Why Roy Manning is the new CB coach
I know there were a lot of questions about why our LB coach, Roy Manning, who played LB at Michigan and in the NFL, was moving to CB coach.
Mlive has an interesting article suggesting his rapport with our new CB recruits may have been a big factor. It also points out the the defensive backfield still has Curt Mallory coaching safeties. I'll bet a lot of the time they are coaching together.
For those who wondered why Michigan assistant Roy Manning was given the new position of cornerbacks coach earlier this winter, you may have part of your answer.
After being one of the main point men in Michigan's long and competitive recruitment of five-star 2014 corner Jabrill Peppers, Manning struck again on the recruiting trail Monday when the Wolverines landed four-star corner Garrett Taylor -- the top player in the state of Virginia.
Shortly after announcing his commitment via Twitter on Monday, Taylor spoke with Rivals.com about one of the main reasons why he chose to come to Ann Arbor.
Manning's name was almost immediately uttered.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:31 AM ^
We lost a LOT of program momentum last year. DaShawn probably saw the shaky ground we were suddenly on, felt it would be a somewhat risky choice even if his heart was here, and went with a blue chip stock in Bama.
But everybody around here is completely dismissing the fact that Hand had a long-standing interest in pursuing a civil engineering curriculum, and Alabama made it clear that it would make that possible for him:
"A source close to Hand said that the the Tide coaching staff and university personnel convinced the talented prospect that he could graduate from UA with a degree in Civil Engineering. University of Alabama College of Engineering Dean Charles L. “Chuck” Karr will personally serve as Hand's academic advisor. Those academic factors, combined with the chance to play in the Southeastern Conference, tipped the scales in Alabama's favor."
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/242475…
This wasn't going to happen at Michigan. I don't fault UM for that, either; the school is one of the best in the country and not everybody can get in.
We will see if he actually majors in that there. I still think it may have been the polite way to say "They are a lot better at football than you are."
True enough, but that's also true for any kid who's indicated a desire to pursue any particular curriculum beyond "phys ed" or "kinesiology" or "communications."
If it were Tate Forcier maybe we'd have reason to be skeptical about the engineering thing, but from everything I've read and heard about him Hand is a very different kind of kid.
I'm not naive; if Alabama were a middling program, then it's much less likely he would have chosen them. But I don't think it's the whole story.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
Fine, but we don't really know how smart Hand is. All we hear is that he's "got a great head on his shoulders" and "is focused on his school work" and so on. But that could be very different from "is able to major in engineering and play D1 football."
Fact is, Michigan has kids who have majored in engineering and played football or basketball (Jordan Morgan, being the most recent example). So I don't see why this wasn't an option at Michigan. Sure, it's probably much harder. But if you really are that smart, it's certainly possible.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
March 26th, 2014 at 12:47 AM ^
"Yeah I'd love to get a sense of how everything progressed and led to him picking Alabama."
One team is the most dominant program of the past half decade, flashes multiple national championships in the past decade, with an absolute mercenary at coach (and considered the best at his craft) who is sending tons of kids to the NFL in what is agreed upon as the best conference ..
One team came in 8th place in what is considered a mediocre conference with a coach the jury is still out on, has lost 10 of its last 12 to its main rival and 5 of 6 to its next main rival, can't win a road game against any decent team, and who sends a lot less kids to the NFL than it used to.
Is it that difficult to understand? Based on the mgoblogging here he seemed like a heavy lean to UM after the ND UTL2 when UM looked competent, flashy on offense (mostly due to Gardner overcoming a dysfunctional OL by playing like Vince Young), functional on defense....and then the rest of our season unfolded.
Reading your post made me sad. Everything you said was spot on, but it still is tough to accept.
for both teams.
I'll have to think about it,
FIrst and foremost: FOOTBALL EXCELLENCE in getting kids to the NFL. Sorry but Alabama has Michigan trounced in that department as of late.
distant second: engineering program suited him more than what Michigan had to offer.
source: Sam Webb. Try listening to his recruiting round up podcasts and you'll learn a lot.
If we take the % of top end recruits who make it to the NFL would they be higher? We need to take into account all the players sent to Juco and medical\transfer\over cap attrition. Yes more get drafter, but given they recruit roughly 20% more players with higher ratings, which said ratings are based upon physical talent which can be tweaked but not trained. /rant Would be interesting to see a percentage based upon 5 star recruits or something. Where is Dee Hart right now?
While I understand your point, it doesn't factor in the decision an 18 YO kid makes. The bottom line is Alabama has shown to be much more successful at playing football, winning and getting kids to the NFL. The name SABAN and Alabama Football has a whole lot more signifcance to a HS football player than Hoke and Michigan. Maybe taht will change in a few more years. It also helps that the weather in Alabama is bit nicer than in Michigan.
March 25th, 2014 at 11:24 PM ^
...will show the CBs how to tackle very, very goodly!
March 26th, 2014 at 12:15 AM ^
Hanlon played halfback (RB) at Dayton in '53-55; was defensive backfield coach at Dayton in '65; was OL coach at UM for 17 years (1969–1981, 1988–1991) and QB coach for six years (1982–1987)
Gary Moeller was a LB at OSU, coached DEs and QBs at UM, along with being OC and DC
Lloyd Carr was a QB at Mizzou and Northern Michigan, and was DB coach and DC before becoming HC
It's very typical for assistant coaches to move around in position responsibility, and there's no necessary correlation between what position they played and what they coached.
where was hanlon last year???
