Why did Brandon Fire Rich?
1. The record. I'm not going to list the details we all know, and pile on. But it obviously wasn't good. Was that the primary, or overriding factor?
2. The atmosphere around the program. Fans, alumni unhappy, media circling, national perception. Had it just gotten to the point that it had all gotten so ugly, that it didn't seem like there was enough momentum to turn it around, or fight through it?
3. The other 95%. Brandon says the W-L and the stuff we saw was only a small part; so he did like the whole picture?Maybe he didn't like either the state of the program, the talent level, or what he saw behind the scenes; whether in practice, or in interactions with players, staff, the department, the public. Everything seemed like it was good, but was Brandon saying he was seeing stuff we can't? Because if he thought 2 and 3 were great, wouldn't he put up with #1 against all fan pressure?
It's surely some combo of any number of things, but now that we've had a day away from it, we can consider why it didn't work, and why Brandon came to the conclusion he did (whether you agree with it or not).
January 6th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^
Some common sense thankfully. I know Mike Bilotti turned down the job. Tressel was the third choice. He was a 1-AA coach, albeit quite a successful one. And it seems to have worked out OK for OSU. If Brandon were to bring in a top drawer 1-AA (or whatever they now call it) coach tomorrow most of this blog would be looking to tar and feather him. As if the only guys who can do a great job in Ann Arbor are named Harbaugh, Meyer or Patterson.
You know folks, mighty Florida just hired a guy who has never been a head coach. We'll see how that works out. I bet Muschamp will do fine.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:29 AM ^
0-3 vs State, 0-3 vs OSU
6-18 vs Big Ten
11-11 at the Big House
1-11 vs Ranked teams
as well as the issue with practice time.
Much love to Rich Rod but it was the correct decision
January 6th, 2011 at 9:37 AM ^
It's because RR ordered Cottage Inn pizza for the senior get together at his house, rather than a certain other pizza brand. At this point, Brandon had no choice.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:50 AM ^
Nothing pumped up my cholesterol as much as the bacon & pepperoni Sicilian. Nothing like it here in NC.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:54 AM ^
Do they still give discounts at Cottage Inn after MBB wins to ticket stub holders? Back in the old days (1990s) they did and it was spectacular. Grabbing a pizza on the way home from Crisler after victories in 1993-94 and 1994-95 was icing on the cake. Or icing on the pizza. Something like that.
+1 for North Carolina. Where in NC?
January 6th, 2011 at 11:46 AM ^
grew up in NY; graduated from M in 1986 (yup, old as dirt)
January 6th, 2011 at 12:01 PM ^
Nah, pretty sure dirt was around before 1964.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^
That's a long commute for work. I'm a Charlotte guy (since 2003) by way of Pittsburgh and Ann Arbor prior to that (LSA '97).
January 6th, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^
own Archdale shopping center (on South Blvd) and Royal Plaza (WT Harris and Abermarle)
January 6th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
I loved those. Can''t remeber exactly how much they cost, $5 or less. Had one nearly every deal
January 6th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
They give that discount at Hungry Howies now, instead.
January 6th, 2011 at 11:49 AM ^
You clearly haven't consumed enough Cookout yet, as I think it easily one-ups the cholesterol count from Cottage Inn. As far as pizza though, you're right, nothing like it here in Carolina.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
Char-Grill followed by Goodberry's.
Note: bummed I lost the 666 mgopoints level.
January 6th, 2011 at 1:02 PM ^
I think I would keel over and die after that one. Sadly neither one exists in Brier Creek (that I know of), so I'll have to wait to try out my hypothesis.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:51 AM ^
If you told the Michigan fan base that this would be their new coach's future accomplishments, would they support this coach? Hell no.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:57 AM ^
We play in a smash-mouth conference. You need to go toe to toe with the Big Boys. We were not able to do that.
He did not see that improving with RR at the helm . . . enough so that he still fired him after Jim Harbough The Savior fell out of his pocket.
He also said that even the Ball Boys need to be defensive minded. Not a good fit for a coach who publicly declared that the defense was sombody else's job to worry about.
January 6th, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^
When you see those numbers - is there any questions as to why?
January 6th, 2011 at 9:30 AM ^
1. A lumpson of defensive backs got hurt or transfered
2. Showing progress in the wins category year by year.
3. Having a future heisman prospect.
4. Having a very young team that doesn't graduate much this year
Wait what was the question
January 6th, 2011 at 9:59 AM ^
Look, I love me some RR and I supported him as strongly as any until the time of the PSU debacle, but let's take off the rose colored glasses.
