CC: Rivals Radio this morning ... 12/8

Submitted by Indiana Blue on

I really enjoy Rivals Radio in the morning (Bill King & Chris Childers shows) before the SEC shows dominate the afternoon hours (F-baum).   They do have a bent toward the SEC as their shows originate from Tennessee, but they get callers from everywhere and today Bill King said today that he has watched every Michigan game this year.

Bottom line today - they both have said they believe RR is done at Michigan.  They believe DB's refusal to stop all the "fire RR talk" and tell the world that RR is staying hurts Michigan more than if he would say either RR stays or RR goes.  It is DB's refusal to give that support to RR thay they say is the reason they believe the decision has already been made. And it is getting harder and harder to not take some of what they say as valid. 

The speculation is worse than knowing ! 

 Trust me I know this topic is toxic on mgblog.  I read thru the other posts before posting and no one else had referred to Rivals Radio this morning.  I woud also guess that a large portion of the readers do not even have XM or Sirius radio (143 on XM)  so I am simply trying to inform on what is being said to a national audience by "known" college football commentators.

Go Blue ! 

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raleighwood

December 8th, 2010 at 1:28 PM ^

Stanford doesn't play until January 3rd.  The means we might have to wait until the 4th.  It's going to be very interesting to see the rumors that start flying around that week.

DB has obviously seen enough to make his decision (one way or the other).  The waiting is the hardest part.

Joined: 11/26/2008

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Hemlock Philosopher

December 8th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^

[T]hey both have said they believe RR is done at Michigan...And it is getting harder and harder to not take some of what they say as valid.

No.  No, not really.  Just because someone has a pulpit and "believes" something, doesn't make it any less speculation and reading of tea leaves.  Perhaps we should ask Miss Cleo.

Coach Rodriguez still haz job.

Joined: 02/12/2009

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ToledoWolverine

December 8th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^

Is sticking to his word. He said AFTER the season is over the coach will be evaluated. Everything else is conjecture and opinions. I don't give a rats ass what anybody but Dave Brandon says, regardless if they are media, blog trolls, or random fans of this team or any other. It will all come out in the wash, I don't like waiting either, but I like speculation even less. Whatever happens, Michigan football will go on.

Joined: 10/02/2008

MGoPoints: 11886

st barth

December 8th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^

All of this "coaching change" talk is going to end up being the biggest non-story of the year once Brandon does his evaluation of the football program and then...SURPRISE!...nothing really changes.

What Brandon is doing by keeping quiet until after the season is, in essence, training fans & media alike that he is boss.  Why do that?  So that every time M loses a game in the future and everyone freaks out about the coach and all the "hotseat" talk starts, Brandon can simply reply that he'll "evaluate the team at the end of the season"...and people will actually believe him and shut up about it for awhile.  On second thought, people probably won't shut up but at least they'll believe Brandon. 

It's like breaking in a pet.  You have to show them who's boss.

Joined: 12/02/2008

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Sobinator

December 8th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^

I agree, and while it sucks, I respect what he is doing.  He is basically saying "FU, i'm in charge, TFB" Bo would be proud.

Now if a change is made, then this theory goes right out the window.

Joined: 05/10/2009

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Go Blue Eyes

December 8th, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^

Either DB is like Hamlet and he can't make up his mind (can you imagine him as CEO of Domino's asking for a decision from one of his managers and the reply is, "Let me get back to you on that in a month?") or the decision is made and he is stringing RR along - which is pretty low class in my opinion.  My level of confidence in DB has dropped dramatically over the last couple of weeks.

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." - George S. Patton, Jr.

Joined: 12/04/2010

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profitgoblue

December 8th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^

If you know your history, you will recall that Patton was almost court marshalled for his treatment of a wounded soldier at a field hospital.  He was relegated to commanding a fictitous "army" group on D-Day but was given another opportunity by Eisenhower to prove himself several weeks after the beachheads were secured.  I'm not sure I want Patton making coaching change decisions if a change is being contemplated.

Joined: 09/01/2009

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profitgoblue

December 8th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^

But I'd take Rommel over Patton in a heartbeat.  It is definitely true the fictitious army was effective, but there was no way the Germans were pushing the invaders back to the water (except maybe at Omaha Beach) and Patton was hurt that he was not part of the initial wave.

P.S.  Great quote!

Joined: 09/01/2009

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psychomatt

December 8th, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^

I listen to Bill King every morning and as much of Childers as I can tolerate. They are in the dark as much as everyone else. I love Bill King, but he appears to have zero inside info on the Michigan situation. Tom Dienhart and Mike Huguenin frequently come on and add their two cents. The vast majority of what they say is opinion and conjecture.

Dienhart was the Rivals guy who was pushing the story on King's and Childers' radio shows that Brandon was going to fire RR at a press conference on the Monday following the OSU game -- well, until that did not happen. Now he mostly limits himself to blasting Brandon for mishandling the situation. Huguenin was on Childers' show this morning, and when Childers said it was clear that RR was done in A2, Hugenin replied he wasn't so sure and really had no idea what Brandon was doing.

FWIW, some of their other recent "misses" include:

  • After JoePa had a bad day at B10 media days, they all agreed this would be his last year and that Al Golden was the likely replacement.
  • Bill King repeatedly told callers from Texas that Mack Brown would never dump OC Greg Davis because they were attached at the hip.
  • They were clearly surprised when Randy Shannon and Dave Wannstedt were fired, thinking they both would be given another year.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with them offering up their opinions on any of these situations, but they often leave the impression they actually have inside info and know far more than they do.

