Shafer resigns
I was kinda surprised to see this, I guess the speculation on here wasn't baseless.
http://www.mgoblue.com/football/article.aspx?id=159648
I guess we can move on to speculating about a replacement now.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:06 PM ^
Jay Hopson??? Jeff Casteel???
December 16th, 2008 at 4:07 PM ^
Good. We can do better. BTW, it looks like some posters may owe that "Knowledge" guy an apology.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:10 PM ^
I don't disagree with you, but, I'll keep my opinions to myself regarding Mr. Schafer.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:11 PM ^
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Classic
December 16th, 2008 at 4:10 PM ^
Crap....I mean good....I mean crap - the unknown can't be worse than the worst defense of all time I guess.
What happens to recruits?
TomVH - you're on the clock man!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:32 PM ^
Unless, you know, the unknown turns out to the new worst ever. In which case, terrible terrible terrible terrible reasoning.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:10 PM ^
What day did Knowledge call? January? Still pretty good.
Sorry bro, I guess I was the wrong one
December 16th, 2008 at 4:13 PM ^
This is really bad, continuity is essential. If we go and get Casteel and switch the defense completely, that can't be a step in the right direction.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:13 PM ^
Short of the 2-4-6-8, I think we ran every type of formation this year.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:20 PM ^
Is it really that important? Lloyd changed OCs every third year, it seemed. Assistant coach shakeups aren't that big of a deal. You can make the argument for continuity when it's the head coach, but if an assistant isn't measuring up, there's no reason to keep him. (And fielding the 90th-best defense, or whatever we ended up ranking at, doesn't exactly constitute "measuring up.")
December 16th, 2008 at 4:22 PM ^
Lloyd always promoted from within and the offense continued virtually unchanged. We're talking about a shift from running out of the 4-3 fulltime to running out of the 3-3-5 if Casteel is the guy. That's big.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:28 PM ^
OK, but when you're a fielding a defense that is literally the worst in school history, changes are probably a good thing. And the idea that a good DC needs more than a year to put his system in is bullshit. The good ones don't need that much time. OSU has changed DCs a few times in the past decade (always bringing in complete outsiders, IIRC) and they've always done fine.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:29 PM ^
Did you see the personnel Shafer had to deal with? Fielding fucking Yost couldn't have done much better with that group.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:34 PM ^
Bullshit. We had as good a D-line as anyone in the conference. Our DL should have dominated the line of scrimmage and covered for a lot of our weaknesses behind them. Unfortunately, our own schemes minimized the DL's effectiveness and asked too much of the lesser players in the back seven.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:40 PM ^
Shafer had the players, he didn't live up to expectations. I bet RR asked him to step down.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:32 PM ^
The personnel?
You mean an entire defense of 5- and 4-star recruits with the exception of 3-star Ezeh?
I'm not saying these guys were going to be NFL stars before Shafer got there, but there was a LOT of talent on the defensive side of the ball. It doesn't matter whose fault it was - the talent was optimized.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:36 PM ^
Both are right, a lot better off under English.
CoachBT.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:14 PM ^
I have to say, during the season I was as underwhelmed by our defense as anybody, but now that this has happened, I just hope it wasn't a move to appease the fans/alumni/donors.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:14 PM ^
Steve Morrison a possible replacement???
December 16th, 2008 at 4:17 PM ^
Hire GSimmons!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:19 PM ^
Hell yeah. If the team gets half as pumped by Pantera as we do, we can start dreaming about Big 10 titles next season!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:51 PM ^
stuck with the same defense. He said he runs the same D as Shafer.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:53 PM ^
I run a 4-4.
(And by that I mean defense AND forty-yard dash.)
December 16th, 2008 at 4:59 PM ^
Do you have eligibility left? You could be a player-coach.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:02 PM ^
I only used three years of eligibility for IM. I've got one left.
I could probably come in and play some LB. I'm 6'3", 239, run the aforementioned 4.4 forty, and I've got soft hands.
December 16th, 2008 at 6:17 PM ^
Fake!
haha
December 16th, 2008 at 4:25 PM ^
Clearly Shafer was not a Michigan Man.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:26 PM ^
RR needs time to get his offense in but shafer doesnt get time to get a poor linebacking and safety situation up and running?
