Monday Presser 9-22-14: Doug Nussmeier Comment Count

Adam Schnepp

nuss 9-15

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Coach, can you talk about the tempo of the offense? Is it where you want it to be at this point?

“Obviously we’d like it to play a little faster. Right now our focus is playing right. Execution. We’ll worry about tempo later, and I think like we’ve said before we want to control the tempo of the game on offense, whether that’s to slow the game down or speed the game up.”

 

Doug, Brady said he’ll have a decision tomorrow on the starting quarterback. What’s going into that decision?

“Well, I think there’s a lot that goes into the decision of who plays quarterback and both guys have done an outstanding job of preparing and practicing and competing. It’s what we’ve talked about all along at every position on our team; we want to have competition and we want to compete and challenge every day.”

 

Whichever one is in there, I assume the turnover message has to be reinforced.

“Definitely. I mean, you start from base premise of what we talked about fro day one that we continue to talk about every day and until we get it right we’re going to continue to struggle. It’s the turnover margin. You can’t win football games when you lose it. It’s the one telling statistic in all of football over time. You lose the turnover margin week in and week out and you’re going to struggle to have a good football team.”

 

Doug, I guess at this point not knowing who the quarterback’s going to be what positives do you see? What could you do differently if Shane Morris were your starter?

“Well, I don’t know that you say you start all over and change your offense. No. You do the things that play to Shane’s strengths and Shane’s obviously a talented guy. Got a lot of arm strength. He is a young player like a lot of our players and learning, and Devin does- they both are similar in a lot of their style. Both you can see can make plays with their feet. Both have really good arms, and we feel really good about either one of those guys.”

[Hit THE JUMP for more]

Doug, at Notre Dame Brady had said that Devin needed to ride it out and play the whole game because that was really important. Obviously the last two games you guys have taken him out later in the game. What’s the difference in the dynamic there in that decision?

“Well, I think that in the last game it was important for Devin to take a step back at that point in time after the interception and get a view from the sideline of what was going on. So we talked about, ‘Hey, take a step back.’ Sometimes it’s better when you can step back for a minute and you can see from the sideline view what’s going on and how the game’s developing, and for a quarterback sometimes when things aren’t going well and you’re being challenged for every yard like we were the other night things seem to speed up and a lot of times the picture’s not real clear. The reason to give Devin a chance to sit back and look at it and try to clear the picture for him.”

 

Doug, with Devin what is it that you focus on in terms of improving him like you would any other football player, but what with him specifically do you focus on and is there a problem in slowing the game down for him?

“Well, that’s my job and I’ve got to do a better job trying to slow the game down for him, and part of that is repetitions of the things that we’re doing and we’ve worked extremely hard at that. For Devin it’s tying his feet and his eyes to being in the right place at the right time and then making the right decisions.”

 

Doug, because maybe Morris and Gardner seem to have some different skills and I know some similar, could you look at…call it a platoon system or specialty plays for each one and not just have one set starter?

“Well, we’ve always had, since the start of the season, a plan for both guys to play. You always do. I think you’ve got to have a plan when you’ve got- when you look at a game in football you know there’s a chance your starting quarterback could get knocked out of the game, and you better have a plan for your backup and what he does well, what can he execute. Each guy- any quarterback at any level of football has plays that they like better than others so we’ve always had a plan. ‘Here are the plays. Devin, what do you like.’ And we always meet on that before the game, the night before the game. We talk through plays and [I ask], ‘What plays do you feel really good about, Devin?’ and ‘Shane, what plays do you feel really good about?’ so I have an idea going into the game where their mind is at.

Would you just want one starter or could you-

“Yeah, you want one starter.”

 

It looked like in the first half I think you guys looked Funchess’ way eight or nine times and I think only once after that. Did they take him away from you or what was the difference there?

“Well, it’s important that you look at the big picture of things and we tried to get it to Funch a little bit more and we had some things that happened to us, the sacks and those type of things and obviously we’re always looking for ways for Devin to touch the ball. He had the four touches in the first half, I think it was, for eighty-some yards and obviously we would have liked to get him more touches and that’s a focus of our offense each and every week. And yeah, we’d like to get him more touches. We had some that were called out and we just couldn’t get him the ball.”

 

I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not, but it seemed like every time you got across midfield there was normally a play that sent you backwards and kind of slowed things down. What do you attribute that to and how do you fix that?

