Blue2000

November 27th, 2013 at 10:10 PM ^

It's sad that you cannot stop trashing Rich Rod. We get it, you think he was terrible. (For what its worth, his impotent offense in year three was far more effective than the current one.). He's not the cause of every problem the program is currently dealing with. Enough already.

MichiganMan1999

November 27th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^

That tells me Borges is gone unless they win the next two. It also tells me unfortunately that DB is going to ride out Hoke until the whole thing collapses and the next coach will have to start all over

Mgo-Bo

November 27th, 2013 at 9:57 PM ^

The rest of the team is great IMO. (Really it's just the O line letting at least 1 guy in the backfield on every play)

The RR teams were shaky everywhere. If you don't remember every half decent play just looking lucky as hell, every punt or kick being received by M would most likely be dropped or fumbled. The D getting lit up everywhere. Guys on offense looking like they were running for their lives on every play. It's time you look em up on YouTube and realize where we were. He did that with Lloyd's recruits..... Hoke did this w RR recruits. People bitch about Where Hokes good recruiting is? The good class is true freshmen, the best class is in highschool & the other great class is 2015. That is why we haven't "seen it on the field" yet folks.

MichiganMan1999

November 27th, 2013 at 10:01 PM ^

Exactly. Disciplined, clean teams that play hard. That says 8-4 or 9-3 not National Titles or even Rose Bowls. Outside of Stanford none of the top teams you would describe that way. DB needs to let go of this "michigan way" bullcrap and find a guy like Meyer with some of the SEC stink still on him. Need a guy thats going to lead some badass hoodlums that are going to fly around making plays and knock people out

Bilg2.0

November 27th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^

I don't think you need the "SEC stink" on you.  I think you need a type A coach ala Saban, Meyer, Harbaugh, Carrol to win big.  Unfortunately, type A is almost always win at all costs, and now of days the cost is often bending the rules with payments or having criminal players.

Hoke's a good dude, a bit of a schematic dunce, and doesn't seem to have that killer competitive edge.  He's pretty much a more hearty/ folksy less sophisticated version of Lloyd Carr.  So yeah, 8-4 / 9-3 seems about right.  Second fiddle to OSU for another decade is probable.

dnak438

November 28th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^

about college football players. Some of the best athletes are also really smart guys and really good guys. The idea that someone who plays fast and aggressive on the football field also needs to be a badass hoodlum is prejudicial and borders on the racist.

blueblueblue

November 28th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^

Also agreed. We often get the assumption around here that guys who play for programs like Michigan State are not that smart, but hard workers. This elides the fact that doing well in school takes hard work, and that often its the same basic drive for self-improvement that leads to excelling in the classroom and on the playing field. 

M-Dog

November 27th, 2013 at 9:52 PM ^

This is good news and bad news.

The bad news:  Hoke is Brandon's guy and there is no way Brandon is ever going to admit a mistake on Hoke unless he starts having losing seasons.

The good news:  Brandon cares about the bottom line a whole bunch.  A bunch of 8-4 seasons won't bring in the attendence to finance Dave's big spending plans.  So Brandon will help his guy Hoke be successful by "suggesting" changes to the coaching staff and throwing a bunch of money at whomever they pick. 

Section 1

November 27th, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^

... but only by the historical standards we are accustomed to.

We live in a brave new world of social media.  I think Brandon is responding to that.  I don't mind that he is doing so.  This is the age of Twitter and Facebook and blogs and hyperreactive recruiting sites.

Bo Schembechler would never have had any part of anything like this.  But as I say, times have changed.

Like others, I am sensitive to the Kremlin-wall aspect of Brandon's trashing Rich Rodriguez by omission.  And the startling telegraphing of no confidence in Al Borges.  But hell, Brandon fired Rodriguez.  Trashing him, by omission in a press release, is now pretty much inconsequential for Rich Rod.  Coach Rod is trying to figure out how to beat a good Arizona State team in a rivalry game and get Arizona into the Top 20 and a good bowl game in just about forever.  I don't think that Coach Rod has more than about 25 seconds to think about a Dave Brandon press release right now.

I agree with you, Bando.  The depth and the detail and the snarkiness of this press release is just as you say; bizarre.

