Wow, even Ira is talking coaching candidates on WTKA right now
Tune in.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:31 AM ^
That's why I think it would ultimately be a bad idea to replace Rich.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:33 AM ^
I'm just going to start 2nding all the comments not to fire RR in an attempt to swing the momentum (or at least balance out the opinions)
October 31st, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^
Couldn't Brandon place a direct call to Harbaugh to guage his interest and possibly come to a gentleman's agreement about a post-season arrangement?
October 31st, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^
I've nothing to add to that. Only a hillbilly school (not Michigan, I'd hope) would put all its eggs in one basket.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:05 AM ^
....and UM offers Harbaugh the job and he tells U of M, "What's your Deal? Take your job and shove it!"
Then what? Who after Harbaugh would you sign off on?
October 31st, 2010 at 9:30 AM ^
While Malzahn has done some nice things he does not get Michigan. He is from the south and has no clue how to handle the pressure that comes with leading this team.
Seriously man? Step outside of your Michigan bubble. Have you been to the south?! There is just as much pressure to succeed at a school like Auburn as there is at Michigan.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:38 AM ^
+1 to you sir
To Big Redacted
October 31st, 2010 at 2:47 AM ^
As long as we beat Purdue, RR should be back. I have no real attachment to Gerg, and wouldn't mind bringing in a real stud DC. If somebody can patch together even a mediocre defense next year, we can do some real damage. I just want to watch games where the game is not lost as soon as we punt for the first time. In all seriousness, we may have been better served today if we went for the onsides kick every time. We would get an extra offensive possession or three, our offense would have a greater chance of maintaining its rhythm, and our defense couldn't do any worse.
October 31st, 2010 at 3:06 AM ^
October 31st, 2010 at 7:38 AM ^
It wasn't Michigan. It was Stanford, but he wasn't offered a scholarship. It's very clear that Stanford was his dream job, in part because he mostly grew up in Palo Alto and played HS football there.
He says Stanford is the only place in the country where you can play football at a top level and still get a great education.
He says he would love to coach Stanford to a bowl game victory over Michigan, loves the fact that Stanford beat UM in the 1972 Rose Bowl.
Yep, sounds like he would bolt Stanford for UM without any hesitation. Or not.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/daper/gostanford_current/cardinalred-footb…
October 31st, 2010 at 7:58 AM ^
That's ... not .... good?
Outside of Michigan going 5-7 this season, my biggest fear for this program is we run RR out of town, hire someone else who will come in and inevitably struggle at least the first year, while RR goes somewhere else and kicks ass right away.
This game has pushed me over to the point of not having much faith in the coaching staff ( two weeks to prepare and we give up 40+ to a walk on qb?) but I don't see how firing RR will help things. Biggest problem is lack of talent on D, and that can only be fixed by recruiting.
Actually now that I think about Harbaugh's statement "only place" you can be an athlete and get an education is nonsense. Northwestern and many other schools would happily debate him on that issue.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
Harbaugh grew up in Ann Arbor and went to Pioneer too.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:09 AM ^
His dad's last year at UM was 1979; during that football season, Jim would have been 15, as he was born in late December of 1963. His dad went directly to Stanford and Palo Alto starting with the 1980 season, with Jim being 16 that football season. I think it's safe to say that by far the most meaningful years of Jim Harbaugh's high school years, especially in terms of playing HS football, were in Palo Alto. That would seem to be confirmed by the short clip of his Palo Alto HS coach talking about him after his hire by Stanford. There was no mention anywhere of Jim's time at Pioneer, which makes sense since he would have been just JV in 1979.
None of this means that it's impossible that Harbaugh would come to UM, but if he left Stanford for UM he would be completely undercutting all the things he's been saying about Stanford from the moment he was hired there. There's no doubt that Harbaugh is an excellent coach, maybe even a great coach, but I think people are making a giant assumption that he would dump Stanford for UM simply because he played football here. There isn't a single thing he has said or done since he took the Stanford job to indicate that he would seriously entertain coming to Michigan, and there are a variety of things he's said that would argue that he wouldn't. If Harbaugh leaves Stanford, it'll be for the NFL.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:40 PM ^
I understand and for the most part agree with what you're saying. Everything Jim has said expresses his commitment to Stanford. However, to play devil's advocate - what's Harbaugh supposed to say? It would be terrible press if he said Michigan was his dream job or even anything along those lines. Saying Stanford is the place he wants to be is a smart move by Harbaugh and wins him the adoration of fans in Palo Alto.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/former-michigan-quarterback-jim-harbaugh…
This is from last year but I think this is the money quote:
I think he’s very, very happy at Stanford and Stanford is where he wants it to be,” Jack Harbaugh said. “But I would say this that still Michigan is the place that he loves, the place that for him was his foundation. It’s where, the five years he spent there, his education there at Michigan and his associations with Bo and the other coaches on the staff, that’s the place that he will always call home."
This is what makes me think he'd be interested.
October 31st, 2010 at 8:47 AM ^
I see firing RR as the answer is if we can get Chip Kelly. Seeing as that's PROBABLY not gonna happen, I'd stem the enthusiasm. Give him more time, it sounds weak (because it is) but it's simply our best option right now
October 31st, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^
then you can't change the offense. This offense with Denard is too dynamic to change. They're obviously not the problem and even with a little help from defense would carry the team to at least 8 wins. You have to bring in a defensive minded coach who will delegate the offense. Think of a Pelini like candidate who embraces the spread but still focuses on defense. We are hopeless on defense now. A DC change definitely needs to be made, but the question is can we attract someone with a proven track record on defense? If that's not possible, then we might have to go with a coaching change, but not by scrapping the offense (so no Harbaugh).
October 31st, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
I know in some games Tate has moved the ball well. I know we put up over 500 yards against Iowa, but in the 1st half of the last three games, this offense has done almost nothing. It's when they become desperate and are way behind when the defense seems to play a little more off and we move the ball. Whenever someon HAS to make a stop, they do.
I'm not so sure this offense is perfect and it must be kept in tact. We haven't built up a lead(more than one score) against anyone since BG. This team has played from behind against every decent team they have played.
If they lose to Illinois which seems likely considering the quality of play lately, Very few will still be wanting to hold on to this staff. Michigan was completely outcoached in the first half last night and played desperate in the second half. The defense obviously put them in a huge hole. Every team cannot be "getting healthy or good" just when they play Michigan. Indiana has sucked balls since playing Michigan. Last night we made a freaking walk-on look all world.
There has to be some change, I'm not sure what it should be, but no team short of a bad MAC school fears playing Michigan right now.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:27 PM ^
i know we say 'we can't blame RR or gerg because of the youth on the D' but i'm not convinced that this isn't mostly their own fault.
obviously troy went down to injury and donovan left early, but the number of transfers and the number of failed gambles on flyer-recruits has just killed us