Hire New DC Before Bowl Game?
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. Then once we go into the offseason the kids have some a much better understanding of the defense, hopefully leading to an even bigger improvement next year.
Has this occurred recently, and had it been successful - That would be a Head Coach hiring a new coordinator before a bowl game, and that team still ends up winning? What are your thoughts? ......this is under the assumption that RR will be back.
November 28th, 2010 at 4:41 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 4:51 AM ^
It doesn't really seem like a "knee-jerk move" because I think its a little known fact that GERG will not be coaching the Michigan Defense next year. So why not make the move now to give the kids more time to learn the scheme? And Rich Rod will be here next year god willing.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:50 AM ^
Actually, I woke up thinking to date the way DB has fired anyone has been very quiet. He has kept them on until they have found a new job, and then announced their departure.
If Gerg, Rich or anyone is loosing their job, they probably already know, and already have their agents out looking. But the timing of most new coaching job hires is after the bowl season.
So agreed, not likely that Gerg or anyone gets summarily shot before bowl practices.
November 28th, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^
Rich Rod is another. If his agent starts looking for a place for him to land, that kind of thing will get around in a hurry. Agents aren't exactly known for their discretion.
November 28th, 2010 at 4:59 AM ^
but i think that the thought process Brandon has shared with the public tells us otherwise.
November 28th, 2010 at 5:15 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 5:42 AM ^
November 28th, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^
The problem with Casteel is that if WVU goes internal, Casteel is the most logical candidate for the hire, too bad Doc Holliday left last year. Who knows how it will all turn out but if Casteel was available it could make things interesting in the the offseason.
Aug
November 29th, 2010 at 9:05 AM ^
Casteel also has a top 20 D this year. True, its in the Big East, where a Uconn team Michigan pasted might go to a BCS game... but hey, top 20 defense!
It's looking less and less likely that Casteel will leave WVU.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
He did not come here in the first place when just about every other RR assistant did.
November 28th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^
He might have been waiting for the HC job at WVU, which should but might not open up to him. If he's disappointed or ticked about that, his next best bet could be coming to Michigan and being our defensive saviour. If he and RR have a good relationship, it's a working environment he understands. I heard rumors that he stayed in WV for his family, but I don't know how old his kids are now and if staying there is even an option for him.
November 29th, 2010 at 9:07 AM ^
I honestly dont understand why he wasn't appointed interim HC after Rodriguez left. I mean, on the one hand you have a decently accomplished Defensive Coordinator that stayed on after his boss left for a bigger school. On the other hand, you have Bill Stewart.
The choice is obvious.
November 29th, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
The administration at WVU at the time (I don't know about now) was pretty screwed up.
November 28th, 2010 at 6:14 AM ^
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)
November 28th, 2010 at 6:30 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 6:47 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:02 AM ^
My sentiments exactly. I have no idea what will be best for this team, but I dont have much confidence about the direction of this program based on how we got to 7-5 this year. After 3 years we are 0-12 against Big Ten teams that finish with winning records. That is downright atrocious.
November 28th, 2010 at 7:23 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 7:39 AM ^
Either Shannon or Casteel would be fine with me, its just didn't Casteel have some reason for not coming in the first place? Also Shannon if he is willing to accept the demotion, had very high rated defenses as a DC, and is an excellent recruiter who can recruit even more Florida DEFENSIVE talent. .........that was not a shot at RR, just saying it gives us a better advantage to get Florida Defensive talent.
Also this would come with cleaning the entire defensive staff, and letting whatever DC comes bring his own people and run HIS OWN scheme.
November 28th, 2010 at 1:23 PM ^
If WVU passes him over I would think he'll leave. Is there another HC opening he would be a candidate for? If not, I think we would have a good shot at him.
That said, I'm not a fan of the 3-3-5 unless you are giving me at least one 215-220 lb spur or bandit that can move though I would prefer two as I personally prefer a 3-4 or 4-3. I understand with our current personel the reason we played it, but hope we can move away from it in the future.
November 28th, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^
I really doubt that Casteel, having already turned down RR once, and having seen how the locals reacted when RR left, would now go to Michigan. And I'm not sure Michigan wants to wade back into the WVU coaching pool. And I doubt RR wants to be seen going back to Casteel. That would open the door for people to attribute RR's success to Casteel. Too many complications for either side.
November 28th, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
in the Big East, that defensive ranking means absolutely zilch.
November 28th, 2010 at 8:25 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:08 AM ^
...the Defense would all of a sudden just start tackling and making plays where it couldn't all season (with few exceptions of course)?
November 28th, 2010 at 9:38 AM ^
Ha ha, sure, and also have the LB at the proper depth, ie, not inside the D-linemen's butt crack. You know like Brian has pointed out about having the LBs 5-6 yards behind the DL. I'd prefer going with a 4 man DL but if Rich Rod is back the only way I'd want to continue to run a defensive system that has been nothing but an abject failure would be if the guy who runs it successfully (ie the 3rd best scoring D in the NCAA) came here to be our DC.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
Because they would be less confused.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:20 AM ^
...but we should, at the very least, be talking to some of these guys if they are thinking about dropping GERG.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:29 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:38 AM ^
November 28th, 2010 at 1:25 PM ^
is a lot different from the way we ran it this year.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:08 AM ^
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
November 28th, 2010 at 9:53 AM ^
Fire up the Flight Tracker
November 28th, 2010 at 10:08 AM ^
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?
November 28th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
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.
November 28th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
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?
November 28th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
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).
November 28th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
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
November 28th, 2010 at 2:20 PM ^
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.