I respect Bo and what he did for Michigan football. I respect Washington, and Lincoln, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Edison and soldiers, for what they accomplished. I don't live in a vacuum. If I want to know about forming a government, I might want to know what Jefferson, or Madison, or Adams had to say. If I wanted to know about how badly people can treat other people, I might want to hear what Robinson or Parks had to say. If I want to know about football, or building a program, or rebuilding a program, I would want to know what Bo, or Bryant, or Paterno, or Parsegian had to say about it.
Keep your head in the sand. I do respect Bo, and I miss his being around. And I don't make any apologies for it.
stopped caring about the bowl record while he was coaching. After he was finished, it became largely irrelevant. I don't have the stat book in front of me, but Bo lost what, 48 games? 22 of those games were by 3 points or less. He was the winningest coach, and Michigan had more wins than any other division 1 school in the 70's. (What have you done for me lately?) Won more than Switzer, more than Osborne, more than Paterno, Bear, & Woody in the 70's. The 80's brought his average down. If half of those three point games turned the other way, he may have had a couple of championships. But it wasn't to be. I guess some would say he could not win the close ones. (I don't know how many 3 point or less victories he had, compared to the losses.)
Big Ten championships and national championships - I think he wanted both very much. He had control over the big ten championship. But not really over the national championship - which was determined by vote, as much as by what happened on the field. But he didn't look back - he did not lose any sleep over it (if you believe him when he says that). Certainly not as we fans do.
is, or was, perfect as a coach. Far from it. That wasn't the point of the post. The bottom line, at this late date, is no one is going to change the mind of the RR haters (they might tolerate him easier if he wins - but I guarantee you if he wins enough to keep his job - and God almighty, I hope he does - those that don'e like him will find some reason he doesn't measure up), and no one is going to change the mind of the LC haters. That is verified by the responses we see here.
great divide among Michigan fans. This guy, if he is what he says he is, is friendly with RR. What would you expect him to say? The lack of talent agrument (valid or not) hasn't explained the losses to so many teams with inferior talent. So now it is the conditioning. I don't believe that for a second. There is certainly a difference in strength and conditioning philosophies, but if you ask BG, he won't say the conditioning program pre RR was bad - just different. It is amazing Michigan has put anyone in the NFL pre 2008. I am amazed so many NFL teams, with their limited rosters, took a chance on so many reclamation projects.
So he says LLoyd is not a fan of RR. How does he know that? Has he heard that from LLoyd? Probably not. So he is either making it up, or he heard it from RR. If RR is spreading that stuff, what does that tell you about RR's motivations? And if it is true, what has RR ever done to embrace Carr, and what he did for the program? I know that publcily supporting Carr is not popular these days. But Carr has publicily supported RR on at least two occasions. I have never heard RR say anything good about Carr and his program. And you can hate Carr all you want, but his record speaks for itself, including one national championship (the only one in fifty years), and being 3 points away from another championship game (and actually still should have been in that championship game) toward the END of his career.
People have said that Bo would have chastised Carr for not coming to RR's defense (which, actually, he has done.) Those people don't know Bo. Bo addressed this precise scenario in the last chapter of Bacon's book, "Bo's Lasting Lessons". For those of you who cite Bo to support "blame Carr" for the lack of support within the athletic department argument, you lack an understanding of who Bo was. Bo would not have stood by and said nothing about what is going on in the athletic department, but he most assuredly woould not be blaming Carr. Anyone who knows Bo knows that loyalty was more important than anything else. And he would tell you that to get loyalty, you have to give it.
Bacon's book is worth the time and money to read. Even if you think Bo was full it. He was a wonderful teacher. And one thing I believe - the game did not pass him by. Any coach who embraces his philosophy will win. Maybe that's why Harbaugh, and amost all of Bo's assistant coaches, have been successful. (Understand that I did not say that Harbaugh should replace RR.)
For the record, this is not an anti RR post. I liked Carr. I like RR. I want RR to win. But I think that the single most important factor causing RR's "support" problems lies in RR's failure to simply acknowledge the contributions of the past, rather than blaming the past for the problems his has today. Hell, he doesn't even have to believe that anyone before him knew what they were doing. He just needed to walk down the hall, and talk. And let the press believe that he valued the past.
were fantastic, as was the other UofM team. I liked Davis and White better than the gold winners, but I don't know what the judges look for. All in all, though, they should be very proud of what they accomplished. It would really be cool to see both teams one and two in 2014.
as well as the afternoon hosts, treat the callers with some respect, and allow them to state opinions without ridiculing the caller. Except, maybe, the gentleman on Friday afternoons. I don't know who he is. And Brian got frustrated with a couple of guys early on and wasn't too tolerant - I think they were callers critical of RR's record the last two years.
Same with Rome. One of the thing I find most annoying about sports talk show hosts, and Cowherd and Rome are absolutely the worst, is that they treat the listeners like idiots. When either of them has a point to make, they repeat themselves 15 time. It seems that they are filling time because they don't have any callers on the line.
