McCaffrey fired at N. Colorado

Submitted by Imjesayin on November 22nd, 2022 at 3:55 AM

Ed McCaffrey is out as head coach at University of Northern Colorado after only 2 seasons and a record of 6-16. His teams went 3-8 both years.

Former UM QB Dylan McCaffrey was a senior this year at UNC, after having played 2 seasons at UM where he played in 5 games in 2018 and 6 games in 2019, going 18 for 35 for 242 yards with 3 TDS and 0 INTs.

UNC cancelled their 2020 season due to Covid, but D-Caff played in 10 games in 2021 and 10 games in 2022, where he was 348 for 580 for 3257 yards with 17 TDS and 19 INTs.

https://www.si.com/college/2022/11/21/ed-mccaffrey-northern-colorado-fired-report

Gree4

November 22nd, 2022 at 7:57 AM ^

Ive said it before - when the QB room was cleared of Milton, DCaf, and Shea the team attitude got much much better. Giles Jackson, DPJ, Tarik Black all seemed to have shitty attitudes also. Its like the position coaches on those teams just bred a terrible culture or there was a lot of tension between position groups? Who knows

stephenrjking

November 22nd, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^

I think some gripes came through DPJ's family, not DPJ.

And having some complaints about how one was coached does not mean one does not support the program; I don't think it's fair to say that he has "come back around." Just because not everything was perfect doesn't mean he isn't a Michigan supporter. 

Regarding the rest of this subthread: I'm uncomfortable with the willingness to believe rumors about who is a locker room cancer and who isn't, or to read into things like small glimpses of sideline behavior, or a line or two in a carefully edited documentary. Fans do not know what's going on inside. Maybe some guys are a problem; sometimes there's fire under the smoke. But sometimes narratives like this turn out to be completely fictitious, and such things are quite unfair.

I will say that the comment below this about a suite-holder or whatever: others may not have heard suite-holders say such things, but fans say dumb, mean stuff about their own players *all the time* and I don't think you can generally read much into those sayings.

GOBLUE4EVR

November 22nd, 2022 at 10:30 AM ^

i think i've said this before on here, but in 2019 one of my suite holders whos nephew was a walk on safety at Michigan at that time yelled out during a game after Black dropped a pass that him right in the hands "GD Black your a cancer on this team and I can't wait until your gone"... i don't know if that was foreshadowing or he just meant that he couldn't wait until his 4 years were up and he was gone... but then at the end of the season Black transfers out. 

that is pretty much the only time that suite holder has ever said anything like that about any of the players, other than the normal bitching and complaining that goes on during a game... 

Every team has that one guy that gets in other players ears and infects them with their piss poor attitudes and maybe Black was that guy who just stirred the pot over and over again...

As for DPJ i don't think there is anything there in relation for having issues with his time at Michigan. And if there was its gone now, and I am basing that on the fact that his mom was up in the suites with Jabrill's mom and Ambry's mom for the Penn St game and they all went in to the Harbaugh suite and hung out in there for a little while... 

michengin87

November 22nd, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^

100% agree.  Harbaugh didn't see the issues with his coaches and Poggi cleaned up a lot of that.  I hope that Harbaugh has learned how much having all of his coaches on the same page is to the foundation of a strong program.  Guys like Saban do not allow it to be any other way.

I think he can trust this group of coaches to be strong leaders and aligned with his philosophy even beyond Poggi leaving after this year.

 

St Joe Blues

November 22nd, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^

Harbaugh certainly has added a few leaders to the roster in the last couple of years. Cade McNamara and Aiden Hutchinson both come to mind for me. Bell and Corum as well. I can't think of anyone who might have had the same positive impact on bringing the team together from that era. I always thought McCaffrey was trying to be that guy but it never really went anywhere.

The Homie J

November 22nd, 2022 at 10:47 AM ^

I know we were glad to get rid of Pep Hamilton, but was he really that bad in retrospect?  I don't think you can blame him for the QB play in 2017.  Wilton was never the same after his collarbone broke, John O'Korn was never a viable QB, and Peters was literally a freshman.  And in 2018, Shea was arguably at his best, compared to 2019 where he was erratic and unfocused.  I know Shea's stats in 2019 might be better due to Gattis calling more passing plays, but Shea was a mess most of that year, to the point where we tried to bench him vs Wisconsin.

