Orange Bowl Snowflakes: The Coaching

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on

Here's your place to post hot takes on the overall coaching performance in the Orange Bowl.

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CoverZero

December 31st, 2016 at 2:10 AM ^

Hoke was a great DL and DB recruiter/talent evaluator.  He also pulled out Darboh, Butt and Chesson, none of which were super high recruits.

Hoke was Piss Poor recruiter on OL, QB and RB for the most part.  LBs have been average at best.  I do like how McCray has come along, but that has been under Brown...he was headed towards bust land but has redeemed himself nicely.

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CalifExile

January 1st, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^

Kalis, Magnuson, Bosch, Dawson, Fox, LTT and others were highly rated by the recruiting services and had offers from 'Bama, OSU, USC and others to back it up. Some of the problems, e.g. Fox's injury recovery, were unforseeable. Hoke's failure was in his selection and retention of Funk as OL coach.

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lhglrkwg

December 31st, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^

I agree Hoke recruited well but they were very good high school players and Hoke never got them considerably further than that. The defense is elite. Hoke and Mattison did well on that side but the job Hoke, Borges, and Funk did on the offensive side was awful and that's what limited this team. That defense was more than good enough to win it all with

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BroadneckBlue21

December 31st, 2016 at 12:41 AM ^

Or recruits, or NFL owners and players, or sports analysts around the nation. I'm tired of fickle fans who think Meyer could've done much better with the seven year anchor we had hanging around the program's neck. In just two years Harbaugh has turned UM into a top destination and a top defense and a rising offense. Saban wasn't Saban until he got back to college after getting hammered in he pros. Meyer is great at closing the deal with supremely talented teams mostly built by his predecessorss. Harbaugh has his flaws, but his abilities as a coach are why there are even Jesse asinine debates about how good he is. Impatient fan base trope: check.

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FL_Steve

December 31st, 2016 at 12:11 AM ^

Not the adjustments we need to win. square peg round hole, that type of bs. I get implementing your system/Philosophy, but you have to adjust to and use the talent you have as well as you can. I have yet to see this happen in the past 2 years, where are our trick plays, wheel routes? I liked the no huddle-hurry up at the end of the game but why the fuck didn't we try that in the 1st half?!?!? You know, when we were down by like a lot with no offensive momentum. Too little too late. Also I truly believe Peppers is more of a publicity stunt. He better come back next season, he has so much left to prove, and you know it.

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Brown Bear

December 31st, 2016 at 12:24 AM ^

The offense was working at the end of the game because FSU did the typical end of game defense of play soft coverage and didn't bring pressure. The rest of the game our sieve of an o-line wasn't giving Wilton any time to throw or creating lanes for running backs. FSU played a great game defensively but like it has been for 5 years now, a Brady Hoke offensive line did us in.

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MFanWM

December 31st, 2016 at 12:33 AM ^

My issue is the continued insistence of using play action and Smith on slow developing plays that you could see from a mile away would not move FSU out of their pressure D.  I am also highly confused at the end of the game the number of plays with Smith split wide on passing plays.  

Put your QB back in the gun, give him a chance to see the field and take a few shots deep to loosen up the D.  

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Dr. Venture

December 31st, 2016 at 12:18 AM ^

I'll admit that I've lost a little faith on the offensive side of the ball. The second half of the season looked like we were trudging through mud at times. The Peppers package never materliazed into anything useful or creative. The run game showed flashes but was ultimately average, and I felt like Speight never took the Rudock developmental leap that we all thought would happen. But.....two straight 10 win seasons is great considering where we were 3 seasons ago. I haven't abandoned hope that Harbaugh is the right guy for the job. I'd just like to see us pull even with some of the elites of college football, i.e. beating OSU next year.

