Fanpulse: What Would It Take to Save GERG?

Obi Ezeh transforming overnight into the. Second Coming of Llamar Woodley.

2 out of the next 3

I think it's extremely likely that RR himself has decided to get rid of GERG.  I don't think Brandon will end up being a factor.  If we win out, he may reconsider.  A loss in either of the final two games (especially OSU, but also Wisconsin, it being Senior Day) will prompt him to pull the trigger.

but this is why you always wait for an entire season's body of work before doing the FIRE HIM NOW routine.  Yes, Brian too. 

Especially with a team full of freshman and injuries everywhere.  Most of the things they are seeing are for the first time ever.  You need to wait and see how/if they are improving.  There has been improvement the past 2 games.  Let's wait and see how the season plays out.

EDIT: And what the fuck is with people saying "win x out of x games" to keep him?  What if the defense gives up a field goal or some other minimal points and the offense sputters?  Context matters.  I thought we were smarter than this.

Shutting out OSU 30-0 at the Shoe.

To save GERG, I'd say notable performances against Wisconsin and OSU are expected. Not necessarily wins. Lets say Wisconsin's defense completely halts us and we only score 17 points. But it's not bad if we hold Wisconsin to only 21 points is it? Considering the backfield we have. Same goes for tosu.

For Greg Robinson to keep working as Michigan’s Defensive Coordinator after this season, he and his supporters should hope for bad weather and heavy precipitation during the Wisconsin and Ohio State games and Michigan’s bowl game.

Yesterday, on a rainy and windy day, Michigan’s defense held the nation’s 104th ranked offense to 256 yards. That was nearly 200 yards less than Michigan had been allowing on average, but only 54 yards less than Purdue had been gaining on average during its previous games. That jumped the 114th-ranked Wolverines to 100 in the FBS total defense rankings.

Wisconsin’s offense averages almost 429 yards (27th in FBS) and just over 40 points (8th in FBS) per game. Ohio State’s offense averages almost 456 yards (17th in FBS) and almost 43 points (6th in FBS) per game.

Is it fair to evaluate Greg Robinson's coaching talents on the basis of just 22 games as Michigan's Defensive Coordinator?  Could there be substantial improvement for Michigan’s defense in 2011 if Robinson is allowed to stay on as Defensive Coordinator? Consider what happened during Robinson’s years as Head Coach and Co-Defensive Coordinator at Syracuse, when most of his games were played in a dome where wind and precipitation have no effect on game conditions. While running his own schemes and working mostly with his own assistants and his own players, Greg Robinson’s defenses were ranked 57th (when his defense consisted of Paul Pasqualoni’s players), 107th, 111th and 101st in the four seasons from 2005 through 2008.

Scott Shafer may not have been the right fit for Michigan's DC; and his Syracuse defense hasn't competed against the same caliber of opponents that Michigan has faced in 2010 or suffered from having a rash of serious injuries or a lack of upperclassmen playing, but Syracuse currently is ranked 9th in FBS in total defense.

all we need to do is show some growth and improvement in the D.  If we continue to look lost out there, by bye.

Trade Gerg for Muschamp.

A. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But if you're talking about his job as DC at the University of Michigan, I'd like to think, and I very much hope, that it's all over now, baby blue.

Jesus

and signs of development/improvement.  Purdue is ravaged by injuries and has the worst offense in the Big Ten, so it's hard to determine whether it was poor offense or good defense.  If they hold Wisky and OSU in the low 20s for points and under 400 yards of offense, I'll begin to reconsider GERG.

After the increasing level of suck that culminated with the embarrassing loss to MSU, I though Gerg had to go. But after thinking things through, and having resigned myself to the likely fact that RR will be back next year, I think the best move RR can make is to keep Gerg, but let Gerg choose his coaches - let him keep, fire, and hire whomever he wants. Take the injuries, the transfers, the kids who didnt make it in, add in the poor fundamentals, poor special teams (coached by a defensive coach), and you cannot place the blame with one guy - or if you do, due to the systemic nature of those factors, it HAS to lie with RR. The whole Shafer debacle testifies to the systemic nature of the problems as well. 

Thus, stopping the blame game at Gerg is artificial, irrational. I think RR needs to take a new approach, perhaps pushed by DB, giving Gerg full authority on the defensive side. And if the defense still sucks - then fire him. But only then can you logically and reasonably say that Gerg was the main problem - only then can you be confident that inserting another DC into the system will not produce the same effects. 

I think for now, GERG is coming back.  If we lose both of the next two games, especially if one is a blowout, he goes back to being a borderline case.  But overall, DB will lean towards letting GERG come back with a more mature roster of defensive talent next year.

I think no matter what there should be changes made in the staff, but as for GERG in particular.. it would take some really great defensive performances the rest of the way. No more embarassment and at least one game where the defense really, really showed up.

We need to have a consistent defensive philosophy that is sound. Whatever it takes to get to that I'm for. No more embarassments with the 3-3-5 trials or whatever the hell happened at Penn State this year.

In all likelihood he's gone.

Dreads.

A lot of people are saying that GERG should stay conditional on him being given full autonomy to call the shots on defense. In this case, it goes, GERG could move away from the 3-3-5 and install a scheme he is more familar with.

