Perception Becomes Reality
Many of those saying the defense is not Rodriguez's "fault" miss the essential point. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. What matters is who has the ability to rectify the situation. And we are fast approaching the point where Rodriguez will no longer have that ability (if he ever had it).
The defense sucks. Let's say it's not Rod's fault. Fine. So how does he fix it? Get great defensive recruits? If we lose out, or eke by Purdue, what makes anyone think the good defensive recruits will be rushing to come to Michigan this year? Perception becomes reality -- our defense is perceived to be a joke, with terrible coaching -- this is not a situation talented players are going to rush into.
Develop the mediocre players we already have and turn them into something greater? What evidence have we seen over the past three years that this staff has any talent at defensive player development?
Hire a great defensive coordinator who will turn things around? What great coordinator is going to want to coach with Rodriguez after Schaeffer was thrown under the bus and GERG had an unsuccessful system imposed on him?
I hope that somehow the team pulls it together over the next four games, but if it doesn't I don't see much hope for defensive improvement under Rodgriguez in the near or mid-distant future. At some point, it's not about placing blame, but about doing what's necessary to change the perception, fair or not.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:27 AM ^
They need an overhaul of the entire defensive staff a la Illinois. Let the DC pick who he wants as his assistants (not you Rich) and give him free reign.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
^^^^This. I believe it was Spielman who mentioned it during the Illinois game yesterday. If you are not a defensive-minded head coach - you need a defensive coordinator who can run his own show.
GERG clearly CANNOT run his own show.
In slight defensive of GERG - yes he can only work with what he is given, and yes some of the blame has to fall on Rich Rod. But, in the end - GERG is going to take the fall for this, and unless a Christmas Miracle occurs in November, he won't be back for 2011.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^
I blame RR for the defense. He tells his DC what to run and makes him work with a staff that they may not want to work with. For a coach who focuses solely on offense it's perplexing why he would butt in on the D so much. Those defensive assistants may be his friends but it's time for them to go too. Find new drinking buddies.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:42 AM ^
Not to go all hyperbolic Fred Jackson here, but that's an extremely interesting statement by Spielman. RR should have given Shafer a better chance. I was against Shafer's resignation from the beginning, but this seems to become more of an issue of personalities.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^
First of all - that's a great picture.
Second of all - for those who missed it, Spielman was discussing the Illini, not Michigan. He was basically saying Zook has seen a lot of success this year because he's a good recruiter who brought in an OC and a DC and let them run their own shows.
The OC part is clearly not applicable at Michigan - but the DC part sure does seem to be....
Time for RR to clean house, bring in THE guy he wants, and let him hire all of his assistants and run his own show. Hands off on the D, RR. Hands off.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
Personally, I would go a step further and have a committee in the AD create a pool of DC candidates from which RR has to choose. He has demonstrated (to me at least) that he can't handle the responsibility of even selecting a DC. I say take the choice out of his hands (behind the scenes of course, to save face) and give him a very limited selection from which to choose with basically NO input from RR.
This should be a condition of his continuing employment at UM, IMO. Actually, I am in favor of firing him altogether at the end of the season, but I fear that will probably not happen, so forcing a new defensive staff on him is the best available option. As a bonus, maybe RR would be so ticked off that he would quit voluntarily and UM wouldn't have to pay his buyout.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^
Michigan won't have to pay his buyout if they can his ass this year due to those NCAA Major Violations. He has a clause in his contract that nullifies the buyout. That's the decision for Brandon. He can cut ties now with no financial penalty or keep him on and run the risk of only delaying the inevitable. That's why he makes the big bucks.
As for Gerg, I'll help him pack. I think he needs the extra help for his hair products alone.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:20 PM ^
...but I have to think that most folks who wind up as DI head coaches have pretty healthy egos and probably wouldn't deal too well with a situation where their superior was dictating their selection of a key subordinate.
Brandon may well put that out there as an option after this season wraps, but I don't think that RR would spend a great deal of time considering it.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^
you want the school to tie RRs hands behind his back on who he has to work with to try to get the best possible defense onto the field? That is a terrible idea.
If RR stays, he gets the choice on keeping Gerg or finding a better DC. If your going to shoot yourself in the foot by not even giving RR a chance, you might as well fire him and find a new HC.
October 31st, 2010 at 4:14 PM ^
If RR gets the opportunity to stay...The 3-3-5 goes away, period. That's RR's meddling not the choice of Shafer or GERG and that's one of the reasons I hold RR accountable for the defense.
October 31st, 2010 at 4:20 PM ^
It seems that Rodriguez is more concerned with running a defense that's challenging for his offense to play against in practice than a defense that's good at stopping Big Ten opponents.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
Honestly I don't trust RR to hire a good defensive coordinator. Whether or not Schaffer should have been kept, he wasn't , and GERG has been a joke from day one. Third times the charm? More likely not, lets get somebody else to do it. After all, RR said Vince Lombardy couldn't improve our D.
