DoubleB

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Date	Title	Body
28 weeks 5 days ago	High Risk, High Reward Hire	And the risk is probably greater. Name the list of pro coaches who have stepped into the college game and had really good success. It starts and ends with Pete Carroll--who as it turned out is a really good coach period. I like how everyone assumes he'll be a good recruiter when he hasn't stepped foot in a high school in 20+ years. He doesn't need an OC. He needs to hire a bunch of guys who can recruit. My guess is he'll hire a mostly pro staff who will jump back to the pros at the first opportunity (and he might do the same as well). That being said, IF he's serious about the job he does bring something probably no other candidate can bring to the table--Chicago. His name there alone should get him into doors and homes no other coach has been able to crack in forever.
37 weeks 1 day ago	There was a great example of that in the game	Although this may be Kirby Smart. Watson was killing them with the scramble. On a 3rd down and long in the 3rd quarter, he used an LB spy AND had the ends stay home and not really rush. The inside tackles stunted to force Watson outside and both the end to that side and the spy had a clear shot at him. It was a great change up that got them a key sack (one of only two in the game) and something I had never really seen before.
37 weeks 1 day ago	"I still think coaches like	"I still think coaches like Meyer and Harbaugh may be considered better Xs and Os coaches." Just a stunning statement of ignorance.  First off he's a defensive coach and has done as much if not more to advance that side of the ball schematically than Meyer and Harbaugh have on offense. In a QB driven era of college football he has won national championships despite not having great QBs.
37 weeks 1 day ago	He didn't last night	The better players were Clemson's especially in key spots (QB comes to mind), But the onside kick call, some Clemson coverage busts, and not turning the ball over got Bama the win.
37 weeks 1 day ago	This can't be rec'd enough	The teams right before and after him were awful. Made the key mistake with Culpepper over Brees.  I think he'd be great in the pros as well. He's not the only guy who's made mistakes the first time as a pro coach (and most of those were personnel based unrelated to coaching). That Belichick guy certainly comes to mind.
38 weeks 3 days ago	I watched the WHOLE game	Bama punted on their first 3 possessions. It was 10-0 at the end of the half and they had shown some ability to move the football (pick at the end of the half was a killer). It was 17-0 midway through the 3rd quarter. I didn't think MSU would win it at that stage, but I thought they might be able to find something. Obviously they never did. The Iowa game was over after the first snap.
38 weeks 3 days ago	One game was	competitive for a quarter and a half before it started to get out of hand. The other was over before half the fans found their seats. The defining moment of iowa football under Ferentz: Down 35-9 with nearly a full quarter to go . . and kicking it deep. We talk about teams quitting . . . how about the coach quitting . . . in the Rose Bowl.
38 weeks 3 days ago	I thought Michigan State	with a healthy Connor Cook was one of the two best teams in the conference. They beat Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa--all away from home. Iowa, on the other hand, should be forced to give up it's ethanol subsidies for that Rose Bowl display.
38 weeks 3 days ago	"Overall I think the SEC hype	"Overall I think the SEC hype train has slowed considerably while the Big Ten is gaining momentum." I mean really?? Based on what? All six original SEC West teams won their bowl game by 21 points. That isn't just winning. That is complete and utter dominance. And it won't happen again in our lifetimes. The Big Ten has stopped the bleeding. Momentum would be doing something better than .500 in a few consecutive bowl seasons.
38 weeks 3 days ago	That's exactly it	You can't talk about the comeback of the Big 10 and have the two division champs get absolutely embarrassed. There's not a motivation issue with those games. As bad as MSU lost they were competitive til about midway through the 3rd quarter. Iowa looked like an FCS team in every sense of the word: coaching, talent, preparation, etc.
38 weeks 3 days ago	Really?	Tennessee was rocking by the end of the year. They had those awful, awful losses in September. Remember they dominated Oklahoma for 3 quarters.  Butch Jones and company righted the ship and put it together. They are probably the favorites in the SEC East next year and a dark horse playoff candidate.
38 weeks 3 days ago	When you don't give a flying fuck	about defense anything can happen--you can light up Michigan and  Ohio State and you can lose to Duke. Just ask the Big XII which just looks S-O-F-T. Nobody wants to hit anyone in that league. And it shows in bowl season. And I hope it hurts them next year when they start clamoring that their one-loss team should be in the playoff.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Could not agree more	He was a great football player who also happened to be an incredibly versatile and talented broadcaster.  I watched Super Bowl XI the other day and Meredith was one of the annnouncers. He was a complete clown. He managed to glue together an MNF booth with him and Cosell and make it work.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Preseason camp	is pretty well defined in the NCAA rulebook. There are no countable hours until class starts, but practice is very structured. There is the 5 day acclimatization period--Day 1 and 2 are helmets only, Day 3 and 4 are helmets and shells, and Day 5 is full pads. Not until Day 6 can you have an actual "double." Also practice time is limited to 3 actual hours on the field during the 1 a days and 5 hours during the doubles. 1-hour "walkthroughs" are allowed during the 1 a days. After this acclimatization period, practices alternate between doubles and one-a-days until classes start. At that point, the CARA rules kick in (20 hours, mandated off day, etc.). I believe the NCAA allows D-I schools 29 practice sessions before playing their first game.
