Some new OC ideas - Please post yours

Submitted by Ron Utah on

The rumor mill is in full swing, and it appears as few as one offensive coach could be returning.  My guess is that the returning coach is Jay Harbaugh.  It now appears that Al Washington has been hired.

umbig11 has noted that JH is looking for offensive minds the same way he found Don Brown--looking for the best offenses in the country to poach top-flight coaches.  In that spirit, I stopped listening to rumors and started researching the top offensive minds that might be compatible with Michigan.

After a quick scan of the top P5 offenses, here are three names I believe would be great choices for our new OC.  In order to keep this conversation somewhat realistic, there are some key criteria: 1) Cannot be current OC at blueblood program.  2) Cannot be coaching at their alma mater as an OC/HC.  3) Cannot be an OC of a "spread-to-run" offense where the QB is a featured runner.

  • Mike Yurcich, Oklahoma State OC/QB - Yurcich is one of the top offensive minds in the country.  He is an Ohio native, went to school in PA, and coaching in IN and PA before moving to OK State.  While his spread system would be a drastic departure from UM's current philosophy, it does not focus on a running QB.  I do believe we have the personnel to run this system.
  • Mike Norvell, Memphis HC - Norvell's offense at Memphis was #4 in total offense, #2 in scoring offense, and #4 in S&P+.  The former ASU OC runs a pro/spread hybrid.  His OC, Darrell Dickey, was just hired as TAMU's OC by Jimbo Fisher.  The run game coordinator/OL coach, Ryan Silverfield, would be another intriguing hire.
  • Phil Longo, Ole Miss OC/QB - What if Shea Patterson could run the same offense at Michigan?  Ole Miss boasted the #9 S&P+ offense in 2017, Longo's first year as OC.  Longo grew up in NJ and has coached in MN, OH, PA, and IL.  More recently, he rewrote the record books at FCS Sam Houston State, amassing over 6,500 yards in 2016--over 4,500 passing and 2,000 rushing.

Of these three, my top choice would be Norvell, as I believe he is the most compatible with our current style and personnel.  But any of them would be quantum leap forward.

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buddha

January 4th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^

I see you've criticized the OP's suggestions, pretty subjectively, without offering any ideas of your own. Nicely done.

To your points though, I agree about Norvell and don't necessarily think he's going to be attracted to UM's opportunity. It would be a demotion for him.

As far as Yurcich, I'm not really sure it's fair to blame the offense for OSU's losses to Okalhoma and - as you say - "big games." This year, the offense put up 52 points against Oklahoma. That should be enough to win. I think it's fair to question how good he is given the Big 12 doesn't have spectacular defenses. But - frankly - anyone coming from a non-blueblood school is going to have similar question marks. He seems like a top candidate, given the OP's criteria.

Also, I'm not sure why Longo "just runs whatever remains of Hugh Freeze's offense..." Longo has a fairly solid pedigree for an up-and-coming OC in the P5. The guy shattered records in the FCS and did a pretty solid job at Ole Miss, all things considered.

I get the feeling you wouldn't accept any OC candidate unless Urban Meyer somehow came available. Do you have any ideas of your own?

 

Joined: 10/08/2009

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buddha

January 4th, 2018 at 3:48 PM ^

First, thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate your thoughts...

A couple thoughts / questions:

  • Matt Canada: He seems like a stud. I don't know a ton about his offenses, but it sounds like he's a great mind, recruiter, and motivator. I like this one a lot...
  • Matt Lubick: Would he leave UW for UM? I guess if the price was right he might. He seems like a west coast guy with some stints at Ole Miss and Duke, but maybe he's developed some great recruiting pipelines.
  • Kalen DeBoer: i know very little about him. No comment.
  • Beau Baldwin: There was a rumor here in the Bay Area that he may be a candidate for the Oregon State job, but I guess he didn't get it. This could be intriguing but he may be gone quickly given his positive reputation among coaching circles on the west coast

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Orlando2

January 4th, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^

25-9 in his last three years. This year Bowie State led D2 in total offense, was 4th in passing offense and 11th in rushing offense.

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ak47

January 4th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^

I think Matt Canada would be a great higher.  If you want to go the Don Brown route I'd say Warren Ruggiero from Wake would be a great higher. Led Wake to a top 25 s&p offense this year.  He has coached at 6 different schools and at each stop has gotten the offense to top 10 in the country in either total or scoring offense.  Most of the years were at lower tier schools but he has led Kansas State, Bowling Green, and Wake Forest offenses to top 10 rankings.  I'd kick the tires.

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GoBlueBill

January 4th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^

Right now ill take anyone who can run a competent offense . The ability to be innovative would be great . Someone who can run a simple offense . Someone  who is not afraid to tweak their offense to make it fit with the players abilities to run it .

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Mr Miggle

January 4th, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^

He's not in play. I like your other choices. If I'm Longo, I'd listen to any offers. With Mason Rudolph graduating, it's a good time to approach Yurcich.

I'd look at Walt Bell of Maryland. He created a formidable rushing attack with a terrible QB situation and less overall talent than most of their opponents.I'd be willing to poach from Durkin.

 

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HenneGivenSunday

January 4th, 2018 at 2:59 PM ^

I’ll do it, and it’ll only cost the program $500k/yr. Use the savings to retain Partridge. I’m not all that knowledgeable, but I think I can muster more than 9 passing TDs on the season, and I come at half the price. I’m a pretty nice guy, and I promise to help get the play in before there’s 12 seconds on the play clock causing the team to burn timeouts needlessly. I’ll even come back and post here in season under this username, thoughts?

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rc15

January 4th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^

I'll do it on the cheap. You guys can all vote on plays, the more votes the higher it'll be in the playbook. I'll put together a Ask Madden type program and choose between a few depending on the situation.

Resume: I don't recall ever scoring less than 30 points in a game of Madden, and thats with 5 minute quarters. Extrapolating to 15 minute quarters that means my offenses should conservatively put up 90 points a game,

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TSimpson77

January 4th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^

He is on Kelly's top list as OC for UCLA and the reason Kelly brought him on at Oregon was because he didn't want a yes man, he wanted a coach. Obviously he worked out as an OC, maybe not a HC for obvious reason *coughBradyHokeDC but seems like a great offensive mind who's teams put up some big time points!

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The Krusty Kra…

January 4th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^

Okahoma's Co-OC. While Harbaugh won't subscribe to a full air-raid offense, he can bring some excellent concepts that will open up the offense instead of the garbage we saw this year. I'm fine with having a run based offense but as we all know, Michigan had its most vanilla offense we've ever seen this year and South Carolina's players said as much. I want an OC that will force Harbaugh to change things up from stupid Manball that teams figure out after a quarter.

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DualThreat

January 4th, 2018 at 3:06 PM ^

Whichever coaches are willing to run more trick plays.

Seriously.

I plan to construct a diary sometime later this spring outlining the benefits of a more trick-play oriented offense (if the data I find supports this hypothesis).

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Ziff72

January 4th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^

I say we do the same exact thing George pitched for the sitcom.....nothing.   Let's let our freshmen and sophmores actually progress in a system.   Next year Higdon will be the only Senior with any impact on offense.  Relax.  Jim has this.

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Mongo

January 4th, 2018 at 3:20 PM ^

I think JH philosophy is so opposite of true spread concepts it is like oil and water. Maybe the pistol works for JH because fundamentally it is a power type attack with more options with a mobile QB, but pure spread is too foreign and not manball enough for JH’s DNA. What would he do with all those TEs / HBs / FBs ?

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