How long until we hear about possible coaching changes for Michigan?
How long is it before we hear about possible coaching changes within the Michigan football coaching staff? As stated by Mangus in this article: http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2013/12/kansas-state-31-michigan-14.html#comment-form there have been rumors of Mallory looking for a coaching job at a smaller school, and Jackson possibly retiring. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Mallory and Jackson go. Al Borges, Dan Ferrigno, and Darrell Funk have also got to be on the hot seat. How long do you think it will be before we hear any news about possible coaching changes?
December 30th, 2013 at 7:41 PM ^
Keep in mind that Bielein only has nine guys (important guys) that he has to account for. I would imagine it is somewhat easier to keep detailed info in your head for ten guys as opposed to 30-40.
Again, I take your meaning and I'm not really trying to take away too much from your point, but some context is always a good thing. Hoke certainly doesn't come off as a savant, where JB kinda does.
Am I making your point, or refuting it? I don't even know anymore...
December 30th, 2013 at 7:46 PM ^
In one of the "sneak peeks" that they have on BTN, Coach B was asking for stats even at half time. I think one of the grad assistants gave him how many times they were successful running a certain play to one side.
I don't think advanced stats can even change the way Hoke does some things. Just look at our punt formation.
December 30th, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^
Stats dont have to be "advanced" to be ignored around here. Any team that can give a RB the ball the 27th time when the first 26 led to 26 yards is not easily impressed by statistics of any sort.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
December 30th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
I remember in the "down year" of JB's tenure people were bitching about him not being emotional enough. JB"s always been an X's and O's guy, that's how he had success with small schools and nobody rosters.
Not a jab at your comment, I guess once you're here long enough you start to remember things like that.
December 30th, 2013 at 11:51 PM ^
He hasn't shown the mental capability of even a good coach.
December 30th, 2013 at 7:14 PM ^
December 30th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^
December 30th, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^
LOL! You guys crack me up. The utter ridiculous bullshit you guys sling around out of frustration would be comical of it weren't so pathetic.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:45 AM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
I am NOT completely loyal to Hoke, I am loyal to Michigan, and I think anyone barking for change right now is doing Michigan a severe disservice. Michigan's program is in that very fragile state at this point because of frome whence it came (you and other might disagree with how far down you think it really was, if so, we're at an impass). I think that if Michigan allows impatience to motivate its decision making, the mediocrity that so many of you fear is upon is will beset the program, and it will nearly impossible to break away from it.
This is the time when you stay the course, you rebuild the roster depth and experience, and then -- and ONLY THEN -- if the coaching staff is cannot get it done do you replace it. The next coach, should there be one, MUST be handed a "normal" roster or else the entire shitshow starts all over again.
December 31st, 2013 at 2:15 AM ^
Heard from where? from who? Standing at what urinal in what bar?
This is in the same category of unsupported hoohah as "Michigan is Jon Gruden's dream job."
John Harbaugh signed a new four-year contract with the Ravens at the start of the 2013 season at a reported $7 million a year. He ain't giving that up to make less money in Ann Arbor.
December 31st, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^
December 30th, 2013 at 7:17 PM ^
The sooner the better.
December 30th, 2013 at 7:59 PM ^
Can't do anything to disturb the apple cart of incoming recruits.
December 30th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^
...for other people, some with families, to lose their jobs and livelihood? Shouldn't we think of our fellow citizens in a more generous spirit?
December 30th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^
Their contracts will be bought out and they will likely find employment elsewhere within the year. Besides, you're missing the point. The coaches are there to win games for Michigan and, as even they put it, win Big Ten championships. We have, for a myriad of reasons, fallen farther and farther from that goal by the year.
In general, at any place of employment, if you are not performing well you are either demoted or terminated.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:51 AM ^
If they are fired, they will not go poor, or lose their house, or live on the street, or starting whoring an orifice for cash. If anything, their life will get better as they can spend more time with family and rest.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:02 PM ^
I'd be pretty surprised if any coaches were released. There is the meme here that Brady hedged in his comments about anticipating all staff to return. If you listen to the entire interview he was asked three questions about this and in each subsequent response made his statement stronger.
Say what you will about Brady's coaching skills and use of coachspeek, but he is a straight shooter and I see little reason to doubt that he has decided that his staff gets another season.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^
"...he is a straight shooter..."
Is that so?
"Turf Toe" - Hoke on Gardner's injury.
"He's probable to return" - Hoke at halftime of the Nebraska game last year, on Denard.
