DG: "Before Nuss, I never had to identify a MIKE."

Submitted by stephenrjking on
Per Nick Baumgartner, on a Sirius radio interview, DG says: "Before Nuss I never had to identify a Mike... Now I know where the pressure is coming from." In addition to the Borges rage, it would be nice to shed some light on specific implications here. Let's have at it, football nerds.

Mr. Yost

August 20th, 2014 at 7:39 PM ^

...but the joke is a joke in itself. Just because Michigan has a tradition of hiring people with Michigan ties isn't a BAD thing.

Comments like this almost assume the Rich Rod did...someone FAR from the Michigan tradition worked out. It didn't.

So it doesn't matter if the hire is a Michigan man or not. Sometimes you go outside and get Rich Rod, other times you go outside and get Beilein.

Having Michigan ties is only going to get you so far. Would it help someone like Tyrone Wheatley become the next RB Coach at Michigan? Sure. But he could also become the next RB coach at Texas, ND or USC and no one would say he's unqualified.

Mike Hart is quickly earning a reputation for himself as well. And he actually may fit our needs better because we need a young coach like Manning on the offensive side of the ball.

Would I have hired Hart straight from the NFL with no coaching experience just cause he went to Michigan? Hell no. Unless it was as a GA.

People need to just give it a rest, our candidate pool is bigger than "Michigan Men" and has been for awhile now.

Would you not take Jim Harbaugh if Hoke was gone after this year just because he's a Michigan Man?

Again, not necessarily directed at this joke...but if it was sarcasm to join the legion of people who've overblown the "Michigan Man" thing just because the media makes a big deal out of it...then yes, it was directed at the joke along with everyone else in that boat of sarcasm.

CalifExile

August 26th, 2014 at 3:11 AM ^

I'm referring to how surprisingly thin the interest in our HC job was during the last 2 searches. Guys like Schianno turned us down, as well as Michigan Men like Harbaugh. (We can both decide what we want to believe about Brandon's claims about who he contacted).

Danwillhor

August 20th, 2014 at 9:51 PM ^

we're SO stuck on this lineage mentality where you can't even be here if you didn't have some ties to Bo. Like Bo, sometimes a program needs a reset. Just because RR failed (reasons inside and out) doesn't mean UM can't hire a non-lineage guy. Sure, I'd love Harbaugh! Yet, especially in CFB, there are tons of winning coaches if given UM resources and left the fuck alone.

alum96

August 20th, 2014 at 6:01 PM ^

Refund?  I would imagine he is still getting paid for 2014 despite sitting at home as I don't recall his contract being up.  Talk about insult to injury.

p.s. I thought this article was about the lack of Devin meeting Mike McCray and Nuss was kind enough to introduce them.

stephenrjking

August 20th, 2014 at 5:59 PM ^

FTR, this is paraphrased from memory, since I'm on a mobile device.

It is rock-solid evidence both that Borges was a poor QB coach and that his philosophies hurt the OL. Now, I'll assume that the center still made "Mike" calls, so they were made, but that is extra stuff for the center (not a strength last year) and hurts DG since he's not on the same page.

And I strongly suspect his lack of knowledge of the linebackers activities contributed to some do his galling short-pass interceptions.

Double-D

August 20th, 2014 at 7:15 PM ^

Nuss will make a big difference for Devin. I expect some nice growth this year from him. He is getting better coaching reps on footwork, timing, and reads. His practice habits will be stronger and he will get more reps from the rapid pace Nuss employs. The game day interaction between the two might be most important. Nuss will be in Devins ear helping his confidence and helping him adjust to what the D is doing. This is good.

BayWolves

August 20th, 2014 at 7:23 PM ^

Thank God for the Nuss. Borges should stay in a dimly lit back office somewhere drawing up plays and allow others like Nuss to coach up the team and call the plays. He even might make some cash selling his plays on eBay. Still waiting to see how much of the problems were due to Funk though.

FrankMurphy

August 20th, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^

I concede that Nuss is an upgrade over Borges, but calling him a poor QB coach based on a single off-handed remark by DG ignores his track record. Dude built offenses at UCLA and Auburn that put up 40 and 30 points a game, respectively, and turned Cade McNown and Jason Campbell into first round draft picks. It didn't work out for him at Michigan, but I don't think it's fair to call someone with his track record a bad coach. Ten years ago, I would have loved to have Borges instead of Terry Malone or Mike DeBord calling plays for Chad Henne.

alum96

August 20th, 2014 at 6:37 PM ^

Let me preface this by saying while I like Nuss energy and think he is an upgrade due to ability to relate to player and enthusiasum alone I dont think all our ills were due to Borges on offense.  I have not studied his UCLA years that close but at Auburn he was there 4 years - the first 2 were great, the last 2 were progressively bad.  So "development" is an open question.  It is like asking did Funk "develop" the 2011 line or was it mostly Carr and RR's coaches and Funk benefited?  Same for Borges at Auburn.  He inherited a helll of an offense.  Now from memory he did develop Cade M at UCLA but Jason Campbell was already a senior QB.  Now did he in 4-5 months "develop" Campbell? I am sure he had a hand in his development but it's a lot like Molk - was that a Funk thing or the previous regime?  I believe Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown were likewise seniors.