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YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

December 31st, 2016 at 1:44 AM ^

JH is fantastic at many aspects of building a program, but he hasn't shown the ability to win the big game or beat top tier teams. I must admit, Urban has a far better track record going back to his early days for winning close games - that is painful to acknowledge. Now I think the talent (certainly the depth of talent given a couple of weak classes in the Hoke-JH bridge) is not top tier yet. We have a lot of high qualiyt, experienced guys and a few elite guys. But the athleticism in this roster is below FSU and OSU. Iowa loss is fully on JH's shoulders. We are 100 miles from the soft and defeatist program in Hoke's final year. It is hard to knock that mindset out of a program other than turning over the roster. The only way to decide if JH is elite is time. Let him get his roster and let the luck even out just a little.

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jabberwock

December 31st, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^

I wouldn't give a shit if Harbaugh won 10 Super Bowls in a row.

He's 20-6 at Michigan, 1-3 in rivalry games, 1-2 in bowl games, and has finished 3rd place in the B1G east twice.

It's a big improvement over his predecessor, it's a good trajectory for the program,
but i don't think it's being unfair to say that with this team, this year ended below expectations.


Would Harbaugh say he successfully acheived his goals this year?

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The Oracle

December 31st, 2016 at 7:29 AM ^

Yeah. He should go back to the NFL, where he would be in high demand. Michigan could easily find a better coach. Sure, it's been over a decade since Michigan last had back-to-back 10 win seasons, and he still isn't playing with his own recruits, but that's all irrelevant.

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Naked Bootlegger

December 31st, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^

With Jake Rudock and Wilton Speight as QB.   Rudock played at near elite levels near the end the season.  Speight didn't consistently play at elite levels.  I'm trusting that some of the incoming Harbaugh QB recruits will be truly elite.

Me?   I'm still happy as shit we have Harbaugh as the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach.

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LSAClassOf2000

December 31st, 2016 at 12:05 AM ^

I will admit that I could have been happier with less of Smith, and that's only because I don't think his skill set is the one you want to roll out against a team like Florida State. I really didn't understand the stubborn use of Smith at all, especially when it became clear that the toss sweep for a loss was really not something that belonged in an offensive gameplan. I guess this would be my first question to the staff if I was able to ask any. 

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jabberwock

December 31st, 2016 at 12:46 AM ^

about coaching a running back in college football, tell me, which two are the idiots?

Wheatley

Drevno

Harbaugh

For some crazy reason they keep playing Smith, game after game, season after season.

2 out of the 3 must be idiots to keep making this mistake, and I'd like your opinion as to which?

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taistreetsmyhero

December 31st, 2016 at 12:51 AM ^

Could be Wheatley. I either read here or heard on a broadcast that Wheatley is largely in charge of the rb rotation and makes the decision based on the play call.

Isn't this his first major rb coaching gig? Just because he's a great football player doesn't mean he has great coaching chops.

Could also be on Harbaugh for having this rb rotation carousel in the first place. It's not been a glowing success against good teams this year.



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jabberwock

December 31st, 2016 at 3:46 PM ^

but here are 3 NFL coaches . . .

Harbaugh may trust both of those guys but does he trust his own eyes?

They must be seeing something in practice after practice, game after game that tells them  "give the majority of the carries to Smith".

I've mentioned this before, are the other backs fumbling in practice?  Not learning the playbook?  picking up blitzes?  not catching passes?  

What is it?  
Is it just Smith's attitude that Harbaugh likes?  I admit, I love it, but i also like Evan's speed & shifitness, and Higdon's speed.

All I ever hear on this blog is "trust the coaches"  well, when do we stop doing that?

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taistreetsmyhero

December 31st, 2016 at 12:04 AM ^

Meh. Our talent level is on the rise. People seem to be forgetting that speight was hand-selected by Al Borges. If the offense looks this bad with Peters or Mccafrey then I'll admit Harbaugh hasn't lived up to the hype.

Hard to be patient but Harbaugh wasn't coming into the same level of talent that Urban did. He's coming into Hoke's debacle.



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atticusb

December 31st, 2016 at 12:37 AM ^

Losing 3 games by a total of 5 points is disappointing... but most disappointing team in history?  Not a chance.  O-line is an issue, Speight seems more care-taker than star... the question is where will things go from here?  7 wins while re-building, or 10 wins (or more) again while re-loading?  I'm hoping for the latter.....

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