Herbie flappin his jaws again

I'm not entirely convinced that Harbaugh rises to that level, but things like the "what's your deal" incident make me pretty hesitant.

"All RR has got right now is his offense."

Luckily for us, that's almost half of the game of football.

I don't disagree with any negative indicators you presented, and the reason his job is being discussed is because the pro-con list pretty much has two legs to stand on. I think there's enough room for positive growth to believe he'll succeed here, but it's close. You touched on the reason as to why the defense is so poor, recruiting/retainment. If you can find someone(s) to blame for that (now this is a redundant statement in this thread, what ever), go ahead and fire them. (or blame, if you believe it's retroactive). 

with a change in D coordinator plus the fact that though our defense is going to be young again next year, it will be young with a year of game experience is a reason to believe the defense will be better next year. if we can hold all our opponents to less than 25 points, which isn't that spectacular, we will go 12-0

Jim Harbaugh would do the pretty much the same thing at Michigan, only probably better because he would have shots to recruit better athletes he couldn't get qualified at Stanford.

If you like what you see tonight with the physicality and soundness in all 3 phases, then he is one heck of a choice. 

Don't think there will be an opening at Michigan and not saying there should be either. Rich is building a very impressive offense that is heading towards devastating on a weekly basis.

Hard to say long term which direction would be better, but  we're way past the mystery stage on all this. At Michigan, Harbaugh would very likely bring a bigger, faster, more athletic and skilled version of his Stanford teams given a couple years to run things his way.

The Rich Rodriguez end game here is more of a mystery. Let's face it.

Jesus man, do you read this blog at all before commenting on it?  Find the search box on the top right of the page, search for "the decimated defense" and read it.  Look at some of the point totals that the 2007 defense gave up, and look at the lack of depth on defense going forward.  That was what RR had to deal with coming in.  Do you think he plays freshmen just for shits and giggles?

The defense is insanely young and has had a lot of injuries.  Most impact defensive players return next year, in addition to getting Woolfolk back, and getting help from some redshirts and other young talent.  Barring some insane progress in the next few games, Gerg may be gone, but with or without him the defense will improve simply by not having to play a ton of freshmen.

We all know that 2008 was a debacle, and last year we were not quite ready to compete with quality teams, but this year our offense is outstanding, and practically everybody returns next year.  With even modest improvement on defense (which is likely from experience, if nothing else), we will be able to beat anybody.  We are not going to cut our nose off to spite our face by firing RR.   The sooner we can put the "fire RR" bullshit to bed the sooner we will be able to ramp up our recruiting back up to where it belongs and keep building for the future.

Agree totally.  The fact that this constitutes as one of RR's biggest victories in almost 3 seasons only underscores how far expectations have dropped.  How many home Big Ten wins does he have now?  Isn't it two?  How did he fare against the only above average teams he's faced this year? (MSU and Iowa) both losses.  If we lose to WIsc. and OSU that will make us 0-4 against above-average teams. Brandon knows the value of defense.  Michigan didn't bring in Rodriguez to simply match his old WVU teams, he was brought in to take Michigan to top 5 status.  (and yes, gaining top 5 status while playing in the Big Ten is different that gaining it in the Big East)  When you butt heads with the big boys, you better bring a nasty D to the table.  This has always been true and it will continue to be true.  RR may be a good guy, but when your coach is not really interested in defense, I doubt he ever takes Michigan to consistant prominence.  That was the goal when Carr stepped down, remember?

our defensive players arent spoiled, they are young.  give bobby flay some veal and he can make a delicious masterpiece

UM's defense has been terrible all three years RR has been here. And the makeup of the roster also falls to the coaching staff.  Yes, there have been some untimely departures. One cannot dispute that. But those have hit mainly the secondary. The defense is atrocious at all levels.

UM has had bad luck and bad coaching which has lead to the abomination that is the Michigan defense. The soft mentality of the defense did not come about as the result of guys leaving, nor do the continuous missed assignments or bad tackling. You can coach players to be fundamentally sound.

As for removing a guy after he makes a bowl. Well, remember that this is Michigan. You know "Leaders and Best".  Leaders and Best typically don't satisfy themselves with just barely making a third tier bowl in year three at a school with every resource needed to field a national title contending program.

Frankly, most Michigan fans do not appreciate the immense advantages that this school has. They think UM operates at the same level as say, MSU, when in fact, UM has MORE to work with. It is EASIER to win here than 99% of schools.

I sincerely hope RichRod works out, but this program needs some drastic changes if it is going to succeed.