"He's day-to-day" - Hoke every week on Denard post-Nebraska, though it was clear he was anything but.
"He's got a boo boo" - Hoke on everybody.
Sorry, no.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:20 PM ^
December 30th, 2013 at 9:23 PM ^
Because I guess Kansas State was going to alter their gameplan based upon whether Gardner had a broken foot or Turf Toe, even after it was announced he wouldn't play in the game?
There's a difference between tipping your hand to your opponent(s) about injuries and just trolling for shits.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:35 PM ^
State St., why are you so obsessed by this. You beat this to death before the bowl game. WTF? There is a HUGE difference between a coach being straight with his players and recruits and a coach that uses coach speak with the media. Why is that so hard for you to grasp? I just don't get it.
December 31st, 2013 at 2:07 AM ^
I've been pretty critical of Hoke this year, but your notion that Hoke is somehow unethical because he isn't providing our opponents with detailed, accurate information about the injuries to his own players is asinine.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:03 PM ^
December 30th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
Coaching changes? Why do people think there will be changes. Hoke has already come out in support of Borges and Borges just lost a bowl game, but with a freshman QB who looked decent. Funk? Not going to happen. Jackson? Maybe he retires, that's all I see happening.
December 30th, 2013 at 9:52 PM ^
Exactly! Changes aren't always the answer, despite what the haters in here think. The people the live Michigan football know best. If they think that the struggles are due to a deficiency in the coaching ability or effort, you can bet your ass there will be changes. If, however, they feel that the struggles are do to personnel deficiencies that will be eliminated in time, there will be no changes. It's becoming a major ill in our society -- everything has to happen NOW or else. It's pathetic, IMO, and anyone that thinks that Michigan should make changes at this juncture is simply seeking instant gratification and is being selfish, IMO.
Leave everything alone. Don't change anything. Let the players grow up within a consistent and uniform system. Youth reacts the worst to change, and this team is young. Get over it guys, it was a shitty year for several reasons, most of which will evolve away as time goes by and the roster has more normal class distribution numbers.
December 30th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 12:49 AM ^
Yeah, those of us still hanging around hoping desperately, futilely, for brighter days are really in the instant gratification business. I get your desire to pump the brakes on rash reactions, but I don't know - you really aren't concerned that Fred Jackson hung onto a single subpar running back like grim death once again and that the line looked worse at the end of the year than it did at the start of the year (with no injuries (unless you count Bryant's perma-injury))?
I don't know if it's the right move, but dismissing out of hand people who don't want to see Freddy Jack and Funk back? That seems unfair.
December 31st, 2013 at 1:44 AM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 1:55 AM ^
I agree, in that my number one comment at halftime of the Notre Dame game was "damn, our lines are getting dominated on both sides of the ball."
So maybe they haven't gotten worse. But would you really say they haven't improved as much as you would like, or would you say they never really improved at all? I mean, rushing for less than a ypc is rushing for less than a ypc. Which you acknowledge.
And Kansas State is always known for pretty good defenses, but it's not like they are all-world (Notre Dame's lines - the starting point - were borne out to be pretty darn good). Still, they did keep Shane pretty clean during that game, although simple, quick throws and Shane's release may have contributed to things. But I'll give them some credit there. Regardless, the dogshit runblocking just cannot be forgiven. I mean, this was legendary futility. And as you say, if it didn't get worse, it certainly didn't get any better.
December 31st, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:40 PM ^
Everything you post reeks of blind optimism, especially when you attempt to speak so authoritatively about things you obviously know nothing about. Case in point being your assertion that a coaching change shouldn't happen because youth cope more poorly than others to change? Wtf? The more experience you attain at a given thing the more MOST people become resistant to change (and thus cope worse). You've obviously heard the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks"....there's a reason that came into existence.
I don't have any issue with people believing that the coaching staff should remain intact. I obviously disagree with them (in terms of the assistants on the O) but that's life, people often disagree. I even like hearing well informed reasons as to why they fall on that side of the debate. What I don't enjoy reading is people who just make totally false crap up in an attempt to prove themselves right.
You want the staff back, that's fine. No one even needs to hear why you want them back, that's your business. But please, stop making crap up to try and sway the argument in your direction or prove you're the one that's right.
December 31st, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^
My assertions are taken from my own personaly experiences in sports and in life. Older more experienced people (and players) understand and deal with changes more adeptly than young players. The young players many times feel abandoned by a coach they were expecting to play for. Just look around the nation at the attrition rates during transitions -- it's usually young guys that decide to leave. The "old dog new tricks" cliche doesn't necessarily apply here. Each player has a finite time in college. Older players don't usually want to sit out a season, and have far more invested at the school than younger players, so they usually stick it out.
