CC: A thread for people who still support RR

I fully support coach rod in spite of the differing opinions held my father, uncles, my little sister's douchebag boyfriend (who is a student at UMD and sold me half of his tickets this season in the student section because he hates RR) and all other detractors.

When you combine the loss ten possible starters in the secondary to injury, admissions issues and general AMSHG-ness with GERG's idiotic defensive schemes, expectations need to be tapered off despite ARGGH THIS IS MICHIGAN UNACCEPTABLE.

Also, the offense will return everyone except Schilling and Dorrestein next year and it's a mistake not to allow the architect to finish his half-built house.

The bowl game was so disheartening, but to me the problem is not RR, it is the youth of the team.  It is not a lack of talent, it is merely a lack of experience. The defensive staff needs a complete overhaul, but not the whole program.  These guys will be a very good team next year, and hopefully moreso for what they are going through.

Stick with it and we will be rewarded, ye of little faith.

We'll be better next year with Rich Rod.  We'll be better next year with Harbaugh.

Whatever.

I think RR is a good coach and could turn this around. But I've made my peace with the fact that he's almost certainly a goner. I will support whomever the new coach is, because I am first and foremost, a UM fan. But I will continue to root for RR at his next stop. RR is a good guy and a good coach who due to a combination of his own mistakes, and toxicity within the program, couldn't get it done here in 3 years. 

Because he gives us a better chance to win next year, and the year after, and so on. RR is like that sexy chick that has put on some weight, but still feels the same inside. The potential is still there.

I do not support Greg Robinson.

RR will be fired.  I mean no ill will by pointing this out; it's just what the facts are at this point.  He is no longer Plan B.  He's not in the plans at all.

I put my thoughts down here: http://mgoblog.com/diaries/commentary-faith-and-question-where-find-it#comment-873745

I'll only add this:

If Dave Brandon decides to fire RR, he better have a replacement lined-up ready to start IMMEDIATELY.  The only thing worse than uncertainty at the head coaching position (status quo) is a complete vacuum.  We CANNOT afford RR being canned, and then whiffing on JH.

I like the guy on a personal level, but he's got to go. I understand that he's had just about everything that CAN go wrong, go wrong. But at what point does enough become enough?

And now that Dee is gone, who are the "great players" he's bringing in to make a 7-6 team a legit contender? One more year is just another year we (and the program) suffer.

I just don't know anymore.  I freaked out after the bowl game and pledged my allegiance to JH, but now that the hangover has subsided, I am on the fence.

On one hand, I still support RR.  The potential of this offense is still awesome.  They were extremely young, they lacked some of the fundamentals and those will come with more time, practice and coaching.  The D is what it is: young, injured and lacking coaching leadership.  If RR allows a DC to coach his own way using own scheme, we'll be a major contender for a B1G championship (hopefully next year).  We've also seen steady progress, though, sometimes, it doesn't seem like it's enough.

On the other, bringing in someone that can unite the fanbase also has it's benefits, i.e. no concerns over job security.  A guy like JH can do that, but at what cost?  How long will it take to convert this spread offense into his pro-style offense?  And how long will the fans be united while this transition takes place?

Both coaches have proven themselves at their previous schools and, again, RR is showing progress with his style of players.

I want a majority of the fans to be united and excited again.  I fear the only way to do this is with a coaching change and another lengthy transition, but I don't know if it's worth it.

Bottomline is that winning cures all that ails you and I think both coaches can eventually make it to the MNC. 

I'll be excited no matter what.  Mostly because a decision has been made and we can all move on and because I love Michigan football.

coaching transitions aren't easy.

If Rodriguez was hired to overhaul a program in its entirety, and we fire him after only 3 years (and only 2 full recruiting classes -- his recruits are sophomores), then we have not given him an adequate chance.

Coaching changes in the past at Michigan have been easy -- there was no overhaul being done, nothing was changing except the name.  From Bo to Moeller to Carr, it was the same brand of football.  They weren't met with the constant hostility that Rodriguez has been met with (and if you don't think the constant negativity is having an effect on him, think again), and they were left alone to do their own thing.

The man has had shortcomings, but to be honest -- he hasn't been around enough for us to know whether he will or will not work out here.  I'm not sure if that's enough of a reason to keep him, but it's true.

As a fanbase, we all need to take a nice, deep breath and look at the entire picture. Firing RR causes more problems than it solves, and getting a new DC is a much easier move that will bring results more quicky. Let's give him another year and see what progress is made.

This thread surpassed the "CC: Rumor: Harbaugh-to-Michigan falls apart over weekend"

thread.   Nice to see some sanity on the boards amid the chaos.

This thread make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

of those who say they support RR, in the next sentence say that Gerg has to go ???  If you want RR then let him make that choice.  After all, in 2008 RR quickly fired Scott Shafer as DC (who he picked orginally) and then brought in Gerg (who was a HC failure at Syracuse).  On top of this, then RR told Gerg what defense to run (3-3-5) when Gerg had never run a 3-3-5.  Everyone thought that RR was on top of it then .... of course Shafer went to Syracuse and this year Syracuse was in the top 10 in the nation in defense ( and I don't think they ran a 3-3-5).

I read these posts that say "I am a strong RR supporter, but Gerg has to go" and that simply says "I love some (most) things RR does, but he could be better " ???

Go Blue !

Count me in for RR as well.

I'm still on board.

The only coach *I personally* would support firing RR for is one Patricious John Jacob FitzGerald Esq, but that's just me.

In this thread and others it has been referenced by posters that they do not want M to end up like Notre Dame where we change coaches quickly.  I wondered how common this was, especially when replacing a legendary coach.  So I went and looked at Alabama as Bear Bryant is about as legendary as it gets and had similar status as Bo.

As background, Bear coached 28 years winning the SEC 13x and the NT 6x (co-champs included for both).

Subsequently they have had 7 coaches (8 if you count Mike Price but he never coached a game) over the last 28 years that collectively won the SEC 4x and the NT 2x.  Of the 7 coaches that coached, 4 had ties to the program, 3 came from the outside.  Only 1 lasted more than 4 years (Stallings) although Saban is at 4 now. 

It may be inevitable with schools with high expectations that the coaching carousel continues unless someone really takes off. 

Even after Woody, while OSU has only had 3 coaches over 32 years, all 3 were successful - even Cooper's record was good other than Michigan and the bowls.

and I'll support Michigan, regardless of who's the coach.

I am, admittedly, not a fan of David Brandon, nor of his actions, inactions and salespeak.  I hope this works out for Michigan, but I'm having a tough time assigning intelligence or reason to how Brandon's handled this whole thing.

I am even less of a Harbaugh fan.  He's repeatedly made an ass of himself with unapologetic comments disrespecting our program.  I've lost all my respect for him.

There are still some of us left?

I miss the fun times when we could argue about whether something strictly met the criteria of profitgoblue's PCC Act of 2010. It was witty, it was light-hearted, and none of us took ourselves so seriously that we couldn't laugh at our own fandom.

Now what? People hoping that the next coach fails just to spite other fans. People hoping RR leads a different team into the Big House to beat down Michigan, again just to spite other fans.

I am one of those whose opinion of RR's viability (if not necessarily his coaching ability) changed after the bowl game. I thought RR could survive even a bowl loss given that MSU was ranked and favored, but the team just looked poorly prepared and even the offense looked predictable and stoppable.

For those who still believe RR is a viable coach for Michigan moving forward, what do you think would be a realistic metric for next year? Realistic both in the sense of being achieveable by RR and the team given what we've seen, and realistic in the sense of satisfying a largely unhappy and now predominantly anti-RR fanbase?