“You know, it’s interesting. We talked about it and it’s been a recurring thing. Consistency in performance for our offense. You can take plays, a specific protection for example, that we run in the first half and we execute to get a big play, and we come back to the same protection versus the same pressure essentially and we get sacked because, and I talked about it last week, communication and being decisive versus their pressures and those types of things. Consistency in performance is where we’ve got to improve and coaches, players, we’re all in this together. It’s all of us together getting it corrected.”

Since it’s been a re-occuring thing do you just try to be consistent with the same message over and over and get into them or do you have to change the way you approach it with those guys?

“Well, one of the things that we’ve talked about that we need to make improvement in is making sure our scout team- and it’s one of those things that doesn’t get talked about a lot, but when you have a young team like we have offensively the pictures that they see Monday through Friday preparing them for Saturday, if those pictures aren’t exactly right and they’re a little bit off, it can skew young teams. Veteran teams, they’re usually able to overcome it because they’ve seen those blitzes or they’ve seen those looks over and over, and with a young team like we have offensively we’ve got to make sure those pictures are right. We’ve got to give them the pictures and then we’ve got to execute better.”

 

Coach, of course we’re playing for the Little Brown Jug on Saturday and you’re relatively new in town-

“I got my history lesson yesterday.”

Did you? That’s what I was going to ask you. Who gave you that?

“Coach Hoke did.”

Okay. Well I’m not going to quiz you.

“Don’t quiz me. I don’t know all the facts but I believe we got the jug there to make sure the water was good. I can’t remember the year, but a lot of history in this game. Feel fortunate to be a part of it.”

 

Doug, obviously the pass protection has been spotty at times, I guess. Do you feel like Gardner has felt that pressure or maybe sometimes feels the pressure before it’s there because he has been hit a lot?

“I don’t know that you can say that. I don’t know if that’d be correct or incorrect. You have to look at this way: any time the quarterback’s effected by the pass rush we’re concerned about it, and every quarterback has a different threshold. Devin’s an extremely tough individual and I don’t think that I would say that that’s the case.”

 

You come from a really successful place. What’s missing here?

“Consistency in performance.”

So those players can do it?

“Well, you see us do it in stretches. You see us move the football and you see us create explosive plays and the things we talk about; establishing the line of scrimmage, running the football, creating explosive plays. We do it at times and then at times we struggle and, once again, new group. Hasn’t played a lot together. If you look at career starts that we’ve got together right now there’s not a lot of them, and so it’s going to be important that we just continue to play through this [and] we stay together. The kids have done a phenomenal job. I can’t say enough about how hard those kids competed the other night. You know, go sit in that locker room after that rain delay, to be behind and have 7:51 or whatever it was to go in the game. They came out and those kids fought with everything they had. I’m very, very proud of what they did.”

 

Coach, what did you tell the offense during the rain delay? You just mentioned it, but…

“The biggest thing was our execution, and it’s about us. Each and every week when you look at our schedule, and we’ve said this week in and week out, it’s going to be how we prepare and how we execute. We don’t really- you look at who you’re playing, the players that they have, where might there be advantages for us, where may there be disadvantages but the biggest thing is about how we play [and] how we execute. Just because you win a game doesn’t mean you played good. Just because you lose a game doesn’t mean you played poorly. It can be skewed and usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle. You’re not usually playing as bad as it looks, and you’re not usually playing as good as people think at times.”

 

With Funchess, between missing a full game and missing drives here and there, limping a lot, things like that, where is he in terms of being at 100%?

“Feels great.

Is there concern over his durability and maybe some of the positions he’s being put in across the middle of the field?

“I think there’s- you look at Funch and his competitive nature and the things he’s done. You know, he’s a tough, tough guy.”

 

This isn’t quarterback specific so it could be offensive line [or] running back. When you make personnel changes what goes into that in terms of not only what you think the person you’re inserting can do but the effect on the person you’re replacing, that sort of thing?

“Well, I think that’s the environment we’re creating and that’s the compete and challenging every day. We want to have competition at every position and just because you’re not the starter or you don’t start that specific game doesn’t mean that you’re not going to start the next game, [or] whether or not you’re going to get an opportunity the following game. It doesn’t work like that. Getting the best players we can here at Michigan, having them compete each and every day because that raises your level of play. Players play better, and coach Hoke’s talked about that from day one and that’s what we want and we feel like we’re getting better at that.”