He might just as well have begun it, "Dear Jabrill..." 

Bando Calrissian

November 27th, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^

Name me one athletic director in America who does all of the following:

1. Chestbumps players and waits to get an on-camera handshake with the head coach after wins.

2. Watches game film with coaches on Sunday morning, even if they don't want him there or find the exercise useful or convenient.

3. Takes to his blog to essentially personally respond to a recruit's tweet, in turn further insulting a former coach AND pretty much broadcasting he's going to fire the offensive coordinator three days before the Ohio State game. Not to mention coming off as someone who doesn't really understand football, yet really wants to make us believe he knows what he's doing.

I could go on. Yet the fact is Brandon is trying really hard to do all the things he thinks a manager needs to do, but he doesn't realize that these kind of Mickey Mouse tactics come off as cartoonish and amateur when you're working for one of America's most prestigious universities with an athletic tradition to match. This isn't pizza and junk mail. It's Michigan.

Yes, we live in a different world of social media. But you're telling me if someone with the integrity, class, and experience of Don Canham, Fritz Crisler, or Bo were dumped in this situation with Twitter and Facebook and Youtube, they'd come up with what Brandon put out there today? Would those guys hit send on a bizarre, half-baked MGoDiary post about Bama and Stanford?

We're Michigan. It's time our Athletic Director acted like it.

Bando Calrissian

November 28th, 2013 at 8:53 AM ^

On Off the Field this week, Bacon recounted that he specifically talked to RR about Brandon watching game tape on Sundays. When asked how much Brandon actually knew about football, RR kind of just looked at him and said "about as much as the average fan." And left it at that.

Brandon was a benchwarmer on a series of Michigan football teams that pretty much didn't throw the ball (even less than most other Bo teams did, actually). He played three different positions over those years (including kicker) and played two actual snaps of game competition. He may have played football, but the football he played was a different universe than what we're looking at today. He never continued on in the game after 1973, either as a player or a coach. His "knowledge base" is pretty much relevant to running up the middle, in which case a 2013 Borges offense might be up his alley.

Plainly, Brandon watching game film is not being involved, it's being overbearing. Just because he played a pretty different form of football 40 years ago doesn't mean he automatically understands the far more complex offensive and defensive systems employed today, especially since he hasn't played or coached since. Him sitting there on Sunday mornings benefits pretty much no one. He would get just as much firing up his DVR.

JoFree

November 27th, 2013 at 9:28 PM ^

". . . individuals who are spreading inaccurate rumors and saying inappropriate things about coachs, players and recruits don't know what's going on inside Schembechler Hall or on the practice field."

While I applaud Beandon for making a public statement of support for that beleaguered team, at the same Brandon does himself, nor the unversity, no favor with that Fort Schembechler bunker mentality. If he wants to head off inaccurate inofrmation or stop rumor mongering in today's world of unfiltered commnications he needs to loosen it up a little and provide some type of access to what  is going besides pressors that are at best filled with platitudes and generalities.  

If there are lingering hard feelings toward the Freep's flawed reporting, set up a pool reporter system, e.g. MLive, to have a semblance of control without a bunker mentality. It helps prevent media speculation while retain some semblance of information control without a bunker mentality. A bunker mentality is counter productive given today's democratized unfiltered communications tools. 

All of people, Brandon should know that with a bunker mentality you allow people to say whatever they want and you lose the very control of the communications you seek, resulting in the scrambling to put out a statement like this evening's - either you tell your story and deliver your information or someone else will fill that void. 

 

 

 

 

Mgo-Bo

November 27th, 2013 at 9:33 PM ^

Because while losing 5 games is typically not the end of the world however, doing that while being dead last in all of college football in negative offensive plays is what has people up in arms. The higher ups have got to understand that.

CAwolverine

November 27th, 2013 at 9:34 PM ^

We also know how to hold people accountable for the roles and responsibilities they have as part of the privilege for being a part of Michigan Football -- and we will.

greenphoenix

November 27th, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^

What a clown. Never throw your own people under the bus, even those you had to let go. It just makes everyone else ready for the axe to fall on them.

Secondly, bluster is a sign of weakness. Demonstrate results and exhibit confidence.

Who exactly is supposed to be the audience of this sweat flop?