Shaun Nua is not Greg Mattison
November 1st, 2020 at 5:13 AM ^
We've already cycled through a shit ton of assistants, why do you expect Harbaugh to get it right THIS TIME? He has basically an unlimited budget and can pick whoever he wants. It's on Harbaugh at this point. There is no fixing it except starting over. There's obviously a reason Mattison left in the first place.
November 1st, 2020 at 5:53 AM ^
Realistically speaking the AD won’t fire him this year. The pandemic caveat is real. 2021 will be his last year and both sides will part ways. Assistant coaching changes is all we got right now barring a 2-6 record or literally 100-7 beat down by OSU.
November 1st, 2020 at 6:07 AM ^
You can't keep him this year just because of Covid...the program will sink.
1. You will completely lose an entire year of recruiting anybody worth a damn.
2. The culture inside the program would be completely toxic the whole year.
3. Good luck convincing anybody to renew season tickets after this season for next year if you bring Harbaugh back.
4. You've got Luke Fickell looking damn good at Cincinnati and if we don't pick him up someone else will
Someone will pony up the money for the buyout.
November 1st, 2020 at 8:05 AM ^
1. Fickell isn’t coming to Michigan.
2. Harbaugh isn’t getting fired. He will probably get extended.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^
Ridiculous.... so you think his fandom would prevent it ? Gary Moeller was a star linebacker for OSU.
Fickell would jump at the chance.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:40 AM ^
that was during an era when Ohio shitheads wouldn't lynch your family if you take any job in Michigan
November 1st, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
2014:
"Harbaugh isn't coming and Hoke isn't getting fired"
November 1st, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
Exactly. As I said below, they are not going to announce a multi-million dollar contract when other employees in the same department have lost their jobs due to COVID. Michigan is about stability and bringing in revenue. That’s it. Harbaugh checks all those boxes and runs a clean program. The higher ups at Michigan don’t care about sports. I’m not saying it’s right, But sports at Michigan are looked at as a wild card and a liability. There is TONS of risk associated with athletics as we are relying on kids to make good decisions. They screw up, it is held against the entire university. We do it to other schools. Just about every major scandal at Michigan has been centered around the athletic department. Life and wealth generation is all about eliminating and mitigating risk. Jim Harbaugh is a guy who minimizes risk. This is how they recruit. Good character kids that won’t cause problems. This is what we have guys. Just relax your expectations. Wait until a scandal dismantles OSU. Enjoy the sport for what it is. Entertainment.
November 1st, 2020 at 8:12 AM ^
Fickell played at OSU and coached there for over a decade. He would laugh in the face of any offer we made him.
We need to bury the Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer options right now. Neither are even remotely possible.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:30 AM ^
I think this conflates fandom with the reality of coaching. Fickell would totally come to coach at Michigan for a good chunk of money. So would Meyer for a much much larger chunk of money. There are a hundred examples of people coaching at both OSU and UM.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:42 AM ^
I could see Urban pulling a Pitino
Winning a championship at both schools? Going undefeated in "the game" for both schools?
He's already a legend, but that would solidify him as the greatest coach of all time.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:55 AM ^
Urban is much more likely to become AD at Ohio.
November 1st, 2020 at 8:20 AM ^
Unless a booster ponies up, unless the team doesn’t win all but two more games, unless...
Last week everyone was putting rings on their fingers and calling venue halls; this week everyone is begging for their deposits back.
How does Big Eddy O win a title and then fade back into below mediocrity in one year?
We keep holding out on JH to have that year, that kind of year, and so we hold on every time.
The only way they even consider dropping JH is if he goes 3-5 or 4-4. Otherwise, he will be given next year to prove it with Milton, a la Burrow year 2 at LSU. Brown, however, should retire or be given a firm dude handshake.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:56 AM ^
You are an insufferable jackass. That’s all
November 1st, 2020 at 5:25 AM ^
You can look at it as Harbaugh repeatedly hires bad assistants, or Harbaugh makes all of his assistants bad. Either way, it’s on Harbaugh. Time to clean house.