And Pep Hamilton deserves a decent bit of credit for almost pulling that 2017 team to victory against Ohio State despite literally only having John O'Korn available at that point.

Australopithecus

November 22nd, 2022 at 3:05 PM ^

Agreed. In retrospect, Pep built his scheme around his QBs and what they could handle. We hated it because we thought they could do much more. 

Then Gattis came in and mostly ignored his personnel, throwing together a hodgepodge of his favorite plays from other schools. We went from mundane but organized to erratic. 

The 2019 offense wasn't terrible statistically, but underperformed horribly relative to its talent level. We we loaded.

m1817

November 23rd, 2022 at 1:09 PM ^

Don't forget that Pep was largely responsible for recruiting Joe Milton.

Over the few months, Hamilton and Milton have bonded despite having no prior knowledge of each other, with Hamilton coming from the NFL.

“I wasn’t surprised, because I really didn’t know anything about him and I really didn’t know his background,” Milton said. “But as I got to know him, I felt closer, and with me being so close, it felt like he can put me in the right situation and be the best player I can be.”

Milton became more comfortable as they discussed more football.

“He really knows what he’s talking about, he knows what plays to run in all type of situations,” Milton said. “He’s been in the game, he knows what the game is like. My relationship with him is a coach that really knows what I can be in life, no matter the situation.”

St Joe Blues

November 22nd, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^

Yeah, getting fired at the holidays sucks unless you were making $190,000/year after earning $18.5 million playing in the NFL. Then it seems like a fantastic opportunity to kick back with the family, maybe head to San Fran and take in some 49ers games, watch A Christmas Story a few times and drink some egg nog.

I've been laid off 4 times in my career, and somehow, I think it'd be a different scenario if it didn't matter whether I had a weekly income or not.

tybert

November 22nd, 2022 at 7:42 AM ^

Not sure whatever happened behind the scenes at UM with D-Caff. His parents seemed adamant about his playing in 2020, when the B1G cancelled the season. They came to a rally that summer. Then - he announces he's leaving before the season.

I wonder "what if" when Shea was crapping the bed vs. Army, Wisconsin, etc. and Dylan took over in the Wisky game. Had he not been targeted twice, would he have taken over the QB spot vs. Rutgers and then the rest of the season.

Shea was an attitude problem big-time in 2019, after a pretty solid 2018 (minus the 2nd half vs Ohio and the bowl game). 36 holes of golf per day will do that (when he could have been having informal workouts with Nico, DPJ, and Tarik and perfecting his medium throws).

Dylan's had more than a few concussions, so not sure how he'd do moving to WR or another position. A few more hits and he could be ruled unfit to play anymore, like our former QB Steven Threet.

Good luck in life Dylan - hope you finished your UM degree. That will take you places.

1VaBlue1

November 22nd, 2022 at 8:12 AM ^

I agree that he was on the path to taking over the team against UW.  When he came in, then game was essentially over early.  But he had a few nice drives, until UW started targeting him.  I'm pretty sure that concussion effectively ended his career.  At that point, he was replacing Shea, but by the time he came back from injury he was hopelessly behind the bar and didn't get a chance to catch up.  At NCol, it feels like his dad just put the whole show on him and didn't give him any coaching, or any chance to succeed.

I wish him well.

jerseyblue

November 22nd, 2022 at 8:49 AM ^

Ed was a promising, young WR for the Giants. You saw he had something. I was sad to see him go. When he turned into a stud in Denver I wasn't surprised at all. God I'm old.

OuldSod

November 22nd, 2022 at 8:53 AM ^

Several shady stories about UNC (not that UNC) and Ed. 

Regarding Dylan, his poor stats at UNC don't mean anything about what he could have done at Michigan. When Matt Guiterrez left Michigan for Idaho State, he put up pedestrian numbers and still was an UDFA and bounced around the NFL a few years. Dylan won't do that. But he could have been an average B1G QB or better. His stats at UNC are meaningless without talented OL and WRs and coaching.