crazy shafer quote

He's clearly being dramatically sarcastic. Sounds to me like he was [not so?] gently forced out. He sounds quite bitter. EDIT: I didn't know the economy part was added. This changes things. Much more genuine now.

Moved his family to Bay Area from Kzoo - after one year brought em right back to MI - now he's on the street and moving everyone again. My read: involuntary termination and he's spewing. My read: RR needed a fall guy and SS wuz it. I feel for our defense - 4 DC's in 5 years, we need to heal that scab.

I'm torn I'm pretty sure this is a sarcastic shot at someone, but is it at the media, the fans or at RR? or all three maybe? I feel bad for him, but we were awful...

I don't think it was sarcastic at all. I think he was genuinely crushed by the defensive failures this year. He thought he'd landed a dream job and was devastated to see it fall apart. Of course he's overstating things, but I don't believe there was any bitterness, just a difference in philosophies.

Until I hear it in his own voice, I have no reason to think it was crazy. Seems like something he might have said earnestly, without meaning it literally. Also, reporters tend to focus on the interesting bits. Imagine the interviewer had asked: "Some have suggested personal conflicts with other coaches have led to your resignation. Do you feel that Rich Rodriguiez bringing positional coaches from West Virginia undercut your authority?" Shafer could have easily responded, "Not at all. The coaches here were great. They bought into my system and supported me 100%. Plain and simple, I was brought here to do a job and just wasn't able to get it done. Bottom line is, I take full responsibility for the demise of the Michigan program. I take all the responsibility." That would have been a perfectly sensible answer that just gets cut down for content and readability.

I would assume he feels bad and that he said the quote in a relatively unguarded moment, even though not even he fully believes it. Even if he thought he did a bad job, BS and semi-excuses are warranted because he's 41. He's a man! He's 41! Sorry. But seriously, at 41 he still has a career left to consider, and while he seems to have hit his ceiling there are way lower floors than where he would normally end up next. Deadpan sarcasm to a reporter is fairly idiotic, and if he felt mad enough to be sarcastic he wouldn't feel like covering it up. I'd seriously doubt that was the case. I would expect some sort of statement of support from Rodriguez or someone about how he was dealt a bad hand (crappy LB/safeties) and was emotionally distraught when he said that, etc, which would allow Shafer to backtrack a little and not destroy his career. EDIT: baffling has two f's...