on Rosenberg's article, I have to stay he started what turned out to be, post for post, the best-written thread I think I've ever seen on any sports-related website.  Every post in this thread looks like it was written by, you know, literate people.  When does that ever happen on the interwebs?

The sad thing is, Rosenberg certainly has a point.  It's not an overly thoughtful point - teams retain and fire guys all the time after bowl games - but the fact that Brandon has been quiet while recruits have openly questioned whether the coach will remain certainly isn't helping the program.  All that said, sometimes a blind squirrel finds a nut, and in this case Rosenberg found a sliver of an acorn that he tripped over on the way to the compost heap.

there a couple of absolutes.

1.  He's going in a different direction and cannot announce it until that coach is done with their bowl game (that coach's call).

2.  He's keeping RR and he SHOULD just announce it, waiting is pointless in that case.

Hence, it seems logical that DB is waiting for two reasons, one the buyout drops Jan. 1 and two the next coach wants it quiet until after bowl game.

Also, the argument that DB evaluates all his coaches, name one he has to evaluate beyond RR and Belien.  Hockey, baseball, softball, soccer are all winners.  He has nothing to evaluate except the top two sports.

That there are so many opinions with so many reasonable justifications on polar opposite ends of the "Fire RR"-"Keep RR" spectrum that only one thing must be true

We know absolutely nothing.

Everything else, while seemingly logical, is just conjecture at this point. Only time will tell who's right...but I'm sick of hearing everyone's "unique" perspectives. (I know I know, maybe I should stop clicking the CC links...but honetsly, I can't!)

The other thing I have to say: It's a sad day in the MGoBlog community that someone would dig up a Rosenberg column to offer "perspective" on the CC situation. Is it surprsing what he says? Even if he ends up being correct, his extremely biased viewpoints mean nothing to me, and should mean nothing to everyone on this board.

Using Rosenberg's comments that "RR should be fired, and DB will do so" is about as credible as hearing Matt Millen say "DB should keep RR". One of those human beings will end up being correct. That doesn't mean what they say should have any - ANY - weight on the situation.

Whoever said "RR as insurance policy" has it right. He doesn't want to keep RR; if he did, he'd have thrown his weight behind him. He wants JH, but he's worried about him bolting to the NFL.

RR is the backup girl on the speed dial, just in case.

Unfortunately, RR is a plan C IMO.  I was hoping DB would keep RR for one or two more years. If RR was plan A, DB would have said so after the OSU game.

My guess is JH is plan A, with plan B being DH, GP, BH or even GM.  RR showed during the football bust that he really wants to continue coaching here. I feel sorry for him and I also think he may be looking around for new gigs at UF, may be even back to WVU?

Here's hoping that DB will keep RR through his contract.

Is that Rosenberg, Henning, et al. get to keep writing about this stuff.  There is nothing new.. Nothing different from last week, but Rosenberg needs to keep writing about it?

I don't see where everyone's blind faith in Dave Brandon comes from other than his strong wording in press conferences. All I've seen from his track record here so far is that he's stubborn and isn't reviewing and rectifying his decisions when the consequences arise. If we lose Dee Hart because Dave Brandon is essentially hinging his decision on the bowl game (Which is completely ridiculous, if you were going to fire him then there is far more than enough results to base it on, and if you want to let him build the program, then a shalacking in the Gator Bowl shouldn't be the last straw), then this offense gets set back for a fourth year in a row. This offense reached it's potential this year, when you don't have a threat at runningback, this past year is as good as it will get. We can't afford to get shelled for the entire first half throughout the Big Ten schedule again, we have to be able to move the ball back against them when the game is close. Dee Hart is that answer, he comes in with more realized potential than any recruit we've had in a long time. And if we lose that while Dave Brandon dangles Rich Rod over the edge of Schembechler Hall, I will lose all respect for Dave Brandon's decision making.

Quality (or lack thereof) of the journalism aside, it seems to me that "the media" generally reflects the views of it's advertisers' customers...for better or for worse.