Rodriguez Hires Magee, Gibson, and Dews
December 7th, 2011 at 1:52 AM ^
The anonymity is something I really like.
Hoke talks almost entirely in platitudes. Borges is a bit more open, but he basically treats the media like mushrooms. The only guy who really talks any football at all is Mattison.
We hear nothing from the strength and conditioning coach or individual position coaches. There is a reason for that. S&C is fairly standard everywhere. Lift weights, run. Unless you are trying to reinvent the wheel (Barwis seemed to suggest that with the no-bench-press thing), there isn't much to say. Position coaches are into schemes and techniques, neither of which interest the media, who only care about QB controversies and vague schematic complaints (more deep passes, fewer inside runs, etc). Also, position coaches are in the business of shitting on mistakes, which should never be done in public.
I'm liking the Forth Schembechler attitude. It can get boring, but even if the media were allowed access to everything, they would still just write their own prepackaged storylines and tell us nothing football-related. Bacon sat in on a lot of position meetings and practices, but tells us nothing about individual coaching methods (aside from a few things in QB meetings). Can't blame him, he doesn't know what the hell it is. The rest of the media is the same.
This way, at least we get fewer controversies.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^
Gibson must have some dirt on richrod
or richrod is so focused on the offense that he literally does not understand that Gibson was a huge part of why he failed at Michigan. HUGE part
December 5th, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
I think they're just good friends, and RR doesn't have the stomach to let his friend go.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:47 PM ^
Not hiring him when he already has a job is not the same as letting him go.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
But he did hire him (again). And I personally doubt he'll ever fire Gibson, no matter how bad it might get for the AZ secondary. The two are very tight - I remember reading about how RR was the best man at Gibson's wedding (or maybe it was vice versa).
December 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
I think RR learned his lesson in regards to installing his system from day one. However, they are in a bad division in the Pac12 South with SC, UCLA, ASU, Utah and Colorado. They should at least finish 2nd behind USC, which will win the national championship next year.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:46 PM ^
Why do you assume that, given that two of his quarterbacks just transferred?
December 5th, 2011 at 6:48 PM ^
USC will win the national championship next year? Barkley said he's not entering the draft yet?
December 5th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
And you make this prediction of them finishing 2nd based on what?
December 5th, 2011 at 6:58 PM ^
Listed USC and 4 terrible programs. Sound good to me!
December 5th, 2011 at 6:38 PM ^
That RR will win there. Weird things happen when A coach is embraced and the DC has half a pulse.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^
I was reading the scrolling Twiiter feed on the right side of that link and it looks like 2 QB's are already transferring from the program. RR says: not this shit again
December 5th, 2011 at 6:50 PM ^
http://tucsoncitizen.com/wildcatreport/2011/12/05/an-arizona-wildcats-q…
Does Nick Sheridan have any eligibility left?
December 5th, 2011 at 7:59 PM ^
Notice how in the linked article RR trots out the excise that when he came to Michigan he didn't have a qb on the roster who has taken a snap. Untrue - he had mallet but couldnt convince him to stay. Also, dude, stop mentioning Michigan. The excuses are old and tired.
December 5th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
That's funny; I remember another time Michigan had that problem, and for a similar reason (although baseball was maybe a more wholesome habit than whatever led to Mallett's early retirement from the school).
And by God John Navarre stepped up, as did his position coach and everybody else involved. It may not have been pretty that first year but it wasn't a tire fire and he was still in there pitching, and with success, three years later.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:01 PM ^
I suppose there could be extenuating reasons for this, but it certainly does NOT support the notion that Gibson is a good secondary coach.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:05 PM ^
Thank God this is someone else's problem now. Can anybody read this and still say RR should have received a 4th year? He's had a year to think about it and he still won't address his defensive coaching issues.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:05 PM ^
I get loyalty, but man find a different posting for Gibson. Compliance, academic monitoring, quality assurance, head of the film room, some kind of fancy title that involves no coaching but sounds nice.
December 6th, 2011 at 7:11 AM ^
If something ever goes wrong, good luck explaining to the NCAA why the head coach's best friend was put in charge of compliance.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:08 PM ^
I guess when RR said he wants Arizona to be his last stop he was thinking of retiring there in three years after his 118th ranked defense gets him fired.
