Grew up a Lions fan. Lived in Philly for 20 years and also cheer for Eagles now. Brandon Graham has turned into a legend out here...after the fan base initially hated him his first few years because they wanted the team to draft Earl Thomas. The strip sack of Brady in the SB cemented his legacy here forever. Also he's just a great dude...does a lot for the community.
It was bound to happen. Difficult for a Michigan/Detroit sports fan to have any sustained joy after a championship. Days after the Pistons won the '89 NBA championship, Rick Mahorn is snatched away in the expansion draft. After the Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 40+ years, Vladdy is injured in a car accident. Now M finally reaches the mountaintop and we lose our coach. Don't even want to think about what will happen after the Lions win the Super Bowl.
That said, thanks for all you've done coach. Good luck and Go Blue!
If OSU wins out and goes to the playoffs and MSU and UM finish with identical conference records, does MSU go to the Rose Bowl because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker, or does the Rose Bowl committee have some autonomy to make their own selection and possibly choose UM?
Coaching change needs to happen but ultimately it won't matter who they hire. This program is permanently fucked. They can't stop tripping on their own dicks.
Good friend of mine is an AD at a Power 5 school (not Big 10) and he knows Warde relatively well. He told me Warde is a nice guy and he likes him but he's in over his skis and should have never been hired. Mentioned there were other more qualified candidates they should have went after. Also mentioned there is "institutional dysfunction" at M.
One of the biggest differences between Michigan and OSU over the last 30 years is while they revere Woody Hayes, they have moved on from his legacy and embrace modern college football. The old alums here at UM can't let go of Bo's shadow and expect everything to be done the way it was done in the 70's. This program has never figured out it's time to move on.
Yeah but who can we get that's better than Harbuagh?
He just needs time to get his system in place.
The offensively line needs more talent and time to gel.
The schedule was brutally tough.
Blah, blah, blah.
Losers have explanations for everything. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.
Is there a back story to why Jim Delany doesn't like Michigan? I read comments periodically that he is always trying to undermine UM's success. The reason I'm asking is it seems to me Michigan and Ohio State should be the crown jewels of the conference and it would make sense for him that both perform well. I understand his support for all things OSU, but why not UM? It seems like if Michigan were one of the best teams in the country that would be good for the Big Ten as a whole, moreso than say a successful MSU or Wisconsin.
Love our coach, no one else I would rather have. I just don't understand the play calling in the second half of some of these tight games. Feels like Lloyd Carr again. I feel like we always play not to lose as opposed to playing to win. I kept thinking all we needed was one more decent drive in the second half that ended in points and the game was over.
I actually passed DJ Durkin in the Philly airport on Wednesday and I wanted to give him a "Go Blue" but for some reason I got a case of the yips and chickened out.
The trajectory of the program was trending much higher if it weren't for the unexpected early departures of so many of our key players.
One thing that MSU has done a great job of is finding elite players at the high school level whose games translate well to college but are not necessarily guys who are coveted by NBA types. These are the kind of players who tend to stay all 4 years and provides a great deal of experience and continuity to their program. Guys like Kalin Lucas, Keith Appling, Adrien Payne, Draymond Green, Brendan Dawson, Denzel Valentine were all 4/5 star kids who stuck around in college all 4 years.
Unfortunately for us our best players recently have left after 2 years and the ones that have stuck around are better suited as reserves.
2nd and long was always a draw or bubble screen. Every single time. Drove me insane when a schmuck like me sitting on the couch could predict what they were doing.
I agree about Clark ending up at UCLA. His situation seems very similar to when Butch McRae and Neon Boudeaux went on their campus visit to Western University and fell in love with the Cali "lifestyle".
I always thought it was Jeff George. Seems to fit all the criteria.
Midwest kid (Indianapolis) who gradutaed from high school in 1986, tranferred from Purdue to Illinois, and put up some decent numbers in the NFL. Also seemed like the type that was not well liked by his teammates.
As much as I want Harbaugh, I would be almost as happy with Stoops. It would be like getting turned down to go to prom by Cindy Crawford only to end up going with Elle McPherson. I know I'm dating myself, but what do you want, I'm in my 40's. I'm a man.
