Rosenberg's Latest:
Rodriguez also added to the duties of one of his closest friends, Tony Gibson. Gibson, who had been the secondary coach, now coaches cornerbacks, free safeties and special teams.
I appreciate Rodriguez's loyalty to his friend. Unfortunately, Gibson is -- by reputation and statistical measurement -- one of the worst coaches on the staff. Almost everything Gibson touches is a disaster: U-M is 93rd in the nation in kickoff returns, 98th in punt returns and 117th in pass defense. The kicking game has been awful.
Read more: Michael Rosenberg: Why is the Wolverines' D so poor? Let's count the reasons | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20101102/COL22/11020433/1054/sports06/Misguided-moves-behind-U-Ms-defensive-failings#ixzz147pzN9LC
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^
That is a tiny kitten.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:10 AM ^
I hate myself for agreeing with most of this article.....
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^
Don't eat the poison!
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:11 AM ^
This seems like a reasonable take to me, and one that's been espoused by others here before.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:13 AM ^
That's not an unreasonable article. I agree with almost all of it. But, Rosey isn't telling the full story. No "decimated defense" for him ...
I don't know whether the little @#$% is just angry because he lost special access to Michigan football, but he and the Freep have often been unfair to Rodriguez from the start.
- - -
Wait! Why did I even read that article? Mods, could we please get this Freep thread deleted? No offense to the OP ... EDIT: Never mind -- I just saw the bit about linking only to ad-free pages.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 AM ^
Oh God. Please no FreeP. Didn't Brian ban these posts?
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:15 AM ^
No, just made them automatically link to ad-free print pages.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^
That is awesome. Thanks for doing that, I really appreciate it. I'm still on the Boycott the Free Press crusade and did not click on the link until reading your post. You continue to serve the MGoCommunity well.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:22 AM ^
As good an offensive coach RR is, he has completely mismanaged virtually every aspect of the defensive side of the ball since he's gotten here, from staff choices to recruiting to game day interference/involvement.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:39 AM ^
Other than his numerous grammatical errors, a pretty well written and fair article.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:49 AM ^
Ugh. Rosenberg.
Still not ready to agree with him.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:52 AM ^
Pretty much right on the mark, though I disagree with the notion that RR didn't try to recruit good defensive players - he seemingly had 2 top-notch DTs in Gates (and somebody else whose name escapes me) and a good DB in Turner his first year, then nabbed one of the best DT prospects in Campbell (according to the rankings), plus Demar Dorsey, Cissoko, and others who either never played or were kicked out. These are good players, and it definitely falls on RR to an extent for them not panning out, but it has not been for a lack of trying on RR's part that the defense lacks players.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:37 AM ^
I think you mean Graves, though Pearlie Gates would have been a truly spectacular name. The other one was DeQuinta Jones who was arrested on drug charges recently. So we may have dodged a bullet on the latter. Though one could argue different circumstances could have produced different results.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:54 AM ^
Unfortunately I don't see anything to disagree with. Amazing how a guy like RR who has such a consistent philosophy on offense seems to flail around on defense. I think it is now clear that without a strong defensive coordinator that can run the defense full time, allowing him to spend all time on offense, Rodriguez is in fact not as good a coach as we thought he was
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 AM ^
If I'm the A.D. what do I do here? Keep RichRod who is more offense oriented and get a new highly qualified DC and let him pick his assistants or shitcan Rod and pick a new coach who is balanced and has a great staff??
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:20 AM ^
I don't think that is a terrible plan.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 AM ^
The problem with bringing in a new highly-qualified DC is that this individual would have to co-exist with RR. So, first, RR would have to make the pick, since RR would be working with him day in and day out. Personality fit would be important - the A.D. can't just say, hey, let's bring in so and so and force RR to work with that person.
Second, bringing in a new DC who RR has not picked - with that DC's entire staff - is the perfect recipe for in-fighting. Such environments (like any corporate merger) lead to sub-groups forming - i.e. the RR faction and the DC (whomever he is) faction. Not a recipe for cohesive coaching, team building or recruiting.
Sadly, I don't think that it is quite so easy to just bring in a whole new D staff, because RR is loyal to all of his assistants (as well he should be since they all gave up stable jobs at WVU to come here).
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^
You know I just find this take really hard to believe.
If RR is going to stick at M (and this is what I hope for) I think this is what needs to happen....
Clean house in the D staff. Bring in a strong DC and let him choose the D position coaches, and then let them do their thing. If in fact RR has been meddling on D with an insistence on 3-3-5, it needs to stop. Do we really think RR is not capable of delegating without micromanaging? I doubt that's the case.
The selection process for a new DC should be a collaborative thing with Brandon and RR. RR should of course have input since he'll be working with the DC day-to-day. However, given RR's track record of 2 poor DC picks in a row, it's not unreasonable for someone else (DB) to help with the selection process. I find it hard to believe RR wouldn't be able to see that, be a grown up about it, and deal. That's the reasonable thing to do.
As for loyalty to the WVU assistants, and they gave up stable jobs.... Tough. That's life. Things don't always work out. The D has been awful and I think all of us agree at this point coaching is at least partly to blame. They all make good money and will be fine. I don't feel bad for them. RR's loyalty to them is admirable and understandable but at the end of the day, that's business. Things don't always work out and keeping them around would be an instance of terrible cronyism.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
Rodriguez didn't bring too many former WVU assistants with him.