When RR came in, he and his staff sought to radically change the program into what they wanted it to be. They didn't want to just modernize the offense or the S&C program, they essentially wanted to scrap what we had and rebuild it into what they knew. And I can't blame them - RR had big time success at WVU and he is a "system" coach.
But, what RR didn't realize is that many (most) of the fans / donors / alum - even those that wanted to update the staid program - loved what we had. Updating would have been acceptable - scrapping and re-building was not. There was a recent quote from one of RR's coaches (too lazy to search for it) in which he defended the slow transition by saying that when they came in, they didn't realize how long it would take to build up the program to the way they wanted it to run. Well, that's the mistake - unlike WVU, Michigan did not need them to come in and build a program - we had one of the best out there. They needed to come in and improve the program and give it a kick in the ass, sure, but a rebuild was not in order.
Also, let's go back to 2008 for a minute - with the backup QBs being Threatadin, RR's first order of business should have been keeping Ryan Mallett on the team. If that meant delaying the implimentation of his stread offense or adjusting that offense to fir his talent, he should have done that. And, even worse, once Mallett left, what rational person would have tried to run the option offense with Threatadin at QB??
Not trying to trash RR, but the manner in which he and his staff approached this job was likely the factor that doomed him.
As for the progress that you list:
1. Yes, a bunch of DBs transferred - who's fault is that? Transfers have been pretty common durring the RR era. In 2008, this was an understandable aspect of a cc - but in 2010? Sorry, this speaks to a larger issue. As for injuries, every team has them. Hell, Penn State fielded its 3rd stringers against us on offense and managed to kick our asses.
2. Progress in wins? in raw numbers, yes. However we still could not beat a single decent team, and the magnitude of the losses to decent teams actually got worse.
3. Future Heisman prospect Denard - I love Denard. Probably one of my favorite M football players ever. But, he is one player. Michigan is about the team. Also, I hate to break this to you but there are probably 20 teams that can legitimately say "we have a future Heisman prospect" on the team.
4. Having a young team - so? Won' t these players be back next year regardless?
January 6th, 2011 at 10:09 AM ^
I believe you meant "irregardless." Wait, could that have been why he was fired?
January 6th, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^
No, irregardless shouldn't be used. That word is just a worse version of regardless.
January 6th, 2011 at 11:03 AM ^
I believe you meant "worser."
January 6th, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
This shows you have no clue what your talking about, there was no way a Spread Coach was keeping Mallet, no matter what he said!
Also, let's go back to 2008 for a minute - with the backup QBs being Threatadin, RR's first order of business should have been keeping Ryan Mallett on the team. If that meant delaying the implimentation of his stread offense or adjusting that offense to fir his talent, he should have done that. And, even worse, once Mallett left, what rational person would have tried to run the option offense with Threatadin at QB??
January 6th, 2011 at 1:00 PM ^
Wow, it was only three years ago, do you people seriously not remember? Mallett would not return Rodriguez's phone calls and left campus abruptly. There was talk of Mallett transferring before Lloyd even announced his retirement. Mallett was not going to stay here, especially after Rodriguez was hired. This was incorrectly put on Rodriguez, especially after he said "I only talk about guys who play for Michigan," because he didn't show a sufficient amount of regret at not being able to keep RM.
However, that doesn't mean Rodriguez couldn't or wouldn't have used him. (Do I really have to say this for the 10,000th time in 3 years? Shawn King, Tulane, 12-0.) RM would have made a huge difference. Those who know football have consistently called RR an offensive genius - it doesn't take a genius to figure out that an offense with RM is far preferable to either Threet or Sheridan. Honestly, we might not be having this post-Rodriguez hand-wringing if Mallett had stayed.
January 6th, 2011 at 11:49 AM ^
Up until then the narrative was that we had a weak secondary due to injuries and inexperience, but that everything else was fine. The rest of our D was solid and improving and we had an offense that could score on anyone.
As soon as the secondary, and to a lesser extent the linebackers, got some help through time, recruiting, and injury recovery, we'd be competing for the B10 championship.
Then came the second half of the Wisconsin game. Oh-oh #1:
Wisconsin absolutely mauled the "strength" of our D. This wasn't just a young secondary problem.
