2010-11 UofM Wolverines Football

[vetalalumni]

Here is AD Brandon discussing the College Football Bowl System --> http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/brando...111710aaa.html

The post is the first on his new blog --> http://www.mgoblue.com/brandon/

Brandon does not mention the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game December 2011.

For those of us not attending the game, why are we subjugated to that verbal vomit from Matt Millen on the ABC/ESPN call? That man lost what football credibility he had with the handling of the Lions.

Irritating commentary is a pet peeve of mine as well. Turning off the volume helps solve that problem. Throwing on the closed-captioning helps as well. The Big Ten Network commentators are not so bad.

Today is the four year anniversary of Coach Bo's death.

[kenp]

I wonder if this is the last game for RichRod. If so who is our next coach?

[vetalalumni]

I wonder if this is the last game for RichRod.

Michigan AD David Brandon’s 11-24-10 Twitter: "Heard about a “rumor” re: some “big announcement” on Monday regarding M-Football. Add it to the rumor rubbish pile! Happy Thanksgiving!"

Wolverine enrichment!


Video Walkthrough

Michigan Prepares for Ohio State

[firstandten]

I wonder if this is the last game for RichRod. If so who is our next coach?

I tend to believe that if Brandon thru back channels felt he could get Harbaugh RichRod will be gone after the season. However if he can't get Harbaugh he might as well give RichRod a two years extension.

[lilpup]

RichRod won't get an extension at this time. At best they'll let him stay through his original contract. If he can turn it around in the time left they might consider renewing, but a turnaround is unlikely since he's in over his head in the Big Ten.

Eastern and Ron English aren't doing well together. RichRod would do better over there but he probably wouldn't take the pay cut.

[smogboy]

I can't see RichRod getting an extension either. I'm not sure this guy understood the culture of what UofM football was and is. I think partially due to his success at West Virginia, he thought he could come up here and install a spread offense and make it work. Wrong. That's not what Lloyd had left him and that's not exactly what UofM or Big Ten football has been traditionally. And rightfully of wrongly, his laid back southern drawl probably hasn't endeared him to too many fans either; I think we've gotten used to firebrands like Lloyd, Moeller, and Bo for a generation now.

RichRod's catching heat and lots of it even though the team's going to a bowl game this year for the first time. I think what will ultimately be his undoing is the alumni coming down on him for losing constantly to Ohio State regularly, and even worse- losing to the in-state rival in MSU. Where D'Antonio is slowly starting to stockpile good players, RichRod's lost some and his defense is starting to show it. The holes on the Michigan defense are almost embarrassing and the lack of a kicking game has really changed how the team plays [[long range field goals are out of the question). Offensively the team moves well but that's only one side of the ball game.

I sometimes wonder how much alumni donations or support has waned over the last few years because of the controversy. It really is a storied university with a top notch program that's taken the gas-pipe the last few years. Even minor NCAA violations were unheard of and I'm sure the alumni were proud about that up until the last few years. I can see David Brandon's hand nearly being forced soon because of the lack of progress shown to its alumni base.

[Danny]

Don't worry Wolverine fans, RIC ROD will be FIRED! Soon.

S GO GREEN, GO SPARTANS! 2010 Big Ten Champions.

[Leroy Hoard]

Carr lost 6 of his last 7 to OSU so that's nothing new. It's losing to former little brother [[now big brother) MSU that might get RichRod fired.

[jiminnm]

Yes, Carr lost to OSU, but if you look at the scores you'll see that most games were close and some could have gone either way. RR has lost by 35, 11 [[thanks to weather) and 30, with pretty much no chance of winning any of them. I think the losses to OSU anger the alums, especially those who contribute sizeable sums, more than the MSU losses.

I thought 7 wins would force Michigan to keep RR, but with a defense that would have trouble stopping a JV team and the inability to get consistent punting and place kicking [[which should not be difficult), I think it's time for him to go.

Fortunately for Michigan, the NCAA will have to dig deep for bowl eligible teams this year and they could get an easy bowl opponent.

[Thruster315]

See ya RichRod. You were never a right fit for the program and it's high time we cut bait with you. Good bye. See ya. Scram. Beat it.

[sirrealone]

See ya RichRod. You were never a right fit for the program and it's high time we cut bait with you. Good bye. See ya. Scram. Beat it.

Yeah, what he said.

[Thruster315]

Let's just say that David Brandon put it in a much MUCH more eloquent way than I did.

It was by far one of the most impressive pressers I've heard from an AD in ages. Brandon took the questions and answered all of the questions with dogged determination, honesty, resolve, and guts. Damn. It makes me wish Brandon would coach the team after hearing him speak! Why couldn't have RichRod said the same sort of things during his rocky tenure?

[Thruster315]

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have talked about Jim Harbaugh as much as he did. If he's not a candidate- mention it once and move on to let the people know that he's out to get the best coach possible. Bring on the candidates and bring back some measure of respectability to the program.

[kenp]

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have talked about Jim Harbaugh as much as he did. If he's not a candidate- mention it once and move on to let the people know that he's out to get the best coach possible. Bring on the candidates and bring back some measure of respectability to the program.

He was constantly being questioned about Harbaugh. I think Brandon handled the press conf as well as anyone could. I think Harbaugh was the guy all along and all if a sudden he became the hottest coaching commodity in the country for not only college jobs but pro as well. He sounds like a guy who wants to be a pro coach so if thats the case its probably best we dont get him. It will be interesting to see who is interested.

