Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Michigan Tuesday: Asks For More Change

Since Lloyd retired the Michigan Football program has been in constant change.   A program that suffered very little change since Bo took over has been a whirlwind of change since Lloyd called it a career. 


They hired a young offensive wizard.   He failed because he couldn't recruit or hire a DC that could coach defense.  He also wasn't ready for the big time and still isn't.


They then searched for a coach and found a former Michigan DL coach that had success at Ball State and San Diego State.   He had a decent first year and then decided his offense was stuck in the mud and fired Al Borges for Saban's OC.   They all failed as well.


Now comes a coach that was a former Michigan QB, successful at every stop, and even coached in a Super Bowl.  A perfect fit.   He hired a DC that quickly got hired as a Big Ten head coach and went out and hired the best DC in the country in Don Brown.


That coach is 1-2 against MSU, 0-3 against OSU, and 1-2 in Bowl Games in Florida.    We thought we were getting Alabama Saban and it seems we got MSU Saban.


So now what?  I'm not calling for Jimmy's job, I still believe he can turn this battleship but there are changes that need to be made.  


After that debacle yesterday, I like many of you watched the playoffs and compared those teams to the Wolverines. 

  • Michigan has a playoff caliber defense at pretty much every position.  
  • That is where the similarities end
Michigan needs to clean house on the offense side of the ball.  Every position should be open and every coach should be fired or re-assigned.   Michigan is paying millions of dollars to 3 Offensive Coordinators: Jim Harbaugh, Pep Hamilton, and Tim Drevno. 


  1. Jim will not fire himself, so that means new roles or exits for Pep and Tim.   I know this team was young and it was a mess at QB, but the offense should never be that terrible.  Never.   That falls on them.
  2. Jim also is not going to fire his son, who is coaching the running backs.  I like Jay as special teams coach or something.
  3. Michigan is in desperate need of a QB coach.  Hire one please.
  4. Rumors are that Michigan is trying to hire former MSU QB, CMU head coach, and Arkansas OC Dan Enos.  He is considering taking a role but will also have other offers, maybe the OC role at LSU? 
  5. Hire one of those legendary NFL offense line coaches.   Pay them like Pep and Tim and get them to fix this 10 year on-going issue.  I don' care if he is 80 and can't recruit, hire him today!
Don Brown was a home run hire, Jimmy now needs another one on the offensive side of the ball.  Time for more change. 

9 comments:

New Blogger 1966 said...

I fully agree with your comments both on 1 January and today. They are right on and I felt the same about the assistant coaches. They need to either go or find a new place for them. They are NOT doing their job. I also recall the years I was a student at U of M. Then we had Bump Elliott and awful teams. It took Bo to turn things around. Hopefully Jim Harbaugh has gotten an important message this season. Injuries happen but good and great teams find a way to move forward. That time is now and not another wait and see season. Barry Ostrow

Tim said...

Agree with all your comments over last several days.

Frustrating to see our offense to bad. Bad play calling, wrong personnel on field at times, no ability to throw a pass over 8 yards consistently, etc. I understand they were young, but they were not put in positions to win nor did they appear to have a strong game plan on offense.

I like your idea of an old NFL O-line coach. Doubt it will happen, but would be good to see. I am thinking Howard Mudd. He seems like a good fit.

Goose said...

Have you ever been shopping for a product and had to decide between a less expensive brand lacking name recognition or a more expensive brand with a proven name. And you decide to buy the more expensive brand believing you will get what you pay for and that quality comes at a higher price. Then you get your product home and use it. Let's say you use it for 3 years and you notice early in your use that your product is odd. It's a bit finicky it does weird things, but you decide it must be good because it's has a good name on it. After some more time passes you begin to think the problem is you perhaps your not using your product correctly. Others have lesser priced products that are functioning really well and don't come with all these odd quirks that your high priced product has.
Then you get a chance to see your product in action side by side against the lesser priced products you thought about purchasing. The cheap product kicks your ass it performs better in every way. It's at this point when you throw your overpriced piece of crap away and buy a less expensive one that actually wins. Mr. Harbaugh you are that over priced product. U of M paid a high price for what they thought was quality only to discover they were wrong. They only paid for a name brand not a better product. I'm sorry but I believe all M fans have buyers remorse today. I know I do.

Unknown said...

what would be the financial cost to let go of Pep Hamilton and Drevno. They make million each per year so Michigan would have to eat that over next 3 years?

Voice of Reason said...

