What do we want to see next season?

Submitted by BigBlue86 on

Now that the season is done, and Coach Rod is locked in for another year, I wanted to see some thoughts on what should be done between now and the 2010 opener. This applies to lineups, staff changes, athletic department and their policies, and things about the stadium.

Some of mine:

Rich should objectively evaluate each member of his staff, and give them the boot if they aren't pulling their weight. I think he should look around for an offensive coordinator to gauge interest and then dump Calvin McGee if he finds a good replacement. Some of the playcalling hasn't necessarily been "bad," but questionable for the game situation. They also should hire a special teams coach to help with the coverage, since they've finally got the ball-catching figured out. And with Fred Jackson leaving, Rich should possibly make the hypothetical new Offensive coordinator the assistant coach.

Greg Robinson should definitely not be fired, because I think with no freshman starters next year, he should be able to get the kind of defense he wants. Especially if Warren stays for his senior year.

My starters at the offensive skill positions: Forcier, Brown, Roundtree, Stonum, Odoms, Koger

As soon as the new AD is hired, they should (a) get rid of the current season ticket buy-in system and (b) make an executive decision to stop the god-awful RAWK music and (c) teach the students to stop chanting "You Suck" on third down defensive stops.

Also with said new AD, he needs to demolish the...M Go Blue Shops, because we all know the M Den is the true outfitter of Michigan fans.

UMWest22

November 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 PM ^

Who do you mean here? Carlos Brown is a senior...
Not trying to be overly critical, but...
I completely agree with the DC point. I've been a big believer that some continuity will make us better in itself.

JC3

November 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 PM ^

You mentioned Rodriguez taking a look at his staff. I think a few things on defense may need to be addressed, and if this is done, Greg Robinson needs to have a say in the matter.

Do we move Jay Hopson to coach the safeties (apparently he is naturally a safety coach, not a LB coach) and remove Gibson? Or just can one/both of them? I think that needs to be looked at.

Calvin McGee probably doesn't deserve to get the boot, and he won't. He's done a fairly solid job, and it's on the entire offensive staff (including Rodriguez) to make better playcalls in the redzone. Also, it's on the players to make plays when they're down there.

As for your skill position players, Hemingway and Stonum are likely options 1A and 1B for the outside wide receiver positions. Hopefully we'll see some more two-slot sets with both Roundtee and Odoms on the field, but mix in some Gallon as well.

I'd like to see more option work by the offense. If that involves Gallon or even Tony Drake, I hope they can add that to the playbook. The vertical passing game needs to improve, which will require some speed on the outside (which the team has) with Stonum and/or Stokes.

Korean Wolverine20

November 22nd, 2009 at 3:41 PM ^

Wins please...
Can I have some more?

and "Rich should objectively evaluate each member of his staff, and give them the boot if they aren't pulling their weight. I think he should look around for an offensive coordinator to gauge interest and then dump Calvin McGee if he finds a good replacement. Some of the playcalling hasn't necessarily been "bad," but questionable for the game situation. They also should hire a special teams coach to help with the coverage, since they've finally got the ball-catching figured out. And with Fred Jackson leaving, Rich should possibly make the hypothetical new Offensive coordinator the assistant coach."

??? Offense is not the problem. Inexperience and Defensive breakdowns were. Calvin McGee has had success with RR before. Fred Jackson is leaving? Unless he retires or wants to leave, I doubt he will. Fred Jackson = God of creating RB's.

WilliSC48

November 22nd, 2009 at 5:00 PM ^

Took me a little bit to find it, but I knew I remembered reading something about it. Brian wrote this on one of his main page diaries a while back:

"I've received some solid information that suggests Fred Jackson is probably going to move on after the season by his own choice. This should not affect the status of his son's commitment; Jackson's probably going to head to the NFL.