My biggest concern is the lack of any type of due diligence process when making these major hires. Brandon was hired as a return favor from MSC. Hoke was hired because DB wanted a puppet he could control. RichRod was hired because Martin assumed coaches would be lining up at the door for the job and when they didn't, he panicked and had RR fall in his lap. I find it hard to believe that this university does not have the resources to conduct a competent search for a new AD.
If Hackett can bring in Harbaugh or Miles then fine, but if neither one comes, I have no confidence in the administration's ability to conduct a proper coaching search.
No surprise here but I listened to a local Philly sports radio station today that interviewed Jon Runyan Sr. and he said his son is not going anywhere. Committed to the university, not the coachig staff.
Sr. also said he is sick of people coming up to him and asking what the hell's the matter with Michigan.
It's been a while since the Goss era and my memory is not what it used to be but I don't recall a march on the President's house, signed petitions and planned protests demanding his removal.
Just finished reading Bo's Lasting Lessons and Bo said he was in Mexico at the time the whole Moeller thing went down. Everything happened so fast there was nothing he could do to save him by the time he got home. He basically said Moeller never would have been fired had he been around to talk some sense into the people that canned him.
Agreed. From a coaching standpoint there's a time to be encouraging and there's a time to be critical. This is what's lost on Hoke. He thinks clapping and saying let's go and slapping guys on the ass telling them everything will be ok is just not working. He needs to hold some of these guys accountable. If Funchess drops a couple of passes because of a lack of effort or concentration then Hoke needs to get into him and sit him down for a quarter. These players need some consequences for lack of effort/focus/heart/concentration.
Most of the players have at one point or another this year been awful and have opened themselves up to criticism. They have not played well and deserve some blame. But do you guys really believe if the players on this roster were coached by Meyer, Dantonio, Saban, Harbaugh, etc. they would be this bad? Of course not. Any of those coaches with the current roster would probably not have more than 1 or 2 losses tops at this point in the season.
What is taking Schlissel so long to make a decision on Brandon? What more information does he need? If you wait too long to fire the guy than the next coaching search will be a botch job like the previous two. He needs to move quickly at this point and if his decision is to ultimately keep him, then state that now and let's move on. The uncertainty is like a black cloud over the program and it's not going away.
The hatred has always run much deeper on Sparty's side. A good friend of mine played for MSU in the early 80's and he told me that if there was a scenario where MSU needed UM to win a game at the end of the season in order for Sparty to win a Big Ten title or conversely a Michigan loss meant Sparty would not win it, he said he would rather see UM lose than win a conference championship.
I thought 8-9 wins was realistic with an outside shot at competing for a Big Ten title if things fell the right way.
I remember back during the Lloyd years I thought about what it would feel like to be a fan of Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota or Indiana with virtually no hope of competing for a championship and looking at a .500 record at best. I remember thinking how awful it would be knowing there was no hope for nothing more than being medicore.
Considering everything that is going on how can Brandon possibly keep his job going forward? I understand you can't makes decisions based on popular opinion and can't give in to public pressure, but he has become too much of a polarizing figure with too much baggage. I think you reach a point that even for all the good you think he may have done or could still do for your athletic department, there are just too many obstacles to overcome for it to work.
Cut him loose and let's bring some level of normalcy back to the university. I'm tired of all the drama.
Hoke will not be back next year even if Brandon is retained. Last year Brandon put out a statement defending Hoke saying he will be leading our football program well into the future. He sent this out because of the rampant speculation about his job security and its negative impact on recruiting.
This year he has made no such endorsement. He just said Hoke will be evaluated at the end of the year like every other coach. Considering the shitstorm that's been going on and the negative impact it is having on recruiting, don't you think Brandon would make some statement about Hoke's job security for next year if he thought he would be back?
Serious question because I don't know all the intricasies of offensive line play, but does Nuss have any impact on the development of the O-Line or does he just focus on schemes and play calling while Funk focuses on player development. I guess my question is how much responsibility does a coordinator have on the play of different position groups.
We all know what a huge shadow Bo cast over the entire program but it is even more evident now that he's gone. Agree with RichRod's statement; the factions that exist now would never have been tolerated by Bo and everyone would have fallen in line whether they liked it or not.
Those days are gone and there is a huge leadership vacuum. We desperately need a new direction with a new AD/coach and get back to being a national program.
That picture of Brandon with DG reminded me of that scene in Jerry Maguire when Bob Sugar tried to give his client a hug after his client wanted to know why they didn't have the same type of relationship that Jerry and Rod Tidwell had.