October 31st, 2010 at 5:28 PM ^
I remember when these posts were negged to death. Finally you people are getting it. GERG is a terrible coach, the sooner we get him out the better. I would fire him right now, it can't get any worse than a team with a walk on qb starting his first game scoring on all but 2 possessions.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
"They need an overhaul of the entire defensive staff a la Illinois. Let the DC pick who he wants as his assistants (not you Rich) and give him free reign."
ding ding ding... we have a winner!
Johnny? Tell em what he's won.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:07 PM ^
You are a very smart man
October 31st, 2010 at 5:07 PM ^
Not doing this cost Tuberville, a coach for whom I have great respect, his job at Auburn. He decided the team needed to move to a spread. Then he hired a spread oriented OC, but kept his boys as offensive assistants. It was a complete disaster and at the end of the year, he was out of a job. If you know one side of the ball well (Tubs is a defensive guy), you need to hire a coordinator to handle the other side, let them hire their staff and let them coach. Unless you're Belichick, I guess.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^
You mean teams loaded with Gary Moeller talent?
October 31st, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^
Just stay away from watching those 1997 Youtube videos. I implore all of you. The size and explosiveness in the defensive back 7 looks NFL Pro Bowl level compared to our present defense.
It gives the viewer a skewed sense of reality and unreasonable expectations in one tear inducing packaging.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
I posted yesterday the "what if" Jeff Castell becomes available should we go get him. After watching last night to me there is no longer any question - if Rich is going to survive here the only way I see it happening is if somehow Casteel takes over next year. He and Rich are close, he runs the 3-3-5 at West Virginia and has them the 7th ranked team in the country on defense. That dude can flat out coach.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^
Your question yesterday may be the answer.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:49 AM ^
WVU has four games left. Cinci, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Rutgers. Stewart is just a little less "revered" right now in Morgantown than RR is in Ann Arbor. I now have am officially rooting for WVU to lose all four and praying for us to win at least two more (and a bowl game) so that Casteel becomes available AND Rich is still around to get him.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^
Won't Casteel just get promoted though?
October 31st, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^
So you want WVU to lose their next 4 games so we can get Casteel and someone else thinks that will get him promoted? Doesn't losing the next 4 games require their defense to give up more points than they score?
Why exactly would that make us, or anyone else, more interested in him?
I would prefer (if we have to) to go after someone who wins their last four games. Just a thought.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^
Well this is an interesting thought, and by interesting I mean misinformed.
Your comment assumes that West Virginia still has a breathing offense. They don't. Their offense is terrible.
In West Virginia's losses, they've given up 20 (at LSU), 19 (home to Syracuse), and 16 (at UConn, in OT).
Are you honestly telling me those kind of point totals aren't good enough for you? Those defensive results would have Michigan sitting 7-1, at worst, right now.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:54 AM ^
From what I've heard around the internet, Jeff and Rich are NOT close and butted heads on many occasions.
I've also seen it speculated that the reason the WVU defense has improved since Rich left is because Stewart doesn't try to control Casteel the way Rich did.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
I'm not sure their D has gotten better since RR left. They were #7 in the country in total D in 2007. I think they've simply maintained a high level of play.
October 31st, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
Would he be interested though? I've been hearing that he may be getting looked at as a prospective HC. I think if we're going to run the 3-3-5 he has to be the one guy that we have to get. If we get him or anyone else RR has to give him free reign both in asst coaches but total control in play calling.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
I think that your point makes sense, especially as a matter of priorities. Coach Rodriguez has said he has very little time for defense, and that lack of focus shows. This issue usually hits coaches who have only been coordinators, so I'm sort of surprised it happened here, with RR, but it has.
I remember reading about Gary Crowton's blowup in BYU, and how he had no idea what was going on on the other side, with the defense. That didn't work so well...
Perception will change when RR hires a strong defensive coordinator who is almost a head-coach, and we get a strong defense.
Of course, this solution also seems like it's been tried...does the name John Tenuta ring any bells?
