Brandon with Classic Response on WDFN
Yesterday Brandon came on WDFN in the afternoon. He comes on, they exchange pleasantries and the host goes on with a long winded question about the football coach and when he finally finishes he concludes with something like.....Is all the media pressure you're receiving make it difficult to stick to your timeline?
Brandons repsonse- "No it doesn't". There is a long pause as the hosts try to figure out if he is done or not and when they figure out that he is they just move on. Pretty funny, basically saying I don't care about you cockroaches, but I'll come on your show to pump up my school. Aw too bad Mr. sports host I know you spent all day crafting your question to corner him into an answer and you weren't the smartest guy in the world. Reboot.
Also, I'm not sure if it was taken down off the board, but I was surprised I didn't see a RIP Drew Sharp post after getting booted off the radio. I know how he is so admired here.
December 21st, 2010 at 10:43 AM ^
Coaching changes: Arkansas St, N Texas, N Ilnni, ULL, Minnesota, Indiana, Colorado, Florida, Miami, Pitt, Vandy, Maryland, Texas, Kent St, Ball St, Temple, Miami Ohio, West Virgina.
Looks like all this folks are jumping the gun.
Damn... I hope Michigan and RRod don't make this list.
December 21st, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
So, I'm on record as saying that the delay isn't having a huge affect on recruiting. I believe Magnus has said, what matters is signing day. I'll agree that RR & staff have to work harder at recruiting, but it seems that a number of recruits are waiting to see what happens with the coaching situation, and not necessarily ruling Michigan out.
What just struck me (duh) on the recruiting front has to do with a potential coaching change. Because I believe RR will return, I also think we'll end up fine in recruiting. The lack of concern about recruiting from DB also leads me to believe there won't be a coaching change. I'm wondering if the anxiety on this board is largely coming from those who want JH as the next coach. Because, yes, if RR is gone and JH is coming, that will have a negative affect on recruiting. I guess I discount this, because I don't see RR leaving.
December 21st, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^
Always talks about recruits committing to Michigan and the school and the education and the tradition and what not....So, DB may well discount the appeal of a single coach to a few players. In addition, beyond the HC is the question of the assistants and some of them may be gone as well. That might affect who ultimately signs LOI's too.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^
at recruiting this year, and think that RR should be retained, I dont think that it would hurt recruiting much, if at all (Hart would be a big loss - but even if RR stays - Hart may be gone). Would a few of the players decommit - yes, would Harbaugh add current Stanford commits and others who are not currently on the radar - yes.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
I highly doubt more than 1 or 2 guys would de-commit after giving Harbaugh a listen to his plans. Further, he would attract some significant interest and commits just because of his success and the fact he's "home."
Either way, MICH is fine.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
This has been argued one million times, but I'll do it again.
Stanford's current recruiting class is better than Michigan's.
If Jim Harbaugh comes here, he will clean up in the final month of recruiting. Who wouldn' t want to play for a guy with NFL connections, who took Stanford to a 11-1 record, who just placed guys at the Heisman ceremony in back to back years?
On the other hand, RR will clean up in January, ONLY if he's given a contract extension. Otherwise, the questions/uncertainty/negative recruiting will never go away.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:14 AM ^
Should RR be retained we will have another 365 days of "what does he have to do to keep his job," talk. 8 wins, 9 wins, a Big Ten Title? 2011 will be exactly like 2010 without an extention, which will hurt recruiting more than a coaching change. Frankly 2 to 3 years of program uncertainty (real and imagined) has done more damage to recruiting that the last couple of weeks.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:46 AM ^
Plus, relative class rankings of Mich vs Stanford have a lot to do with how many recruits you are going to get in addition to how highly ranked the recruits are and that is determined by how many scholarships you have available and at what positions. We all ought to know by now that recruit ranking is a very inexact science!
December 21st, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^
how this all plays out come February LOI day and until then all we can do is speculate. Each recruit at each school is a separate case and how they will handle any coaching change should it occur either at HC or coordinator or assistant level is always up in the air.
What happens if can be asserted or argued from any viewpoint, but all we will know is what happened when!
December 21st, 2010 at 11:02 AM ^
That already happened a few years ago; Drew Dull is merely a shadow of the writer he used to be when he was young and full of belief. Drew used to be fairly "Sharp", but somewhere along the way, he developed a sense of entitlement and decided he was better than the athletes he covers. Consequently, he took the lazy sportswriter's road; he resorted to controversial statements bordering on non-sequiturs because he no longer had the drive to attract clicks and readers with quality writing.
So, in a de facto sense, Drew Sharp the writer has been dead for a few years now. In his place, we got Drew Dull, the entertainer wannabe. That's too bad. It might not be "cool" to say it here, but I actually miss the old Drew Sharp.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
I applaud WDFN compared to 97.1 (Spartan Nation) because at least DFN will try to hear it from the horses mouth instead of just making there own wild ass, "this is what i think" predictions based on nothing. Thats why 97.1 never has interviews or guests on their shows. It was Ryan Field filling in for Sean Baligian, would have loved to hear Sean interview DB, Sean is the best.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:11 AM ^
I like how DB says people lose focus on what it's all about.(Meaning people get caried away with W's ans L's) and that it's about the student athletes. Well the student athletes seem to be standing pretty firmly behind RR. So if it's about them there's no decision to be made.
BTW- terrible interviewers. No follow up qustions and they cower when he stonewalls them.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
Under your logic, the most popular teacher in school should get a pass for lousy results because his current students like him and stand behind him.
Beyond that I defy you to find a case in the history of college football where the current players said anything worse than luke warm positive about the current coach. Even if everyone knew the guy had no rapport with the players or even if everyone knew the players hated the coach. Most of what is said in response to questions about the players opinion of Rodriguez is cliche jock talk
Third, I don't honestly see great loyalty to Rodriguez. I see a lot of guys saying that it isn't their business and Rodriguez is an adult and has it covered. Not that it is all that relevant what people say to the media anyways.
