Friday, January 17, 2020

Michigan Friday: Oh Shoop

Clarion-Ledger
For a team that's in the off season, Michigan Football continues to make headlines.  The latest is that Bob Shoop (Not Stoops) is joining the defensive staff.   Bob is a long term DC with stops at places like Penn State, Tennessee, and recently Mississippi State.   Bob led the #1 defense in country in 2018 but did not have the same luck at Tennessee or last season at MSU.  
Development vs. Recruiting - why do we have to choose? Shoop is known as a very good defensive mind but not at all a recruiter.  This seems to be a McElwain type of hire for Harbaugh.  

I'm a bit confused and hope this becomes clear, because after losing your top two recruiters if you hire another DC and an assistant S&C guy, I'm going to lose my mind.  The Shoop hire would be good for a Brown replacement but I don't believe that is happening. 

I do agree the Michigan's defense needs good minds around player development, game plans, and coverages but the lifeline of any program is recruiting and Michigan is a step or two behind the top programs right now.   

Please hire a known recruiter with the last spot open on the staff! If Jimmy has excelled at one thing while at Michigan, its been hiring top assistants.  I sure hope that streak continue, because if you can't recruit, you shouldn't be on the coaching staff.

Update: Y'all gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here.  Reports are Tank and Shoop are done deals.  Reports are Tank was at the coaching clinic thing in East Lansing yesterday.    IMO, these hires have a lot more Risk then Reward.   Harbaugh just hired a guy that can't recruit and another one that never has.  
  • Chris Evans practiced 3 times with the team during bowl prep and was/is in good shape.  
  • Winter Conditioning for the football team started on Thursday. 
  • There are two spots the team could travel to in the Spring.  Jimmy is not spilling the beans on the locations. 
  • Jimmy is looking at Coy Cronk an OT from IU who is in the transfer portal.   Coy has started 40 games at IU but was injured last season, he is also not a DT. 
  • Michigan Basketball plays Iowa on the road tonight without Livers.   Yikes! 
  • LSU has lost both coordinators to new jobs and all of its players to the NFL.   After everyone wakes up from the drunken week, there are going to be a few holes to fill. 

5 comments:

Cormac said...

After spending the last several days reading the rantings of various people and then hearing the names of the potential hires, the fun part is reading some of the hysterical reactions. I've heard and read that Jimmy HAS to hire a couple of ace recruiters to replace the "dearly departed!" It's going to be a very interesting next few days and/or weeks.

Voice of Reason said...

Bob Shoop and Tank Wright both will be fine here at Michigan. Harbaugh brought in a good defensive mind in Shoop and an eager, energetic and personable young coach in Wright. Shoop is not a McElwain, he has recruited before so don't believe the hype from these other blogs that are quick to post him with a low rating. These other schools wouldn't have hired him on if he couldn't recruit at all. On one hand he's been recruiting in SEC country and going head to head against the likes of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Clemson which is always difficult to win especially when you're recruiting for other schools. The positive here is that now he's recruiting for Michigan and he has his southern/SEC contacts.

Tank Wright has the type of personality that makes for a great recruiter which is important because if you're not cheating you're going to need to build relationships; plus he can tell recruits his (brief) experiences with the NFL. He is also young enough to relate to the players and their families and he knows Michigan well and can sell the program to the recruits. He also understands the positions he's coaching and is in good enough condition to demonstrate on the field; that gives him an edge over Greg Mattison. Therefore, being an expert in strength and conditioning is also a plus. These hires are one of those things that you just have to trust the coach especially when your first, second and third choices are already signed with other teams and you need your coaches to go out and recruit for your school. IMHO!!!

szanreno said...

It is interesting and comical to read the comments Cormac. But most of it is the same old mantra; fire Don Brown, hire Lincoln Riley and now the love affair for PJ Fleck. However I do agree that that "Row The Boat" crap is lame as hell. Row on ole wise ones. Haha.

High Sierra Howard said...

Looks like Michigan found its recruiter in former Charlie Strong assistant Brian Jean-Mary

MichiganMan said...

Our basketball team is just as bad as the football team