 

Doug, you’ve had the chance to coach at a lot of different places that were in a lot of different situations when you got there. Have there been obstacles [or] challenges that have been different here than anywhere else that you can think of?

“Each situation you’re in as a player or a coach is unique, and that’s why each and every day- the great thing about athletics is you’re judged on what you do today, not what you did yesterday and ultimately each and every day when you go out on that field you’ve got to go play so every place that you go you’ve got unique circumstances. Positives, negatives, may not be exactly the way you want things, [things] may be better than you expected maybe, so our biggest goal is focusing on improving each and every day.”

 

After the Notre Dame game you said the offense was in its infancy stages. Where have you seen growth since?

“Well, there’s been a lot of growth, and I think you can look at the production of certain individuals and certain players in certain situations. Now, can you say consistently as a group we’ve come a long way? I wouldn’t say that. I thought that the other night we took a little bit of a step back so it’s important that, once again, we refocus, get into the game plan, work on our techniques, work on our fundamentals, and we go out and play better.”

Comments

BloomingtonBlue

September 23rd, 2014 at 2:38 PM ^

But that isn't all that matters. Beating ND matters, beating a decent PAC 12 team at home matters. Going into conference play 4-0 with tons of confidence matters. If Michigan is 4-0 and looking like a good team right now. Minnesota, no matter what their players say come expecting to lose the game. Now they come in definitely knowing they can play with us and probably expect to beat us. The confidence or the lack their of, rolls down through each team we play this year.



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Drew_Silver

September 23rd, 2014 at 2:46 PM ^

If we were 4-0 and laid an egg in the first quarter Minny would think they could play with us

if UofM comes out and plays up to their potential and puts a hurt on Minny in the first 15 minutes they will know they can't play with us

everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth - mike tyson (edit)

 

Of course it would feel so much better if we were 4-0, but we aren't.  

We are still undefeated in conference play (its lame, but it's all we got)

BloomingtonBlue

September 23rd, 2014 at 2:41 PM ^

No I was just hoping we'd be a good team. The non conference schedule,which you don't think counts as part of the season proves we are still mediocre and have no chance of winning the extremely bad Big Ten, in year 4.



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borninAnnArbor

September 23rd, 2014 at 5:00 PM ^

I would say over the last four years, the most consistent thing about the offense is it's inconsistency. I believe a lot of people placed the blame on Borges, and thought we would be better with anyone but him. We are finding out this is not the case and it can become a program issue. I still hope they can turn it aroundm

sum1valiant

September 23rd, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^

A lot of people blamed Borges following a 20+ game sample size of derp after derp after "wow, great game", only to be followed by another derp.  We have exactly four games of data under Nuss.  I don't think we're finding out anything quite yet, other than he wasn't able to right this ship in <4 games.  Whether he is ultimately going to be able to right it, time will tell.   

Space Coyote

September 23rd, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^

A team never plays well enough, but you also always see signs of improvement. You can see that despite one game. You always see those things. It's just about perspective.

I know people want someone to light a fire under some of these guys, but I don't see the issue as "these guys could play better if only they were trying harder". I think they are trying, they just aren't good enough or consistent enough yet. And from that perspective, you make them understand that it isn't good enough, but you do see improvement, and if they keep working day in and day out, that they can continue to improve.

glewe

September 23rd, 2014 at 3:24 PM ^

As always, thanks for a measured response.

As for me, I was originally utterly dispirited, but now that I've taken a look at the roster and seen some of the youth on there.... It's pretty unbelievable that we aren't citing youth. Bearing in mind that current seniors--2011 matriculants--are still very often RR recruits.

People keep claiming our coaches are incompetent, and maybe they aren't the best, but winning is the same process whether you're in the MAC or the SEC: recruit, develop, scheme, strategize, win.

If Hoke could do that at Ball State and SD State, I don't see why he'd be so "incompetent" to do it here. He has widely credentialed coordinators that have won national championships with their respective teams, and Nuss has been a HC candidate, so I'm not nearly as sure as everyone else seems to be about exactly *what* is missing from making this team good at least.

Clearly, there is *something* missing, but I have a tendency to claim that it's largely youth.

Space Coyote

September 23rd, 2014 at 4:39 PM ^

I said nothing about next year. Nuss said nothing about next year. If they don't win this year, there won't be a next year for them at Michigan.

