Hire New DC Before Bowl Game?

it's not gonna happen....I am eager for a change as much as the next fan, but it doens't make any sense.  Brandon is too calculated in his moves to try and make a drastic move in the next 4 wks, as this would be a knee jerk reaction of a desparate institution.  If he wants a new HC, he will make his decision and move forward.  If he has already discussed a wholesale change of the D staff with Coach Rod, he would line it up and implement it after the bowl game.  The only scenario where i could see this playing out is if Coach Rod is fired and a whole new staff was brought in.  But again, I don't see this happening til after the bowl game.  It sure sucks for recruiting, but this is HIS decision and HIS legacy that he is dealing with and given his demeanor up to this point, a knee jerk move is likely not in the cards.

but i think that the thought process Brandon has shared with the public tells us otherwise.

RR said yesterday that the first 6 or so bowl practices would be focused on fundamentals and the remaining 9 would be used to put in the game plan. There's not enough time to teach a whole new scheme. I don't think any of the desirable and realistic candidates would be available until after the bowl season anyway.

If the rumors are true and WVU's HC is retiring, could we quickly pick up Casteel? He would know the general scheme RR is trying to run and fit in quickly. Then we would have a preview of what next years D may look like. Then again, if RR is on the way out I doubt DB will bring anybody new before the bowl game.

Post

One of the problems plaguing our program is continuity. You can't expect people to come in and build the program in an year or two.

If this is true for RR, it is also true for Gerg. Look at the talent and depth we have on D and then tell me if you truly believe it is Gerg's fault. Sure he runs a 3-3-5 but it might be coz RR wants him to.

I don't want a program like ours to play a mary go round with coaches. 

Continuity is key.

Also - if GERG is fired, so should RR. You would expect the turnovers to reduce with his offensive scheme in place - evidently not. Clearly you can only do so much about youth. 

Wait till we return 20 senior starters - the team will be a NC then (2012)

You made an error in your title. It's HC not DC. Kidding. I don't think it would be a smart idea like many have stated for a plethora of reasons. 15 practices isn't enough time to develop continuity between a new coordinator and the defense.

I have to say this is one of the most most bi-polar years of fans have ever seen. You hear one of a couple things that are repeated over and over.

1) Fire RR
2) Give RR more time Michigan has to much youth
3) Clean house on defense

What I seen was a team that was as close to going 4-8 as they were going 7-5. We are 7-5 and as someone else said not all 7-5 teams are created equal. We barely put away a terrible Purdue team, We beat Indiana on a jump ball, We went into triple overtime against the Illini, and we had to go the distance against Umass, and we beat ND who didn't even have a starting quarterback for 1/2 the game.

We have a DC who admits he never played the 3-3-5. Yet everyone expects miracles. Why does the HC hire someone then not let him play his style. I ask everyone would you hire upper management and then say we want you to do things this way? We don't care what you have done in the past. 

I really am tired of people putting this on the DC. I believe its time for Michigan Fans to suck it up. You can speculate all you want, but hiring a new DC and staff does nothing when he can't run his system. It doesn't matter who it is.

We suck on Defense, Special Teams, and our offense has looked less than stellar 3 weeks in a row. I am not sure who's right at this point, but for all those saying its time to get rid of the DC and staff. I ask you to take a long look at what you ask. 

Something has to be wrong with coaching if we are still starting freshman and sophomores. There has to be something wrong when in the last 3 games we have looked more like a middle of the road offense. Look at the turn over margin, Look at the special teams, Look at scoring and tell me what you see.

If we just look at progression. We take the last 4 games of the season. That puts 8 games under Michigan's belts. That gave the team a chance to gel. What do you see? How far have we progressed? 

I don't have a clue what will happen. I just gave my input on it. I don't really see an awesome offense. I see 1 super star who has been worn down because he has very little supporting cast, WR's who fail to show up every games, RB's who have really never showed up most of the season, TE's do we even have one?, Oline has played well all year. The defense nothing more needs said about that.

