OT (but maybe not really): Marrone out in Buffalo

Submitted by bballislife22 on
Schefter just tweeted out that Doug Marrone of the Buffalo Bills has opted out of his contract. So they will have a new head coach next year, and you would assume mostly new assistant coaches. Hello Tyrone Wheatley?
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Jimmy Harbaugh

December 31st, 2014 at 6:53 PM ^

I have a family member who actually knows Wheatley personally. I found this news out before hearing about Marrone being fired, but Wheatley told him a few days ago that he doesn't think he would work well with Harbaugh. Their personal styles are far too different for it to ever work out. 

Now he may take the job just because it's the best opportunity after losing his Buffalo gig, but personally he would prefer not to.

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bluecanuck

December 31st, 2014 at 8:21 PM ^

Is there any proof that Wheatley is any good at RB coaching? He clearly didn't help Fred Jackson who was good long before Ty came along. And Spiller has been disappointing.

If I'm missing something let me know. Just not sure I understand the hype.



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M Squared

December 31st, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^

I don't think there is substantial evidence. Some seem to assume that position coach in nfl must be good enough for cf. And some blow up his recruiting skills notwithstanding the fact that we just went through a period of good recruiting and bad player development. And I am sure that some are fond of his Michigan playing days but we really need to hire the best coaches for the players not pick coaches for nostalgia sake.

Ultimately, I am 100% behind whichever coaches Harbaugh selects for our program.

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bluesalt

January 1st, 2015 at 6:30 AM ^

Firstly, RB coach is probably the toughest position coach to judge on offense, since running backs are affected so much by another position (offensive line) as well as game plan. If a coach is only there for two years, it's realy tough to see much, especially when one of the years sees a constant rotation of players due to injuries. That said, he's got years as a college coach before the NFL, he moved from lower-tier schools to higher-tier ones, and his boss decided he was good enough at his job to bring along to the NFL when the opportunity presented itself. He's moved steadily up the ranks, and when he's left a job it has always been for a better opportunity, and not because he was let go. On top of that RB coaching history, he has a year of successful high school head coaching (improving his team from winless to a 9-2 record in his one season), so he probably has some clue and isn't just a name. And yes, he was an NFL running back for a decade, and a great player both in the state of Michigan for high school and at UM. His résumé is absolutely of someone qualified to be the RB coach of the Wolverines, and anywhere else for that matter. The only real questions are whether Harbaugh would want to work with him and he with Harbaugh. But nothing in his history should make you doubt that he'd be a good hire, aside from the fact that it's really tough to judge how well a running back coach does to begin with.

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bluecanuck

January 2nd, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^

Is it though? Just because Marrone brought him to Buffalo does not in any way mean that he is a good coach.

Though this is by no means definitive, go look at Buffalos rushing stats the two years before he showed up and the two with Ty. With essentially the same personnel the YPC went from 5/4.9 to 4.2/3.9. It dropped by almost a whole yard when the new coaches showed up!



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