Future Of Offensive Assistants?

Submitted by DesHow21 on

Nuss pretty much stated it flat out in the conference. "Heck, Daryl, Dan and Fred" mentioned specifically as being a "great staff". They get one year to prove themsleves. I am going to go ahead and guess there isnt going to be a harder working coach than Funk this year. 

 

#GOBLUE

MOD EDIT: I will leave the OP to edit the body of this, but yeah, the title was misleading as nothing definitive was said regarding this. He said something more to the effect that he was excited to work with the current staff, but whether that staff remains current once he gets going as OC is another matter. - LSA

Everyone Murders

January 10th, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^

I heard what you heard, but I'm not positive it means 100% job security for these guys.  I think that Nussmeier said what he needed to, but it seemed more akin to Hoke's "I don't anticipate any coaching staff changes" from after the B1G season.

And in fairness to Nussmeier and the other coaches, they deserve time to get to know one another and determine fit.  I'll be surprised if any heads roll before NSD, though.  (Similar to the way the Borges was not let go until the EE players were actually enrolled.)

DGDestroys

January 10th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^

From John Infante's blog

Note that midyear enrollees still cannot sign National Letters of Intent (except for junior college transfers). So the impact may be limited if coaches are unwilling to sign a prospect to a financial aid agreement that locks the university in to providing a scholarship but does nothing to commit the prospect to the university.

Since none of the players were really recruited heavily by Borges and the scheme won't be that different, I'm still inclined to believe that EEs weren't really a consideration, but I guess you never know. 

5starrecruit

January 10th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^

I agree. All the EE seemed very solid and I doubt firing Borges would make them question their commitment, even more so with the immediate hire of Nussmeier. IMHO I don't think the EE fully understood what they were signing. A couple of them posted on twitter "signed my loi" when they did not.

bdsisme

January 10th, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^

5starrecruit is right, DGDestroys is wrong (for once).  The papers they signed were only financial aid documents holding the university responsible for supporting them ... they did not tie the recruit to the university.  They could've chose to not report to the school and gone somewhere else.

EDIT: Sorry, DG, I see you already realized the difference. I guess I had the tab open for a long time before I decided to respond.

JimBobTressel

January 10th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^

If Coach Nuss wants it, I'm cool with it. Guy said alllllllllllllllllllll the right things in his press conference.

jmblue

January 10th, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^

Regardless of whether they stay or not, I think they may all look a lot better - especially Funk - if we have a coherent plan for our offense and don't constantly deviate from it like we did in 2013.

 

gwkrlghl

January 10th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^

I think GERG's shocking resurgence at Texas really shows how meddling with a coaches plan can completely submarine him. I still don't think GERG is great, but Mack Brown didn't make him run a 3-3-5 and it turned out well in Austin. Similarly, Borges' game plans were just all over the place and maybe that was submarining the development of the O-line when Funk has no clue what is going to change week-to-week.

With a new coach, we might see better stability that lets Funk to his thing a little better. He didn't get to be a BCS level O-line coach because he sucked. A change at OC may be good for him

His Dudeness

January 10th, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^

I certainly hope this isn't true. It has the makings of a repeat of the RR Scott Shaffer placement.

You can't force a guy to work with dudes he didnt hire. You can ask him to see if he can work with them or not and then hire/fire from there, but you cant just give everyone job security. Some people dont work well together.

 

JimBobTressel

January 10th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

agreed..some coaches clash...like nuss with saban.

 

considering the circumstances of his departure, his talks with hoke,  and his complimenting of the coaching staff, i aint worried. he sounds like an intelligent guy who realizes what situation he's walked into. he has 100% support from Hoke.

highestman

January 10th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^

But I think this can be different, mainly because I predict Hoke giving Nuss a lot of freedom and autonomy. Nuss did not agree to come from a championship program to be told what to do. GERG on the other hand was plucked out of free agency (per se) after a miserably failed HC gig. While RR was probably a bit hands off the D, it was clear who the boss was. RR basically said "We know what Casteel did in wvu worked, I need you to help implement that here", which is when the issues came up.

