Semi-related question: Anyone have an opinion on we never once got to see a version of what my friends and I came to call the WolverCat? Tate under center and Denard at RB? Obviously this shouldn't have been the number one or two or even three option, but I kept thinking all season that they'd show it to us at least once or twice as things got increasingly desperate.
Thoughts?
(Sorry, network issue caused this to appear not to have been posted so I reposted it),,,
Semi-related question: Does anyone have an opinion on why we never, even in our most desperate times, saw what my friends and I came to call “The WolverCat?” That is, Tate under center with Denard lined up as an RB (or reverse it if you want, I guess, but that wouldn’t make half as much sense). It’s obviously not something that you’d do as your first, second or third option, but as things got increasingly dire as the season progressed I thought they’d mix it in just to provide a fresh look. Never happened. Why? (“You’re dumb” isn’t the answer I’m looking for here.)
A tantalizing followup would be whether something similar could be run with Denard and Devin could be run this upcoming season.
Even if you don't want the guy, he wins games and has deep ties to UM. He should a least be talked to. Same applied to Patterson. Not even convinced we talked to Harbaugh. We've talked to two people, from the sound of it - Hoke and Fitzgerald. I'm not saying either is a guaranteed failure, but why the hell would either be the first names on the list?
I think that the single biggest problem with the team was actually the kicking game, not the defense. Sure the defense was terrible, but given its youth, that's (relatively) understandable. The kickers, however, were off-the-charts bad and there was no good reason for it. Rich Rod said himself that they were making the kicks in practice, just not in games. What do you do as a coach? Ultimately, you're never going to have a stable of kickers equivalent to the stable of RBs, WRs or DBs. You have one or two guys and expect them to perform. RR eventually started trying out guys from the student body, for chrissakes!
Anyway, throughout the first half of the season, our offense was able to cover the holes that our defense certainly had. But once it became apparent that our offense had to be perfect - that is, they needed touchdowns on every drive, because FGs were not an option - defenses were able to adjust. And all of those 4th and longs that any other team could have taken 3 points on turned into either 0 points for us or 0 for us and 7 for our opponents.
How do you fix that problem? You work on the defense, sure, but you get a new kicker. And we did. He is(/was) and I honestly think that with a half-decent kicker, we win one or two more games next year. Just completely changes the nature of how we play and allows the defense to mature.
I don't mean to ignore the defense here, but people tend to think about the defense, which is a big, hard-to-solve problem, when I think the kicking game might have been as bad and is smaller and easier to fix. In my opinion, it would have made a big difference next year.
Hoke could be the world's greatest rough-cut diamond and it still wouldn't make any sense to have torpedoed recruiting for the entire 2011 season. If he's DB's guy, get him a week ago and try to salvage SOMETHING. What the hell are we getting out of waiting?
I don't think people will be pissed off about his hiring, and if he doesn't work out, Hoke will be out there for us for a while. I really don't think he's just going to turn into Harbaugh in two or three years The odds against are just too great.
You can't say Rich Rod deserved to be fired because of his win-loss record and then in the same breath say that winning doesn't matter. Brandon said it himself in his press conference. This was not about Rich Rod not being a good person, it was about him not winning games, and more than that, not winning enough "red-letter" games. Miles has a better record of winning games than Hoke, certainly, and the "SEC behavior" can be managed.
Then he can be depended upon to keep Les on a short leash and cure him of his SEC ways. We can't have it both ways. The guy - Miles, in this case - actually played under Bo. But now he's not a Michigan man? We're going to disown him? Who do we get, the Pope? I mean, I know he wears a helmet, but he's not very experienced.
Admittedly, that Les has pulled some shady sh*t, but grab him as a coach and supervise him well.
And, as I've said a bunch of times since finally joining the board tonight, if he can't drag himself up to meet the high standards that PRODUCED HIM, then in two or three years, we can bring in Brady Hoke, who some, but not all of us, think will have proven himself worthy of the job (in terms of ability to win games, at least) by that time. As of right now, in my opinion, as a sub-500 coach, he simply has not.
For those of you wanting to believe in them, just so you know, I left their "station" tuned in after the show about Les leaving for UM ended. They are now talking about the existence of real-life were-wolves. So, you know, grain of salt. Big grains.
They're saying it's 80-90% likely. I would've given it 50-50 without any news either way. Les is without a doubt one of the two or three frontrunners. I think it's just an easy preduction to make. If it turns out that nothing happens, oopsie! 20% margin of error. If it does, they've scooped literally every news organizaion in the world. They get tons of credibility and sell tons of ads.
