RR: We're not good enough...

Meh, for as much as I want to jump on you and be a rabid RR watch-dog, I have to agree with this post; it really bugs me when he says "we're not good to overcome mistakes, blah blah blah". I think that's a cop-out that MAC teams use when they lose a close game to the B10.

ZOMG DICKROD ISN'T A CLONE OF BO!!!!11111!!!!oneone!eleven

What part of "We're not good enough to make mistakes and win..." is not true?

They aren't excuses. It's a fact. The team is not good enough to play poorly and expect to win. They need to play like they did against ND if they want to win games.

I think you are reading too much into it.

I don't think any point you just made was valid... I think your sick of losing and your blaming it all on RR. Obviously, he has not excelled here, but to say, "Frankly, I'd like the excuses to stop, and class and character to return to the Michigan program, win or lose." well that's just stupid.

I agree whole-heartedly.

All RR did was point out that this team needs to stop making bad decisions with the ball, let guys get past them, miss tackles, etc. This is complete coach-speak, and is uttered by virtually any coach in America at one point in his career. This is a young team, and I think that RR is simply telling the players that they need to keep pushing ahead while reminding them that they can't be careless with the ball or keep making mistakes.

And for the record, people need to stop invoking the name of Lloyd or Bo as the gold standard for coaching. I'm sure both of those guys have said similar statements during their tenures, and it was probably true then as well. Very few teams are good enough to overcome mistakes, especially ones helmed by a freshman QB and with very little depth on the defensive side of the ball.

I get it - people are angry about losing. This fan base is not used to blowing games against the likes of Purdue. But stop dwelling on the past and creating false memories of past coaches to make you feel better. RR is a good coach, and while he might ultimately not work out at UM, it will not be because he didn't "do it" like Bo or Lloyd.

Isn't saying "we're not good enough" the opposite of an excuse? It seems that he is just saying what we all know, that is that this team isn't very good right now. Saying that Michigan loses because they aren't very good seems like a pretty accurate statement.

"we're not good enough to make mistakes and win" is not the same as "these kids suck and will never amount to anything".

i'd like to see the coach that says "hey - we make mistakes. but you know what? we're so f*cking awesome it doesn't matter."

Every coach says this to every team, and someone above noted, it is also a fact. No story here IMO.

The one area I do have questions about however, is the fact that RR wears his heart on his sleeve during games, and gets visibly dejected. I wonder if that affects the morale of the team during games, especially a young, apparently emotionally fragile team when they get down.

Losing is a disease, as contagious as bubonic plague

How in the hell do people know what BO would say? seriously I was fucking 8 when the guy retired. I have seen exactly 1 clip from a press conference of his while he was coach. And that was him talking about leaving for Teaxas A$M.

From everything I have heard he really mellowed out in his old age. He was a complete mad man when it came to some stuff and media was one of those things.

But I do hear countless stories about him marching into peoples offices and tearing their fucking heads off, or breaking cameras of people who were filming stuff Ohio State week.

I love the guy he was like a fake Grandpa to me growing up. I cried when he died. But the guy yelled at everyone. It's not bad, but why the hell is he this saint now. Its like the god damn founding fathers, when people talk about the constitution and shit. Those guys were fucking every French chic they could get their hands on.

What coach wants his players to think that they are good enough to make mistakes and win anyway?

@Firstbase: I have to agree that you're living in a fantasy world in regards to what you imagine the past history of Michigan football to be.

So why don't you give several specific examples of how the "class and character" of Michigan football are any worse right now than under Bo, Mo, and Lloyd.

lets give these kids a little credit, the ones who aren't good enough know they aren't good enough. They've played football their entire lives, they understand skill levels. Why do so many people think that these football players are fucking pussies when it comes to getting their feelings hurt? All the time on this blog I read something about how we shouldn't say bad things about the players because it will hurt their feelings and make them run home crying to their moms. And Firstbase, football wasn't invented to create class and character in people, it was created because people are competitive and want to beat somebody else at something. Michigan has the greatest stadium in the history of sports. They didn't get it through having more class and character than everybody else, they got it by winning more than anybody else and putting people in the stands because of it

Sounds like wayne talking to Alice Cooper and Aerosmith

I see your point

Funny how we romanticize the past.

In reality, Lloyd himself used to always say things like "We'll have as good a record as we deserve," and (following turnover-filled losses) "When you put the ball on the ground X times, you don't deserve to win." And Bo would often go a lot further than RR, ranting even after wins about how we'd proven nothing and had no right to celebrate until we held the Big Ten trophy aloft.

when he says "we're not good enough". Michigan is scoring a crap load of points per game by comparison to other teams in the league, but the defense is not good enough to make up for fumbles/interceptions and costly mental mistakes (penalties, missed assignments). Eleven ladies from the Villa Gardens Retirement home in Pasadena could gain a first down easily on this Michigan defense. The dude is right when he says these things

Now of course the better choice might be to hide all of this obviousness and feign protection of the team's fragile egos (Think of the children!!!). But no. RR has decided not to bullshit and pussy foot around the issues. I think it's wrong to assume that Schembechler would have shown more discretion. Bo wore his rage on his sleeve.

This message about "not being good enough" probably doesn't demotivate football players very much at all anyway. It does, however, provide clarity. Michigan's players probably understand that they ARE young, comparatively inexperienced, and therefore can't afford to play like a bunch of space cadets on the gridiron and expect victory just because they play in front of 110K fans and where winged, striped football helmets. The consequences of sloppy play for a less than experienced and depth-chart challenged team is by now abundantly clear.

I think we would all be be surprised what coaches say to "motivate" their players. Sometimes honesty can do a lot. They're "faster and bigger than you", "they've won more games than you", "they're ranked and you're not". "Their quarterback is outstanding". Every team is different in terms of how they respond to this.

Personally I think that Michigan's 2009 football team is a little less of a mental case than last year's team was. They are much better offensively, but a tad worse defensively.

I suspect RR is probably biting his tongue about a great many things associated with UM player performances, the performance his own coaching staff and even his own decision-making year-to-date.