Who Can We Reasonably Expect to Replace Gerg Next Year?

Submitted by Clarence Beeks on

This is obviously putting the cart before the horse, since Gerg still has a job, but I'm interested in seeing a discussion of who might be a legitimate and reasonable option to replace him come season's end.  I know that there is some discussion of this in other threads, but I thought it would be good to try to consolidate the discussion in one place so that it doesn't get lost and/or repeated.

Edit - This thread is based upon the (obvious) premise that Rodriguez returns next year.

MGoBoard

James Burrill Angell

November 1st, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

For those of us willing to entertain the possibilities of this stuff both if Rodriguez stays or if he goes..............

1) If RR stays..... you have to expect there will be changes in the defensive coaching staff. HAVE TO. But who will come with RR still facing major threat of being removed the following year. Casteel is obviously a popular choice but again, why would he come here if he could get dumped the following year barring improvement. Think it will be hard to hire someone of quality. Further, RR hires haven't been great. I really don't have a clue. Do we think David Brandon would stick his nose into it?

2) If he is relieved of his duties.....I'll divide this into (A) & (B)

 (A) Brandon goes for a Michigan Man at the helm.....lets face it, after having an outsider, there should be pretty solid pressure on Brandon to come back to our roots and Jim Harbaugh makes a lot of sense in that regard rather than trying our hand with another unknown. So lets call this likely options with Harbaugh....

   (i) His current D.C. - Vic Fangio http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/fangio_vic00.html - Check out the NFL roots on this one.

   (ii) Someone from the Michigan family -

       Corwin Brown?? Wasn't exactly a world beater at ND

        Steve Morrison (unlikely after Western broke him off as D.C.)

       What about Mike Trgovac - Many years as DC for Carolina Panthers and currently coaching in Green Bay.

 

(B) Someone from outside the Michigan Family is hired as Head Coach... This is simple...SWING AWAY. I guess anything is possible.

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BrewCityBlue

November 1st, 2010 at 3:57 PM ^

I'm close to what you laid out here.

Basically 2 options...

1. New DC in '11 and RR and the whole gang along with the new DC get til '12 to prove their worth.

2. No real big shakeups in def coaching staff and '11 is the judgement year for Rrod. I doubt if Rrod will trust GERG to save his job.

I guess 3 is a possible option as well...

3. Rrod religously frequents MGoBlog. He spirals into a horrible depression and resigns. GERG is promoted to HC and turns our program around and is regarded as the new Bo 30 years from now.... yeah

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MGoAero

November 1st, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^

We just need a cohesive staff on the defensive side of the ball.  Whether that comes from getting Casteel back up here with his old gang, or completely cleaning house and bringing in a staff whole from another team.  We need a DC who doesn't have to learn new terminology and schemes from his assistants.  We need a full set of defensive coaches who are all of one mind, and have familiarity in working with one another.  Other than bringing up Casteel, I just don't know how else to achieve that kind of chemistry.

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MGoAero

November 1st, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^

Dave Brandon knows no loyalty to the defensive staff.  If he wants them out, they're out.  What's RR going to do aside from begging?  If I were Brandon I might say it's either half of your entire coaching staff, or all of it.  Take your pick.

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ND Sux

November 1st, 2010 at 3:00 PM ^

Respectfully disagree with that.  Do you honestly think there are 4* and 5* recruits out there watching our defense and thinking "I can't wait to play for Greg Robinson"?

If anything, I'd say the opposite.  There are D recruits out there that are not considering Michigan because they don't want to be part of this sieve.  Replace Gerg with someone promising, and we could reap benefits in recruiting.   

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NathanFromMCounty

November 6th, 2010 at 6:13 PM ^

...how many position coaches on D have had a lot of raving about them (which is hte only way that D coaches effect recruiting)?  Only Bruce Tall...with many of the transfers really critizing Tony Gibson as D-backs coach.  And we had no decommitments that I can think of when GERG fired the LBs coach after last season.