1 year 7 weeks ago	"I liked Rodriguez because he	"I liked Rodriguez because he seemed like a person who reacted to stimuli. He reacted too much, but at least you could see that he was processing information and coming to conclusions about what it meant. Hoke did not do this. Whether Hoke was stoic or insensate is in the eye of the beholder; given the chaos around the program my vote is the latter. He seemed to shut down in terror when his dream job turned to a nightmare."   What possible reason is there to write that? To try to prove to the reader that RR was a victim and Hoke was a tool.   RR was in over his head at Michigan. He vastly underperformed based on the talent both remaining and that he recruited. He did only one thing well--implement and develop a successful offense. That's it. And yet somehow, because the poster is enamored with the spread, that's all that matters. That singular focus on offense got Michigan to win 25% of their conference games and a 15-22 record overall.
1 year 7 weeks ago	"On the other, why the hell	"On the other, why the hell was it written? What does it add other than a swipe at Hoke and another explanation for Rod?" You summarized this post better than I ever could! One can acknowledge Hoke's demise and deserved firing without talking about RichRod.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Because the post mentions RR!!	"I liked Rodriguez because he seemed like a person who reacted to stimuli. He reacted too much, but at least you could see that he was processing information and coming to conclusions about what it meant. Hoke did not do this. Whether Hoke was stoic or insensate is in the eye of the beholder; given the chaos around the program my vote is the latter. He seemed to shut down in terror when his dream job turned to a nightmare." Apparently Hoke's demeanor in the face of the program going downhill doesn't compare favorably with RR's. What a load of crock.
1 year 7 weeks ago	No	Because Hoke is treated like a bum while Rodriguez gets lauded as the prodigal son who just never had a chance. I think even Hoke supporters would acknowledge RR is the better coach, certainly from a scheme standpoint. Until RR supporters stop with the excuses and just acknowledge that RR failed at Michigan this debate will rage on.
1 year 7 weeks ago	It doesn't hurt	but it absolutely doesn't guarantee success. It's actually a bad training ground for a head coach in a lot of ways because you are so football focused while the job of a head coach is so much more organizational and managerial and unrelated to the game.
1 year 7 weeks ago	I believe RR	was a bad fit at Michigan. Nothing that happened in the 3 years he was there makes me think that belief is wrong. Now you can argue "culture shouldn't matter. It's about the football." And I think that's fine if you're winning 10 or 11 games a year. But football also includes a side of the ball called "defense" and his management of that was beyond a shitshow. There is no more damning indictment of the RR era than Mattison taking one of the worst defenses in the nation and making it a top-20 unit the next season.  As I stated above, RR is a top of the line offensive coordinator. But at a place like Michigan where EVERYTHING is in the spotlight, you have to be able to have the ability to say and do the right things to the right people. You have to be the face of the program to the outside world. That's not something he's good at or comfortable with. He's a ball coach. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you can't be great as a face of the program, you damn well better win a lot of games. He never did that.
1 year 7 weeks ago	RR	is a top of the line offensive coordinator who's mediocre at being a head coach. He can get away with it at smaller schools like WVU and Arizona. Michigan was the very definition of bad fit. Brady Hoke is a very good DL coach who's also mediocre at being a head coach, although in different ways that RichRod. Again, Michigan was not a very good fit. Harbaugh is a very good head coach and possibly an all-timer. He's not RR as a coordinator and I'm not as convinced as everyone else he's this great QB coach. But who cares. That's not his job. His job is to be the leader and face of the Michigan football program to both the outside world and within the program. And more than anyone else Michigan could have gotten, he understands that.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Steven Threet	So you're telling me Lloyd Carr's staff would have gone 3-9 with Rich Rod's version of the 2008 football team (no Mallett, the young OL, etc.)? Steven Threet was a 4-star QB coming out of HS. He wasn't some turd off the streets of Ann Arbor. In a Carr system he would have been functional and maybe even solid. And even if the offense was going to be as bad as you claim it would have been . . you can win games by playing good to great defense and trying to control the clock. However that's not the RR system. For the umpteenth time, I'm not claiming RR was wrong to do what he did. But that TEAM (note the emphasis on TEAM) wouldn't have gone 3-9 with many, many other coaches.
1 year 7 weeks ago	There are teams out there	that try to milk clock and win games 21-10, 17-7, etc. It may not be the most popular way to play but it's proven to be successful in the past. One of them currently plays right up the road in the same conference as Michigan. It's not a crime to win games with an emphasis on defense. RR CHOSE not to do that.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Neither	Because neither guy won AT MICHIGAN!
1 year 7 weeks ago	Go back and re-read the predictions from that year	Find me 3-9. Again, the blog founder predicted 7-5. There was enough talent on that team even with the QB situation to win more than 3 football games. Today it's all about RichRod was a miracle worker to get that team to 3 wins. It's revisionist.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Apparently reading comprehension	isn't a strongsuit among the regulars. I specifically stated I didn't think it was the wrong thing to do to implement the spread system.  But that team wasn't destined to suck regardless of system either. And did you predict 3-9? Again a lot of revisionism based on hindsight. NOBODY thought that team was going 3-9. NOBODY.
1 year 7 weeks ago	I didn't say he wasn't the better coach	It doesn't mean he did a good job at Michigan.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Yeah, I get that those two	Yeah, I get that those two aren't mistaken for Tom Brady and Chad Henne. Why wasn't anybody saying it at the time? How come nobody thought the team was going 3-9? Oh that's right because this was still a team with highly ranked classes that had some talent.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Got to find a way	to prove how right the RR hire was. Hoke doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve when the program was falling apart, therefore RR is better.
1 year 7 weeks ago	Being a coordinator	and being a head coach are two completely different jobs. One requires you to have an intricate knowledge of football. The other requires you to be an excellent manager of people and good organizational abilty. The fact Hoke had no coordinator experience doesn't mean he wasn't qualified to be the head coach at Michigan. There may have been other issues, but that's a red herring.

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