OT - UCONN requests MSU for an interview of Narduzzi for HC position
Title says it all, here is the link: (I hope)
He is a really good coach. Now is he the heart and soul of MSU's defense? I have not seen anything stating whether MSU has granted the interview or even if Narduzzi is interested.
December 8th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^
comments come close to representing the beliefs of "the Michigan fanbase", you need help. If you don't truly believe that, you're a troll.
December 8th, 2013 at 8:21 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 8:24 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 8:29 PM ^
can do better than UCONN, much better.
December 8th, 2013 at 8:35 PM ^
I'm not so sure. A lot of big schools are wary of hiring a guy with no HC experience, and the Muschamp fiasco in Florida isn't offering them consolation. Pelini at Nebraska is another example of a guy who was a hot DC but turned into so-so HC. A lot of hot coordinators end up at the MAC or similar. UConn isn't so bad in comparison to that.
December 8th, 2013 at 10:04 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
Because who likes going to Indy for the B1G Championship game anyways?
Imagine Michigan if Devin was out the entire year and then go back and judge Pelini's year.
December 8th, 2013 at 11:51 PM ^
Exactly this.
His record proves that he is a very good football coach. Not crazy about his antics, though.
December 9th, 2013 at 12:39 AM ^
He has lost 4 games each and every year since 2008. Sure, he has also posted 9- and 10-win seasons (never more, never less, though he needs a bowl win this year to make 9). Certainly better than our results over the same stretch, but not up to the fanfare with which he rode into Cornhusker Nation.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^
there are also coordinators who make the jump to HC and do pretty well - Bob Stoops, Mark Richt, Dantonio, Barry Alvarez, James Franklin, Jimbo Fisher, Chip Kelly.
December 8th, 2013 at 8:34 PM ^
December 9th, 2013 at 2:38 AM ^
UConn was in a BCS bowl like three years ago
December 8th, 2013 at 8:39 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^
Will Muschamp concurs.
December 9th, 2013 at 5:32 AM ^
Better jobs than UCONN require head coaching experience.
December 8th, 2013 at 8:39 PM ^
Nancy and Debbie happy, Rutgers just fired their QB and OL coaches, so they're available for hire. Grass being greener and all that.
December 8th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^
Nice to see Rutgers not accepting 3-5 conference record as something that is okay without making any changes. A level of expectations we can aspire to one day again, I suppose....
December 8th, 2013 at 8:55 PM ^
Do we really want to hold up Rutgers as a paragon of good decision-making regarding personnel?
There is a counterexample right up the road. MSU went 3-5 in league play last year and fired no one. How'd they do this year again?
December 8th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^
Considering that we are likely to maintain an OC after a couple of the worst games in modern Michigan history (and a three year period of regression, consistent with the regression he has had at nearly every other stop), so I think we are long past facts having any value...but just to quickly respond:
After MSU went 3-5 in league play last year, they actually fired their Offensive Coordinator. I would be happy with following their lead, as you suggest. Or are you now going to change your example?
(Obviously it doesn't matter. Many people here are fine with the status quo. I would rather make a change. It is a miserable time to be a fan, seeing how well our rivals are doing, how well teams like Auburn are doing in the first year of a transition, etc.)
December 8th, 2013 at 9:43 PM ^
the fact that Borges will be back. At this point you have two options: Accept it and move or to incessantly wail about Borges with no effect whatsoever on the program.
December 8th, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^
I suspect we know which way that's going to go.
December 9th, 2013 at 8:08 AM ^
you make it sound as if he complained at the right time, it WOULD have an effect.
this is an internet message board - all people do is complain or make comments, and I suspect in general it has pretty little effect on the world.
December 8th, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
Julie Hermann, she of Tennessee sports acclaim and one time alleged bully, must have told Rutgers HC that he needed to fix problems or find work after next year.
Our AD writes a 1000-word blog saying "all is well, pay your PSL, and move along please"
December 8th, 2013 at 9:22 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 9:49 PM ^
Narduzzi had a similar bad year in his 3rd year to what Borges had this year and then he turned it around when he didn't have JLS players. I'm just saying that maybe we're being unreasonable. It has nothing to do with being happy with where we are. I'm pissed.
December 8th, 2013 at 9:56 PM ^
However, I suspect you'll get trolled...
December 8th, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^
MSU's D didn't play well in 2009, but the guy did beat UM and pretty much shut down our spread attack, save Tate's wild finish.
Al was blessed with a 1-man show in Denard and did do well in 2011 overall with him. Last year was tough because of Denard's injury, but the O was pretty good after Devin moved in.
I'm more inclined now to think that Funk blows chunks, and it's hard to run ANY offense with a crappy O-Line. While I won't shed tears if Al goes, it's Funk that is the guy who should be delegated to the same place Ron English is going.