November 1st, 2020 at 5:52 AM ^
If you think the DL is mediocre-bad this year,... wait until next year without Hutchinson, Paye and Kemp.
November 1st, 2020 at 6:39 AM ^
A rotation of Vilain, Hinton, Upshaw, Welschof, Mazi and Speight doesn't inspire confidence?
November 1st, 2020 at 7:25 AM ^
Ha, not really, like mutton!
November 1st, 2020 at 8:19 AM ^
Put those guys on another team and I’m sure they would be fine.
The d line and lb play against that state o line was historically bad. 0 impact plays.
November 1st, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
Even bad teams get a sack or two here or there when they play against good teams.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:13 AM ^
Can we also stop pretending that Paye and Hutchinson are good? In 2 games this season and against 2 bad OLs, Paye has 2 sacks in garbage time and Hutchinson has been invisible
November 1st, 2020 at 6:15 AM ^
The big difference between Nua and GMatt is recruiting. GMatt is a much better recruiter.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:16 AM ^
Nua has 2 talents in Paye and Hutchinson but they literally can’t get to the QB. Their pass rush arsenal to get the to QB is zero and they don’t seem to be able to ever shed their blockers
November 1st, 2020 at 6:41 AM ^
When you don’t have depth or talent at two of your defensive position groups, in year 6, that’s on the head coach.
ive had it with the revolving door of assistant coaches and players. It’s embarrassing, and it’s an Indictment on harbaughs system to have so little stability on the coaching staff
November 1st, 2020 at 9:19 AM ^
Two position groups? We have no depth at S, LB, CB, or DE. DT has depth but not much of it is quality. We played true freshman at multiple of those positions. It’s an issue when players are losing jobs on this defense, transfer elsewhere, then immediately start and make an impact
November 1st, 2020 at 7:27 AM ^
Nua’s pedigree was always lacking. He wasn’t a good hire then and obviously has proven that to all of us. Harbaugh’s staff has regressed year over year.
November 1st, 2020 at 7:46 AM ^
Wasn’t Nua hired specificity to help recruiting with West Coast Polynesian kids? I remember reading that was his appeal to Harbaugh. How’s that worked out?
November 1st, 2020 at 8:06 AM ^
Ha, West Coast Polynesian kids,... are there that many of those?,. and don't believe we landed any at all ?!
November 1st, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
It's a small and select group, like the impactful defensive recruits of Eastern Massachusetts.
November 1st, 2020 at 1:25 PM ^
The population of American Samoa is 55,000 (less than half that of A2).
November 1st, 2020 at 8:42 AM ^
At least Hoke could develop d-linemen and recruit
November 1st, 2020 at 8:53 AM ^
So there were 5 cyan circles around the entire MSU offensive line yet Michigan was unable to lay a finger on Rocky Lombardi all day. Which line do you think is the trouble spot now?
November 1st, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
This. Whoever decided on the cyan circles ... come on, man.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:08 AM ^
lol at Nailor and White in cyan as well...what fucking circus world are we living in? Those dudes made Gray and Green look like they've never seen a football field before.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:49 AM ^
The cyan circles are on the wrong side of the line.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:09 AM ^
Dwumfour looks vastly improved at Rutgers. Says a lot about our staff and the lack of improvement here.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:22 AM ^
St Juste is starting for Minnesota, Sims is starting for GT, Dwumfour starting for Rutgers, Solomon at Tennessee, etc
November 1st, 2020 at 9:32 AM ^
Yeah we fucking let Dwumfor walk and he’s way better than what we got.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:43 AM ^
It's the gimmick scheme.
Bring back a style that favors the big DT.
But remember that Mattison laid a ton of eggs on the trail. Most of the players we have were recruited by him.
November 1st, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
It doesn’t. He’s had like 29 practices at Rutgers.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^
I thought we Nua this when we signed him.
November 1st, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
Nua was supposed to get us some Somonans. He was never supposed to actually coach. Unfortunately, we have no Somoans and he’s coaching.
