Adios Rich Rodriguez

[15fan]

Yesterday, I suggested to a friend (who holds a pair of degrees from Michigan) that the Wolverines ought to look at Ken Niomatalolo. I think his style of play would hold up better in the Big 10/11/12 than the spread. He's used to being at an institution where academics are a priority. He's 2-1 vs. Notre Dame, 3-0 against Navy's biggest rival Army, and gave Ohio State everything it could handle in the 2009 opener. His teams are fundamentally sound and play together as a unit.

In short, he's pretty much the exact opposite of Rich Rod.

[Red Leader]

What a cluster. The Michigan AD said in the press conference, "The national search for a head coach begins now."

Ummm, it's January 5th!?!? The search starts now? If the search starts now, we're screwed. You can pretty much kiss this recruiting class goodbye. Which puts rebuilding even further behind...

What a complete mess. It is NOT a good day to be a Michigan Wolverine. Again.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by Red Leader

For those interested there is a press conference by UM's AD Dave Brandon on ESPN at 12:30 today to discuss "the state of the program".

I'm not sure whether Dave Mason's "We Just Disagree" will be played in the background.

My guess is that if RichRod and his 'entire' staff were let go, which is what was reported, that they already have a replacement either named or lined up.
That's the only way it makes sense to completely clean house.
It also tells me that the new coach being brought in will not be running the super-awesome slot ninja spread n shred offense.
That is good news on one hand. On the other hand, holy Moses are there going to be some mass-exodus transfers.
This ship is going to be like the Titanic to turn around, not a speed cruiser.

I just got an e-mail from a distraught UM alum who just watched the presser and says he can't believe Mich does not have a candidate lined up. He said it looks like their search is just beginning. This is way late to be doing this. Take it from me, A Tenn fan who just went through this a year ago, this is a rough time of year to be pulling this off. UT came out OK as they had huge contributions from true freshman this year but UM is on the clock.

[LoganBuck]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I just got an e-mail from a distraught UM alum who just watched the presser and says he can't believe Mich does not have a candidate lined up. He said it looks like their search is just beginning. This is way late to be doing this. Take it from me, A Tenn fan who just went through this a year ago, this is a rough time of year to be pulling this off. UT came out OK as they had huge contributions from true freshman this year but UM is on the clock.

Didn't some of Lane Kiffin's recruits stay on board at UT last year? This is going to be ugly. Odds are whoever the coach is they won't be looking for players that fit Rodriguez's spread offense. That means the current recruits that are on board are probably going to leave, or have the scholarship offers revoked.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Didn't some of Lane Kiffin's recruits stay on board at UT last year? This is going to be ugly. Odds are whoever the coach is they won't be looking for players that fit Rodriguez's spread offense. That means the current recruits that are on board are probably going to leave, or have the scholarship offers revoked.

Absolutely. As for Mich, let's hope RR had some, if not a lot, of defensive recruits. The offensive scheme shouldn't affect them. The new coach will have to first and foremost retain the top Mich recruits already verbally commited. That's a must

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Didn't some of Lane Kiffin's recruits stay on board at UT last year? This is going to be ugly. Odds are whoever the coach is they won't be looking for players that fit Rodriguez's spread offense. That means the current recruits that are on board are probably going to leave, or have the scholarship offers revoked.

Yep, much easier and less messy for UT last year. They were generally keeping the same offensive system in place. UM has to totally switch back to UM football - Pro-Style. We're talking about two totally different athletes being recruited for those systems. Which means that all of the recruits that have given verbals, at least offensively, will likely drop. The defensive recruits they had verbals from might stick on, but they weren't that great anyway. Add on to that most of the talent on the roster is suited for a spread offense and most of those players will likely be making their way out of town now...a complete and total mess.

Funny defensive recruits were mentioned. That was one of the biggest pitfalls of RichRod, IMO. Every year he seemed to be solely interested in getting offensive skill players in to suit his spread offense. Ignoring defensive players. I bet we have 12-15 recuits that were projected to be 'slot' players. Seriously? You only need 3-4, at most. There were about 4-5 more in this class. He was finally getting some pressure in this recruiting class to address the lack of defensive recruits. There were CB's being added, but most of them were 5'8"-5'10" kids who could just run. He completely ignored LBs in all 3 years with the exception of Kenny Demens, who was basically a UM fan his whole life and his only dream was to play at UM. Same with Will Campbell on the D-Line. Other than that, the talent brought in on defense was absolutely ridicuous, especially for a team like UM that prides itself on it defense, or at least did.