Again let's remember Borges was fired before the bowl game.  His offense his last year was 101st in the nation.  It seemed the longer Borges was at Auburn the worse things got - the same happened here.  The stats from 2004 and 2005 were excellent.  2006 and 2007 got much much worse.

I don't have total offense in front of me but here is points scored per game - 2 great years early, and then a significant drop off:

  • 2004 - 32.1 (18th in nation)
  • 2005 - 32.2 (30th)
  • 2006 - 24.8 (56th)
  • 2007 - 24.2 (85th)

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/12/al_borges_out_as_auburns_offen.html

Borges arrived at Auburn before the 2004 season and helped the Tigers to a 13-0 record. But the Tigers' offense was less effective in his last three years. Auburn heads to its bowl game against Clemson ranked 101st in the nation in total offense. The Tigers scored two or fewer touchdowns in six of their eight SEC games.

Swazi

August 20th, 2014 at 7:57 PM ^

For Borges at UCLA:

1996: 30 ppg
1997: 39.75 ppg
1998: 39.6 ppg
1999: 20.9 ppg
2000: 29.4 ppg

Im assuming 1999 is around the time he started to coach kids he recruited. But yeah, huge drop off from 97-98, and even though it improved in 2000, its still just over 10 ppg less than what UCLA was getting just two years prior.


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Swazi

August 20th, 2014 at 6:33 PM ^

However his average stop per school is three years.

Excluding his first stop at Portland State (only mention D1)' he was at Boise State for two seasons, Oregon for one season, UCLA for five seasons, Cal for one season, Indiana for two seasons, Auburn for four seasons, and with Hoke for five seasons between SDSU and Michigan (ill mesh them together). That is seven stops between 1993-2013. He was fired from Michigan, fired from Auburn, left UCLA for a 50k raise at Cal only to be fired with the rest of that coaching staff after one season.

The guy simply doesnt stay put very long.


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Swazi

August 20th, 2014 at 7:43 PM ^

Nuss hasnt been fired from anywhere as offensive coordinator unlike Borges. He has taken a more lucrative job everywhere he went. UW is a step up from Fresno, Bama is certainly a step up from UW, and UM is lateral but he got a generous pay raise.

Borges went from Boise to Oregon (upgrade) to UCLA (probably pay raise) to Cal (down grade, but bump in pay, however UCLA played pretty poorly his last two years there), to Indiana (downgrade) to Auburn (upgrade) to San Diego State (guess its a new slate since he was fired from Auburn) to Michigan (upgrade and ultimately fired).

And with UCLA to Cal, as I said, UCLA won ten games in his last two years total there. If UCLA wanted to keep him, they couldve easily matched what Cal offered. And then Cal fired him with the rest of the staff after one season.

I guess what I am saying is, yes, it is worst.


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aiglick

August 21st, 2014 at 1:31 AM ^

The funny thing is we put up over 30 points per game last year. Unfortunately a lot of that was due to CMU and Indiana whose defenses were lacking. He wasn't consistent. If we can put up 27-30 points consistently this year then we could very well be in store for a good campaign.

bamf16

August 21st, 2014 at 9:10 AM ^

is that the first round picks coached by Borges in college flamed out.  QBs are given more leeway than any others position in football, but even 1st round QBs aren't given a ton of time to learn the ways of the NFL.  Is there a connection between McNown and Campbell failing as 1st round picks and the lack of NFL level prep they did in college?  

 

Imagine an NFL OC in a meeting room the first time McNown or Campbell couldn't quickly and comfortably identify an elementary component of a defense.

Ali G Bomaye

August 21st, 2014 at 9:56 AM ^

McNown turned out to be a party boy and a jackass with a noodle arm.  It's probably to Borges' credit that he was looked at as a first-round pick, but I don't think he had the physical and mental tools to succeed in the NFL no matter who his college coach was.

Campbell, on the other hand, has gotten somewhat screwed with regard to his NFL situations.  He started his career getting jerked around with Mark Brunell by the Dan Snyder Redskins, then despite performing decently for some bad teams was jettisoned to the Raiders for the last few seasons of Al Davis.  Then he has been a backup for the pre-Trestman Bears and the Browns.  I'm not saying that Campbell would have been an all-pro, but it's not surprising that he never had consistent success given his team situations.