Michigan Tuesday: Wonders if Friendship In Coaching Works?

Loyalty seems to be a very strong emotion in major college coaching.   Lloyd Carr protected his staff as much as he could.   No matter how poorly they performed he was pretty adamant on keeping them in the program.   When he did have to let a coordinator go, he usually found some position job in the NFL so they had a soft landing. 

Rich Rod takes his coaching crew wherever he goes.  He points to not having his DC for the reason he failed at Michigan.   Jeff Castell might be a good DC, but I doubt he would have saved RR in Ann Arbor.   The RR team is back together in Arizona and they continue to light up the scoreboard on both sides of the ball.

Now we come to Brady Hoke.  He relied on his friendship on taking away one of the best DC's in the country in Greg Mattison from the Ravens.   He also brought to Ann Arbor a well respected S&C coach in Aaron Wellman from San Diego State.   The issue now is Michigan's head coach seems to be very loyal to Michigan's OC Al Borges who has been with him for many years.    Brady Hoke gives Big Al the entire offense to run, because Michigan's head man is a defensive line coach.    Remember when that joke was cute and funny? 

So that's where we sit today isn't?  After the season is Brady Hoke willing to shake up his staff to try to better the program moving forward?  I'm pretty confident he doesn't want to be faced with that decision.   If the Wolverines finish 6-6 and end up in Detroit for the Bowl Game, he won't have a choice. 

Dead Men Walking?

Big Al Borges =  Has been a disaster since he got to Ann Arbor, he didn't understand how to use Denard and it showed.  He had his back up 5 star QB at WR and now is running the offense he prefers right into the ground.    Not known as a recruiter and very rarely leaves campus to visit high school prospects.

Darrell Funk = The offense line has been awful the past two years.  Michigan has two NFL quality tackles one who will probably be a top 10 pick and they still can't block anybody.    Yes, the team is young but with a boat load of 4 and 5 star prospects, there is no excuse to be this bad.

Fred Jackson = We all love Fred, but it's probably time for him to retire.   The running back position has been very poor the last 4-5 years.   Fitz can't block and somehow Mike Cox can make the NY Giants but could never get any snaps in Ann Arbor.   Fred is known as a great recruiter and maybe they could find something else for him to do. 


I don't see how the top two guys survive to January 1 and I think they can do something classy with Freddie J.   If Brady Hoke is going to give the "keys" to the offense to his OC, he needs a guys that can drive the bus to wins not off a cliff.   Big Al is out of gas and it seems there is no way he can save his job, unless Brady saves it for him.  

Then David Brandon has a different decision to make in a year or two.  I sure wouldn't bet my dream job and $4M a year on my under performing buddy.