Gibson? Really? Dude......
That's really disappointing to hear, you would have assumed he learned that Gibson can't coach for shit. I think that also means Gibson was never gettting fired at Michigan if RR had survived the axe.
I was angry when they fired RR, I couldn't be more relieved now.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^
Instead of hiring his pals, he should have hired a good DC and let the new DC have some say on who his defensive coaches will be. Who knows may be they will get along with his new DC!
December 5th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
Where do you guys think RR falls in the spectrum of coaching personalities? At this stage, he seems to be more loyal to his buddies than he is concerned about his own success - an odd thing to say about a big-time football coach.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:30 PM ^
It's not that he's not concerned about his own success, it's that he doesn't think coaching failures at any level were responsible for what happened at Michigan (well, except for Shafer). He's made it clear that he thinks they were on the right track and he predicted 10-2 for Michigan this year, which seemed to me to imply that that's what he thinks would have happened if his staff were left in place.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^
...but this gem comes from the Arizona scout.com board (I'm quoting the bit that's publicly available at google)
Former Memphis defensive coordinator Jay Hopson is another possibility. Hopson was removed earlier this season and currently does not have a job.
They think they're getting Casteel but they're thinking through the alternatives in case they don't.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:31 PM ^
Wasn't Forcier his only CA recruit here in 3 years? UA needs to recruit California to be successful and I don't think anybody currently on his staff has stepped foot in the state.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:36 PM ^
I guess he wants to keep hitting Florida hard.
As it stands there are assistants at WSU, UCLA, ASU, and UA all looking for jobs. I'm a little shocked he hasn't grabbed up/retained some of the best recruiters simply to help him establish himself. He keeps moving further away from the Deep South while retaining a Deep south staff. Looks like some kids from the Muck are going to the desert.
December 5th, 2011 at 11:48 PM ^
...setting himself up for some brutal recruiting travel if he really plans to continue recruiting FL kids while he's at AZ. The jet lag alone will take a significant toll versus the staffs that focus on recruiting CA, the Pacific NW, and some of the talent in TX and the Mountain/Plains states.
December 6th, 2011 at 11:37 AM ^
Cali and Texas recruits he doesn't get will be in uniforms playing for the other teams in his conference.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:42 PM ^
Wha?
That cannot be true. It's almost like he's going out of his way to hire bad defensive assistants. Is GERG next on the list?
December 5th, 2011 at 7:52 PM ^
He's filling the staff with his friends--who he's sure are good coaches--and at some point he'll need to find a DC who's willing to have them as position coaches. That'll either be one of the gang, like Casteel or Hopson (but that has the drawback that when things go south one of them would have to take responsbility), or someone that doesn't mind, like a former head coach who's just happy to have a chance to stay around the game for a few more years.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:35 PM ^
With all this blackboard material that RR is throwing out there, Hoke is going to turn loose the beasts he has been recruiting and it will give a new meaning to taking someone out behind the woodshed.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:45 PM ^
We'll probably get to see if Casteel is the sure-fire savior that many here have accepted as fact. I'm not buying it, personally.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:51 PM ^
We pretty much just proved the "You have to fire RR to fire Gibson theory". So I guess we test the Casteel one next.
Even worse, Gibson was Assoc DC at Pitt. What if Casteel and Hopson don't come, so RR promotes Tony up to full DC...
December 5th, 2011 at 7:59 PM ^
I'm sort of playing devil's advocate here, but who knows if Gibson could be a decent coordinator? Maybe he's got a skill that wasn't visible when his job was teaching technique at a specific position.
Teaching technique, game planning, program management are completely different skills. It's a problem, I think, that they're treated as stops along a career path. I remember Brian ciriticizing the consideration of Hoke because "he's never been a coordinator on either side of the ball." Good thing; he'd be a lousy coordinator IMO but he's a fabulous head coach. RR is a great offensive schemer but his management skills are...well, I can't quite come up with a word for it.
December 5th, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
Non-tremendous?
December 5th, 2011 at 8:11 PM ^
was fired as co-defensive coordinator half-way through this past season at Memphis. so its not like he's doing anything right now.
Memphis was #117 in total defense.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:51 PM ^
"Rich was going to revamp his whole defensive staff if given a chance to stay to go with his unstoppable offense." It's looking far more likely Brandon said there had to be changes and Rich said no.