Given my opinion of how important a running backs coach is—not very—I don't think this is a big deal and hope the replacement is one of those young, energetic recruiter types. The first guy who leaps to mind is Ty Wheatley, now on Ron English's staff at EMU. With all the Rodriguez stuff—and the rumors as to where some of it is sourced—that may not be an option."

http://mgoblog.com/content/unverified-voracity-expensive-jacket

dearbornpeds

November 22nd, 2009 at 3:46 PM ^

i'd like to see a defense that could maintain containment and stay within their lanes consistently. we won't be great but we shouldn't be shredded like we have been. i don't know if it's coaching or lack of football smarts, but our linebackers and secondary miss a lot of assignments. there is a serious problem when the same mistakes are made throughout an entire season.

MaizeNBlue

November 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 PM ^

A few things:

-The athletic department needs to be more careful with scheduling next year. Delaware State on fall break was not good. Also, some people (not necessarily myself) don't like having a hockey game AND basketball game right when there's a Beat OSU pep rally because it compromises one or the other.

-There should be an effort to get rid of the "you suck," but I don't think it'll be particularly effective.

-They should notify fans that there will be some sort of chant after the ball is kicked off. The best one I've heard to date is that after the "ooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOH!" and the ball is kicked off, everyone goes "Let's........Go......Blue!" with like 3/4 a second between each word (as in, not as fast as your usual let's go blue).

-Outside of Hell's Bells/warm-ups and a song(s) that maybe end up being our "Jump Around," (Jump On It, maybe?) get rid of the piped in music because it's not that effective. People loved it at first because it felt cool to be doing something that had never been done before. However, as the season wore on, the effect wore off...

MaizeNBlue

November 22nd, 2009 at 4:08 PM ^

I don't know. I don't think we needed piped in music to get the fans pumped up for Ohio State. During games earlier this season (most notably, Penn State, Purdue, Indiana) the music really didn't help that much. This is just one person's opinion though, so if lots of people think it worked, then I'd say keep it.

UMxWolverines

November 22nd, 2009 at 5:12 PM ^

I think it wasn't working as well because all they played to get people up was Welcome to the Jungle every time. They played mostly everything else during timeouts and commercials. But when they played Lose Yourself right before kickoff and Down with the Sickness I thought it had a pretty good effect.

MaizeNBlue

November 23rd, 2009 at 12:32 AM ^

I can't disagree on Lose Yourself or Sickness, though it did feel like Sickness was an odd song choice considering what they'd pulled out for like...75% of the season as far as canned music was concerned.

I got really tired of Welcome to the Jungle. I liked Jump On It when we weren't losing to OSU by two scores late in the game and the Ohio State fans were clearly mocking us every time we did anything - even The Victors.

Go Blue Toledo

November 22nd, 2009 at 5:22 PM ^

I like the fact that Michigan is piping in music. And yes, our fans need every motivation to get off their ass and cheer, even for anOSU. But pulling out Eminem yesterday with under 3 minutes left and OSU was up 11 with the ball was infuriating. And then playing Jump on it shortly after to give the OSU fans something to dance to only enraged me even more.

I like the piped in music, but the choice of music and timing need to change.

jmblue

November 22nd, 2009 at 7:25 PM ^

Shortly after our game ended, I turned on the MSU game and heard the Spartan Stadium PA playing . . . "Jump on It." I switched to another game and heard another team's PA playing it as well.

If we're going to continue with the piped-in music, we've got to be more creative than this. There seems to be some master playlist that every PA crew has been given (which also apparently includes "Hell's Bells," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Zombie Nation" and "Seven Nation Army"). I'd like to see us shun these and try to find other rousing songs out there that aren't currently being used by 50 other schools.

As for scheduling the Delaware State game during fall break, that was the only open date on the schedule. There wasn't much the AD could do about that.

m1jjb00

November 22nd, 2009 at 4:10 PM ^

A redshirt for DG. Please, no more starting freshman/0-experience QBs.

No drama before the first game. Apparently, that one hasn't started well.

More good surprises than bad on recruit announcements.

Noticeable improvements in strength and size. I had higher hopes, especially for the interior of the line even without Molk. There's no reason to expect significant improvements among the underclassmen.

I disagree about McGee. I could be convinced about some issues on playcalling, but I don't remember cursing that versus so many other issues. If there are some, they are fixable on review. More importantly, I thought there were a series of creative additions to the playbook over the sesaon.

