Who is the most vilified assistant football coach in recent memory

Submitted by PA_Blue on January 10th, 2019 at 12:54 PM

With all of the criticism directed at Pep and Drevno the last two years it got me wondering if they are the most vilified assistant coaches in recent memory or if it just seems that way because of recency bias.  Certainly guys like Al Borges, Darrell Funk and GERG received their fair share of criticism but not at this level.

I've been a fan since the late '70's and for me the most frustrating assistants were during the Carr years with the Mike Debord/Terry Malone/Stan Parrish offenses.  I always felt they had a ton of talent that never reached their full potential.  Those teams were stacked with the likes of Brady/Henson, A-Train, David Terrell and Marquise Walker but I thought the scheme and play calling was way too conservative.  Going back even further, I remember people bitching about Cam Cameron quite a bit as well.

I'm sure I missed some, but these are the coaches that come first to mind.  My question is, who of these offensive masterminds would you prefer?  Would you rather have Pep or Debord?  Is Drevno < Borges?      

UofM626

January 10th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^

I still can’t wrap my head around Matty getting up and leaving like he did! I hear the recruits and current players are pretty pissed off about it and not happy. 

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Mannix

January 10th, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^

Really can’t remember paying attention to asst coaches or coordinators until early 2000?

Been a M fan since mid 70’s and I don’t think there was that much focus on anyone other than the HC. 

Social media has certainly magnified it but even with recruits , we didn’t know who M had until the first game in the fall until the last 15-20 yrs (?)

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Crootin

January 10th, 2019 at 4:43 PM ^

Pep, Drevno, Funk, Borges, GERG, Gittleson and Hermann later in their tenure....

 

And they all deserved it!!!  They were all combinations of old, behind the times, lost their edge, unwilling to adapt, stubborn, or just plain bad at their jobs.

 

Edit: forgot Debord and English.  Wow...we've had some real duds (not dudes) as assistant coaches over the last 20 years.  Blue blood culture and generally good recruiting caused this problem.  Stale!  Here's to our new OC!!!

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CompleteLunacy

January 10th, 2019 at 4:49 PM ^

Emotionally, it's Mattison. I'm still scratching my head. He cares so much about Michigan that he's happy to bolt to their most hated rival this late in his career? Does not compute. Sorry guy, thanks for turning the D around, but don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. 

But my football-related answers are GERG for defense and Nuss for offense. GERG because his defense was historically awful here (even if RR basically forced him to run a 3-3-5...sigh). And Nuss because I thought it would take so much to make me long for the days of Borges...and, well, it took him like 4 games. All I remember from that year of him is the faux ra-ra bullshit when we FINALLY scored a TD against MSU...in the 4th quarter, to cut the score to 28-11. Not to mention he's the OC overseeing the whole  let's-bench-our-5th-year-senior-QB-and-leave-the-concussed-and-hobbling-backup-Morris-in-the-game-who-has-been-terrible-anyway debacle. Hoke got the fire from that situation, but Nuss deserves heat too for not having his offense ready for such a situation (remember the 3rd string QB - whoever it was I forget - who couldn't find his damn helmet, so Morris had to go back in again)

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Monk

January 11th, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^

I don't think Pep or any OC under Harbaugh gets all that much criticism in the general UM fanbase.  Most assume it's JimH calling the plays and the defacto OC.  And it's not like there's been a clear OC the four years he's been here.  I'd go with Borges, maybe Hermann as well.

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