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Yooper

November 1st, 2010 at 2:01 PM ^

a top coordinator.  Let's face it, if you come to Michigan next year (with Rod in place) you have to be concerned it is a one-year deal.  Also, if RR is under the gun, I don't see him turning his future over to someone he doesn't know.  He made that move with Robinson and we know how that worked out. That's where Casteel might come in.  There is the relationship, and WVU is going the wrong way.  Casteel might do it to support Rod, and if he's successful he has definitely improved his resume for HC jobs.

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Six Zero

November 1st, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^

Steve Sharik.  End of story.
 

Hell, hire Mathlete as the OC and put TomVH in charge of recruiting, and we'll take the whole damn thing over.  So Brian Cook becomes the next head coach of the Michigan Wolverines.  Film at 11.

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MichiganAggie

November 1st, 2010 at 2:08 PM ^

Instead of spending millions of $$ to buy out RichRod, UM should go out and buy the best DC there is (whomever that is).  I believe that's more than any college DC and should make us very attractive.  Much better investment than canning RR and searching for a new HC

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James Burrill Angell

November 1st, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^

You do realize that there won't be a spending of millions for a buyout. Every coach in the NCAA regardless of school or sport has a clause that allows the school to void their contract if the NCAA rules they committed a major violation. As we've already self imposed a major violation, thats going to happen and accordingly, if he chooses, Brandon will have a one shot opportunity to get rid of the staff without financial concern. If they allow him to continue, based on contract law, arguably they would lose that ability.

All that said, IF things go poorly and a change is made, I suspect they'll throw the staff a small financial bone (nothing remotely like paying out the rest of the contract) and let them resign rather than being fired.

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jmblue

November 1st, 2010 at 4:39 PM ^

We'll honor the contracts of any fired coaches.  Brandon knows that the violations are peanuts.  It doesn't matter, because donors will step up to the plate.  Retaining RR might actually be the bigger financial gamble.  If the next four games go anything like the previous three and RR is still retained, there is a non-trivial chance that we'll take a hit in ticket sales and donations.

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Yinka Double Dare

November 1st, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^

Who will come if Rodriguez might be fired after next year?  Money can make a lot of guys willing to take the chance.  Illinois brought in two coordinators by backing up the money truck even though if one or both failed they would be out of a job as Zook would have been canned.  Bring in whoever they're going to hire (and it had better be someone proven, and not proven in a bad way like GERG) on a 3 year guaranteed contract.  If Rodriguez gets canned because the D is still bad then that DC still has financial security while looking for another job.  And if Rodriguez doesn't get canned, the DC has clearly done a good enough job to warrant his sticking around for that contract.

If we're willing to pay, the fact that Rodriguez is on a supreme hot seat won't prevent making a good hire.

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psychomatt

November 1st, 2010 at 3:29 PM ^

Trgovac would be an excellent choice. His name was on the list of candidates to replace LC before RR accepted the job. The only person I can think of who would be a better choice would be Charlie Strong and that just ain't gonna happen. My only concern with Trgovac is how long it will take him to get fully up to speed in recruiting. He has been in the NFL for the past 15 years and probably has few if any strong relationships left with high school coaches. His resume is perfect though and he is a very solid guy. Note to Dave Brandon: Trgovac will be expensive.

As for Casteel, I doubt it. Something prevented him from coming with RR initially. It simply might have been that he thought he had a real shot at the WVU head coaching job. Word is he was offered the DC position at FSU under Jimbo Fisher but turned that down last year, so something is keeping him at WVU. As Stew's seat gets hotter (and it is warming up fast), Casteel gets closer to a second shot at the top job at WVU. Why leave now to come to UM and take the DC job you were offered three years ago but turned down, especially when it looks like the head coaching position at WVU might be opening up again soon? My guess is he rides out the WVU situation a year or two longer (or at least until it becomes clear he will not get that job) before going anywhere else.