The point is, if you have perspective, you can try to give that perspective to your players and make them better this year. You can say "they suck, there's no hope", but that does nothing for this year. That doesn't help the players this year or in the future.

So I can promise you Nuss sees what we all see, that there are a lot of problems on offense. That doesn't mean he should give up on them, that doesn't mean he should say something that makes the players give up. No. He should keep fighting for his players and his players should keep fighting for him and themselves to get better. That's what "I see some areas of improvement, but we aren't good enough yet" means. That's perspective.

GoBLUinTX

September 23rd, 2014 at 6:42 PM ^

you left it to the more nebulous sometime in the future.  I said next year because that's been the refrain for year, after year, after year.

I once had a plant superintendent that worked for me and his answer to falling behind on production benchmarks...it was the little things that were killing production.  Said he, if they could just fix the little things and be consistent they'd beat the standard.  So I put up with this for about 18 months.  Finally I called "Bob" into my office and introduced him to the new plant superintendent.  I gave "Bob" a one month severance, all of his accrued vacation and sick time, and a terrific letter of recomendation as a foreman.  90 days later we matched our production benchmark for the first time in almost two years.

Sometimes the little problem is the guy that is supposed to be fixing the little problems and waiting for next year is a waste of time.

Space Coyote

September 23rd, 2014 at 8:37 PM ^

That's a nice story.

But it has nothing to do with the point. Hoke and Co are the people coaching right now, and they will be until the end of the year pretty much regardless. The players aren't going anywhere anytime soon either. But if you want to bring your nice little anecdote up at the end of the year as a reason for why sometimes you get rid of one guy in favor of another and sometimes that leads to improvement, alright.

But that isn't the point. In my OP I said nothing about "the future" you are alluding to. When I responded I did, but if you noticed, I also referenced right now a few times. But, yes, if Nussmeier doesn't want to lose these kids for the future (future being any time after right now, including the remaining season, and after), as well as the present, probably something he shouldn't do is indicate that he's giving up on the kids.

Instead, he should motivate them to continue to improve. There is improvement, even if it isn't fast enough, even if it isn't enough. Nussmeier would agree, they have to get better. But that doesn't mean they haven't gotten better and improved in some respects, they just need to keep doing it if they want success this year and into the future. Maybe they won't get better enough to have this staff keep their jobs, but one option is to give up and have no chance of coming back and not helping the kids improve, and the other option is to fight for your job and to fight for the players.

So you can keep twisting words to fit your little agenda. This staff is up against the wall already, I don't know why you need to twist things that aren't negative in a negative direction to make your point.

Big_H

September 23rd, 2014 at 2:26 PM ^

After reading this it got me thinking. We just hired this man, and I think every Michigan alum and fan across the board was very pleased with this hire. He has turned around the offensive line somewhat.. There is a lot that has to be done to install and execute your system in your first year.

 

That's what has me thinking. Could we really get rid of this guy with such a small sample size?

I know it's not him personally that would be gettting fired. That would be Hoke, but it makes it harder for me to fire this staff when I think of it like that.

 

I know this has already been asked, what if we fired Hoke and promoted Nuss? Well, that makes no sense either, because the offense is the main problem and he is running that side of the show.

 

Man, I hate the situation we are in. I hope we can turn this ship around, but it looks very bleak.

7jacks

September 23rd, 2014 at 2:55 PM ^

Because a lot of us are too entitled to think about what happened yesterday, or might happen tomorrow.  It's only today.  Win now, and win always.  The good part  of the team (Defense) is NOT because of the coach (even though he's a d line coach) and the bad parts (O Line, QB) are solely his fault.  We forget that last year nobody thought Brady would fire his buddy, the Gorgeous One.  Well...he did.  He held his staff accountable, and he made a change.  Now we've given the new guy 4 games to prove himself with a qb that has no capabilities of playing the style of football we hired these coaches to teach.  But we can't wait.  Brady has obviously been coaching up Devin.  I'm sure the lessons have been to lock down on one guy, let the ball go 3 seconds too late, and make sure to put the ball well behind the intended receiver.  He should absolutely be fired for that.  We should just cut our losses now, and hire a coach that wins all his games and brings multiple national championships.  I'm really surprised that Florida, Texas, USC, and every other school hasn't thought of it yet.  It's a great idea...I'm on board.  Look... everyone was on board for the Nuss hire.  Now everyone wants to fire Hoke for the offensive problems we have, which he tried to fix by hiring a coordinator everyone was in love with.  My question is....what else could he have done?  What's the fix?  He did exactly what everyone wanted him to do.  He didn't fire Funk I guess...but the line, with Nuss and his system, has showed some improvement.  Bottom line is Hoke, a defensive guy, has (along with Mattison) turned the defense around in a major way.  He has (recently!) put the offense in the hands of someone our fan base was excited about.  If you're a fan of where the defense is, and a fan of Nuss (or at least expect to be eventually), you should be believing that the offense will turn, too.  Eventually.  

