A reason for hope
However, this classes impact will not be felt for 1-2 seasons. Yes, someone may step up but let's not kid ourselves.
Also, if you believe our current commits are all staying at this point...well let's just say it will take a miracle. We didn't receive a miracle today so I'm not expecting one near-term.
With that said, here's something which many of you are in the position to do: (Crowd Sourcing)
I'm not on campus nor even in the state of michigan but the current student body, fans, friends, faithful...please help by keeping the current team intact. Fortunately, (unlike in 08) it is Tee'd up for the next coach.
We are in great position to compete with 9 starters returning on both sides of the ball. (Thank you RR)
Please, everyone who is in shouting range of these young-men, encourage them to stay.
This is really really really important. We love you guys. Stay...Please!
January 5th, 2011 at 9:40 PM ^
As much as I hat to say it, I could very much see Denard transferring as the year he would need to sit out would serve as his redshirt year. He has (2) years of on the field eligibility either way. I believe Pat White redshirted his freshmen year @ WVU so he didn’t exactly have the same luxury in following RR to his new destination.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:33 PM ^
Please don't let this turn out bad. I want worse than anything to be great again. This hire has to be right and everyone in or around the program better damn well get behind the next coach. Otherwise we have become ND and no one wants that. Good luck DB, hope you know what the fuck you are doing.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:58 PM ^
And the administration gave him a big contract extension a year and a half in. I am much more worried that we hire a scrub coach who has immediate success with all this returning talent only to prove mediocre/bad down the road than I am about struggling next season.
We've already imitated ND by firing the proven head coach who did a great job rebuilding the team (even if on-field results hadn't come like everyone hoped just yet) after only three seasons. Hopefully we can break the mold by hiring an elite head coach and making the comparison a moot point.
Weis, as a Notre Dame alumnus, was also a much better "fit" than his predecessor.
/Totally not talking about any coaching candidates in particular (insert "wink" emoticon here)
January 5th, 2011 at 7:38 PM ^
we were talent deficient? I don't know what to think anymore!!
January 5th, 2011 at 9:16 PM ^
We were talent deficient, now we are age deficient.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:27 PM ^
Of course it is tough to figure this stuff out. It isn't like Notre Dame fans knew they were becoming Notre Dame either.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:34 PM ^
Brandon's inefectual leadership can't give recruits much confidence.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
for the return of the negbang.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:37 PM ^
and the +1, to you.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
Watching our recruits de-commit while our AD STARTS a HC search after firing the previous HC makes me ill. I hate seeing the program look so disorganized and pathetic. So much for the "process".
January 5th, 2011 at 6:58 PM ^
Here's a list of the Div 1 coaches hired this offseason:
Hugh Freeze, Pete Lembo, Jon Embree, Will Muschamp, Kevin Wilson, Darrell Hazell, Mark Hudspeth, Randu Edsall, Al Golden, Don Treadwell, Jerry Kill, Dave Doeren, Dan McCarney, Michael Haywood, Steve Addazio, James Franklin.
I wouldn't be in the least excited about any of those guys being hired as Michigan's HC.
So why is it too late to begin a search?
January 5th, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^
Could be good hires. Muschamp would be good IMO and Golden would be prime for the old-fogies. 3 yards and a cloud of dust wooo!
January 5th, 2011 at 7:20 PM ^
Will Muschamp is going to be a great college head coach.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:24 PM ^
I think Michigan fans would like to see a little more DIVE in their offense. EDSBS would be a whole lot more interested in us too.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
when people who don't know intricacies use the word "definitely" as if they do
January 5th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
You definitely didn't mean that.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:41 PM ^
Other than Hart, we haven't lost any current commits, and only Fisher and Crawford's commitments are wavering. Other than that, Michigan should keep all of the guys currently committed, and hopefully finish strong once a new coach is named.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:10 PM ^
is being heavily courted by Miami. Kids not committed who were scheduled to visit have cancelled (Dawson, Cooper). This weekends visitors have all been cancelled. We have two recruiting weekends left and this is currently the weakest class I can ever remember.