October 31st, 2010 at 10:41 AM ^
Develop the mediocre players we already have and turn them into something greater? What evidence have we seen over the past three years that this staff has any talent at defensive player development?Well, since it's only been 3 years... The first player that comes to mind is Stevie Brown.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
and raise you with Ezeh and Mounton.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^
I see your Mounton and raise you a mountain.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
they turned a 4 star recruit into a slightly better than average big ten linebacker. Wow player development.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^
A 3-3-5 Defense works if you have guys who are fundamentally sounds, tackle well, and you can get pressure on the QB with three guys; however, Michigan doesn't do any of that on defense. That may come with experience, but it is unlikely. Michigan needs 4 down lineman. The fact of the matter is Mike Martin is a great nose tackle, but we are missing beef in the center. I think he is listed at 300lbs but he looks to be about 285-290 lbs. He gives up roughly 30 lbs to every big ten offensive lineman. He needs a partner in crime in the middle who has beef who will require a double team as well. Without that, we can't get any pressure. You could march out 7 all americans on defense and if you give the quarterback 3-5 seconds to throw the ball he is going to make you pay.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^
In business or elsewhere, if something is not working a change is required. RRod has no loyalty to Robinson. Robinson is gone, if nothing else to shake things up and to give new life and hope to the D. I can see the "its a new day" articles coming out of spring ball already.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^
already.... and it didn't work. The whole staff on that side of the ball has to be replaced and RR needs a DC that can run the show on that side of the ball.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^
Hey, RR went over to the defense to fire them up in the 4th quarter. I think they posted a stop and a half (bad "late hit" gave them field postion to kick the FG anyway) after his coaching. That sequence was enough for me to put all of my coaching change focus on GERG.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:31 AM ^
AMEN. I noticed that too. And I noticed the somewhat shocked look on Gerg's face when Rich cut in front of him and opened a big can of pissed off at the D. All I could think was "about F'ing time" somebody get upset/fired up/emotional cause Gerg certainly isn't. And the D, shockingly enough, went out and actually PLAYED like they gave a crap for the first time in like forever.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^
Seriously - that was like the one bright spot defensively. Would anyone be upset if RR just said "F it, I'm running the D the rest of the season"?
October 31st, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
Like any good manager, David Brandon strikes me as a guy who believes in patience when it's warranted, but also as someone who can see when a problem is unfixable with the current personnel.
If the season proceeds along the current trajectory, we'll finish at 5-7 again, and the pressure on Brandon to fire RR would be intense, to say the least. I can easily envision a scenario in which Brandon sits down with RR after the OSU game to talk about the future, and assures Rich that he'll have the chance to at least finish out his contract BUT with this proviso: RR has to get rid of the entire defensive staff, not just Robinson. I have no doubt that RR wouldn't hesitate to jettison Robinson, but getting rid of his friends from his days back at WVU would be an entirely different matter. RR has already demonstrated a high degree of loyalty to his WVU staff; one of the reasons his relationship with the WVU AD Ed Pastilong deteriorated so badly was because RR's request for pay raises for his staff was turned down by Pastilong. My hunch is that RR would reject out of hand any request by Brandon to fire his buds from WVU, and if that happened, then DB would be perfectly positioned to fire RR, if he was so inclined. Whether getting rid of RR now is a smart thing to do is highly debatable, but there is scant evidence that the defense is improving in any fundamental way. The only thing RR and/or Robinson can do is point to the youth of the defense, but the lack of improvement among players who've been here is not encouraging and would give any AD serious heartburn.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:35 AM ^
Wait, wait, wait. That sounds an awful lot like logic, reason and rational thinking. We'll have none of that on the board the day after a crushing loss thank you very much.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:43 AM ^
At the risk of sounding gushy, Don, you're on a good run here.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^
How are the failures of special teams explained, 3 years after RR was hired?
October 31st, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^
wedge blocking schemes on KR was routlawed.
other than that, i got nothin'
October 31st, 2010 at 11:48 AM ^
Hasn't stop other teams from being successful on kickoff returns.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
I do believe that a complete defensive staff overhaul is required. If that is the case, then I say that DB should pick a top candidate and approach him with a blank check. Honestly, if someone can turn the defense into something even remotely competent, then I think they would be worth their weight in gold (which, at current gold prices, would be about a $4.3M salary for a 200 lb. coach). If we are willing to pay whatever it takes to get our top choice, who would you want as DC?
October 31st, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^
At this point, I'm pretty much for a full change of direction. Probably a little over-reaction from last night, but maybe not. It's just gotten so bad and so toxic, I just can't see it realistically turning around.
The ONLY way Rodriguez can hang on in my mind is for Dave Brandon to use some contacts in the football world and identify a strong DC who will come in with an Associate Head Coach title equal to the OC and recruit and hire his own staff from top to bottom. I get that Rodriguez won't like that, but he's had two hires at DC with his guys at position coaches and it's been a roasting failure. You don't get a third try.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^
Jeff Casteel. I'm going "all in" for JC.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
because, when in doubt, hire somebody from West Virginia. It worked great with RR and Belein.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
what the staff does with the defense during practice every week. It would really shed more light on who is responsible for the poor defensive play for me. If over the last week the defense did a walk-through and/or practiced through how to defend the counter play and the QB bootleg that Penn State ran repeatedly without any resistance, then maybe I would side with the "not enough talent/too young" side. If they aren't actively doing this and also are not focusing on other issues (e.g., tackling, contain, etc), then I would side with the "GERG should be fired" folks. It may very well be a combination of the two.