Part 1

Let’s take our DeLorean and rev up our flux capacitor and go back to the future shall we. When Carr retired, interim Athletic Director Bill Martin after finding it difficult to find the best coach in college football ended up hiring Rich Rodrigues. Rodriguez was a bad hire (IMO) because although successful in West Virginia, he brought a Spread Offense to a traditionally Pro style football program. That meant that he would have to completely retool to fit what he does. Players were leaving Michigan faster than prisoners in a jail break. Keep in mind that Michigan had one outstanding Five star QB (Ryan Mallett) who was a pro style player and he transferred to Arkansas. That left Michigan with two-three back up QBs with virtually no college game experience. In fact, Michigan signed no QB’s in that 2008 class; Justin Feagin was an athlete who played QB. He tried to recruit Terrell Pryor but didn’t get him or have a backup plan. Michigan reportedly had only one offensive lineman (Schilling) with significant experience, while other linemen from the Carr regime (eg. Molk) proved to be valuable contributors later in time. The Rodrigues staff signed Omemah, Mealer, Wermers, Khoury, Barnum, and O;Neill to their OL stable. Then Rodrigues (2009) signed Denard Robinson, Tate Forcier both dual threat QBs. The significant OL signed were Taylor Lewan, Michael Schofield, Quintin Washington (moved to DL). What is interesting is that there were no OL signees of significance for the 2010 class except for Christin Pace. Devin Gardner was the only QB signed for the 2010 class.

After the Rodrigues experiment failed in 2010, he was fired and Brady Hoke was brought in. He came in with most of his staff in place. However, what worked for the D-II schools didn’t work here at Michigan, players needed to be developed and he didn’t do it. In his first year Hoke went 11-2, using a number of Carr’s 5th year seniors and Rodrigues’ top hold overs. However, the next year after graduation, Hoke was left the “not ready for prime time players” from the former regimes and his own island of misfit players. His 2011 OL class had Graham Glassgow come in as a walk-on and he signed Chris Bryant and Tony Posada, and one semi-significant signing of a QB with Russell Bellomy which proved to be a bust. In other words, there were no upgrades the QB and OL position groups. In the 2012 class a defensive minded Hoke who apparently didn’t understand offensive personnel very well signed an OL class of Blake Bars, Kyle Kalis, Ben Braden, Erik Magnuson, and no QB. In the 2013 class the OL signing was David Dawson, Patrick Kugler, Kyle Bosch, Logan Tulley-Tillman, Chris Fox, and Dan Samuelson, the only QB signing was Shane Morris. In 2014 the significant OL signings were Mason Cole, and Juwann Bushell-Beatty. The QB signing was one Wilton Speight.

To be continued...

Voice of Reason said...

Part 2

...Continued

Do you see a pattern here? How many of the recruits in the two key position groups worked out and was worth getting? Then there wasn’t enough key quality depth in either group when they signed. My point behind this is to show the audit trail of poor recruiting by the previous two coaches regarding the QB and OL position groups. They’ve done well in other areas however; we see the void that was left for Harbaugh. Folks are ready to burn Harbaugh and the offensive staff in effigy when they were left to replace and rebuild two position groups that should have already had a solid foundation when he came. Some of these programs that were turned around seemingly overnight e.g. Georgia, Auburn, etc. already had good young players in place. We know that recruiting is not an exact science and so when you sign a kid it is a hit or miss and with O-linemen in particular it isn’t until a year or so down the road when you know for sure. Harbaugh has over recruited the QB position in order to get it right. I believe he’s finally got a stable of quality QB’s albeit very young, however, the OL group has got to round into form and it will take time to develop them mentally, emotionally, physically and technically, not every freshman is a Mason Cole or Grant Newsome. He’s got the numbers, now he only need to develop the best five to start and the top eight to play every Saturday.
I still say Harbaugh is on the right track, so let us leave him alone and give him the support he needs. IMHO!!!

chosuichi inu said...

Are u serious??? This entire read is SMH stooopoid!!!! all of u self proclaimed pundits wanna throw around 8-4 in Sept--but act like the sky is falling now??? Really??? you run your own page and actually write this garbage??? WOW!!!

Scott K said...

I think the lack of improvement shown in the bowl game, against a much lesser opponent is why everyone is voicing their displeasure. Many, many expected an 8-4 season, but you generally expect improvement.... with a month to prepare you shouldn't see such a poorly executed, poorly game planned performance.....

that is all, if you ask me.

New Blogger 1966 said...

With a snow day in Raleigh, it's easier to follow up on something I wanted to finish reading and post about. The Voice of Reason posts with two parts is thoughtful, well organized, and highlights the course of events that brought Michigan Football to where it currently is now. And it's a major challenge for a well regarded and successful college and pro coach to take on and build or rebuild. One thing about the Rodrigues time: from what John Bacon wrote, Carr gave his former players that stayed in the program permission to leave. That's highly unusual and undermining for an outgoing coach to do. That put him on the naughty list!
When you look at any program/institution/organization it's very hard to build or rebuild from what is almost rubble. And it's very quick and easy to dismantle any solid program. You can see it when buildings are either built or brought down.
I am concerned about some of the staff, but I also am not a football coach, not a football expert, and have no clue about the strategy and long term planning that's taking place. My best instincts tell me that Jim Harbaugh is a dedicated and serious coach who hates losing, loves to win, and loves his university: U of M. That's why he's here. That's why I believe he needs our support and time to do his thing.
Barry