Throw in the fact that there are bound to be some defections from the current roster which may lead to our APR dropping below the required 925 and we could be looking at trouble. Not to mention this gives Dantonio a head start on 2012 recruiting, coming off a co Big 10 championship, and we all know he owns the state according to a certain rag.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:41 PM ^
rivals is reporting that the team meeting broke and they spoke to a few players. someone tell us what they said.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:51 PM ^
When asked if he would return next year, Devin said no comment, many players didn't talk, the ones that did, Woolfolk and VanBergen said the mood of the team was somber but they are sticking together and helping each other through. Nothing to useful, no straight up transfers.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:51 PM ^
When asked if he would return next year, Devin said no comment, many players didn't talk, the ones that did, Woolfolk and VanBergen said the mood of the team was somber but they are sticking together and helping each other through. Nothing to useful, no straight up transfers.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^
K.C. Keeler from University of Delaware, knows a lot about many offenses. Run a spread with pro-style attributes, I mean he developed Flacco! They have the same damn helmets as us. They have one of the best defenses in FCS and have been in competition for NCs for a while now. Of course people are going to say, "He's FCS" so he's no good right? Wrong! It's becoming clear that the playing field is leveling between FCS and FBS. He is young and has the energy this program needs. He was in consideration back in 2007 by Bill Martin. Problem? He signed a 10 year contract and Delaware is his alma mater, he was their QB a few years back. He IS their Jim Harbaugh. Seems like he would listen. Delaware is playing EWU on Friday at 7 for the FCS NC. I really think this guy would be a stud.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:53 PM ^
Delaware has deep coaching ties with Michigan (that's where they got their wings). This would be intriguing if it goes down. Delaware's a great I-AA team.
Fingers crossed...
January 5th, 2011 at 6:58 PM ^
...but as Brandon pointed out today. Tressel didnt come to OSU from a D1A program
January 5th, 2011 at 7:18 PM ^
And emailed Brian about him too. Would definitely be interesting.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:25 PM ^
Thanks for this...much rather this than the usual suspects...
January 5th, 2011 at 6:44 PM ^
Can someone check in the directory for Greg Brown, Robert Forcier and Kris Frost?
January 5th, 2011 at 6:45 PM ^
We are looking at a lost decade. No matter who we hire, the damage has been done for the next several seasons. Combine that with RR 3 years, we will have almost a decade of losing football. We fired the one guy who could have prevented it.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:18 PM ^
but alas, it cannot be so.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
justify the dismissal of coach RR, as much as we wanted to win he most likely wanted too even more. Although, dissapointed with the on field results I thank the coach for his service and patience. He opened the door to the MSM and was promptly puched in the nose, the old guard was in a uproar spread what, and LC gave no support. RR made many mistakes, two stand out to me, the defensive failures and failing to instal the spread in baby steps.
I give RR alot of credit, he had an arrogant minded AD eager to make his mark, an egomaniac watching every move, I would have told DB to kiss my ass two months ago, he certainly would not be reviewing game film on Sunday with my staff. Any coach other than Hoke would be crazy to work with such an on hands boss, you think JH would put up with that. The good news is Rivals is reporting DB is willing to talk to recruits.
If DB can't deliver JH he should be next.....
January 5th, 2011 at 6:45 PM ^
just like he never said he wasn't going after anyone else. A smart businessman, negotiator or card player never tips his hand or his plan.
I still believe Harbaugh is the main plan and the only thing that could stop that is the Harbaugh family and moving fom Cali to Michigan.
Money won't be an issue and control won't be an issue. The NFL will always be there.
One other reason DB didn't mention Harbaugh was his prime candidate is that they don't want anyone to say, 'Michigan was turned down by xxxx and yyyy and are now turning to zzz." DB wants this to look seamless adn that they "got their guy." Well, the seamless part, I don't think so. This looks like a fiasco from the outside. Maybe DB has a plan in place and we just don't know, but the guy didn't get to where he is by dumb luck.
Have a little faith for a few days and we'll see what happens. Maybe we'll get an announcement at the hoops game this weekend.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:02 PM ^
I remain optimistic. This is not a terrible year to be competing with the NFL for a coach, given that: (1) there may, you know, not actually be an NFL season in 2011, and (2) Harbaugh's most likely destination, the 49ers, are not, to put it politely, exactly a model franchise. If I'm Harbaugh, I stay at Stanford before I go to the NFL this year.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:48 PM ^
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone left the team during those three weeks in November-December 2007 when the job was open. Players generally will wait until the job is filled to decide their futures.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:18 PM ^
Plus, they were focused on preparing for the bowl game.
Now no one is there. Brandon should have a least kept Fred Jackson for now, the guy dates back to Moeller I think. Plus, his son is on the team. Would have helped with damage control.
I am not ready to condemn Brandon yet, he could pull the magic rabbit out of the hat, but it doesnt look good so far.
Clearly, the sportsnation is thinking: laughingstock, fiasco, clusterf#ck........
January 5th, 2011 at 6:49 PM ^
Brandon was great today and he set a great example for future coaches that he means what he says. Rich was given a very fair shake and it appears that how we improved in those 15 practices and what we did in Jacksonville did matter. That is what he said and that was true. Despite the obvious short term advantages and convenience of just letting Rich have a 4th year, Brandon made the tough choice that we needed to get busy building a better future in a new direction. I trust him on that because he has access to more information than I ever will.