[Thruster315]

He was constantly being questioned about Harbaugh. I think Brandon handled the press conf as well as anyone could. I think Harbaugh was the guy all along and all if a sudden he became the hottest coaching commodity in the country for not only college jobs but pro as well. He sounds like a guy who wants to be a pro coach so if thats the case its probably best we dont get him. It will be interesting to see who is interested.

Mike Valenti on 97.1 is bringing up the point that Brandon shouldn't have had the opinion that Harbaugh was going to go to the NFL because he's still the Stanford coach today. It's not like Harbaugh is unemployed right now. To a certain degree I agree. Brandon could've side stepped those questions by talking about the Michigan program getting the best coach possible. That would've the door open for Harbaugh or whomever they were going to get.

But that was just one tiny aspect of the presser. Brandon spoke about his resolve to bring the program back to prominence and that's inspiring.

[vetalalumni]

Here is hoping everyone directly affected lands succesfully back on their feet. And let's look forward to the players, staff and our next coach having success. Good luck Coach Rod.

[EL Jimbo]

If I were a UM fan, which I'm not, I wouldn't be so infatuated with the need to get a "big name". I mean if a team that has had as much success in the past decade as Florida has is willing to hire the defensive coordinator from Texas then Michigan shouldn't feel it is somehow above bringing in anyone but a "big time" head coach.

[Thruster315]

If I were a UM fan, which I'm not, I wouldn't be so infatuated with the need to get a "big name". I mean if a team that has had as much success in the past decade as Florida has is willing to hire the defensive coordinator from Texas then Michigan shouldn't feel it is somehow above bringing in anyone but a "big time" head coach.

I totally agree but two words won't let it happen:

Michigan arrogance

And that's coming from someone who's a college football fan- not a Spartan, Buckeye or Wolverine hater. Michigan just expects a big name and all of the trappings that come with it. They think they're the shit and will get someone who thinks that they're entitled to the best players in the nation just because they're Michigan. I think that was part of the appeal that led RichRod to show up on their door step those many years ago... and look where it got them.

I feel for Brandon too. He seems like a personable balls to the wall sort of guy too after hearing his presser, but he really can't pull the trigger without having to appeal to a larger constituency. He's got to get a choice that can recruit, win pretty quickly, make kissy face with the current players, and then possibly the toughest of all to please- the Michigan alumni base. Some of those rich bastards graduated years ago and through their big pocketed contributions [[some legit and some not so square- think Ed Martin with the basketball program) still think they have a say in the matter.

Whatever happened to hiring the best guy for the job quietly and discretely? Damn Twitter, bloggers, and media leeches all over this have made it a PR tussle too. Have you guys seen how many people were lingering around Schembechler Hall like it was the local fraternity giving away free beer?

[kenp]

I agree with EL JIM. Let Brandon do his thing. Remember when OSU hired Tressel. Nobody knew who he was. I trust Brandon to get us a good good, long term, coach.

[rjk]

If I were a UM fan, which I'm not, I wouldn't be so infatuated with the need to get a "big name". I mean if a team that has had as much success in the past decade as Florida has is willing to hire the defensive coordinator from Texas then Michigan shouldn't feel it is somehow above bringing in anyone but a "big time" head coach.

If Florida was coming off of a disastrous three years like Michigan I doubt they'd be hiring a D coordinator with zero head coaching experience. Florida is a solid program while UM is in rebuild mode. Brandon can't act like he's the smartest guy in the room and think he's plucking the next great coach from the assistant coaching ranks. He needs a proven winner with somewhat of a wow factor.

[factoryrat]

Bo
mo
lo
ro
ho?

[jiminnm]

This is from Friday's WSJ.
http://www.tiny9.com/u/Michigan_Coach

With Harbaugh out of the picture, I had hoped that UM would go after Gary Patterson from TCU, but he just signed a 2 year extension this week. From the article above, Les Miles may have no interest [[but who knows). A name getting the most play now is former UMer Brady Hoke from San Diego State.

As for rebuilding, I suspect there will be little tolerance for a long term rebuild and higher short term expectations for the program.

[firstandten]

There is so much that goes into finding a winning coach over and above the x's and o's and recruiting. I think the two worst traits a head coach can have is too much inflexibility and too much arrogance. I think most football coaches have some of both but too much of either is a receipt for failure.

For example people were saying get rid of the d-coordinator the 3-3-5 doesn't work. I think now its pretty clear that Greg Robinson had no control over the type of defense being run, his job was to make it work. RichRod hung him out to dry by saying he's an offensive guy that he really not involved in the defense.

When you are a coach of a big program you need support from various factions of the university community in order to be successful, and RichRod just didn't get that support.. why... maybe some of the reason had to do with how he upended some of the traditions of the university and didn't understand others. He said and did some pretty disingenuous things which to me was a cover for the arrogance.

Whomever Brandon gets hopefully more so than being a big name coach is getting a coach thats able to be flexible, to adapt his coaching style to the players he has, and comes in understanding the football culture and traditions of the university. I think that more than anything will determine the success or failure of the coach. After all RichRod was a big name coach when Michigan got him

[vetalalumni]

Since this 2010 Wolverine football thread may now fade, a new 2011 thread is warranted.

Here is a cross-reference to a new DYES thread for the upcoming 2011 Wolverine football season -- > http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...rines-Football