It sucks that I can't trust them becase I definitely want Miles.
But can someone who does tell me whether my gut feeling that these guys sound like total assclowns who are just loving the fact that there's zero accountability in sports reporting? They can claim whatever they want, get the hits and exposure since the Les Miles story is very PLAUSIBLE and then just say "oopsie" when it goes away.
I mean, I've seen one denial that was actually plausible (actual players quoted by legit sources) as opposed to a completely anonymous pair of guys who are trying (and failing) to work their own phones.
... we can hire Hoke, who seems to be the other leading candidate at this point, and who may (by that time) have earned a job like the Michigan HC spot. He's already said we're his dream job and there's ZERO bad blood. I don't think he could argue that he was "passed over" for LES MILES, a MNC-winning coach.
And if Hoke hasn't succeeded beyond his wildest dreams by that point, well, maybe he didn't deserve the Michigan HC job after all.
... if Brandon is the AD that everyone has seemed willing to grant he was (until this week came around), it's not an unreasonable thing to assume that he'd just keep Miles on a short leash.
I definitely think Les deserves a shot. Strong enough record with running QBs to make Robinson and Gardner feel comfortable sticking around, big enough national rep to make recruits stick around and even bring in new guys. Knows how to build a defense. Michigan background to please the bluehairs. Have Brandon keep a close eye on him as regards the Mad Hatter stuff and to keep him from acting all SEC-like with the oversignings, etc. and cover that base..
And best of all, if he also hasn't worked out in three or four years, fire him and replace him with Brady Hoke, who at that time will have either proven that a) he really does deserve the job, having done a Harbaugh-esque job at SDSU or b) that he really didn't deserve a job of this caliber simply because he probably already owns some Michigan apparel.
If you want Les to coach for U-M (if you don't, don't bother answering, no trying to debate that point here), do you want him to win this game? Moot point now, I realize, since it's a definitive beatdown, but since it is I'm curious if you think it helps us or hurts us? I can see it both ways.
For that matter, does the fact that it's such a beatdown help even more?
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Semi-related question: Anyone have an opinion on we never once got to see a version of what my friends and I came to call the WolverCat? Tate under center and Denard at RB? Obviously this shouldn't have been the number one or two or even three option, but I kept thinking all season that they'd show it to us at least once or twice as things got increasingly desperate.
Thoughts?
(Sorry, network issue caused this to appear not to have been posted so I reposted it),,,
I just asked that in this same thread, although it was partly backwards-looking (Tate and Denard) as well. Weird.
Semi-related question: Does anyone have an opinion on why we never, even in our most desperate times, saw what my friends and I came to call “The WolverCat?” That is, Tate under center with Denard lined up as an RB (or reverse it if you want, I guess, but that wouldn’t make half as much sense). It’s obviously not something that you’d do as your first, second or third option, but as things got increasingly dire as the season progressed I thought they’d mix it in just to provide a fresh look. Never happened. Why? (“You’re dumb” isn’t the answer I’m looking for here.)
A tantalizing followup would be whether something similar could be run with Denard and Devin could be run this upcoming season.
@Hamr65: Sources say Jon Gruden is interviewing for #Michigan head coaching vacancy. #takeitwithagrainofsalt
She deleted the comment.
Way to stand by your story!
The guy at least deserves a conversation. He deserves as much of a look as Hoke and Fitzgerald, even if he doesn't get the job.
Even if you don't want the guy, he wins games and has deep ties to UM. He should a least be talked to. Same applied to Patterson. Not even convinced we talked to Harbaugh. We've talked to two people, from the sound of it - Hoke and Fitzgerald. I'm not saying either is a guaranteed failure, but why the hell would either be the first names on the list?
I think that the single biggest problem with the team was actually the kicking game, not the defense. Sure the defense was terrible, but given its youth, that's (relatively) understandable. The kickers, however, were off-the-charts bad and there was no good reason for it. Rich Rod said himself that they were making the kicks in practice, just not in games. What do you do as a coach? Ultimately, you're never going to have a stable of kickers equivalent to the stable of RBs, WRs or DBs. You have one or two guys and expect them to perform. RR eventually started trying out guys from the student body, for chrissakes!
Anyway, throughout the first half of the season, our offense was able to cover the holes that our defense certainly had. But once it became apparent that our offense had to be perfect - that is, they needed touchdowns on every drive, because FGs were not an option - defenses were able to adjust. And all of those 4th and longs that any other team could have taken 3 points on turned into either 0 points for us or 0 for us and 7 for our opponents.