Rome is so bad I just can't listen anymore. Callers are as bad as he is.
that Michigan's recruiting class was a total bust. Kind of interesting that ESPN gives us a B+. So, I guess that anything less than an A is a total bust. Herbie is fast becoming ESPN's Drew Sharp.
don't think he would throw a former coach, and the former coaches players, under the bus, by complaining about the lack of talent, or bare cubbards, after every loss. Like it or not, the factions that want to blame the other side for whatever rift exists, should realize that there is blame to go around on all sides. For the record, I want RR to suceed, this year, next year, and how ever many years he is our coach, just as I wanted previous coaches to succeed.
in the piece talking about RR's closing efforts, he turns that into a negative. He suggests that RR recruits players already verballed to other schools, (which, of course is true, making the piece factually correct) but does not note in the piece that the recruits are still looking, and does not report that every other coach recruits at least some verbals to other schools. He also does not report on the players verballed to Michigan that were recruited, and will be signed, elsewhere. And to top it off, look at the picture of RR used in the piece. There must be a million more flattering pictures he could have used.
I never put much stock in boycotting the free press, but I have to say, I really despise them. They must be a wholly owned subsidiary of the MSU campus newspaper.
Penn State's uniforms are taylored bedsheets. OSU most tradition? Their most famous tradition was taught to them by Michigan.
Unfortunately, this is part of the down year after effects.
the following guess: Parker, 100%. Knight, 50%. Dorsey, 49%.
I'm thinking the Dorsey was blown away by his in-home, and the coaching staff's visit last week. Michigan would be a very good fit for him, but leaving his home state might be asking too much.
Recent Comments
I respect Bo and what he did for Michigan football. I respect Washington, and Lincoln, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Edison and soldiers, for what they accomplished. I don't live in a vacuum. If I want to know about forming a government, I might want to know what Jefferson, or Madison, or Adams had to say. If I wanted to know about how badly people can treat other people, I might want to hear what Robinson or Parks had to say. If I want to know about football, or building a program, or rebuilding a program, I would want to know what Bo, or Bryant, or Paterno, or Parsegian had to say about it.
Keep your head in the sand. I do respect Bo, and I miss his being around. And I don't make any apologies for it.
stopped caring about the bowl record while he was coaching. After he was finished, it became largely irrelevant. I don't have the stat book in front of me, but Bo lost what, 48 games? 22 of those games were by 3 points or less. He was the winningest coach, and Michigan had more wins than any other division 1 school in the 70's. (What have you done for me lately?) Won more than Switzer, more than Osborne, more than Paterno, Bear, & Woody in the 70's. The 80's brought his average down. If half of those three point games turned the other way, he may have had a couple of championships. But it wasn't to be. I guess some would say he could not win the close ones. (I don't know how many 3 point or less victories he had, compared to the losses.)
Big Ten championships and national championships - I think he wanted both very much. He had control over the big ten championship. But not really over the national championship - which was determined by vote, as much as by what happened on the field. But he didn't look back - he did not lose any sleep over it (if you believe him when he says that). Certainly not as we fans do.
is, or was, perfect as a coach. Far from it. That wasn't the point of the post. The bottom line, at this late date, is no one is going to change the mind of the RR haters (they might tolerate him easier if he wins - but I guarantee you if he wins enough to keep his job - and God almighty, I hope he does - those that don'e like him will find some reason he doesn't measure up), and no one is going to change the mind of the LC haters. That is verified by the responses we see here.
great divide among Michigan fans. This guy, if he is what he says he is, is friendly with RR. What would you expect him to say? The lack of talent agrument (valid or not) hasn't explained the losses to so many teams with inferior talent. So now it is the conditioning. I don't believe that for a second. There is certainly a difference in strength and conditioning philosophies, but if you ask BG, he won't say the conditioning program pre RR was bad - just different. It is amazing Michigan has put anyone in the NFL pre 2008. I am amazed so many NFL teams, with their limited rosters, took a chance on so many reclamation projects.
So he says LLoyd is not a fan of RR. How does he know that? Has he heard that from LLoyd? Probably not. So he is either making it up, or he heard it from RR. If RR is spreading that stuff, what does that tell you about RR's motivations? And if it is true, what has RR ever done to embrace Carr, and what he did for the program? I know that publcily supporting Carr is not popular these days. But Carr has publicily supported RR on at least two occasions. I have never heard RR say anything good about Carr and his program. And you can hate Carr all you want, but his record speaks for itself, including one national championship (the only one in fifty years), and being 3 points away from another championship game (and actually still should have been in that championship game) toward the END of his career.
People have said that Bo would have chastised Carr for not coming to RR's defense (which, actually, he has done.) Those people don't know Bo. Bo addressed this precise scenario in the last chapter of Bacon's book, "Bo's Lasting Lessons". For those of you who cite Bo to support "blame Carr" for the lack of support within the athletic department argument, you lack an understanding of who Bo was. Bo would not have stood by and said nothing about what is going on in the athletic department, but he most assuredly woould not be blaming Carr. Anyone who knows Bo knows that loyalty was more important than anything else. And he would tell you that to get loyalty, you have to give it.
Bacon's book is worth the time and money to read. Even if you think Bo was full it. He was a wonderful teacher. And one thing I believe - the game did not pass him by. Any coach who embraces his philosophy will win. Maybe that's why Harbaugh, and amost all of Bo's assistant coaches, have been successful. (Understand that I did not say that Harbaugh should replace RR.)
For the record, this is not an anti RR post. I liked Carr. I like RR. I want RR to win. But I think that the single most important factor causing RR's "support" problems lies in RR's failure to simply acknowledge the contributions of the past, rather than blaming the past for the problems his has today. Hell, he doesn't even have to believe that anyone before him knew what they were doing. He just needed to walk down the hall, and talk. And let the press believe that he valued the past.
Carr came to RR support - complete and total, without any qualifications, last fall during one of the home games. The response - too little, too late.