Do we have the best coaching staff in college football?

Submitted by BIGBLUEWORLD on

Now that the coaching staff has been assembled, do we have, in terms of ability and experience, the potential to have the best coaching staff in college football? There's people on this board who know a lot about this. Could be an interesting discussion. From what I can tell: Who's got it better than us?  Noooobody.

Also, what's the budget for the Michigan coaches and support staff? Since our final two hires, Mike Zordich and Jay Harbaugh, have relatively less experience than the other coaches, could it be that JH hit financial constraints and ran out of money? There was a recent post about the overall expenditures for coaching, and several teams had a relatively large payroll for their full coaching staff.

While I believe in academics first, with Harbaugh here we have an opportunity to compete for a national championship. How can we support JH, and give our football team every opportunity to make that happen?

Edit: Of course it's too early to know for sure, but we can make a reasonable, comparative evaluation based on our coaches experience and previous level of success. Also, what about the money? Anyone have information?

Botton line: Time will tell. Along with the knowledgeable people on this board, there's a lot of bitchiness and fear. Glad I don't have to live in their shoes. 

Peace.

MGoBoard
Football
Harbaugh
Football Coaches
financial limits

Don

January 17th, 2015 at 8:33 AM ^

Looking good on paper doesn't mean squat. Judging strictly by actual results on the field, the best staff appears to be in Columbus. Which sucks, but at least we know what our target is.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148371

Mr. Yost

January 17th, 2015 at 9:26 AM ^

You posted a stupid question that no one could possibly know the answer to. There's a difference. You don't have to post a question that ends with a factual answer. But if the answers are opinion based at least let it be informed opinion where people can provide insight or facts on why they have that opinion. Should TCU have been in over OSU? What do you think our record will be next year? Who do you see as the most improved player next season? Who wins the QB battle? All of those questions have answers that are opinion based. Not one person on this board actually knows, but we can use information to back up our opinion. Your question requires everyone to know the make up of every staff in America AND the individual ability of every coach on our staff. It's pretty much impossible for any person on this site to give an opinion based on anything other than bias or flipping a coin. You'd never get your answer. Asking this verses asking if Saban or Meyer is the better coach is completely different. You may as well be asking "who is the best 6th man in 7th grade boys basketball?"

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

RFM

January 17th, 2015 at 9:46 AM ^

I don't like the question and it could have been posed in a better way (i.e. Who has the best staff) but I don't consider it a stupid question. Is the question I gave as an example a stupid question? How about, who do you think has the best team in the country? To quote you, that's a stupid question because it

"requires everyone to know the make up of every [player and staff] in America AND the individual ability of every [player and] coach on our staff. It's pretty much impossible for any person on this site to give an opinion based on anything other than bias or flipping a coin."

Not trying to call you just saying it's not that bad of a question. Let others have a little speculative fun. There's a lot more garbage on this board than that, especially over the last year

Joined: 02/19/2011

MGoPoints: 367

Mr. Yost

January 17th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

Because we've seen a lot of the teams, or at least the team that would be up for discussion and we can provide an educated opinion.

The OP question requires one to know the make up of the vast majority of the coaching staffs in the country. It requires knowing how good guys like Jay Harbaugh and Jed Fisch and Mike Zordich will be (when no one has a damn clue). There are too many variables.

It's impossible to ask on an internet message board.

Asking someone to give an opinion when they don't have any significant amount of data is stupid, I'm sorry, it just is.

If I ask you, "how many brothers and sisters do each of my parents have?" How the hell would you know? If I ask my best friends, who have knowledge of my family...they can probably give a better answer.

It's just common sense. You need a least some sort of data in order to have an informed opinion.

If you go to a brand new doctor and say "my head or stomach really hurts, what's wrong?" He/she is probably going to ask some questions and run some tests before telling you what they think is wrong. At least I hope he/she does. Because giving an opinion without having any data...is, well, stupid.

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

TheSacko221

January 17th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^

The question is fine. It is the assholes who troll here because they think because they post 20 times a day that they are the board moderators.

See you could have read the post and said this question isn't for me and moved on, but you feel the need to pile on the OP because you don't like the question. You make it your job to police the board and it is pathetic that you can't just ignore the post.

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 385

CarrIsMyHomeboy

January 17th, 2015 at 9:33 AM ^

That was a HUGE hire for OSU. He's been the best DL coach in the Big Ten for a career-length and has belonged in the "arguably best in the nation" discussion over the same duration.

