Pep Hamilton and his time spent as OC of the Indianapolis Colts

 I lived through his time in Indianapolis. It was remarkably similar to what is happening at Michigan.  His relentless commitment to the long developing route schemes are the biggest impediment to our success at this point.  Andrew Luck took the most hits in the NFL by a very large margin during his time as offensive coordinator. 

The article talks of Andrew Luck struggling also.  He is not struggling this year.  He is on fire with Frank Reich.  Someone who knows can explain why this is not mere coincidence.

SO what you're saying is that "Pep" has never lived up to his name.

He stank as QB coach in Chicago.

He stank with the Browns.

He just stank.

Im sure this has been brought up before but in the 6-8 games where you are clearly the favorite the 10-20 less snaps mean less actual game reps. Over time that is a huge loss of in game action. I would say a fast tempo can help so many things. Number of live reps being a huge one.

He’s been beyond mediocre in every significant stop he’s had. He’s a yes man with connections. That’s why he keeps getting jobs. And it’s exactly why he’ll be an OC in the NFL next year. 

Harbaugh's first year in 2015 with Fisch had a dynamic passing attack by the end of the season. I had so much fun watching Darboh and Chesson run all over the field, especially Chesson. There is no reason that couldn't happen again. Major difference is QB play and Pep replacing Fisch.

Even Grant Perry seemed to have a bigger impact his freshman year that same 2015 season than he did the rest of his career, at least in the second half of 2015. That 2015 season was so vastly different with the passing game.

I guess the running attack was much worse, so maybe Harbaugh became too reliant on running the ball once it became a strength? I don't know. I just know I wasn't highly disappointed with Rudock throwing the ball for 300 yards per game in the second half of that season. 

"One person in the organization told ESPN.com had that had been asking Hamilton to play with tempo for more than two weeks but that their suggestions weren't being received."

Harbaugh knew this going in, and was fine with it.

if offensive staff doesn’t change at the top, press rewind on this season and hit play.  You will have the 2019 season. 

Still waiting to hear from don brown as well. It won’t happen though. 

It’s rather shocking that a former all pro quarterback such as Jim Harbaugh will refuse to use innovative schemes to get receivers open, in addition to not running tempo regularly as a tactic to force the defense to adapt and get favorable matchups.

If Harbaugh continues to coach offense with such an archaic philosophy, then in the immortal words of my old little league football coach Gary Bonham of the Soithgate Bengals:

“Shiiiit...he ain’t nuttin but a pussy”

Let's just get a coordinator who calls mesh and slants all day.  Maybe don brown can get a clue how to defend them that way.

I don’t really care if he stays. Just hope Harbaugh hires a full time OC who wants to play 21st century football and then, like he did with Don Brown, just gets out of his way.

Harbaugh, for all of his faults so far, has made some great hires during his tenure here. Hope he makes another big one this offseason. 

I am also a Colts fan, and yes he was horrible with us and is with UM too. 

There is a reason why the Browns and the Colts fired him and the fans were happy to see him gone. He sucks

Quick strike, has there been a quick slant in the last 2 years? How many hurry up offenses? 

I hate to inject facts into this discussion, but someone please tell me who coached Andrew Luck to his highest number of touchdowns, his lowest number of interceptions, his highest yards per attempt and completion, his 2nd lowest sack percentage, and his 2nd highest qb rating? That happened to be Pep Hamilton when he was offensive coordinator of the Colts. In 2014 Luck had 40 touchdowns, then halfway through the 2015 season, a year in which Luck was injured in game 3 and missed 2 games with an injured throwing shoulder, Pep Hamilton was fired. Is it possible that Luck's injury caused the perceived regression in his game? It's hard to believe that the offensive coordinator who guided and playcalled Luck to an extremely low interception rate in one year, and then to a career high in touchdowns the next year, suddenly couldn't guide Luck to a productive season. 

Next, this offensive dynamism by Jedd Fisch is much more revisionist history than it is fact. 25% of Jake Rudock's 3,000+ passing yards came in TWO GAMES (337 vs Rutgers, 440 vs Indiana). However, when they played good defenses Fisch's offenses couldn't muster much of a passing attack (168 yds vs MSU, 13 points vs OSU). In 2016, when facing good defenses, Iowa (13th in nation), and OSU (3rd in nation) the team scored a combined 30 points in regulation. And, Fisch seemed to do no better with John O'Korn than Pep did last year. In his only start under Fisch, O'Korn was 7/16 for 59 long yards. 

For some reason, Pep Hamilton is getting scapegoated again! He's the only coach in the Harbaugh era who has coached a 40 touchdown passing season. Maybe if Pep was given total control of the offense he could do the same here. What will it take for some of you to recognize that this offense is EXACTLY the way HARBAUGH wants it? Look at his tenure in San Francisco. He never had a dynamic passing offense. Harbaugh wants to run the ball and play solid defense. His three NFC Championship Game teams, were no lower than 8th in rushing, and no higher than 23rd in passing, while being top 5 in defense. Were none of you watching that? You guys didn't know that Harbaugh was a conservative football guy? 

Stop whining with a new Pep thread every couple of days. This is Harbaugh's show... just like in San Francisco. If you wanted fast paced, spread, run and gun type offense, you should've pleaded for them to keep RichRod! Harbaugh's offense can work. Saban won every one of his national titles by playing staunch defense and running the ball... even last year! Everyone talks about Tua, but that was one game where 26 points were scored. During the season, Saban's team averaged 193 yards passing per game, and 250 yards rushing per game. As a matter of fact, Saban won the title 3 years ago with Derrick Henry rushing the ball 46, 44, and 36 times in the Iron Bowl, SEC Title Game, and National Title Game, respectively. Did anyone constantly wail about him opening up the offense? 

The offense will change only IF Harbaugh wants it to change. Stop the scapegoating of Pep, and accept Harbaugh for who he is. Either that, or run him out of town and become the University of Miami and USC... 4th coach in 8 years.