TSimpson77

December 5th, 2011 at 5:50 PM ^

My Arizona fan friend seems to be in a haze about this hire and seems to think coaches can change at every stop. I've been trying to tell him that they aren't going to beat good passing teams(or bad for that matter) with Gibson coaching dbs, it's not phasing him at all. For me the worst place RR could have landed was Arizona, I received 25 text messages in 2 or 3 hours from him the night RR was hired. 2012 season can't get here fast enough! His eyes will be opened on September 8th when Oklahoma State comes to town

Ziff72

December 5th, 2011 at 7:29 PM ^

You do realize Gibson coached at WVU when they had one of the best defenses in the country?

People making a big deal about position coaches is over the top.  You have no idea if he's any good or not.  Considering how bad RR wants to win you really think he would willfully hire a guy he thinks sucks?

 

Magnus

December 6th, 2011 at 11:58 AM ^

Isaiah Bell, Denard Robinson, Fitzgerald Toussaint, Quinton Washington, Adrian Witty, Cullen Christian, Conelius Jones, Antonio Kinard, Jordan Paskorz, Ray Vinopal, Ken Wilkins, DJ Williamson,

Robinson and Toussaint have been good.  Washington has been okay.  Everyone else has been a bust or hasn't played yet.

STW P. Brabbs

December 6th, 2011 at 1:19 PM ^

I might quibble with Washington being 'okay' - we'll see if he can do anything next year after the position switch.  It always seemed to me like he would have been a stud on the O-line in a man-blocking scheme, but considering our depth chart next year, I'm glad they made the switch. 

Reader71

December 6th, 2011 at 1:21 AM ^

"Considering how bad RR wants to win you really think he would willfully hire a guy he thinks sucks?"

Who cares what he thinks about Gibson's ability? The important thing is Gibson's actual ability, or lack thereof.

Also, you realize that Rich badly wanted to win at Michigan, and he hired GERG?

Rabbit21

December 5th, 2011 at 6:00 PM ^

It's a comfort zone thing, these are RR's guys and I can't say I blame them for following him to a new opportunity rather than work for a guy who had to throw together a staff at the last second.

Who knows?  Under a DC who knows how the 3-3-5 works, maybe Gibson actually knows what he's talking about.

That said maybe Candice Swanpoel shows up at my door tonight with a note from my wife saying "have a good time"  All things are possible.

mgoSk

December 5th, 2011 at 6:33 PM ^

Who doesn't want to stick with their guys? Look at who Hoke took with him to Michigan from SDSU, pretty much everyone except for Long(<Mattison anyway), and he wasn't going to use the 3-3-5 up here anyway.

Bottom line, I think if Rich is going to succeed, why mess with what worked at WVU? Especially if he gets Casteel, I see little reason to expect they won't replicate a lot of the success they had in Morgantown. They'll likely be able to recruit better than they did at WVU too, being that close to Texas and Cali should work well. Obviously, the UM brand is stronger than Arizona's but I don't think Rich needs top 10 talent to win it all.

Plus, I'm sure they're all hungry to prove themselves. I expect Arizona to be quite good. They'll have a winning season next year, that RS SR QB will be such an asset breaking everyone into the system.

robpollard

December 6th, 2011 at 12:56 AM ^

- First, he stunk at Michigan.  I'm not going to even bother looking up the stats.

- At WVU, here's the passing defense rank of WVU for the last 4 years he was there.  He had been coaching there a couple years by 2004, so he should have had "his guys" in place, so no excuses.  Big East isn't the greatest conference (obviously) but did have some good passing attacks (e.g., Louisville under Petrino, Pitt with L Fitzgerald). Last, I realize the DB coach is not the only one in control of passing D (e.g., a great DL help passing defense greatly), but it's a good proxy:

2004: WVU is 32nd
2005: WVU is 34th
2006: WVU is 109th
2007: WVU is 14th

In short, WVU was good for two years, terrible for one, and very good for another.

I have no idea why he sucked bad here, but I'm guessing Rich Rod is going on his longer time of work at WVU under Casteel.  If Gibson can put up similar to most of those years above in Arizona, they'll be fine.
 

robpollard

December 6th, 2011 at 1:04 AM ^

- I just looked up that Garman kid.  He was declared ineligible twice in HS, once in OK and once in TX b/c his family moved him 4 times in 4 years.  This now makes it 5 schools in 5 years.

- Savage said he transferred for his family.  I have no idea if that's true, but he was already a transfer from Rutgers, so he seems to be on the move a lot as well.

When new coaches get hired, people transfer.  Happens everywhere, including to Hoke this year (we lost something like 8 players?).  The imporant thing for Rich Rod is unlike 2008, he already has a QB with experience who fits his offense in place, Matt Scott.  RR will have to get freshman QBs for depth, but that's fine - he can point to Denard/Forcier in 2009 and get himself some talented newbie.

chitownblue2

December 5th, 2011 at 6:26 PM ^

Rich also uncorked this eye-roller:

""This is a good base for me to come into. There’s certainly a lot more experience than when I went to Michigan. I had no quarterbacks. I started with a quarterback who was a walk-on. I didn’t have a quarterback.""

Sorry you didn't read a depth chart, Rich.

It's time this guy shuts the fuck up.

jmblue

December 5th, 2011 at 6:41 PM ^

I started with a quarterback who was a walk-on.
While this is technically true, RR left out that it was his choice to do so. Sheridan started the Utah game even though a scholarship QB (Threet) was available.

In reply to by O.J. The Bouvier

M-Wolverine

December 5th, 2011 at 9:33 PM ^

For this one. What page in Bo's Lasting Lessons was "blame your players and throw them under the bus to defend yourself"?