I am sure I will get a lot of counters, but it is the way I see it. This board is for us to express what we see. It is our thoughts. I do thank the community. It has been a lot of good reading. I give thanks to all the staff here, the great writers, and most important the fans. We may not all see the same, but we all have love for Michigan Football.

The main reasoning I have behind this is that the new DC(hopefully Randy Shannon!) will have the 15-16 bowl practices to implement their scheme.

15 practices = 2-3 weeks?

Not enough to put an entire new defense in.

Why Randy Shannon?   Since RR is determined to run the 335, Casteel at WVU is the best choice.

WVU is #3 in the nation defensively, statistically speaking

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?year=2010&org=768

I've no idea if Casteel would come here at this point though.  At least he could come and teach GERG how to run the 335.

If the DC is Casteel then yes, yes a thousand times yes.

He knows the system....the assistants and Rich.  God would that be a stroke of luck for us (finally) if Opie does retire as reported and we could get him NOW.

...but we should, at the very least, be talking to some of these guys if they are thinking about dropping GERG.  

is trying to figure out what's salvageable and what's available.  The past 3 years have, by all accounts, been bad football.  DB may still be trying to determine his options and getting the timing right.

Just bored at work so more about ruminating the topic then anything else, it seems if we did get Casteel now, there wouldn't be to much turnover since he is a 3-3-5 guru. Apart from the terminology it doesn't seem like it would be a serious departure from what Gerg was running .

I respectfully disagree with the notion teams cannot learn a 'new' D in 2-3 weeks. Teams do it all the time in 2-3 days, based on what scheme is needed to shut down formations.

Teams base out of something but shift to odd/ even man fronts throughout a game; cover 1,2,3; quarters, cloud, etc. One week the ends could be squeezing, the next week their assignment could be to fly upfield. It all changes from week to week based on who the opponent is.

We  (our high school) have played our DT's in 31's, 4's, 2's this year. Our ends have played in 5,7,9 with contain, gap and '10' technique...in high school. They have 1 day to read scouting report and align. Tue and Wed is scout team; Thur walkthru and Fri gameday.

It is not as if a player is switching majors from English to Engineering. Alignment just means different responsibilities. Basic alignment and responsibilities may change from series to series, game to game.  It is done every week all across this great land and it can be done with Michigan football players as well

Fire up the Flight Tracker

I had the exact same thought on this yesterday.  If you are going to have this significant benefitof the extra few weeks of practice why not get the most out of it but starting to teach what they will be doing next season?

Most people feel that Michigan needs not just a new DC, but also some new assistant coaches. It would be a mistake to bring in in Randy Shannon (or anybody) while retaining RR’s entire WV staff. That is precisely the mistake that was made when Greg Robinson was hired. Indeed, Shannon (or anybody) would be a fool to come in without the authority to run the defense as he sees fit.

So, at this point, you’re talking about a pretty serious house-cleaning, and that’s just not going to happen in under a month.

would take a job he might only have for 1 year?  Working for a coach who won't let him pick his own staff and the run the scheme he wants to run.

Although I don't think it'll matter for improving the defense in the Bowl game, I think it'll help in recruiting if we get a proven DC.  I wonder who will be available?

Want some entertainment, check out the Cane boards this morning.  Man, you think we have it bad.  We should grab Randy ASAP.  He's a proven DC.  Recruits in the South (Yo, Sammy, HA HA, come'on up).

depends on what the plans are for the headcoaching spot. If RR is gone, they are not gonna let him pick the next defensive coordinator. and i doubt dave brandon would make a selection without having a headcoach involved

I just got home from shopping (torture) and listened to Sirius while my wife was in several stores.  Literally every radio station is saying that RR is gone, some are saying as soon as Tuesday.

I don't think it's good when none, not a single one, is saying that he can turn it around.  Most of them are actually making the argument that things are so bad right (situation with fans alums) that there is no way he or anyone else could resurrect the situation.

If they do pull the trigger, now is the time to do it.  Gives current players a month with the new guy and his staff (hopefully he retains some) while allowing the new coach to get a jump on recruiting/ass kissing the commits.  Another month will only put the next guy behind the 8-ball.

Again...this is only if DB makes a change.