OSU's staff has a lot of great parts, but only a few are truly irreplaceable (meaning it's exceptionally difficult to imagine *anyone* getting a similarly good coach). If OSU were to ever lose Warriner or Johnson, those are the ones. Everyone on the staff belongs to the top level, but with many peers.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 7324

Magnus

January 17th, 2015 at 9:48 AM ^

I've said this elsewhere before, but I've been to numerous coaching clinics, campuses, etc. and seen coaches from all over the country. Larry Johnson was the single most impressive speaker I've been around. It's not a coincidence that Ohio State had perhaps the country's most dominant defensive line in ths country, although they do have a lot of talent to work with. If I were a high school defensive lineman, Ohio State would be my #1 choice, and Penn State would have been my #1 choice up until last year.

His history of producing top draft picks and/or elite Big Ten players is probably unparalleled (Courtney Brown, DaQuan Jones, Jared Odrick, Devon Still, Aaron Maybin, Tamba Hali, Jay Alford, Jimmy Kennedy, Michael Haynes, Anthony Adams, etc.), and now he has Michael Bennett, Joey Bosa, etc. to add to his list.

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166007

Don

January 17th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^

I think people are getting ahead of themselves in assuming that NFL coaches automatically make good college coaches. Coaching a group of men in their late 20s and early 30s who've already played professionally for several years is vastly different from coaching a bunch of 18-22-year old kids who still don't know the correct footwork for whatever position they're playing. The basic teaching aspect of the second category is hugely important, and an NFL coach doesn't necessarily have that ability.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148371

coldnjl

January 17th, 2015 at 9:04 AM ^

you're right...the National Champions who return almost the entire football team, 3 elite QBs, and almost the entire coaching staff will take a huge step back since they lost their co-offensive coordinator Herman. Maybe our entirely unknown, unproven staff is better after all

Joined: 12/31/2009

MGoPoints: 13934

the Glove

January 17th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^

Really, because that's why Larry Johnson is becoming a head coach. He hasn't developed three quarterbacks into Heisman candidates. Yes I get that he's a very good recruiter, but it doesn't seem like the entire offense hinges on his play calling ability.

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 10438

EGD

January 17th, 2015 at 1:40 PM ^

I remember when the Denver Broncos traded Clinton Portis to the team in Wasington DC for Champ Bailey. People were like, "how you gonna trade an awesome RB for.a corner?" But at the time, Portis was just the latest in a string of high-performing Bronco running backs. The thinking was, "we in Denver can find a RB, but let's trade for a CB because we haven't been able to develop those guys on our own." Meyer has shown that he's able to easily replace quality offensive assistants when they leave. He's already replaced Hetman with Tim Beck, who I consider a proven OC in his own right. But Meyer hasn't been as uniformly successful with defensive assistants. So when the opportunity for him to hire LJ arose, he was smart to jump on it.

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 35199

RainbowSprings

January 17th, 2015 at 8:37 AM ^

It will be interesting to see if all these big egos mesh together as a cohesive unit. I'm sure JH will be on top of everything, but it may take some time adjusting to their new (in some cases, diminished) roles.

Joined: 11/09/2010

MGoPoints: 13438

Perkis-Size Me

January 17th, 2015 at 8:38 AM ^

Pump your brakes, my friend. Yes, based on their previous accomplishments, Harbaugh has assembled a great staff. But these guys have not coached a game together. The case could've been made for OSU having the best staff in football before Herman left for Houston this past Monday.

Let's reconvene this time next year and we might have a better idea.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105756

Mr Miggle

January 17th, 2015 at 8:40 AM ^

I'd forgotten he has one. It's supposed to be large, but it's not unlimited. I doubt Zordich is coming much cheaper than Manning or Chuck Heater, the other DB coaches reportedly in consideration. It looks like NFL experience is something Jim values. 

Joined: 10/07/2010

MGoPoints: 47648

alum96

January 17th, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^

The last staff routinely "killed it" between January and July.  Didn't mean squat in the end.

What happens in the W/L column is the ultimate judge - not recruiting wins.  By the way Bama has five 5 stars, and FSU four five stars so by this measure those are the 2 "best coaching staffs", eh?

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82515

PrimeChronic

January 17th, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^

Well the talent level is definitely there. Someone else mentioned in another thread that the average years of NFL experience is like 8 1/2 years. That's an amazing stat to me.

I checked ohio's coaching staff for a comparison and was shocked. Aside from Fickell playing a year for the saints in 97, it looks like urbzs staff has ZERO NFL experience from what I could find. I wasn't expecting that.

So at least on paper, this staff appears to be head and shoulders above the staff of the current NC for next-level talent recognition and development. They know more what to look for in the habits and intricacies of players. If they are able to consistently produce NFL talent every year, that's a team that will be competing for the playoffs.

Joined: 01/16/2011

MGoPoints: 2209