Then came OSU. Oh-oh #2:
OSU held our vaunted "spread 'n shread" offense to, gulp, 7 points. It turns out, we can't score on just anyone.
Then came the bowl game. Oh-oh #3:
After a month to heal up, refocus on some fundamentals, and prepare for a single opponent, all it did was confirm the verdict from the Wisc and OSU games . . . we are a "team" that is mostly just one great exciting player in Denard. Kind of like Indiana was when they had Antwaan Randle El.
The excitement over Denard and a schedule front-loaded with weak opponents smokescreened some serious fundamental problems with the program. Problems that DB believed would not go away under RR.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
and I do wish he was still our coach, but I agree with what you said here.
January 6th, 2011 at 1:39 PM ^
+ infinity to you sir, that was a great summary.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:30 AM ^
January 6th, 2011 at 10:18 AM ^
...I have to agree with you. I really didn't think it would just be about wins & losses but these last three games have been a disaster and made it very difficult to weather the storm.
With a decent showing in the Gator Bowl, I think Brandon would have brought him back for the fourth year but, frankly, the team dismally failed the big test. Once faith is gone, there's no choice but to cut your losses and move on so that you can start rebuilding as quickly as possible.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
RR had no chance here no matter what. It doesn't make any difference that we have had only one highly drafted player that was strictly recruited by LC. BG wouldn't have even been what he became if it wasn't for Barwis. He was out of shape and average in performance before being Barwised.
RR was brought in to change things. That is what he was hired for. A preseason top 5 team loaded with senior talent doesn't lose to a FCS school unless they are either woefully unprepared or tremendously out of shape. That was the state of the program towards the end of LC's tenure whether you choose to believe it or not is up to you. It was unacceptable if you want to consider yourself an elite program.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^
So Rich's players aren't good because they're freshmen and sophomores. But Brandon wasn't good enough because he was out of shape...not because he was a freshman and a sophomore. Nice double standard there. Who's believing what they want to believe?
January 6th, 2011 at 9:32 AM ^
I think he just had his hands tied behind his back.
Maybe the bowl game did have more worth than we think it did. Maybe if we didn't get blown out and showed some resemblance of a team effort, things might be different.
I think the plan always was Harbaugh, then RichRod; but after DB couldn't secure Harbaugh and RichRod got embarassed in the bowl game, DB had no choice but to cut RR loose.
I can say I was very upset with what transpired yesterday, but thinking over it, I realized that Db isn't so much to blame, but our damn luck as a program lately. Who knew a guy who claimed to love Bo and Michigan would turn us down, and our current coach would act like a dead fish during a game that probably was the final nail in his coaching coffin.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:52 AM ^
"Maybe the bowl game did have more worth than we think it did"
I think this is more correct than people acknowledge. Harbaugh's record at Stanford in his first 3 years:
4-8, 5-7, 8-5.
As we all know, RR:
3-9, 5-7, 7-6.
If he wins that bowl game, they're pretty similar and he's showing progress. But getting blown the f' out by a team that many michigan fans feel (right or wrong) is "beneath them", that meant he couldn't keep his job.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:12 AM ^
That MSU game was a complete embarrassment to U of M. Perhaps I shouldn't feel this way, but I would rather not have played the game than to have lost the way we did. My SEC friends have been burning holes in my Iphone laughing at Michigan and the Big Ten. You can bet that game did not help our recruiting either.
I turned the corner after PSU and this latest debacle was the icing on the cake.
I feel for RichRod, but he was perceived as the square peg in the round hole and never got the job done. Three years into the program, for all practical purposes, we had the worst D and the worst special teams in the country and an inconsistent offense that virtually disappeared against good competition. He hired GERG and did have an NCAA investigation on his watch. His recruits left in numbers we would like to forget about. Other than that, he was pretty good.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:12 AM ^
The records for JH and RR are not that different over the first three years. What was different:
1. JH won some "signature" games - beating a #2 ranked USC team.
2. Having lesser expectations to deal with at Stanford - no one expects that team to contend every year for the Pac 10 title let alone be in the national top 10 or in the hunt for the MNC.
3. He had enough positive buzz to overcome negative buzz (Toby Gearhart's emergence and Luck's emergence definitely helped neutralize toiletgate out there)
Here...RR had the perfect storm confluence of bad things to happen to a coach:
1. No "signature" victories - getting beaten by all of the major rivals really hurt - being competitive with MSU and nicking even one game off of OSU or Iowa would have helped him a lot. Looking back, had he gone for 2 versus MSU with Forcier in 2009, he had his best chance to win a "big" game.