7jacks

September 23rd, 2014 at 3:45 PM ^

But, based on what I've seen lately, there isn't much competition.  This board (not all of you) has been run over by entitled bitches.  Actually, calling them that is a disservice to the Paris Hiltons of the world.  They're gaping vaginas.  We have a board  (currently) mostly full of big, sweaty, gaping vaginas.  As you can tell by my points, I rarely post on here.  I read it daily, but rarely contribute.  But enough is enough.  And yes, I do know that Paris Hilton is also a gaping vagina.  Maybe I just like saying gaping vagina.  Gaping vagina.  There. 

J.Madrox

September 23rd, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^

I actually took the time to type out a response to your last post because I thought you deserved a dissenting opinion. Based on this comment I am sorry I did that. The name calling is ridiculous and immature. The last poster wished he could give you all his points, I now wish I could kick you off the blog. If you are that unhappy with the other posters around here then leave, no one is forcing you to read a free Michigan blog.

7jacks

September 23rd, 2014 at 4:02 PM ^

If I don't like some posts, or the general attitude, I can leave.  If you don't like mine, or my response, then I can go.  Got it, chief.  Honestly, though...it was half an attempt at calling out the ridiculousness of the board at the moment, and half at humor.  If you really didn't like it, go ahead and take your own advice.

J.Madrox

September 23rd, 2014 at 3:53 PM ^

First of all, can you please try to put some paragraph breaks in there. I think a lot of people will ignore your comment and you seem to have a strong opinion on the matter.

It is not just about win now and always, its how about you go and win more than 3 of your last 10 games. Of those three wins, two are against terrible teams and one was in OT thanks to a miracle field goal that may have been illegal.

Brady and Mattison deserve plenty of credit for turning around the defense, but last time I checked there are three phases to football, and Michigans two other phases are terrible, outweighing whatever good value the defense brings.

As for Hoke's handling of Devin, look at Devin's numbers. When he first took over as Michigan QB he put up some darn impressive numbers and what has happened over time, he has gotten worse. It was the same with Denard. Whose fault is that, Funk? Borges? Hoke? I don't know, but it all ultimately falls on Hoke's shoulders.

Simply because Devin can run and was a "dual-threat" coming out of high school doesn't mean he can't be a viable QB, its the coaches job to get them there. Or maybe if Gardner is such a bad fit Hoke should have brought in his type of QB and prepared him to play. Instead we have Russell Bellomy and Shane Morris who has looked as bad if not worse than Gardner.

Well done on naming other historic programs that have struggled recently as well, but look what those coaches have done. Both Texas and USC fired (or forced out) head coaches that weren't getting it done for potentially better options and Florida is probably on the way to doing the same.

But if you are happy with mediocrity for the next few years waiting for Hoke to "turn it around". It is not entitlement to want someone fired because you don't feel they can do the job well and a continually decline in the team for three straight years is enough for me to believe Hoke cannot do this job well.

7jacks

September 23rd, 2014 at 4:09 PM ^

for the lack of paragraph breaks.  For some reason, I can't seem to hit enter to get the break.  As I stated, I'm not used to posting here...but I was aware that it didn't look the best.  I'll try to keep a response contrite, so it doesn't get as annoying as the last one.  I'm in no way advocating for mediocrity.  At the same time, Hoke is a defensive guy and he has handled that well.  The offense was abysmal, and he made a change.  I don't think it's asking too much to wait and see if that change has an effect.  Honestly, I don't know what to do about Devin.  And I know Shane isn't ready.  You can certainly blame anyone for that...but I would have to think, on that particular item, Hoke would be fairly far down the list. 

J.Madrox

September 23rd, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^

I was not trying to be rude in regards to the lack of paragraph breaks. I assumed it wasn't an intentional action, just trying to provide a piece of constructive criticism. I enjoy the long posts, they can just be difficult to read sometimes.