November 1st, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
Why stop at Nua? Shoop, Zordich and Brown all need to go. I'll leave Jean Mary for now because he can recruit.
November 1st, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
Nua and Brown both need to go. The defense is swiss cheese against any team with a pulse, and as bad as our cornerbacks are, the fundamentals of building the defense from the D-Line on out have NOT been followed here and has essentially accelerated the total collapse of the D. Both recruiting and development, especially at DT, are a mess.
Losing Greg Mattison to osu stung so badly at first because he defected to the enemy; it hurts Michigan Football way more now because of the long-term effect it's had on the entire defense.
Maybe we can see if the slimmed-down Brady Hoke would walk back to Ann Arbor to coach our defensive line?
November 1st, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
He’s not going anywhere. Unless he wants to leave. The only reason he does not have another contract is because the athletic department has had to furlough a bunch of employees and the optics of giving a football coach 6-7M right now look horrible. I wouldn’t be shocked if his new contract has not already been signed or at least agreed upon. Guys, he’s not going anywhere,
November 1st, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
If Harbaugh doesn’t go he has to get rid of all the defensive coaches. They can’t recruit elite talent. They cannot bring out the best in there players. Say goodbye Don fucking Brown. Tired of him not making adjustments when his players are getting torched by Rocky Lombardi.
November 1st, 2020 at 5:33 PM ^
If you look at schools that recruit elite talent - I don't think I have to name them - they all pretty much own their conferences and are frequent playoff teams. They all have HCs that are respected (not considered a weirdo) around the country and are recruiting giants. It's pretty hard to get the ear and attention of a 5-star and his parents when your school hasn't won a conference championship since 2004. Pretty sad and it all starts with the HC
November 1st, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
No we need to can this entire staff
November 1st, 2020 at 2:57 PM ^
I totally agree with this. If you look at OSU they have Kerry Cooms, Mattison and Larry Johnson They have been coaches for a combined 100 seasons!!
Mattison has been a coordinator in both major college football including at Florida, where he won a championship with Urban Meyer. Johnson maybe the best defensive line coaches in CFB. If you are a good Dlineman where are you going to go?
So yesterday our vaulted Dline with early picks Hutchinson and Paye as well as 5th year senior Kemp and 4 star Hinton couldn't get one sack against a high school grade Oline.
Meanwhile OSU supposed weak Dline with Cooper, Jean-Baptiste, Harrison, Friday, Smith, Garrett and Togiai (7 tackles, 3 sacks). Shredded arguably the 2nd best Oline in the Big Ten.
If you remember Zach Harrison was down to us and OSU. Jonathon Cooper was another 5 star who considered UM. That's their edge. Larry Johnson's philosophy and Brent Venables from Clemson is that you can't have too many DT's. Both schools rotate DT's in and out and have about 7 servicable players. Clemson has 11 DT's on the roster. Many the top high school recruits that all buy in.
We have 6 DT's on the roster but it's not like OT convert Joey George or Brown transfer Elijah Pierre are in the mix. We can't keep the ones we have.
Dwumfour has going to Rutgers is one of the best football decisions has has made. He had 6 tackles against MSU. Our interior line made 6, He had 1.5 TOF our entire D had 2!
We are thin at DT, not that good, and Nua hasn't helped in either recruiting or coaching.
November 1st, 2020 at 9:35 PM ^
Not quite sure where people got the "weak" OSU defensive line from but all of those players you mentioned were 4 and 5 stars in high school. Now the one description I have heard is "new" as they replaced Chase Young and their DTs from last year. But good lord, they're deep with quality players on that line. And you're correct, OSU was constantly rotating players in and out and by the end of the game the PSU OL was just plain wore out.
Gotta give PSU credit though, they hung in there - somewhat. That PSU WR Dotson is big time and solely kept PSU within striking distance. They ended up losing by a couple of TDs but it could have been worse if not for that WR. He's going to be a load for us to cover