2. NCAA investigation regardless of how serious or bogus you think it was, didn't help him with his critics.
3. Some bad PR moves - being a college coach isn't like a pro coach. In the pros, if you are just a hairline over on the legal side of the law AND are winning no one seems to care - you can make fetish videos, say outrageous things and get caught in all sorts of shenanigans so long as you just win baby. RR did a lot of little things which nicked away had the good will most people had for him...for seemingly trivial things like the number 1 jersey to the naming of captains....his attempts at humor or lightening the mood at the press conference seemed to just feed the flames...
4. Of course losing and losing badly hurt - were all his losses close well played games, 21-17, 24-21, 17-14, a lot of people would have given him time. He definitely was reshaping the offense and I hope whomever takes over will have the sense to try to keep the OL and Denard Robinson together - should be a great junior year for them, but his defense just lacked any progress. So many teams lack talent (hard to believe Stanford gets better defensive players than Michigan) so coaching and prep has to figure into some of the failure of defense. He might have a chance if he had gotten the defense to work his first year when we had Brandon Graham and Donovan available - might have helped set the pattern for the latter years, but we'll never know.
5. Injuries and attrition - to DBs and RBs in particular.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^
And compare Stanford in year 3. Big wins. Close losses. The records were similar, but not the results.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^
Michigan got manhandled in all 6 of their losses, and struggled to beat ND, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, and, to an embarassing extent, UMass.
Anyone who thinks RR's firing is shocking or unfair is being unreasonable--even Brian lost faith in RR after the Gator Bowl. It was time to move on, even if JH wasn't already in hand. If you can't deal with the uncertainty right now, that's a reflection of your character, not a sign that Brandon has failed. We won't know if Brandon screwed the pooch for 3-5 years.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
Martin didn't get that long with Rodriguez, so Brandon only gets up to 2.5 years too. Go get 'em Hoke!
January 6th, 2011 at 2:34 PM ^
Disappear to?
January 6th, 2011 at 11:57 AM ^
at the press conference seemed to just feed the flames...
"We just lost to Michigan State, what are you going to do, hang me?"
Um, yeah.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
Had there not been the air of chaos and negative PR around the program from the day RR was hired, he probably would have been given a 4th year. But from day one there was nothing but chaos. Now we can debate who is at fault for the chaos, personally I think RR is only partially to blame, but it was there none the less.
January 6th, 2011 at 2:15 PM ^
January 6th, 2011 at 4:30 PM ^
Harbaugh inherited a team fresh off a 1-11 season (and a generally losing team for years). Rodriguez inherited a team fresh off a 9-4 season (and a generally winning team for years).
January 6th, 2011 at 11:58 AM ^
it the bowl game was Michigan 52 - Miss St 14, instead of the other way around.
I think that DB thought he had JH all lined up (his press conference comments on JH had the tone of a jilted lover). If JH was a go, then RR was gone no matter what. DB would have found a way to spin it regardless of the favorable bowl game results.
But with JH not available, you have to think that a favorable bowl outcome like that would have shown enough progress to kept RR around.
So much for the bowl game not mattering.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:33 AM ^
... that DB would have had a hard time firing RR if we had won the bowl game by a big margin. Eight wins would have been hard to argue with, nothwithstanding losses to our rivals.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:35 AM ^
embarassed and blown out. It wasn't even close. That hurt RR a lot, IMO. Also, our "progress" over the past 3 seasons was due to easier schedules.
RR never beat a team with a winning B10 conference record in that season. That says it all.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:42 AM ^
You really think our schedule in 2010 was "easier" then 2008 and 2009?
January 6th, 2011 at 9:56 AM ^
we didn't beat any good teams (except, perhaps UConn with their starting QB suspensded).
The numbers speak for themselves. We have been terrible over the past 3 years.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:33 AM ^
I'm going to go with a heaping does of #2. As is the case nowadays, "anti" crowds typically make much bigger noise than the supporting crowds (i.e. online reviews, rarely will someone who enjoyed their experience take the time to write a good review).
Not that I blame him, but I think DB took the easy way out by firing RR this year. Overhaul the D. Give new coordinator 100% jurisdiction and see what happens. A lot of young men made a huge life decision to play for Coach Rod and, quite frankly, they are who I feel for the most in this situation.