BoWoody

January 10th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^

You are assuming Hoke knows anything about offense.  In our situation, I woul like to Nuss to have a little bite of freedom to suggest to hoke who to let go and who to bring in.  Just like others mentioned, if the alabama offensive staff is let go when kiffin arrives.  I dont mind see Nuss plucking away the most talented assistant coaches from there.  Give him a true chance to make a difference.  But what am i saying, it is neither up to hoke or Nuss.  It is all in DB's hand, he is the AD, and the head coach

mGrowOld

January 10th, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^

I'm ok with this if Nuss is and my guess would be he would have a major influence in the decision to retain or let go.

FWIW-I'm not as down on Funk now as I was earlier in the year. I'm sure his personal situation made it very difficult to do as well as he himself would like and I'll bet Hoke knows that. And nobody really knows just how dysfunctional our offensive staff was this year behind the scenes-perhaps Hoke believes this change will fix any o those interpersonal issues too.

FreddieMercuryHayes

January 10th, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^

If they do stay...ehhh... Not that there's anything wrong with it if Nuss knows them or their work or interviews or evaluates them, but I really hope it's not a "here are your assistants" thing going on. We saw that with the D staff and RR. A coordinator NEEDS to pick his own staff and be comfortable with them and their style match the offense's as a whole. If he doesn't even look at anybody else, I will be uneasy.

Mr. Yost

January 10th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^

I've said it 1 million times, this 1,000,001.

Give him an office right next to Coach Carr, have him be an ambassador for the program. Give speeches and visit with high school coaches. Have him work with Greg Harden on administrative things and have him involved in community engagement in SW Michigan.

He'd be the perfect mentor for the new Michigan RB Coach - Tyrone Wheatley.

Magnus

January 10th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^

I've said it 1 million times, this is 1,000,001.

Jackson has been here for 20-plus years. He's coached Wheatley, Powers, Biakabutuka, Thomas, Perry, Hart, and lots of others along the way. Just because a cadre of Rich Rodriguez-approved tailbacks like Vincent Smith, Michael Shaw, etc. didn't work out doesn't mean that Jackson is to blame.

JimBobTressel

January 10th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^

Derrick Green and Deveon Smith showed significant improvement throughout the season, as well. Touissant was displaced as a starter by the end of the year. That's a 5th year senior RB losing his spot to a true freshman. RB coaching is a low-requirement job. If your RB have the athleticism, you have a good run game.

Mr. Yost

January 10th, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^

Which is fine.

But Michigan hasn't had a running game from the RB position since Hart left.

Michigan currently does not have one RB in the NFL.

Where is Thomas Rawls? He's not Rich Rod approved, he was supposed to be Mark Ingram...but faster. He committed AFTER Rich Rod was gone. His counterpart Hayes who ended up in the class is also buried at the bottom of the depth chart/changed positions.

Didn't WVU have Steve Slaton under Rich Rod? Right now at Arizona Rich Rod has a kid Ka'Deem Carey. Both had monster seasons under Rich Rod...so he clearly can produce at the RB position in a big way. Borderline Heisman producing. So that's B/S to blame it on Rich Rod.

I'm not going to place all the blame on either guy, but you can't ignore these things either.

ALSO, I think our coaching staff as a whole needs to get younger. This would be a great start in having a younger guy to mix in with the experience.

In my opinion, it's time for a change. I don't care about the circumstances, his position has not produced in over 6 years.

FreeKarl

January 10th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^

Which RB coaches would have made any of the RR-era backs into multiyear NFL players? Touissant's injury pretty much ended his NFL hopes. V Smith was never going to make in the NFL. STEVE SLATON IS NOT IN THE NFL. Does Rich Rod have any RBs currently in the NFL?

Rawls was just a body in the 1 month 2011 class. Jackson hyped him up. Jackson hypes everyone up. Justice Hayes is still under 200 pounds. Hayes will still be a RS Jr. He looked pretty good in the bowl game, even if he is moving to slot. Drake Johnson, who was supposedly very raw coming out of HS, was competiting for the starting job. I thought Smith and Green improved a good amount over the course of the year. 

Wendyk5

January 10th, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^

My opinion is that 20 years at any job is too long. Change is good. If our running game was consistently excellent, I could see making a point against this. But it hasn't been. Change is good. (And this is nothing personal against Fred - I would say this about anyone who's been in the same place for 20 years). 