Finally, while my spirit definitely needs a boost, I'd like for more truth and less truthiness out of spring practice reports.

littlebrownjug

November 22nd, 2009 at 4:49 PM ^

I would like to see the following:
1. A bowl game appearance.
2. Marked improvement in tackling and coverage.
3. No more than two games on BTN. We should be on ABC/ESPN more, and, if not, that tells us that we need to make major changes.
4. Mike Cox in short yardage situations. I love the way he runs, and I think that he could be a nice thumper for us.
5. Scholarship players starting at every position.

BlueGoM

November 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^

That blows. I do not like the BTN at all, the announcers are horrible. They missed a KO and at least one other play during the UM v MSU game, too. That and the 4,482 ads for queso dip per game. While I'm at it, how about not having the UM-MSU game on BTN this season, mkay?

Jeff

November 22nd, 2009 at 10:56 PM ^

I can understand the frustration with games on the BTN. I think they are improving though. I didn't get the channel the first year, but I did get it last year. It seemed like half of the commercials were for the conference and the network itself. This year, they have a decent rotation of Sonic, Allstate and Rotel commercials with some other ones thrown in there.

Hopefully the chanel will keep improving and turn into a pretty good broadcast of the game. One good thing is that the picture quality is so much better than when they would air the games on ESPN+.

jsquigg

November 22nd, 2009 at 5:05 PM ^

We lead the Big Ten in scoring for most of the year and you want to dump our offensive coordinator....
I think Hopson needs to get drop kicked away from Ann Arbor and I think Rodriguez should let Gerg bring in "his people." Unfortunately we have to trust Robinson to get the job done, but I can't imagine him picking a worse linebackers coach.

Hoken's Heroes

November 22nd, 2009 at 5:18 PM ^

1. Sound Tackling.

2. Sound Tackling

3. Sound Tackling

4. Minimized fumbling

5. D causing turn overs, ones that UM recovers.

6. Consistent playing.

7. Team that plays better on Saturdays than they do in practice.

8. No "incomplete" arm waiving by CB's.

9. MIchigan humiliating OSU in Columbus.

10. Sound Tackling.

Bobby Boucher

November 22nd, 2009 at 6:57 PM ^

1. For Tate to stop carrying the ball like a roast beef and swiss sandwhich w/ too much thousand island dressing when floating outside the pocket. But, I still like his ability to make plays.
2. Corners not playing 25 yards off the line of scrimmage at the beginning of each play.
3. Sound tackling.
4. 11 Brandon Graham clones, each complete with their own "must eliminate OSU offensive player with extreme prejudice software programming".
5. And a partriage in a pair tree. (not sure I spelled that right)

umberkeley

November 22nd, 2009 at 6:58 PM ^

1. Respectable pass-blocking
2. Forcier to play the whole season like the Notre Dame game Forcier
3. Robinson to look like a young Pat White, i.e. make zone stretch reads and be a credible threat passing downfield
4. The emergence of someone buried in the depthchart like Roundtree
5. 1000+ yard rushing for Smith
6. Below average but improved play by the LBs and safeties
7. 10-2 regular season record with losses @PSU and @OSU

cargo

November 22nd, 2009 at 9:50 PM ^

Big ten Championship like RR said in the press conference having to adjust and make minor goals is fine but our goal is the big ten championship

AMazinBlue

November 22nd, 2009 at 10:37 PM ^

1. 6-2 record in the Big 10
2. Win at the Toilet Seat
3. Either a new LB coach, or Hopson get's a clue
4. 100% improvement from the safeties
5. RBs that stay healthy all season
6. at least 9-3 and a Jan. 1 bowl game
7. Less anger from RR on the sideline
8. More teaching on the sideline
9. No more "You Suck" chant
10. No flutes or clarinets in the MMB, all brass
10a. NO RAWK MUSIC

ndhillon

November 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 PM ^

1. To see Jeremy Gallon go OFF. Roy has locked up a spot, but Gallon has to see the field soon. His hype tape was ridiculous.
2. 0 walk-ons on the defense for the entire year
3. Ezeh on the bench
4. A game in January
5. Tate starts every game