The Lloyd Carr fork in the road

Submitted by CLord on

People notice Jim is glum of late relative to the last couple of years.  I'll propose it is because he is a smart enough to acknowledge over-abundant evidence that come year end he will face a Lloyd Carr fork in the road, having to choose between loyalty and extended mediocrity on offense, and making a change at OC.

Drevno and Harbaugh have worked together a long time. Quick research (maybe a mistake or two):

      OC OL Coach DC
2004 San Diego 7–4 Drevno Drevno Adolph
2005 San Diego 11–1 Drevno Drevno Adolph
2006 San Diego 11–1 Shaw Drevno Adolph
2007 Stanford 4–8 Shaw Dalman Shafer
2008 Stanford 5–7 Shaw Dalman Buh/Lynn
2009 Stanford 8–5 Shaw Drevno Buh/Lynn
2010 Stanford 12–1 Shaw Drevno Fangio
2015 Michigan 10–3 Drevno Drevno Durkin
2016 Michigan 10–3 Drevno Drevno Brown
2017 Michigan 4–1 Drevno Drevno Brown

One can espouse that while Jim has lifted Michigan especially with the Brown hire, Drevno increasingly smells of Hoke, where there was magic early, but the wheels eventually came off.

There is still time to right the ship and we'll all be rooting for Tim to get the offense going.  But at the current trajectory, the most important decision that may separate us from a decade of championships or one of mediocrity will come this off season.

 

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CLion

October 9th, 2017 at 7:15 PM ^

If there is one thing I am certain about Harbaugh, it's that he is insanely competitive. He will do what needs to be done with the staff because he wants to win even more so than anyone on this blog. He's not going to let ego or loyalty get in the way.

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MonkeyMan

October 9th, 2017 at 8:18 PM ^

how do you fire an old firend though? Is easy to ask someone else to do it. I think he doesn't see Drevno as the problem- and he may be right

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CLion

October 9th, 2017 at 8:28 PM ^

I'm not convinced he is the problem either. There is a problem though, and the person I have the most faith in identifying it is Jim Harbaugh. Until I see one piece of evidence that suggests Harbaugh is a stubborn old fool who can't adapt to information in front of him, I'm not going to assume that he is.

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KC Wolve

October 9th, 2017 at 7:41 PM ^

Aren’t a lot of those young players you are counting excelling on the defense? I mean, from what a lot of you around here say, it isn’t possible for a sophomore or Freshman to be any good. I’m confused.

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BigBlue02

October 9th, 2017 at 10:02 PM ^

And MSU sucked. Our young inexperienced team just happened to suck more on this particular night. I wouldn’t count on that much throughout Harbaugh’s tenure here. MSU’s young inexperienced team had 34 total yards the entire second half. MSU having a young inexperienced team is not a recipe for success for them this year just like it isn’t for Michigan.

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Barn Animal

October 9th, 2017 at 7:24 PM ^

I understand this was a bad loss, I’m pissed too. But I think people are blowing this way to far out of proportion. Every rational fan knew this would happen this year, it just sucks that it had to be MSU.

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Whole Milk

October 10th, 2017 at 8:42 AM ^

I don't think his point is that this is a blip and that the offense has been otherwise good, I think the point is, we have seen that the offense is inferior, and that most rational fans knew that they would cost us a game this year that we probably should have won. It sucks that this was that game because it was MSU, but it shoudn't come as a huge surprise. 

These types of things happen in college football. USC lost to Washington State, Oklahoma lost to Iowa State. Expectations got raised based on our ranking and defensive prowess, but we clearly are not a top 5 team that is so elite that you do not slip up now and again.

People tend to understate the unfortunate issues with this offense. We are starting 3 lineman who had not had significant playing time until this year, 75% of our total receiving yards are gone from last year's team, plus one of our two best receivers from this year is out with a broken foot. And whether or not you were in favor of Speight or not, we are playing with our backup QB. Florida State was predicted by many to win the national title this year, but when their QB goes out, they are all of a sudden 1-3. It is not like this is a senior lead, experienced offense that is underperforming, growing pains are certainly expected. 

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Engin77

October 9th, 2017 at 7:25 PM ^

Stanford OT and 7-yr San Francisco 49er veteran coached OL for his alma mater in 2007 & 2008, iirc.

FWIW, I'll wait until all twelve regular season games have been played to consider the question the OP raises.

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The Fan in Fargo

October 9th, 2017 at 7:33 PM ^

I don't think a new OC is blowing this out of proportion. If you can go out and get one of the best, then you should. If there were people out there that could do my job better than me and I consistently was the reason that my employer wasn't able to fullfill it's full productive potential, then I would completely understand and if they wanted to replace me, then they should. That's business and that's how men role. If Drevno cant admit that his offense and his offensive lines are underperforming, then he isn't a true man and shouldn't be there anyway. You don't want someone like that is relying on his job because of the whole loyalty thing. That shit doesn't work at just about every place in the fucking universe. We call those guys kiss asses in the workplace and they generally piss everyone off.

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BeatOSU52

October 9th, 2017 at 8:20 PM ^

Michigan should hire the O-Coordinator from the last season of Last Chance U, The one that the hillbilly coach kicked out of the game in their final game .

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SeattleWolverine

October 9th, 2017 at 9:20 PM ^

Eh, PSU is the one team that can still put up some real points on our defense. I guess we'll see how good the CBs really are because they've played great, but it's been against 2nd tier athletes so far. And their defense looks pretty good. Add in the home field and I think we're a lot more likely to keep it close and win against OSU than we are against PSU. 

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