Yeoman

January 10th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^

How many multi-year NFL backs has RR ever had? If that's the metric, and I don't see why it should be, he's a remarkable failure as a developer of offensive talent. I checked this back when he was hired at Michigan, and during his tenure WVU had put fewer offensive players into the NFL than all but one school in the Big East (I forget which one it was, maybe South Florida?)

I don't know why it's a surprise that the trend continued here--it seems to be inherent in the particular system he runs and the players he recruits to fit that system. Blaming Jackson for that seems off..

Magnus

January 10th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^

Yep. I think the most productive offensive guy out of WVU under Rodriguez was Steve Slaton, and he's out of football after four or five years. His other running backs (Quincy Wilson, Kay-Jay Harris, etc.) didn't do anything, and neither has his celebrated quarterback (Pat White).

Yeoman

January 10th, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^

No linemen, either, or receivers. There was a defensive player who converted to fullback in the NFL; that doesn't count.

It's not a knock on RR, really, it's just a thing. But it's relevant, if you're going to apply that metric to his assistants.

Magnus

January 10th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^

...which is fine.

"Michigan hasn't had a running game from the RB position since Hart left."

That is patently false. Fitzgerald Toussaint averaged 5.6 yards/carry and had over 1,000 yards in 2011. Brandon Minor averaged 5.2 yards/carry in 2008 and 2009 and scored 17 touchdowns in just 199 carries over that span.

"Michigan currently does not have one running back in the NFL."

Arguably false. Michael Cox is a New York Giant, though he didn't finish his career at Michigan. And what does that have to do with Fred Jackson directly? Is it his fault that Mike Hart had injury problems and was small/slow? Is it his fault that Brandon Minor (allegedly) likes weed a little too much? The average running back's career is very short, so there's not a very large window. And when the program and recruiting take a dip for a few years because of a change in the system/philosophy/whatever, there's going to be some consequences. You know what other positions in the NFL are lacking Michigan players? Well...lots of them. Linebackers, cornerbacks, offensive linemen, quarterbacks... This isn't the old days when Michigan plays litter the NFL. The program has had a rough few years all around.

"Where is Thomas Rawls? He's not Rich Rod approved, he was supposed to be Mark Ingram...but faster. He committed AFTER Rich Rod was gone."

What's your point? First of all, you don't know whether Fred Jackson was the reason behind the Rawls offer or not. And secondly, it seems that you're suggesting the RB coach is the reason for any recruit not panning out.

"Didn't WVU have Steve Slaton under Rich Rod? Right now at Arizona Rich Rod has a kid Ka'Deem Carey. Both had monster seasons under Rich Rod...so he clearly can produce at the RB position in a big way. Borderline Heisman producing. So that's B/S to blame it on Rich Rod."

LOL. First of all, Ka'Deem Carey wasn't recruited by Rich Rodriguez. He was a 2011 recruit, the year Rodriguez was an analyst for CBS Sports, though he has produced under Rodriguez. Secondly, it seems odd to me that you're praising Rich Rodriguez for Steve Slaton's work from 2005-2007, but part of your argument against Fred Jackson is that he hasn't done anything since Mike Hart...who was in college from 2004-2007. Either the year 2007 counts for both guys, or it counts for neither.

Mr. Yost

January 10th, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^

It doesn't make you correct, clever or witty...but I'm sure it makes you feel better.

That was really long, but I'll say this.

I figured you'd mention Cox, which is a joke, but whatever, if it makes you feel better. "HEY EVERYBODY! Michigan has ONE RB in the NFL...a 7th rounder! Remember Michael Cox? He's the best we have from Michigan."

Since Mike Hart was drafted...we have Michael Cox. Michigan State has 3 guys that have been drafted. I believe OSU has had the same. So if you want to play the "technically...arguably..." game, that's fine. I hope it makes you feel better, but it doesn't prove ANYTHING.

My point on Rawls is that he's NOT a Rich Rod guy. Don't get hung up on the joke I put in there. Relax.

My other points were that he and Hayes are at the bottom of the depth chart, they haven't seemed to get much better. That is on the RB coach.

And Carey, it doesn't matter than he wasn't a Rich Rod guy...he's performing in his offense as Slaton did. So the point was Rich Rod RBs can perform...and there isn't an excuse why they didn't perform to a All-B1G level under Rich Rod or Hoke.

Keep trying.