I also think we should not be so concerned about another rebuild. He knows that we need a coach that can give us satisfactory short term success as well as building a long term power, or this hire will further divide the fan base. Jim Harbaugh is the best guy for the job clearly. Still, if he wants to be the niners coach, then find someone else who can take us where we need to go.
Brandon took everything into account and new the risks and it looks like events took Jim in another direction. So we gotta go get someone else. I trust him to know what we need.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
Brandon was great today
I really can't tell if this is sarcastic or not.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:21 PM ^
Nate is likely on an extreme "RR IS FIRED!" high and is all over DB's nuts for that reason alone. I guess blindly following RR was evil for Mr. Volk, but blindly following DB into the abyss that is this coaching search is A-OK as long as he was the one to fire RR.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:00 PM ^
Here is a news flash. Players make coaches. It doesn't matter how great of a coaching genius you are you can't win with out talent. This was evident at Michigan under RR's tenure. Harbaugh is a great coach but it does help extremely that he found Andrew Luck. There are not many QB's out there capable of running an offense with 350 plays. If Harbaugh goes back to Stanford and Luck leaves, I would think 7-8 wins would be realistic next year. Does this mean he forgot how to coach? No, it means the talent level is down a bit from the year before.
Most fans fail to understand this point. It is not easy to rebuild a program but anything worth doing takes time. Unfortunately we scrapped a bright future in order to bring in a "Michigan Man", whom we probably won't even get. Hope it is worth it in the end.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
Ask this genius why Harbaugh had back-to-back losing seasons when he came to Stanford or Bill Belichick was 41-57 as an NFL head coach before Drew Bledsoe (who had just received an enormous contract extension) got hurt. Then watch his head explode.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^
We can ask Mack Brown out of Texas if he forgot how to coach.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:39 PM ^
How did Bill Callahan take a team to the Super Bowl? How did Larry Coker win a national title and 35 games in three years when he got the Miami job? How did Charlie Weis win 19 games in his first two seasons?
Oh, inherited talent matters? What a shock.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
Agree,look at Auburn, they hire a guy that was what 5-19 ?
They get some excellent players and now the coach looks like a genius.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
I thought Cam Newton was at least 6'4''.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
Having Gus Malzahn helps a bit.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:56 PM ^
January 5th, 2011 at 8:08 PM ^
I thought the defense would improve tremendously (at least middle of the pack in the conference) next year no matter who the DC ended up being, especially when paired with an even better offense. Still do, barring departures. If you're talking return/coverage game, I think depth and youth have been issues. The young players who should be our specials teams aces (the Gordons, Avery, etc.) are our starters on defense and you don't usually want to risk those guys on kickoff coverage/return. If you're talking kickers, those dudes are goofy and I have no insight (nor do I think anyone else really does) about the process of finding the right guy or how long it takes those guys to develop (if at all, they may just either be good or bad when they hit campus for all I know). They may continue to suck or it may turn around overnight for no discernible reason. I would not blame/praise the new coach either way.
As far as the coaching position goes, I think things can work out alright to great for Michigan. The job is set up for success so the new coach will be embraced in the short term. I can see how angry fans hurt the brand and I can respect Brandon making the move as a business decision, but I wish he'd had the balls/foresight to get in Rodriguez's corner and give us all a chance to see what happens in year 4 and beyond (the reason so many of us were excited to get Rodriguez in the first place). Maybe he felt too much animosity had built up to even give it a change though.
If he lands a proven head coach with Michigan ties like Harbaugh (who I would prefer strongly of the two) or even Miles, I think that eliminates the noise while giving us a like for like swap in coaching quality in the short and long term. That is probably a win for Michigan. If he hires someone like Hoke just because he was an assistant under Lloyd Carr, I think we're looking at a potential Charlie Weis situation (though to be honest I'm far more impressed with Weis's coaching career) where immediate success and adoration is followed by stagnation and mediocrity. It really looks like a home run (the best of the Bo legacy with proven elite-level outside experience) or a strike out (the ultimate in Michigan Man nepotism).
January 5th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^
January 6th, 2011 at 2:34 AM ^
I'm not sure if the defense could improve enough to beat NE and OSU at home and we may even lose to MSU on the road! I think we would have finished 8-4 under RR next season, but this would not be good enough, especially if RR would go 0-4 against both OSU and MSU! We would be in the same situation with the CC. 2012, yeah the defense will be mostly juniors and red shirt juniors and there would be real improvement, enough so with an improving offense to go nose to nose with NE in the legends division. So, since a lot of the fan base is not patient enough if was probably the only choice to let RR go. I'll always think about what could have been if RR got to play out his contract with a gradual improvement turning into a huge leap. Well, if DB hires the right coach it could still happen.
January 5th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
address the fact that our defensive line is an absolute joke?