I really think it would take a miracle for UM to switch back to a Pro Style offense and be competitive in the Big 10 in less than 3 years, under any coach. Throw in the fact that they're going to have to do that with basically a useless 2011 recruiting class and the odds get even longer.

It's ok, though. They will be switching back to the Pro Style smash-mouth football. Hopefully someday my kids will get to see a brand of Michigan football that they can be proud of.

[Sea Ray]

I think Mich's improvement has to come on defense and special teams. Some of you are falling into the trap of overemphasizing offense

[LoganBuck]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I think Mich's improvement has to come on defense and special teams. Some of you are falling into the trap of overemphasizing offense

Sure this is true. But Michigan has a bad group of defensive players on board already. The current recruiting class isn't very good either, and now the one thing that was kind of working, the offense, is going to be overhauled as well. This is bad. Michigan is probably looking at three more years of rebuilding. Colin Cowherd said it best this morning. This is a major rebuild, a high profile coach is not going to leave another top job for that mess.

[Puffy]

Recruiting (from what I have heard): I hear Fisher (OL) is already looking around. I think he sees himself as a spread tackle. Justice Hayes probably stays. Brennen Beyer will probably look around but he probably ends up staying.

I would guess 95% of the recruits stay put. I'd be more worried about Denard. He sees him self as a QB and he is not a pro-style QB so he is going to be looking to transfer, IMO

[IslandRed]

Originally Posted by Red Leader

What a cluster. The Michigan AD said in the press conference, "The national search for a head coach begins now."

Ummm, it's January 5th!?!? The search starts now? If the search starts now, we're screwed. You can pretty much kiss this recruiting class goodbye.

Well, yes and no. There's absolutely no way they are just now, today, sounding out potential coaches. But they can't publicly admit they were talking to other coaches before getting around to firing the current one. It's bad form. We all know it happens anyway (often through intermediaries to maintain plausible deniability and all that), but the proprieties are still observed.

However, I doubt they actually had their coach as of this morning, so yeah, they're already scrambling with respect to recruiting.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Sure this is true. But Michigan has a bad group of defensive players on board already. The current recruiting class isn't very good either, and now the one thing that was kind of working, the offense, is going to be overhauled as well. This is bad. Michigan is probably looking at three more years of rebuilding. Colin Cowherd said it best this morning. This is a major rebuild, a high profile coach is not going to leave another top job for that mess.

I heard some of that rant and I think he was off base. The problem with RR isn't that he's not a Mich Man. It's that he's in over his head. He did a horrible job. I would even argue with Cowherd that RR is a great coach. Ask the W Va fans if he's a great coach. A great coach doesn't let the kicking game and defense get as bad as it did. No excuse for that. None. This is Mich we're talking about here, not UC or Bowling Green.

I disagree that he didn't get support from his administration. I'd argue they were far too patient with him. They stuck their neck out for him until the last couple of months.

He was a horrible hire from the get go.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by Puffy

Recruiting (from what I have heard): I hear Fisher (OL) is already looking around. I think he sees himself as a spread tackle. Justice Hayes probably stays. Brennen Beyer will probably look around but he probably ends up staying.

I would guess 95% of the recruits stay put. I'd be more worried about Denard. He sees him self as a QB and he is not a pro-style QB so he is going to be looking to transfer, IMO

According to scout.com they only have 14 recruits as it is. If they lose one, they've already lost more than 5% of their class.

But it does help that they're in the Big Ten. As it often the case, the Big Ten only has one team (OSU) in the top 25 in 2011 recruiting. The SEC has 9.

[MWM]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

But it does help that they're in the Big Ten. As it often the case, the Big Ten only has one team (OSU) in the top 25 in 2011 recruiting. The SEC has 9.

That makes the head to head matchup record over the past 10+ years all the more impressive for the Big Ten.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by MWM

That makes the head to head matchup record over the past 10+ years all the more impressive for the Big Ten.

Yeah, must be the officiating or somethin'...

[MWM]

This is a pretty good take on all the Harbaugh hoopla. I can understand why Michigan would really want him, but I certainly don't understand why NFL teams are so gaga over him.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1...-harbaughmania