Decatur Jack

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^

So, does this mean Drevno was really the problem? What about Pep?

I really thought all those "Drevno is paranoid and nobody likes him" articles by Gregg Hanson were bull.

Joined: 09/20/2011

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TryggerHappy

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^

The timing of this is strange. I would be very happy with Warinner sliding into the Oline Coach Role though.  Only thing is with this, i think we can pretty much kiss our chances with Calvin Anderson goodbye 

Joined: 10/06/2017

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TryggerHappy

February 23rd, 2018 at 12:04 PM ^

it sounded a lot of the reason why he was considering was his relationship with Drev as well as his desire to get NFLready, i agree we definitely upgrade with Ed, but you cant discount the personal relationship aspect. 

Joined: 10/06/2017

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JFW

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^

he wasn't forced out by fan reaction (I don't think that is the case, but it is a shitty precedent) and if Warriner takes over the O line. 

Joined: 10/20/2010

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Mpfnfu Ford

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^

I'll never totally understand why Drevno didn't work out at Michigan. He's the most baffling thing about the staff. Pep I get, you get used to working with Andrew Luck for years and you forget how to dumb stuff down for mortals. But Drevno had a long track record of building stud road grader lines, but couldn't make it work here. 

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m_go_T

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^

The OC position was too much for him. I think if he was just an OL coach, he would have been just fine. I hope Harbaugh learned his lesson. There should be one guy in charge of being the "OC" and then position coaches that help coordinate the pass and run games. 

I will take MacLewein (spelling?) as OC, as he has a track record of being a good OC. He can coach up the WRs, which is a good position group (that or QB or RB) for an OC to coach. OL seems so important that I would like someone who is 100% focused on the position and not splitting itme with coordinating duties. 

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MNWolverine2

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^

Be careful what you wish for.  There is a divide in the coaching staff and locker room after this exit.  There are many guys that loved Coach Drev.  

Could work out just fine, but the grass isn't always greener.  Nobody compained about our Top 10 offense in 2016.  And everybody laughed off Florida's offense the last 2 years,,,,

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Perkis-Size Me

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^

If the team starts winning everyone who is divided on the issue will fall back in line pretty quick. 

I'm sure half of the Alabama football team hates Saban's guts. But they all happily commit to him and put up with him for 3-4 years because he wins you titles and gets you into the first round of the draft. 

Joined: 11/30/2011

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Don

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^

it doesn't make sense to me that responsibility for the offensive woes lie entirely on Drevno's shoulders—ultimately Harbaugh has final say on play calls anyhow. When that committee system works it's fine, but if even one unit is having trouble, then it all falls apart and looks like a disorganized clusterfuck. Having a capable QB would have made the offense more productive.

Drevno had a consistent record of success as an OL coach prior to coming here, so I suspect that the additional duties of OC didn't benefit him when it came to coaching the OL.

I wonder if Harbaugh wanted to turn OC over to McElwain and Drevno didn't want that sort of demotion and quit instead.

The resigning thing is weird since there's no mention of it being combined with accepting a position elsewhere.

I just hope this isn't in the category of "be careful what you wish for."

Joined: 06/30/2008

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JFW

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^

I honestly think people are just pissed they don't have one person to blame. 

I was listening to a podcast yesterday with Doug Karsch and he said every time he leaves a town after a UM victory the radio is invariably alight with other teams fans ripping the playcalling. 

Playcalling is one of those low hanging fruits; because if it works it looks brilliant, and if it doesn't it looks like a charlie foxtrot. 

But very few people can comment on execution. (I'm actually okay that they don't. I don't want to see some amatuer kid hung out to dry because his play sucked). 

Joined: 10/20/2010

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The Fugitive

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^

Sam touched on the recruiting roundup yesterday that Trente Jones loved the family atmosphere despite knowing changes would come to the staff. I dont know if that meant Trente knew Drevno was leaving or just understanding there is staff turnover at every program.

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bronxblue

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^

Honestly? I am not crazy about him leaving. He called good games last year, and the running game was as good as we've seen since Denard and Fitz. There are other guys who can step in, but I hope people realize that this now means the OC is McElwain and they're back on the hunt for a 10th assistant coach. So that's going to surely be an A1 choice everyone will love. And next year, with a much more experienced team, the offense will look better in an likelihood and the fans will say "see, I told you it was Drevno holding them back". And that will be bullshit.

Joined: 11/22/2008

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JFW

February 23rd, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^

I'll explain how the logic doesn't stand up. Your other question isn't really answerable with the data we have as fans. 

The accusations are that playcalling sucked because of Drev. 

Drev was here for two ten win seasons, when our playcalling was called 'unpredictable' and 'hard to plan for'. 

Drev stays, and Pep replaces Fisch. The offense tanks and all of the sudden Drev needs to be fired for poor playcalling like the offense just tanked in a vacuum and Drev was the only guy there. 

If your car radio is working fine but you replace your speakers with Spark-O-Matics that look cool and all of the sudden everything sounds like shit is it the radio's fault?  

This season was a tough one. A winning tough one, but a tough one. People wanted Pep and Drev gone but Drev wasn't the change on an offense that was previously good. His responsibilities didn't change either. He didn't get more responsibility when Fisch left. So no, it isn't logical to blame the season on him. 

I'll further place the idea that the playcalling sucked on trial. Maybe it was unimaginative, but we were dealing with new frosh WR's who weren't developing fast, a crap ton of injuries overall, and especially a plague of injuries at QB. Should coaching have developed them faster? Maybe. But maybe when you have so many young people to develop, as well as catch up backups replacing starters, as well as figure out schemes to work around your new and changing weaknesses you run a bit short of time. 

Sometimes, your playcalling is hamstrung by what your players can do. 

If you were coaching a pop warner team and your QB couldn't throw for shit and your WR's kept dropping the ball your playcalling might start looking alot more like a 1950's woody hayes caricature. Does that mean you are unimaginative and a shitty offensive mind? No, it means the tools in your toolbox are limited. That is *particularly* true if in your previous two seasons you had older kids with more experience who could catch, run, and hold on to the ball reliably. 

What do we lose with Drev gone? We don't know yet. Maybe he was an awesome presence in the locker room. Maybe he laid the groundwork for great run blocking. Maybe he reminded the other OC's of what players couldn't do and reigned them in from bad ideas. We just don't know. 

Joined: 10/20/2010

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brad

February 23rd, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^

You won't find pep fans among the crowd who wanted Drevno to move on, so that's a bit of a straw man. Like if your stereo already was a poor oline recruiter and injured your qb, those shitty speakers just made a bad situation worse.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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BlueHills

February 23rd, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^

I kind of agree. Two ten win seasons out of three isn’t a bad thing for most teams. On the other hand, the offenses weren’t stellar, just very good during those seasons. Stellar offenses might be needed to win the division, beat the rivals, etc. If Harbaugh can get to stellar with the offense, and match the defensive play, well, then we might have some championship seasons, as opposed to “very good but also-ran” seasons. If in fact Drevno resigned, I’m confident it was a mutually agreed thing with JH, who decided that change was needed. I trust JH’s football judgment.

Joined: 10/31/2010

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bronxblue

February 23rd, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^

Michigan was within 5 points of winning the division 2 years ago with a very good offense.  And that was mostly still with Hoke recruits.

Again, I'm fine with change, but people have been blaming Drevno for everything and it is abundantly clear that most of those accusations aren't based on actual facts or divisions of duties.  I just think that we'll hear a lot about how much "better" the offense looks under the new staff, and it will have very little to do with the change at the top IMO.

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