Joined: 08/25/2009

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psychomatt

December 8th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^

I did not have to go back three months to dig up anything. I listen to the show regularly.

And you are effectively making my point for me. Yes, Mack and Davis are close. And for that reason, most persons (including Bill King) "guessed" Mack would not replace him. That guess proved to be wrong. Same thing with the JoePa situation. Most educated "guesses" were that JoePa would retire, especially if he reached 400 wins. But Bill King did not hear that from JoePa anymore than any of us did and, surprise, JoePa has a different plan.

Joined: 08/25/2009

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michiganfanforlife

December 8th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^

every morning. He likes RR and has been saying all along that if he was given at least 5 years to get his guys in AA it would be a championship team.  The problem is that our board, boosters, fans, and supporters all can't wait that long for success. I hope we retain RR and get a whole new staff on D. However, the signs do seem to point to a change for us after the turn of the year. We owe RR 1.5 million less after Jan 1st also, so that could be yet another reason to wait.

The biggest problem I see with a big change is that we would have to start over AGAIN. We now have a team full of (mostly) ninja midgets. BTW don't list all the big guys on the team right now, I know there are plenty of bigger guys on the lines, and S. Hopkins - Our skill spots and defensive back 7-8 are small though.  If JH comes in he will only recruit HUGE guys on both sides of the ball. He might just blow up our whole recruiting class and replace them with bigger guys.  It could take more time to reshape this team in someone else's image than to just let RR continue.

Joined: 05/05/2009

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TBG

December 8th, 2010 at 7:34 PM ^

Agree to retain RR with a new defensive coaching staff.  But disagree that we start totally over with a new staff.  We both agree we need to blow up defense and special teams.  But there are many coaches (i.e. Harbaugh) who have experience with spread and pro-set offenses and would reasonably adjust their offense - at least initially - to best align with the talent.  I'm in favor of keeping RR, but think JH could walk in and post a 9 win season in 2011.  On top of that, once we get up on OSU by say 20, he'll go for 2.  I would love to see that moment happen.  

Joined: 07/09/2008

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NYCJHGoblue

December 8th, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^

that RR will get and should get another year. He has improved the offense now he needs to improve the defense. RR will have to find a new DC and Linebackers coach. This team could easily win 9 games next year if the defense improves as we would expect it to do. It would be a mistake to fire RR before his contract is up.

Joined: 01/09/2009

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Topher

December 8th, 2010 at 1:54 PM ^

Making my head spin.

I really think the bowl game - with everyone healthy and a few weeks to tweak the defense and special teams - will tell us everything we need to know. If Brandon makes demands he shake up his staff, which he probably should, they'll have the new people on the phone ready to open real negotiations by the time the game is over.

If Michigan wins going away (and/or if secret discussions with JH stall out) we'll keep the coach. If RR doesn't have the ship running tight in all phases, all bets are off.

Joined: 07/05/2008

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Captain Obvious

December 8th, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^

When are we going to start realizing that no one and I mean NO ONE has the inside scoop here?

Brian has better sources than everyone on this board combined.  He knew about UM-Alabama before anyone.  This source says that he does not know and neither does anyone else...except our AD.

This means that everyone with a source is full of shit.  People are making inferences based on the situation that is visible to all.  Anyone can do that.

So...yeah.  I don't care what anyone has to say on the matter unless it is our AD, who is metaphorically out on a sailboat for the next month while the program and recruiting suffer.

Joined: 03/17/2009

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switch26

December 8th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

Because he is waiting so long RR is fired?  lol k...

 

Well i watched the experts yesterday and they said the longer he waits the more reason RR is staying..  soo take that

 

They said he can't be dumb enough to not know how badly it would ruin the recruiting this year if RR was fired, and the transition back to a Pro style is gonna set us back for several more years all over again.

 

Harbaugh isn't a long term answer as a coach, so i don't know why people have hard on's for him..  He is either signing that extension at stanford or will go to the NFL soon.. I couldn't see him being at michigan for very long

Joined: 02/04/2010

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CompleteLunacy

December 8th, 2010 at 4:48 PM ^

The wait-until-after-bowl-season-thing can be equally argued as an indication for RR staying or being fired. And I've been back and forth about it as well. Both sides have convincing reasons. 

But they're both wrong.

It would be different if DB said a decision would be made after the OSU game, and we still don't know anything. It would be different if DB hasn't been saying for months that he would wait until after the bowl game. But since people are impatient, they create issues where none lie. And I don't give two shits who conjectures what for whether RR is fired or not, because there is exactly one person's words I care about right now: Dave Brandon's. And I mean his direct words, not what we interpret his excessively vague words to mean. Unless someone has a source that starts off with "DB has indicated...", then frankly I don't care what the "source" thinks.

Joined: 11/13/2010

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uferfan1

December 8th, 2010 at 2:00 PM ^

Bill King has been snarky since the hire. Huge Dantonio fan playing up a picture of discipline when the facts are the exact opposite. Not once has he mentioned oversigning in the sec as a problem by keeping kids on the hook until the last moment when other rosters are full then kicking them to a feeder school in case they need them. Bill contrary to your belief NOT everyone does this. By the way are we the only school to self punish, all others wait for a ruling then appeal.

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