Michigan Monday: How To Bring Down A Major College Football Program

One of the thoughts that keeps going through my mind is:  How in the hell did we get here?  I had a discussion with a friend of mine this weekend on how many teams in the Big Ten are worse then Michigan?  Indiana just beat a ranked SEC team on the road and Purdue scored two touchdowns against ND.   How the hell did we get here guys?  


Let's take a look at the steps of failure:


Step 1:  As the #5 ranked team in the nation, Michigan loses to D1A Appalachian State.   Lloyd Carr tried to retire the year before and "Sailboat" Bill talks him out of it.   Lloyd knows he had a talented team and stayed one more year.  The team wasn't prepared and lost the game. 


Step 2: Lloyd retires after the loss to Ohio State.  Sailboat Bill has no plan in place to replace Lloyd who he knew for at least a year was close to retirement.  If you want to point to the largest mistake made, this might be it right here.


Step 3: ESPN reports the Les Miles will be the next Michigan coach.   Instead of making the most important decision for the future of the program.  Sailboat Bill takes a long vacation in Florida and turns his cell phone off.   Another terrible decision and clearly a lack of leadership.


Step 4:  Sailboat Bill thinks he has turned "lemons into lemonade" when he hires a 'hot" coach in Rich Rodriguez from WVU.  RR had recently turned down Alabama and now is Michigan's new head coach.


Step 5:  Instead of fitting into to Michigan, RR tries to fit Michigan into his system.   That didn't work.   He is known for taking 3 star guys and making them D1 players.   That didn't work.   He wasn't ready for a job like Michigan and that was clear after his third year. 


Step 6:  Sailboat Bill has already done enough damage to the program and sails away.   Michigan hires Domino's Pizza CEO David Brandon to become the next Michigan AD.   I question why a guy making millions would want to take a job making $250K but he is a former Michigan football player and might want to do the right thing.  He walks into a NCAA Infractions penalty for stretching before practice.  Michigan gets a slap on the wrist and a lot of noise really becomes not much of anything. 


Step 7:  After year 3 of the RR experiment, it becomes very clear that RR is going to be fired after the Ohio State game.  Instead of firing him in November, Brandon decides that the team deserves to go to the Gator Bowl as a team.   Jim Harbaugh is considered one of the top coaches in the country and could be ready to jump at a new job.   Stanford plays great in a bowl game and Jim blows up.  Michigan gets embarrassed in it's bowl game and RR is clearly fired.   Another Michigan AD misses another window to get a high profile coach.   Jim goes to the 49'ers.


Step 8:  Brandon is not going to make the same mistake Sailboat Bill did and makes being a Michigan man a real important requirement of the job.   He hires Brady Hoke who has MAC and Mountain West experience.   Brady has a nice first year with a win over an OSU team coming off of a major NCAA investigation and a win in the Sugar Bowl.  Brandon points to winning red letter games on the schedule against the likes of OSU, MSU and ND.


Step 9: Hoke struggles after his second year, mostly due to an offensive coordinator that really doesn't understand how to leverage the skills of Denard Robinson or the next QB Devin Gardner. 


Step 10:  Hoke fires his OC and brings in a highly regarded one from Alabama.   This seems like a positive move, but the concern for the running game and offensive line still remain.  


Step 11:  Hoke's team gets embarrassed on national TV at Notre Dame and in a home game to Utah.  He sits here a 2-2 and his offense can't score even against fair defensive units.   Has a terrible red letter game record.


Step 12:  Hoke's seat isn't hot - its on fire.  The next move sits with Brandon if he still has a job.




This is ugly folks, there isn't anyway to sugarcoat it.   Our beloved program has hit bottom and needs strong leadership to get it back where it needs to be.   Brady Hoke is not John Beilien, and I don't believe he is the right coach to turn around this program. 


You want advice on who or what to root for this season?  Root for any team playing the San Francisco 49'ers.   The only way Jim comes here is if he gets fired from the 49'ers.     At this point, I will take any coach with the last name Harbaugh, even Jack.