December 8th, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
He knows what's up.
Dave Brandon was like "look man, you owe us...we played in that dump of a stadium...now take their defensive coordinator so we can win again. Be a Michigan Man and take one for the team."
December 8th, 2013 at 10:37 PM ^
Let's just hope he doesn't schedule any rematches.
December 8th, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^
If I'm Warde Manuel, I'm no fan of Dave Brandon. Like Brad Bates and Bob De Carolis, he's an alum who actually had experience as an athletic director. Also like those men, he was never seriously considered as Coleman and the Regents had told Pizza Man that it was his job if he wanted it since he had lent them the Domino's jet as a favor and because they apparently wanted to take the AD in a Corporate America direction.
December 9th, 2013 at 2:41 AM ^
that's interesting
it had nothing to do with his years of success running organizations or the interpersonal relationships he developed while serving on the Board of Regents... he got the job because he lent some people a plane.
December 8th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^
Dangerous to promote a guy without HC experience to a big job like MSU. I know Carr was a special case, but Moeller's one-night stand at Excalibur left us little choice.
Why NOT UConn? No pressure, he can take a program that plays Div I ball and surprise some people, and if he fails, there is still another DC job somewhere.
I'm always happy to see great coaches and players leave early.
Given our record since the 2004 season (our last B1G title), we need all the help we can get.
December 8th, 2013 at 11:09 PM ^
UM never had to promote Carr from his initial interim status.
It would certainly be interesting to hear about the politics involved in that decision (announced in early November during a less than spectacular season) and who it was meant to pacify.
December 9th, 2013 at 6:26 AM ^
We were 8-2 when Carr received the job on a permanent basis (November 13, 1995). I wouldn't consider that scandalous.
December 9th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
Let's at least use 2006 as the last time we were a powerhouse. 3 pts from the National Championchip game. The Sugar Bowl victory, while great, was kinda something that we snuck into. Won't take anything away from the team that won and earned it, but we didn't win the B1G and couldn't really consider ourselves a National Powerhouse despite that game.
December 8th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^
Manuel had a neck injury - some coaches found a way to kick guys like that off scholarship. Bo's love could be repaid by offering Pat a fat contract and lots of perks.
December 9th, 2013 at 12:02 AM ^
These interview invitations generally don't go out unless the coach's agents have had at least some discussions with the inviting athletic department.
If the coach is truly uninterested, the invitation to interview isn't sent.
That of course doesn't mean the coach being interviewed will take the gig, for any number of reasons, but at this level there has to have been some prior contact with the agent at the very least.
UConn may or may not be all that, but it's at least a BCS level school.
December 9th, 2013 at 6:57 AM ^
but it's at least a BCS level school.
For another few weeks.
December 9th, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^
MSU is losing six multi-year starters on defense. His stock will never be higher (think Jim Herrmann after 1997.) It is hard to imagine a 47-year-old D coordinator waiting for a 57-year-old head coach to retire. There are a number of high profile jobs open now, and more will open up soon. Good luck to him.
December 9th, 2013 at 1:04 AM ^
It's a smart move for UConn to pursue him. But if I'm Narduzzi, I would hold out for a Big Ten job. Maybe Illinois after the '14 season if Beckman doesn't get it together.
December 9th, 2013 at 5:03 AM ^
I think it is also possible that he remians a defensive coordinator. I can imagine TAMU, for instance, offering Narduzzi the DC position there and doubling or tripling his salary.
December 9th, 2013 at 6:45 AM ^
Texas A&M offered him the DC a few years back (maybe 2?) and he stayed at MSU with a raise. His stated intention in interviews is to be a HC. Dantonio is not going anywhere and not retiring "in 4 years" short of a major health issue, he is only 57. Hoke is 55 and people expect him to be here a decade. Narduzzi was mentioned as a candidate last week for "crappy" Wake Forest. The same crappy Wake Forest who is/was paying Grobe $2.3M a year. That is more than MSU pays Dantonio (which is a crime in a relative sense as he gets less than Purdue's coach).
I know it is not all about the money but cmon he quadruples his salary by going to a Wake Forest type job and gets to fulfill his dream... he is not staying as a DC at this point. He is a type A personality very similar to Harbaugh and those type of people want to excel at the next level always.
I dont get the UConn is "crap" job syndrome - Randy Edsell parlayed 8 win seasons there into a Maryland job. UConn is no different than Cincinnati which Dantonio parlayed into a mid tier Big 10 job.
December 9th, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
I do not think Dantonio will coach late into his sixties. He's already the greatest coach in modern Spartan history... I think he retires in 5 or 6 years. I can't imagine his health is great.
Hoke has never had a heart attack.
December 9th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^
dude has never been a head couch. He needs a couple successful seasons as an HC at a lower level school before the top shelf starts calling. UCONN ain't bad as a first HC gig.