That was Brandon's Bob Sugar moment...."see I do care....let's hug it out."
I couldn't agree more. Unless we get a Harbaugh as coach or Bates/Manuel as AD, I can't think of anyone from the "old guard" I would want in those positions. No Cam Cameron, Jim Herrmman, Mike DeBord, Stan Parrish, Terry Malone, etc...enough already.
Nothing to see here. Hoke will provide nothing of substance and will be repetitive with his comments.
I live in Philly and he reminds me a bit of Andy Reid and his pressers/interviews. I heard for 14 years how he and the other coaches need to do a better job, "it's on me", execution, blah, blah, blah.
I know a majority of people think getting Jim Harbaugh is a long shot to become head coach. But let's assume for a minute that he has genuine interest in coming here and Brandon is no longer AD. Do you think some of the so-called "factions"within the program could undermine a potential hire given JH's comments a few years ago?
I know Jamie Morris and other ex-players had issues with it and I assume some others within the administration did as well. I guess I'm just fearful that we would have a divided house (again) and it could squash any chance of him coming here.
I have been watching Michigan football since 1979. I have experienced every emotion possible over the last 35 years but for the first time I have complete apathy for the program. No joy in a good play, no anger over a missed assignment, no disappointment over a tough loss. I feel nothing, absolutely nothing. This is worse than 2008-2010. I would rather feel frustration and depression like I did then as opposed to now where I am just numb to the mediocrity. This program is at a crossroads. If they don't get the next AD/coaching hire right, you could be looking at another decade-long period of Michigan football being completely irrelevant.
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Desmond Howard had a solid career as a punt returner but never did much as a WR.
Grew up a Lions fan. Lived in Philly for 20 years and also cheer for Eagles now. Brandon Graham has turned into a legend out here...after the fan base initially hated him his first few years because they wanted the team to draft Earl Thomas. The strip sack of Brady in the SB cemented his legacy here forever. Also he's just a great dude...does a lot for the community.
It was bound to happen. Difficult for a Michigan/Detroit sports fan to have any sustained joy after a championship. Days after the Pistons won the '89 NBA championship, Rick Mahorn is snatched away in the expansion draft. After the Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 40+ years, Vladdy is injured in a car accident. Now M finally reaches the mountaintop and we lose our coach. Don't even want to think about what will happen after the Lions win the Super Bowl.
That said, thanks for all you've done coach. Good luck and Go Blue!
Travis Conlan
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Albert White
Travis Conlan
Willie Mitchell
If OSU wins out and goes to the playoffs and MSU and UM finish with identical conference records, does MSU go to the Rose Bowl because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker, or does the Rose Bowl committee have some autonomy to make their own selection and possibly choose UM?
As long as Harbaugh doesn't go full turtle I think the good guys win.
Wait, we're just playing things close to the vest because we don't want to put too much on film right?
Do Harbaugh and Gattis know the rules allow them to throw on first down?
Coaching change needs to happen but ultimately it won't matter who they hire. This program is permanently fucked. They can't stop tripping on their own dicks.
Do you think Harbaugh is aware but not fully aware of what a shit show this has become?
Good friend of mine is an AD at a Power 5 school (not Big 10) and he knows Warde relatively well. He told me Warde is a nice guy and he likes him but he's in over his skis and should have never been hired. Mentioned there were other more qualified candidates they should have went after. Also mentioned there is "institutional dysfunction" at M.
One of the biggest differences between Michigan and OSU over the last 30 years is while they revere Woody Hayes, they have moved on from his legacy and embrace modern college football. The old alums here at UM can't let go of Bo's shadow and expect everything to be done the way it was done in the 70's. This program has never figured out it's time to move on.
Is there a back story to why Jim Delany doesn't like Michigan? I read comments periodically that he is always trying to undermine UM's success. The reason I'm asking is it seems to me Michigan and Ohio State should be the crown jewels of the conference and it would make sense for him that both perform well. I understand his support for all things OSU, but why not UM? It seems like if Michigan were one of the best teams in the country that would be good for the Big Ten as a whole, moreso than say a successful MSU or Wisconsin.
Marquise Walker
This franchise has lacked vision and direction since Bill Davidson passed away. Another 10 years in NBA purgatory.
Bernard Robinson
Avery Queen
Bernard Robinson Jr.