Oh and if you think W's and L's, especially against our biggest rivals, aren't a primary consideration in evaluating the football coach at Michigan, you are kidding yourself.
December 21st, 2010 at 1:28 PM ^
I have a serious issue with comparing coaching and teaching. As the child of two educators and a current Michigan student, I can say with total confidence that barring extreme cases, the performance of a teacher's class is contingent upon the students in the class far more than the skill of the teacher.
In the classroom, a teacher can run the same class seven times a day to different students, then witness drastically different exam results. Up until college, the likability of a teacher usually matters more than their teaching ability because the most important trait of a teacher is the ability to keep their students' attention. So yes, the most popular teacher in school SHOULD get a pass for lousy results if he's teaching bad students.
On another note, it seems like most of the current players who are old enough to have also played for Lloyd Carr support Rich Rod just as strongly as the younger guys, with the exceptions of Morgan Trent and the guys who transferred. Maybe that happens often; I wouldn't know.
December 21st, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^
Because this:
the performance of a teacher's class is contingent upon the students in the class far more than the skill of the teacher.
Is EXACTLY the defense of Rich Rod (Players young, uperclassmen not good, nothing he can do about it).
Now, the difference is that a college coach has some say of the level of students he gets, where the average teacher doesn't, but it is an interesting parallel.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^
That if Rich was supposed to be retained he already would be and delaying means termination seems odd to me. Historically (though not without precedent) if you get terminated it usually happens before the bowl game. If you change jobs it happens before the bowl game. How many coaches this year have either quit or gotten fired or gotten a new job BEFORE THE BOWL GAME? Many....
Neither argument (waiting till the bowl game means he is fired or he isn't) matters much because ultimately the decision is Brandon's and Brandon's alone. I personally believe waiting till after the bowl game is done to assess what to do about the various aspects of the team. If you are going to fire Greg Robinson and or parts of the defensive staff - people who have been with RRod for a long time and who recruits have gotten to know - then well that is a delicate process. And the one thing I have never seen are the coaches from an entire side of the team (offense or defense) get fired right before a bowl game. If it happens, it happens after the bowl game.
I think the biggest thing is going to be Rich having to give up his autonomy and have his hands off the defense.
Also and hopefully for the last time (but I'm guessing not) there is NO reason to hire Hoke or Miles this year versus next. Neither are going anywhere this year......It's either Harbaugh or Rodriguez. And I for one don't think their records are vastly different when you look at them year to year. The only difference is Harbaugh is nasty mean SOB (and I mean that in a positive way - he would go for two up by 21 on OSU and all of us would be ecstatic about that) and RRod is a genuinely good guy (which is also a positive). I think they will win the same, recruit the same, and their end results won't be radically different.
I know we're all debating this endlessly but frankly we can't go wrong either way. I say sit back and enjoy the outcome whatever it maybe.
December 21st, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
We'll see if what DB did was wrong or not within the next 3 years depending upon how our football team performs in the field in terms of wins and losses. We will only know how the coach we have makes out, and the rest of it will be in the dustbin of unknown speculative history.
It might matter a lot, it might not, because.......
Always in motion is the future.
-- Yoda
We have already seen that a coaching change can have a big 3 year impact, have we not, based on the current record for 2008, 2009, and 2010 so far?
December 21st, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
...the Yahoo Sports (Rivals) article on the interview. It seems DB had more to say than "No, it doesn't."
“It’s not about public pressure, it’s about doing what I think is right and doing my job and following through on the plans and programs I’ve had since I started back in March. We’re just doing what we said we were going to do all season long. Nothing’s dragging out. Recruiting is always challenging. It’s particularly challenging when you’re out there recruiting against the best programs, and you’re going to have moments where you’re feeling really happy, and you’re going to have moments where you’re really disappointed. That’s the nature of recruiting. There are a lot of factors that impact these student-athletes as they make their choices. We’re going to work hard - our coaches are working hard. I’ve met with several of the recruits on campus, and I know our coaches are selling Michigan hard, as they should.”
December 21st, 2010 at 12:12 PM ^
I think you're completely misreading the players on the team if you think that the vast majority of those who RR recruited aren't very loyal to him.
But you're 100% right— in the end, those ties to RR won't be the deciding factor in DB's mind; it's whether or not he thinks RR can get the program up to where he wants it to be.
December 21st, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
Fire up the beacon, we need to summon the Knowledge to bring clarity and calm...
Yes...
December 21st, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^
So then. Based on comments above, is there a consensus that, if next season's D sucks, it's RR's fault?
Because it probably will suck. Maybe not quite as badly as this year's. (How could it?) But it won't be good. There's just no way it leaps from hideous to okay in one season. Maybe from hideous to garden-variety bad.
Which means that next year, at this time, we'll be parsing "bad." And if you're parsing "bad," it's bad.
December 21st, 2010 at 2:05 PM ^
DB says he isn't worried about recruiting because:
1) If RR stays, RR's recruits stay.
2) If RR exits and JH enters, we'll lose a few recruits. But JH will score a bunch of recruits that RR couldn't get. JH is a killer recruiter. Plus, no more "hot-seat" uncertainty. He'd land the better class, IMO. At worse, it's break-even.
3) DB can't say he's worried about recruiting. Under what scenario would an AD say something like that?
December 21st, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^
is dead. Sharp was a tragic mistake, Kowalski repeats the word "wait" and "look" over and over again, and Baligan was good at one point but is very, very stale. I liken the return of "the Fan" after hiatus to Karate Kid III. Enough is enough, show is over.