December 5th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^
Matt Barkley may want to stay for his senior year now.
December 6th, 2011 at 12:57 AM ^
With Mike Leach calling plays, a WSU cheerleader may throw for 400 yds against Arizona.
December 5th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
think RR's defenses are awesome. Right now they are #110, and already the worst in the Pac-10. They really don't have much room to get worse..
December 5th, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^
Well they could get worse but what's really the on-field difference between 110 and 112?
They have little chance of getting substantially better with his current staff...
December 5th, 2011 at 10:30 PM ^
fix Arizona's defense?
December 5th, 2011 at 8:17 PM ^
then none of this matters.
For all the talk of how bad Gibson was here, the passing defense was fine at WVU.
If he doesn't bring in Casteel, we'll see whether Gibson was really the problem or not.
Also, the QB who is staying a 4-start dual threat who would seem to be a good fit for his offense.
Much ado about nothing.
Its really good to see all of the anti-RR guys on this thread. You know, the same guys who constantly quit telling people to stop talking about him, out in full force, talking about him.
December 5th, 2011 at 8:28 PM ^
Casteel isn't exactly a proven commodity. He's had some success in a bad conference, and even that hasn't exactly been sustained year in and year out. Gibson may be the nicest guy in the world but he is an awful secondary coach. Look at Pitt's numbers this year compared to last to see he brings record setting declines in Pass D with him. It also doesn't look good for RR to see the attrition start so quickly. All of these things help answer questions that have been lingering...
- Should RR have been given a 4th year to improve his defense? By hooking up with Gibson again, that tells me he wouldn't have had the balls to make the right moves here either.
- Was the attrition a result of Lloyd Carr, or RR coming in with a system that is inflexible and not doing everything he could to retain players? Losing two QBs to transfers your first week on the job doesn't help RR's image, even if he has a better QB in place already.
- Was hiring Hoke the best move Michigan could have made? We haven't had any serious discussions on this board since his hire about position coaches, attrition, or drama of any kind. The toxic environment that persisted for 3 years is gone.
December 5th, 2011 at 8:48 PM ^
To be fair, one of the QBs that transferred was a long way from home. Rich Rod said the transfer had "nothing to do with football" and the QB tweeted something about cancer needing to be cured. Maybe he's just leaving because his family needs him. I'd buy that.
Not much explanation for the other transfer though.
December 6th, 2011 at 1:13 AM ^
...is Daxx Garman. His backstory makes Tate Forcier seems stable, so it's not a surprise he's gone. He was declared ineligible in OK and TX in HS b/c of his between school movements.
Not saying he's a bad kid - just seems to have very involved parents and a desire to move around a lot.
http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/updates-fro…
December 5th, 2011 at 8:55 PM ^
They have been consistently in the top 40 or so over the years.
If you want to say he's been "good in a bad conference" then I guess there is no point in ever hiring anyone who isn't already working in the Big Ten, PAC 12, SEC or Big 12.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^
The problem is that Gibson has convincingly demonstrated that he isn't good. How is a DC going to cover up for a terrible secondary coach in the most pass-happy conference in the country? The Big East didn't have too many high-octane passing teams when those guys were there, other than Louisville - and Casteel's defenses always struggled to stop the Cards. In 2007, WVU beat Louisville 38-31. The year before, they lost 44-34. In 2005, they won 46-44.
December 5th, 2011 at 9:34 PM ^
in 2006.
In 2005 and 2007 it took them 49 and 45 attempts to get their passing yardage. They went for around 5.4 yards per attempt in 2005 and 7.5 (their average for the season) in 2007 with two picks in 2007. Not exactly unstoppable.
If we're going to use one game examples, the 2007 WVU defense held Oklahoma below their yards per game and yards per attempt in the bowl game, with a large portion of Oklahoma's yardage coming in the 4th quarter down three scores.
So like I said, we'll see if he craters Arizona.
As is, this post was more in response to Casteel being disregarded "because he was at lower level" or whatever. If that's the case, not sure why OSU hired Tressel or Michigan hired Brady Hoke.
And really: Why are you even on this thread? I seem to recall you being one of the "why are you obsessing over RR?" crowd, yet here you are, obsessing over his every move.