Even worse we might get stuck with the 3-3-5 which i dont think can work against good teams in the big ten.
Hopefully Casteel stays at WVU.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:28 PM ^
What effect will this have on our defensive recruiting?
December 16th, 2008 at 4:30 PM ^
I didn't realize this, but the Rivals article says Shafer was responsible for coaching the CORNERBACKS as well as coordinating the defense. I thought Gibson coached all the DB's, so I guess Gibson was only the safeties coach?
Is there any chance Gibson becomes the DC? He came along with Rodriguez, knows the 3-3-5...
December 16th, 2008 at 4:31 PM ^
Why does everyone think we're switching to the 3-3-5?
December 16th, 2008 at 4:34 PM ^
Our alignment clearly didn't work. I think we could have been competitive running a 4-3-5 though.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:36 PM ^
Is that a 3-3-5 with Charlie Weis lined up over center?
December 16th, 2008 at 4:39 PM ^
I do not think that would have been more effective. Even with his knees.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:39 PM ^
Well, the gravity field and all.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:26 PM ^
Mostly, offenses try to use Weis' gravity and slingshot themselves around him, not unlike spacecraft. Couple that with Pear's inability to move without falling down and rolling over and you've got yourself a massively handicapped 3-3-5 that certainly can't work in football in general, much less the Big Ten.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:40 PM ^
We might have had a competitive defense if we played with 12 men on the field.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:45 PM ^
We would have had to play all 4 safeties we have on the depth chart, plus a couple of extra LBs. That's about 16 guys.
December 16th, 2008 at 6:18 PM ^
or maybe the 4-4-6
December 16th, 2008 at 6:20 PM ^
That would certainly give us a decided schematic advantage.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:34 PM ^
I don't know. It just seems that Rodriguez was a 3-3-5 guy, brought in a 4-3/3-4 guy who didn't work out and didn't get much of an opportunity, and that guy's now headed out the door.
And Rodriguez said he and Shafer agreed to go in separate directions, which sounds to me like Shafer was probably nudged out the door.
That's just me reading between the lines, but I think it's a possibility.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:46 PM ^
Well yeah, Rodriguez wants to go in a separate direction.
UP
December 16th, 2008 at 4:36 PM ^
because RR tried to bring Casteel with him to run the 3-3-5. and then we switched to a 3-3-5 against Purdue and rumors were it wasnt shafers decision to do it. Thats why i think so anyways.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:40 PM ^
If Rodriguez were committed to the 4-3, I think he would have given Shafer another year...
...unless he has someone in mind as a defensive coordinator.
Bill Belichick?
Dick LeBeau?
SNAKE OIL!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:38 PM ^
That is my first impression: This sucks.
Shafer never had a chance. Never had a chance to pick his own staff.
Look for Hopson to be the DC now... and that stupid fucking worthless lackey Gibson to keep his job as DB coach.
Also possible recruits decommitting as other schools will certainly use this as negative.
Fuck. That is all I have to say, unless something good comes out of this...which it probably wont.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:42 PM ^
Exactly which schools are going to use this as a negative? OSU? They've changed coordinators a few times over the last decade. ND? They've changed DCs twice in the last two years. MSU? I don't think anyone's left from the JLS era. Exactly where are these models of stability that allegedly are going to give us a hard time for letting an underperforming assistant go?
December 16th, 2008 at 4:42 PM ^
As someone else pointed out (TomVH?), recruits are usually more attached to their position coaches than their coordinators. If a new DC comes in and brings a brand new staff, that could shake things up. But if Rodriguez promotes from within or brings in Casteel (or somebody else) who will keep Hopson, Tall, and Gibson, it might not have that much of an effect.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:38 PM ^
I hate that we're looking more and more like the impetuous, instant gratification SEC schools, but if the change was going to be made I hope it serves as a warning shot to some of the other defensive coaches on the staff.
if Shafer coached the corners then he HAD to go.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:42 PM ^
Wasn't Schafer JJ's recruiter
December 16th, 2008 at 11:04 PM ^
JJ as in Jeremy Jackson? I would think that unless Fred leaves JJ is a pretty solid committment.