To this, I would say that if we are going to overhaul the defense again anyway, we should so it with someone else as the DC. So much about players' mentalities, attitudes and about recruiting is the perception that their coach knows what he's doing and is a strong leader. I think GERG's reputation has suffered too much these two years. If it's back to drawing board anyway, let's do it with a DC who brings some buzz and positive perception. I think with the right DC choice in January we could sway some of these defensive recruits who are on the fence.

Figure out a way to have Rob Henry and Purdue's o-line suit up for Wisky and OSU. I don't think two straight seasons allowing 30ppg is going to fly, decimated defense or not.

I  believe he is already coming back next year at this point. 

If the defense plays well enough to keep Michigan in the next two games, it's a certainty. 

If GERG goes it should be done by December 1. No reason to not have the job open during the bowl game and filled by January 15.

Outside of Brian's UFR subjective opinion and one quoted comment from Brandon Graham, what evidence do we have that there is a 3-3-5 Stack contingent fighting the GERG knows the NFL ways contingent?

Brandond Graham was not in on any meetings during the 2010 season, so are his comments about 3 man lines versus 4 man lines really a relevant statement?

Definitely the Penn State game was disappointing, but I think the missed calculated expectations are irrationally driving all the analysis away from rational examination of the facts.  We don't even have any side line shouting matches between players and coaches that we had with Scott Shafer.

I don't see any evidence that the coaching staff is at odds.  What I see is a coaching staff desperately trying to plug leaks in a defense that has continued to lose experienced players.  Hopefully the small improvements will continue, but based on the performances of Wisconsin and OSU through the season, I think we will face two of the best offensive teams we've faced all year the next two weeks.

For me it doesn't matter what happens the rest of the season, this is the coaching staff who should continue forward.  The one thing I can trust from Brandon Graham's support of GERG is that GERG is an good teacher and will be developing the player talent in the coming years.  That talent will lead to more success in the win column, and more success in recruiting, which will lead to more success in the win column, etc.

Just like in recruiting, the perceived difference in coaches is not really as wide as it is portrayed in the mythology creating after a team wins.  Afterall, McGloin was being touted as the #2 QB out of Pennsylvania behind Pryor when PSU was up on OSU 14-3 and threatening another TD before the half.  And that myth created from only two PSU wins.

we wouldn't watch this game if it didn't stir up our emotions, but that still doesn't mean the best decisions are made from emotional subjective thinking.

If the defense plays well against the two highest scoring teams in the Big Ten the next two weeks, then his job will be saved.

One of the biggest (and I haven't seen it mentioned) is who is actually available to replace him. What we need is a top level DC. Not average or decednt, we need one of the big guns to solidify this defense.

If none of these guys are willing to come, I say it might be best to give Gerg another year rather than hire some "average" DC to come in and try and figure this thing out.

IMHE, if we can land an elite DC, I don't care how well Gerg has the defense playing over the next 3 games, I say pull the trigger (recent improvement aside). I agree with jmblue, gerg isn't the long term solution, so if we can get that elite DC now, why prolong what has thus far been a disaster.

On an side note, is there the chance they could pull the trigger after the OSU game? That would give the new DC (providing they go that route) the bowl practices, spring practices and fall practices to implement his system. That extra time could be significant.

Granted, there are three games left in this season for Greg Robinson to prove his mettle as a Defensive Coordinator, and it remains possible that the 100th ranked Michigan defense could experience a dramatic turnaround and show tremendous improvement in those three games against nationally-respected teams. But other than his having won Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos in the late 1990s, and a strong desire on the part of Michigan fans to avoid having a third DC in four seasons, what evidence is there to suggest that keeping Greg Robinson as DC for 2011 would yield benefits to Michigan that otherwise couldn’t be realized by a hiring a DC with a better track record? 

Imagine you're a top-rated defensive recruit and you discover these facts:  Defenses coached by Greg Robinson have been ranked in the bottom 20 of all FBS teams in four of six seasons from 2005 to 2010. His best defense in that period was the 2005 Syracuse defense which was stocked with Paul Pasqualoni’s players and ranked 57th – but finished with a 1-10 record, the first ten-loss season in Syracuse football history. His first Michigan defense finished the 2009 season ranked 82nd among FBS teams. Would you be itching to play for Greg Robinson?

Michigan’s offense gradually has become a top 10 FBS unit (currently ranked 5th, despite a poor performance against Purdue) and many of those players will be returning in 2011 and 2012. While many of Michigan’s defensive players also will be returning in 2011 and 2012, I would think that – to a man – all of them would hope to be playing for a coordinator who could develop a defense that would rival the ranking of the Michigan offense. Right now, there is no evidence to suggest that Greg Robinson has any recent experience developing such a strong defensive unit.

The notion that it’s better to hang with the "devil you know" than risk hanging with the "devil you don’t know" makes sense when the "devil you know" has produced good results. I may be jaded by having suffered through watching too many of Syracuse’s games during what has been called the Greg Robinson Error (including his first home game when he lost to Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia). But unless there’s sufficient evidence that there are no better candidates available to run the Michigan defense in 2011 than Greg Robinson, or Michigan’s defense leads the team to stunning upsets over Wisconsin and Ohio State, changing Defensive Coordinators either before or after the bowl game doesn’t seem too risky.

I want that sheen. I think we all do.

Something awesome.