Leslie Rockymore
Makhtar NDiaye
Chris Webber
*Sixth Man: Dominic Ingerson
Brandon Peters = John Navarre 2.0
Love our coach, no one else I would rather have. I just don't understand the play calling in the second half of some of these tight games. Feels like Lloyd Carr again. I feel like we always play not to lose as opposed to playing to win. I kept thinking all we needed was one more decent drive in the second half that ended in points and the game was over.
Fab Five game against Kentucky in the Final Four. Was probably their best performance in their two years together.
I actually passed DJ Durkin in the Philly airport on Wednesday and I wanted to give him a "Go Blue" but for some reason I got a case of the yips and chickened out.
The trajectory of the program was trending much higher if it weren't for the unexpected early departures of so many of our key players.
One thing that MSU has done a great job of is finding elite players at the high school level whose games translate well to college but are not necessarily guys who are coveted by NBA types. These are the kind of players who tend to stay all 4 years and provides a great deal of experience and continuity to their program. Guys like Kalin Lucas, Keith Appling, Adrien Payne, Draymond Green, Brendan Dawson, Denzel Valentine were all 4/5 star kids who stuck around in college all 4 years.
Unfortunately for us our best players recently have left after 2 years and the ones that have stuck around are better suited as reserves.
Pretty simple really. Would you rather have:
a) Harbaugh
Gentry
Wheatley
Wasington
Higdon
Jones
etc...
OR
b) Hoke
Marshall
Clark
Weber
Smith
etc...
I'm taking option 'a' and not thinking twice. Thanks.
2nd and long was always a draw or bubble screen. Every single time. Drove me insane when a schmuck like me sitting on the couch could predict what they were doing.
I agree about Clark ending up at UCLA. His situation seems very similar to when Butch McRae and Neon Boudeaux went on their campus visit to Western University and fell in love with the Cali "lifestyle".
I always thought it was Jeff George. Seems to fit all the criteria.
Midwest kid (Indianapolis) who gradutaed from high school in 1986, tranferred from Purdue to Illinois, and put up some decent numbers in the NFL. Also seemed like the type that was not well liked by his teammates.
As much as I want Harbaugh, I would be almost as happy with Stoops. It would be like getting turned down to go to prom by Cindy Crawford only to end up going with Elle McPherson. I know I'm dating myself, but what do you want, I'm in my 40's. I'm a man.
My biggest concern is the lack of any type of due diligence process when making these major hires. Brandon was hired as a return favor from MSC. Hoke was hired because DB wanted a puppet he could control. RichRod was hired because Martin assumed coaches would be lining up at the door for the job and when they didn't, he panicked and had RR fall in his lap. I find it hard to believe that this university does not have the resources to conduct a competent search for a new AD.
If Hackett can bring in Harbaugh or Miles then fine, but if neither one comes, I have no confidence in the administration's ability to conduct a proper coaching search.
No surprise here but I listened to a local Philly sports radio station today that interviewed Jon Runyan Sr. and he said his son is not going anywhere. Committed to the university, not the coachig staff.
Sr. also said he is sick of people coming up to him and asking what the hell's the matter with Michigan.
It's been a while since the Goss era and my memory is not what it used to be but I don't recall a march on the President's house, signed petitions and planned protests demanding his removal.
I would say Brandon by quite a bit.
Just finished reading Bo's Lasting Lessons and Bo said he was in Mexico at the time the whole Moeller thing went down. Everything happened so fast there was nothing he could do to save him by the time he got home. He basically said Moeller never would have been fired had he been around to talk some sense into the people that canned him.
Sounds like some more "miscommunication" issues that have been running rampant within the program lately.
Agreed. From a coaching standpoint there's a time to be encouraging and there's a time to be critical. This is what's lost on Hoke. He thinks clapping and saying let's go and slapping guys on the ass telling them everything will be ok is just not working. He needs to hold some of these guys accountable. If Funchess drops a couple of passes because of a lack of effort or concentration then Hoke needs to get into him and sit him down for a quarter. These players need some consequences for lack of effort/focus/heart/concentration.
Most of the players have at one point or another this year been awful and have opened themselves up to criticism. They have not played well and deserve some blame. But do you guys really believe if the players on this roster were coached by Meyer, Dantonio, Saban, Harbaugh, etc. they would be this bad? Of course not. Any of those coaches with the current roster would probably not have more than 1 or 2 losses tops at this point in the season.