In all seriousness, I think Hoke should have brought Hanlon in as a special OL consultant last year. If I were Funk, I'd have been asking for that help myself.
More from the master here:
YES!! Hanlon knows his stuff and has been around a fair share of O lineman.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:17 AM ^
Honestly, if you have coaches who cannot learn, teach and coach up technique at the D1 level, they simply should not be in coaching. The biggest single difference is whether the coach can instill confidence and unlock the potential in each player to push themselves to the next level and max their abilities.
Manning seems to have the ability to connect and the passion to instill the work ethic necessary to be a success and big motivator. He also brings some much needed youth into the ranks of the coaching staff, which I am sure is helping on the recruiting trail.
There have been a lot of arguments made in this thread, and I feel like people are trying to get in their .02 with disregarding what has been said.
A coach doesn't have to have played a position to be able to coach it.
This is true. I don't know anyone that would make this arguement. It may help to have played the position, especially with a QB coach, but it's not necessary, and there are a ton of examples where this is true as posters have pointed out.
If a coach is a good coach, then they can coach wherever.
To a point this is true. All good coaches should have similar skill sets. I think we could summarize those skills/abilities to: motivate kids, teach them proper technique, teach them their assignments, correct their mistakes, and really get the best out of them.
But technique is not always technique. Blocking is different for WRs, RBs, FBs, and OL. I don't think I've ever seen a RB kick step, for them it's more striking and driving, or cutting.
If someone has really coached 7 position groups, great. But I feel it takes a coach some time to really develop the expertise to know everything they're supposed to correct, and the ability to have the athletes correct those mistakes, even if it's a bad habit they've developed. That's where it may not be good to have a coach bounce around between a half dozen position groups, and most coaches resumes dont reflect those kinds of movements.
NCAA or NFL coaching career:
Steve Spurrier - QBs - OC - HC
Urban Meyer - TE - WR - OLB - QB/WR - WR - HC
(His first 4 were all for 1 year. He was then a WR coach for 11 years before becoming a HC.)
Bob Stoops - DB - Co-DC - DC - HC
Jimbo Fisher - GA - QB/OC - QB - QB/OC - HC
Nick Saban - Assistant - DB - Assisstant - DB/DC - HC - DC - HC
Les Miles - GA - OL - OC - TE - HC
Mack Brown - WR - OC - QB - HC - OC - HC
Hoke - DL - LB - DL - DE - DL - AssociateHC/DL - HC
Jim Harbaugh - Assistant - QB - HC
Meyer is the only coach to coach on both sides, but it was only for one year as an OLB coach. Coaches seem to have a specialty, either offense or defense, and they stay there.
Now, to the thread title: Why Roy Manning is the New CB Coach
Would they move manning to CB coach because of the rapport he developed with prospective athletes, who haven't played a down of Michigan football yet? I don't think so.
I do think Hoke put it best when he said something to the effect of dividing the coaches up a little more based on how many athletes/position group are on the field at one time. When we go into nickel there are 5 DBs on the field with 2 coaches, and a front 6 with 2 coaches. In our base 4-3 package every coach has at least 2 athletes.
Last year, we had a linebackers coach, Mark Smith, and we had an outside linebackers coach, Roy Manning. So in our base package there were 2 coaches for 3 positions. For our nickel package there were 2 coaches for 2 positions.
Overall I wouldn't worry too much about moving Manning to CB coach. I know not everyone agrees with me, but I really like Mallory as a DB coach, and I think if Manning has any issues, Mallory can help guide him.
X is a number between 1 and 1,000
therefore x=4
The answer could be 4, but it's doubtful. Manning is recruiting all positions. What happens if he helps land a great receiver or a great offensive lineman. Does he split his time? What if another coach in another territory lands a couple hot DB's from Texas or California?
I'd also be concerned about him being moved around based on a couple of recruits he lands without more consideration being placed on how capable he is of coaching the position and how he and the other coaches fit the teams needs.
While it's possible the answer is as Mlive says (with nothing more than pure speculation) that it's because of the recruiting. My guess is that it's more about how his coaching talents best fit the teams needs and landing a couple of top DB's is somewhere way down the list.
Big future for him
he had the best stuffed beaver of the group. At that point, it was obvious.
/GERG-PTSD
If they are going to a more press coverage and blitzing style defense this year, then I like a former LB coaching up the CBs in this style of defense.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:03 AM ^
You probably have noticed by now that whenever we have a former player doing something with MGoBlog there's an 80% chance he's a defensive back. To a man, those guys have said they think Roy Manning will be a head coach of a major program someday. B-Will said he's thought that since their playing days. That may not make him any better of a defensive backs coach, but all indications so far is he's a fantastic position coach.
It would be great if our DBs get more aggressive as a result. Obviously we need the talent first and it looks like he's doing a great job of that.
It seems to me that safeties and linebackers have more in common than corners and linebackers. Why wouldnt they move Manning to safeties rather than corners?
The young energetic guy is our best recruiter.
THIS is why I wanted to see Coach Jackson move on. He's been GREAT for Michigan. He deserves to REMAIN at Michigan in some capacity. But RB Coach is the perfect position for a young energetic guy...Wheatley and Hart would BOTH give a shot of life to that position and every position on offense.
You need to have some balance to the experience of some of our coaches.