But fine, don't take what I say seriously. You're welcome to your opinion.
My only point has been that Michigan was a shitstorm well BEFORE Carr even left, it didn't get better under RR, and it's starting to get better (albeit a bit slowly) under Hoke. If we let impatience rule the day, we're going to become a shitstorm again. If you want that, by all means continue to beat the drums, because that is all you're doing. You're not making things better, there is no Knight in Shining Armour out there that is going to swoop in and save the program. The problem with the program is the ROSTER, and the near complete lack of upperclassmen. A new coach isn't going to solve that issue. In fact, if like most transitions, there is some attrition, it could even get WORSE. Leave things alone, let them recruit and develop -- let them build the roster up because 62% of the roster being 1st or 2nd year players is NOT a formula for success.
Anyway, Happy New Year and Go Blue!
January 2nd, 2014 at 7:58 AM ^
"The problem with the program is the ROSTER, and the near complete lack of upperclassmen. A new coach isn't going to solve that issue."
You're doing it again. You say the problem with the team is the roster and a new coach can't fix that. Listen, I have played sports my entire life and at a pretty high level as well. When I was in the CHL we went through a coaching change and went from almost dead last in our conference to top spot a year later with only minor changes to our roster, it CAN happen.
Also, you seem to be either missing what I am saying by mistake or intensionally leaving out the part where I mention that I am only talking about the offensive coaching staff here (not even Al specifically0 as I believe that is where the problems are. Now I'm not saying a guy has never left a team because an assistant has lost his job, but in most cases the fallout is minimal.
I guess I just don't enjoy the way in which you choose to debate. It's nothing against you personally, as in all my other experience with you as a poster you seem like a genuinely nice person. In this instance though, your blind loyalty has made you do things like make things up to prove points and ignore what people are saying in their posts and responding to things they never even said to make your position seem reasonable.
I don't mean to offend you, as I said, you seem like a good person. I just won't be reading any more of your posts where the future of this team and coaching staff are concerned.
December 31st, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^
No changes are necessarily good unless there is a definitive plan in place to bring in someone who is an almost no-brainer that can create a big splash and is a proven winner. Comments about one of the Harbaugh brothers are IMO way off base, I just cannot see either jumping ship.
I think a case can be made for changing out several on offense, but in all honesty I just caught an interesting comment by Randall Cunningham on how difficult he thought that learning and perfecting the West Coast Offense was, and that even at an NFL level it was considered a 3 yr plan to really get a team to fully gel if they had never run it, and that it overwhelmed him.
With the big openings already out in both college and the NFL, I think this is not a good year to be making wholesale change, unless somehow a truly big name had already agreed to come on board.
December 31st, 2013 at 9:41 AM ^
The problem with trying to implement a difficult offense that takes 3 years to really learn at Michigan is that colleges have constant turnover. This is not the 49ers, which might have the same QB and receivers for the better part of a decade.
December 31st, 2013 at 11:41 AM ^
Has there ever really been a successful West Coast type team in college, that sustained that success instead of having one year bursts of effectiveness surrounded by drudgery?
December 31st, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
If you find one, just redefine "West Coast Offense" to exclude them. After all, no one has ever fully implemented Walsh's entire playbook at the college level, so you can always find some excuse to say it's really something else.
December 31st, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 1:28 AM ^
the coaching positions and noticed there are two LB coaches, an ILB and an OLB coach. I wonder, considering there is a shortage at DL coach, perhaps something should be done about that imballance.
December 31st, 2013 at 1:49 AM ^
It is Hoke's decision to keep or change assistant coaches. So, let him decide. Hoke will be under the microscope next season and he will need to win at least 7 games to get a 5th season. If he only wins 7 or 8 games next season he will be on the hot seat in 2015 and he will at a very minimum need to win 10 games and receive a BCS bowl game. So, Hoke will have to make his choices wisely. I hope he and his coaches can pull all together and return Michigan back into a competitive B1G team.
December 31st, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^
7 wins get's Hoke fired, easily.
5 losses would have to be OSU, MSU, ND, and then 2 more out of probably Penn State, Rutger's, Minnesota, Indiana....That wouldn't get him another year
January 6th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
The AFCA coaching convention is January 12-15. If Hoke wants to "encourage" any of his coaches to look for other work, that would be a good time to do it.