What is taking Schlissel so long to make a decision on Brandon? What more information does he need? If you wait too long to fire the guy than the next coaching search will be a botch job like the previous two. He needs to move quickly at this point and if his decision is to ultimately keep him, then state that now and let's move on. The uncertainty is like a black cloud over the program and it's not going away.
The hatred has always run much deeper on Sparty's side. A good friend of mine played for MSU in the early 80's and he told me that if there was a scenario where MSU needed UM to win a game at the end of the season in order for Sparty to win a Big Ten title or conversely a Michigan loss meant Sparty would not win it, he said he would rather see UM lose than win a conference championship.
And he wasn't kidding.
I thought 8-9 wins was realistic with an outside shot at competing for a Big Ten title if things fell the right way.
I remember back during the Lloyd years I thought about what it would feel like to be a fan of Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota or Indiana with virtually no hope of competing for a championship and looking at a .500 record at best. I remember thinking how awful it would be knowing there was no hope for nothing more than being medicore.
Now I know what it feels like.
Considering everything that is going on how can Brandon possibly keep his job going forward? I understand you can't makes decisions based on popular opinion and can't give in to public pressure, but he has become too much of a polarizing figure with too much baggage. I think you reach a point that even for all the good you think he may have done or could still do for your athletic department, there are just too many obstacles to overcome for it to work.
Cut him loose and let's bring some level of normalcy back to the university. I'm tired of all the drama.
Hoke will not be back next year even if Brandon is retained. Last year Brandon put out a statement defending Hoke saying he will be leading our football program well into the future. He sent this out because of the rampant speculation about his job security and its negative impact on recruiting.
This year he has made no such endorsement. He just said Hoke will be evaluated at the end of the year like every other coach. Considering the shitstorm that's been going on and the negative impact it is having on recruiting, don't you think Brandon would make some statement about Hoke's job security for next year if he thought he would be back?
He's gone.
Serious question because I don't know all the intricasies of offensive line play, but does Nuss have any impact on the development of the O-Line or does he just focus on schemes and play calling while Funk focuses on player development. I guess my question is how much responsibility does a coordinator have on the play of different position groups.
We all know what a huge shadow Bo cast over the entire program but it is even more evident now that he's gone. Agree with RichRod's statement; the factions that exist now would never have been tolerated by Bo and everyone would have fallen in line whether they liked it or not.
Those days are gone and there is a huge leadership vacuum. We desperately need a new direction with a new AD/coach and get back to being a national program.
That picture of Brandon with DG reminded me of that scene in Jerry Maguire when Bob Sugar tried to give his client a hug after his client wanted to know why they didn't have the same type of relationship that Jerry and Rod Tidwell had.
That was Brandon's Bob Sugar moment...."see I do care....let's hug it out."
I couldn't agree more. Unless we get a Harbaugh as coach or Bates/Manuel as AD, I can't think of anyone from the "old guard" I would want in those positions. No Cam Cameron, Jim Herrmman, Mike DeBord, Stan Parrish, Terry Malone, etc...enough already.
Nothing to see here. Hoke will provide nothing of substance and will be repetitive with his comments.
I live in Philly and he reminds me a bit of Andy Reid and his pressers/interviews. I heard for 14 years how he and the other coaches need to do a better job, "it's on me", execution, blah, blah, blah.
Of Michigan's 22 starters, 13 of them were ranked 4/5 stars by rivals and 18 of them had offers from programs in the current AP Top 25.
Of MSU's starters, 1 of them was ranked a 4 star (Lawrence Thomas) and only 8 of them were offered by Top 25 teams.
Either the recruiting services are completely inaccurate or something is wrong with the development of these players.
I know which one I think it is.
How can you develop when the only direction you get from your coach is a "Let's go" and a slap on the ass.
I have been watching Michigan football since 1979. I have experienced every emotion possible over the last 35 years but for the first time I have complete apathy for the program. No joy in a good play, no anger over a missed assignment, no disappointment over a tough loss. I feel nothing, absolutely nothing. This is worse than 2008-2010. I would rather feel frustration and depression like I did then as opposed to now where I am just numb to the mediocrity. This program is at a crossroads. If they don't get the next AD/coaching hire right, you could be looking at another decade-long period of Michigan football being completely irrelevant.