I don't know where Hoke falls on the list of blame for Gardner, not at the top, but outside of Borges and poor O-line play I don't know who else takes the blame. By biggest concern is that it was both Denard and Devin who have now regressed, again maybe not Hoke's fault, but a disconcerting trend anyways.

Maybe I can't be unbiased when it comes to Devin. He seems like an intelligent young man with all the athletic ability you could want, and he has just been beaten down to where he can't be an effective QB anymore. It may not be all or evenly mostly Hoke's fault, but Devin and Denard have gotten worse and the only QB Hoke has recruited seems inadequately prepared as well.

He seems to have taken the right step in bringing in Nuss, but it might be to late, he tied his fate to Borges too much, and he is sunk because of it. I would love them to turn it around, finish strong and show major signs of improvement, at this point though, outside of the defense, I don't have much evidence that there will be improvement.

howmuch

September 23rd, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^

For the whole time Hoke has been coach I have wanted to believe in him. I'm not put out by the bad play recently because I'm expecting that we have youth and we just changed the O.C.  What I'm starting to question now are things like 10 men on the field, the utter lack of any attempt to make adjustments during a game to glaring holes in the opponent's defense, lame brained penalties that kill drives, or any type of urgency to pick up the pace and snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat while there is still time left in the game.  I have to wonder why things happen this way.

True Blue Grit

September 23rd, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^

let go, that whomever was the AD then would have Nussmeier on the list of candidates.  For him to be considered though, you'd assume that the offense would have to improve quite a bit this season or he had some pretty darn good reasons for why it hasn't (like Hoke was dictating some key offensive strategies that Nuss didn't agree with).  At this point though,we can only speculate how much of the offenses woes are due to Nussmeier and how much is stuff beyond his control (existing player limitations, Hoke's involvement with the offense, OL coach limitations, lack of effort by the players, etc).  Personally, I'm still trying to keep an open mind about it. 

seattleblue

September 23rd, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^

Yeah I hate this situation too.

Pre-Michigan, Nuss was definitely one of the top up and coming coordinators in college FB likely to land a big HC job in the near future.  He was seriously considered for the Washington job last year and many insiders preferred him to Peterson.  I would put him on the short-list of candidates for any HC vacancies.

That said, I don't know how we can hire him given the offensive debacle this year.  I don't blame him for much of it since it is far too small a sample size and we don't know what constraints he's working with.  He's only had spring and fall to try and install a new offense with players he didn't recruit and is just getting to know.  He's working with a group of assistants who he hasn't worked with before and who may be grossly incompetent.  It's a pretty tall order.

I feel like if Hoke and staff goes (which I'm personally ready for), Nuss is going to be the one that will go on to have a ton of success and it will sicken me that we let him go...

uncleFred

September 23rd, 2014 at 7:35 PM ^

"Pre-Michigan, Nuss was definitely one of the top up and coming coordinators in college FB likely to land a big HC job in the near future. " Four games into installing his offense here and you are using terms like "Pre-Michigan".

Damn man, assuming you are a male, I sure as Hell wouldn't want to be in business with your or in any kind of long term relationship or even your postman. You look at a coach who has a marquis resume and because four games in, with an offense that every one of us knows has been struggling, they are 2-2 and you've written him and the entire staff off? A rational person would give the man a season and if the offense make solid progress give him another year to right his part of the team.

Maybe he'll fail here. Maybe he'll succeed succeed here. Either way he'll remain one of the top coordinators in college football. Should he succeed he'll become THE top coordinator in college football because the spin right now is so bad that if he turns this offense around by the end of next season he'll be viewed as some kind of offensive god

Four games in - eight games left to play. I'm pretty sure that we're going to witness several ugly games, some of which we'll win and some of which we'll lose. But this defeatism is really unworthy of this team and their coaches. This team, which I assume you consider to be your team, deserves a chance before you toss them on the scrap heap. As I said elsewhere, they haven't given up - why have you?

MileHighWolverine

September 23rd, 2014 at 7:00 PM ^

The jump ball floaty thing has been in DG's repetoire LONG before Nuss got here. 

More seriously, how do you blame Nuss for the mess that is the offense? He didn't recruit or coach any of these guys until he got here 8 months ago. Yet, he has had proven success at other places where he did get a chance to do those things. . . maybe he's not the problem?

I would support making him interim HC to see what he can do....provided he agreed to fire Funk as his first official act.