How do you fix that problem? You work on the defense, sure, but you get a new kicker. And we did. He is(/was) and I honestly think that with a half-decent kicker, we win one or two more games next year. Just completely changes the nature of how we play and allows the defense to mature.
I don't mean to ignore the defense here, but people tend to think about the defense, which is a big, hard-to-solve problem, when I think the kicking game might have been as bad and is smaller and easier to fix. In my opinion, it would have made a big difference next year.
Hoke could be the world's greatest rough-cut diamond and it still wouldn't make any sense to have torpedoed recruiting for the entire 2011 season. If he's DB's guy, get him a week ago and try to salvage SOMETHING. What the hell are we getting out of waiting?
He just committed to Bama.
I don't think people will be pissed off about his hiring, and if he doesn't work out, Hoke will be out there for us for a while. I really don't think he's just going to turn into Harbaugh in two or three years The odds against are just too great.
You can't say Rich Rod deserved to be fired because of his win-loss record and then in the same breath say that winning doesn't matter. Brandon said it himself in his press conference. This was not about Rich Rod not being a good person, it was about him not winning games, and more than that, not winning enough "red-letter" games. Miles has a better record of winning games than Hoke, certainly, and the "SEC behavior" can be managed.
Then he can be depended upon to keep Les on a short leash and cure him of his SEC ways. We can't have it both ways. The guy - Miles, in this case - actually played under Bo. But now he's not a Michigan man? We're going to disown him? Who do we get, the Pope? I mean, I know he wears a helmet, but he's not very experienced.
Admittedly, that Les has pulled some shady sh*t, but grab him as a coach and supervise him well.
And, as I've said a bunch of times since finally joining the board tonight, if he can't drag himself up to meet the high standards that PRODUCED HIM, then in two or three years, we can bring in Brady Hoke, who some, but not all of us, think will have proven himself worthy of the job (in terms of ability to win games, at least) by that time. As of right now, in my opinion, as a sub-500 coach, he simply has not.
For those of you wanting to believe in them, just so you know, I left their "station" tuned in after the show about Les leaving for UM ended. They are now talking about the existence of real-life were-wolves. So, you know, grain of salt. Big grains.
is when you've got to let it all hang out.
They're saying it's 80-90% likely. I would've given it 50-50 without any news either way. Les is without a doubt one of the two or three frontrunners. I think it's just an easy preduction to make. If it turns out that nothing happens, oopsie! 20% margin of error. If it does, they've scooped literally every news organizaion in the world. They get tons of credibility and sell tons of ads.
It sucks that I can't trust them becase I definitely want Miles.
But can someone who does tell me whether my gut feeling that these guys sound like total assclowns who are just loving the fact that there's zero accountability in sports reporting? They can claim whatever they want, get the hits and exposure since the Les Miles story is very PLAUSIBLE and then just say "oopsie" when it goes away.
I mean, I've seen one denial that was actually plausible (actual players quoted by legit sources) as opposed to a completely anonymous pair of guys who are trying (and failing) to work their own phones.
... we can hire Hoke, who seems to be the other leading candidate at this point, and who may (by that time) have earned a job like the Michigan HC spot. He's already said we're his dream job and there's ZERO bad blood. I don't think he could argue that he was "passed over" for LES MILES, a MNC-winning coach.
And if Hoke hasn't succeeded beyond his wildest dreams by that point, well, maybe he didn't deserve the Michigan HC job after all.
... if Brandon is the AD that everyone has seemed willing to grant he was (until this week came around), it's not an unreasonable thing to assume that he'd just keep Miles on a short leash.
Been reading for years...
I definitely think Les deserves a shot. Strong enough record with running QBs to make Robinson and Gardner feel comfortable sticking around, big enough national rep to make recruits stick around and even bring in new guys. Knows how to build a defense. Michigan background to please the bluehairs. Have Brandon keep a close eye on him as regards the Mad Hatter stuff and to keep him from acting all SEC-like with the oversignings, etc. and cover that base..
And best of all, if he also hasn't worked out in three or four years, fire him and replace him with Brady Hoke, who at that time will have either proven that a) he really does deserve the job, having done a Harbaugh-esque job at SDSU or b) that he really didn't deserve a job of this caliber simply because he probably already owns some Michigan apparel.
If you want Les to coach for U-M (if you don't, don't bother answering, no trying to debate that point here), do you want him to win this game? Moot point now, I realize, since it's a definitive beatdown, but since it is I'm curious if you think it helps us or hurts us? I can see it both ways.
For that matter, does the fact that it's such a beatdown help even more?