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Griff88

November 1st, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

is the only established DC that fits. No experienced DC is going to come when he will be pigeonholed with running this scheme, and using these assistants. Another possibility is that Brandon tells RR to blow the defense up and clean house. That he is to hire a good DC, and let him bring in his own people.

If Casteel were available, I think he would come. He would be working with people that he knows, fixing a scheme that he understands, and it will also be a regular paycheck. If he succeeds, it will become more then just a one year job.

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Aequitas

November 1st, 2010 at 2:41 PM ^

or second time RR needed him because of stability concerns, there's no way he's coming now.

And since the non-Casteel DC would be hamstrung with the 3-3-5 and position staff that aren't his, I can't imagine anyone decent wanting the job.

Whoever the next HC is, he'd better have a solid DC lined up before he even talks to Michigan.

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WolvinLA2

November 1st, 2010 at 2:45 PM ^

I like the Casteel idea. Let's raise a ton of money to get Casteel to come here, and if he doesn't, raise some more and just get Harbaugh. I was as big an RR supporter as there was, but I thought we'd be better by now, and Harbaugh is looking really good. And for as much as I love the spread (and I do), it wouldn't be bad to see Michigan Football again.

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Needs

November 3rd, 2010 at 9:57 AM ^

2 reasons...

1. The total lack of institutional support at Stanford for football. There's support for football in the Stanford AD, but in  the university at large it's seen at best as a distraction annd more broadly as detrimental to the university's core mission (I'm speaking about faculty and university administrators). It's highly unlikely that Stanford's administration would support any increase in spending on Harbaugh's salary or football in general. The university is in fairly dire financial straits for an elite private institution, to the point that their graduate admissions have been frozen for the past few years in many departments. A dramatic increase in Harbaugh's salary would risk a fairly significant faculty revolt, and at Stanford, the faculty's voice in university governance is actually quite strong.

2. Also, with Stanford being shuttled into the Pac-12 North, the football program became more peripheral on the national media landscape.

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myrtlebeachmai…

November 1st, 2010 at 2:50 PM ^

as DB is going to force any change (for yet another year in a row) on us.  It's terrible in business and it's terrible in coaching (for many reasons listed throughout above).

I think he will appreciate the personnel struggles (from a player standpoint) we've been through and value continuity over grasping at greener grass once again. 

If there is change mandated, the ONLY way to go is clean house on the D side.  I am in full agreement with those above that state we cannot continue to "shoehorn" an outside DC into a job where the assistants (his underlings) have the rule of the roost, to the point of outliving multiple bosses.  This would be unheard of in again, both the business and football worlds.

Bringing Casteel into the fold seems like a possible fix, but if it comes with keeping everyone else, I still think it's a mistake.  If we can argue that the D is SO BAD that we need a thrid D Coordinator, we HAVE to place some accountability on the position guys as well.  They don't get off for free, just because their boss kept them from succeeding.  (That has obviously NOT been the case, if anything, the opposite is true.)

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thesauce2424

November 1st, 2010 at 4:20 PM ^

What do you mean? I don't get how DB forcing RRod(his subordinate) to change would be anything other than shrewd. On the contrary, I think it would be prudent to step in.  It's not like this would be a hasty move. It's painfully obvious that there are a variety of factors which are causing the demise of the defense.  IF the defense was better than last year, or making progress toward that end, this would be a non-issue. The fact that GERG has been here for two consecutive years coupled with the fact that even the experienced members of our defense look lost or are schematically ineffectual(save Martin) leads me to one conclusion: We must change the only thing we can change. And since we can't impart ability into our current players, the only option would be to get someone in here to maximize hteir abilities. I understand that this coaching staff is trying, and has been trying, to do this for almost 2 seasons, but I think the proof is in the pudding that they are incapable of doing so. David Brandon is a good business man, and the shrewd move would be to force the issue. 

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