Rodriguez brought one too few WVU assistants with him:
Jeff Casteel.
Rich Rodriguez didn't have any trouble picking a great Defensive Coordinator. He just couldn't get that first pick to leave Morgantown.
It is, all at once, frustrating, laughable, stupid and entirely consistent with the Freep's history with Rich Rodriguez, that the name "Jeff Casteel" never once surfaced in this dumb, low-level garbage by Rosenberg.
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:33 AM ^
obligatory neg
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:50 PM ^
But the frustrating thing is that the guy he hired when Casteel didn't come (Shafer) was also very good - but RR wouldn't trust him. If he just would have let Shafer do his own thing and support him when the position coaches whined, things probably would have turned out a lot better.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^
Shafer, GERG, and whomever RR hires not named Jeff Casteel will never have a chance. Gibson will always have a direct line to RR.
At the end of the day, RR trusts Gibson and the 3-3-5. We will need to hire a 3-3-5 expert comfortable with Gibson to make the D work. Jeff Casteel is our only shot.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^
That may be, but I have a hard time seeing him coming unless Stewart is fired. RR asked him to come in December 2007, and again a year later, and both times Casteel turned him down.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^
Very much agree. I am a supporter of RR. I don't claim to know what is going on behind the scenes but it does seem clear that something needs to happen on D. And we can't blindly defer to RR on what should happen - there should be progress on D in the third year and that has not occurred. So maybe DB just says, RR if you want to stay, then you need to sit down with me, clean house on the D and see if we can show significant improvement next year.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:37 PM ^
But do we really want a situation where our AD has to babysit the coach to make sure he doesn't produce too much of a train wreck? A head coach is supposed to be able to take care of this all by himself. RR is in over his head.
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
The football coach should be able to serve as the CEO of the football program.
However, in our situation:
- We have had 2 D-Coord in 3 years.
- Scott Shafer was fired because he refused to implement the 3-3-5.
- GERG was hired despite having zero background in the 3-3-5.
- Our LBs continue to read and react to the wrong spots.
- Our DBs continue to leave large open areas in zone D's, indicating a lack of cohesiveness.
- We have large scale position switches in the middle of the season; some due to injury, but mostly because "we are trying everything to see if something sticks".
- Our 4-star DE, Craig Roh, is miscasted as a cover LB for several games until the yards piled up to levels never seen before.
At this point, it doesn't take a Gary Moeller to realize that our D staff is in crisis. As a leader, if Brandon truly wants RR to succeed, he needs to step in and right the ship.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^
You win!!!!!
The way I see it, thats his ONLY two options.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^
I think we should be the first team in the country to have 2 head coaches, or cocoaches if you will....
Additionally, I am with coco.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 AM ^
Especially this:
[Robinson] is coaching a scheme he didn't create, supervising coaches he didn't hire, for a head coach he has never worked with before.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 AM ^
It makes me absolutely sick to my stomach that I actually agree with something that Rosenberg has written.
You know something is seriously wrong when Rosenberg gets something right.
I'm just gonna cheer as best I can between now and November 27th, and try not to get to disappointed if/when we lose. Then trust that David Brandon is way better at his job than any of us would be at his job.
I at least find comfort in the fact that we have an excellent Athletic Director for the first time in over a decade.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
Ultimately, the results can't be denied. It is so hard to maintain optimism when there are no positive results, and little reason to think that things can change this year. I hate turning on the TV to watch Michigan with little hope for victory, let alone an expectation of victory. As Parcels always said, you are what your record says you are. Right now our record says we can't stop anybody, and we can't beat a good team.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:37 AM ^
from Rosenberg, you've all set the bar pretty low.
I didn't learn one new thing from that column. I can scarcely think of a single fresh thing that I have learned from any of the Free Press sports staff that hasn't already been chewed, digested and regurgitated on the 'net, and most particularly at MGoBlog.
The closest thing that Michael Rosenberg gets to making a real point, gets garbled through inane writing and/or incompetent editing:
But Robinson has about as much chance of coordinating U-M's defense next year as he does of getting rehired as Syracuse's head coach -- and frankly, I question whether Robinson even to come back.
If our standard for Michael Rosenberg is now "relief, as long as his writing no longer constitutes actionable defamation of our program," well then I guess this column is just wonderful.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^
why even go to the Freep? You would have learned the same thing 1 or 2 days earlier from MGo, which is also free (excluding donations, of course!).
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^
So now we're reading the Detroit Free Press? Is this what its come to?
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^
Yeah, thats where I draw the line. If we are reading Freep...then we need to make som echanges. That's unacceptable
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
Which is it Rosenberg? Should he stick with guys that are in the system like Brathwaite and Gibson, or hire outside people? Can't have it both ways there buddy.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^
Why in the hell would he coach OLBs? Is that fact in the article correct? I first wondered about him even as a position coach at all, but figured the damage could be limited. That does not seem to be the strategy however.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:34 PM ^
A lot of people make this claim because they consider the spur to be more of an OLB than a safety.
