re: Thanks!!

Yea who would have thought?

Peace out!

Just out of curiosity, is it Rich Rod's fault that UM had a terrible defense this year? He is largely identified as an offensive genius, and I think it can be said that he did a fine job coaching up that unit over the past 3 years and installed a pretty solid offense with Denard running the show....

Should be maybe have been given consideration to hire another DC and allowed to recruit some defense for another year or two?

I'd say the fault absolutely lies with him. DCs being forced to run a scheme that didn't particularly work with the talent we had. Plus, to be honest, our offense shut down against teams with a pulse. Did you see our last few regular season games plus the bowl game?

I think I said it earlier in this thread, but from what I've heard RR was given the opportunity to overhaul his defensive staff and chose not to do it.

I absolutely wanted him fired, but am not going to lie that I kind of regret it knowing what our option might be. Hope Hoke proves me wrong!

quote:

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I absolutely wanted him fired, but am not going to lie that I kind of regret it knowing what our option might be. Hope Hoke proves me wrong!

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The thing that (in my opinion) really sucks for Michigan is the fact that if a guy like Hoke was hired directly after Carr, it may have been a tiny bit of an adjustment, but not much. Michigan wouldn't have had to clean house, and rebuild, and most of the foundation would still be in place. What Michigan did was they hired RRod directly after Carr. This meant that a completely new system, ideal, phiosophy, etc had to be put in place, which takes time to build. It's been three years, and the transition wasn't complete and they let RRod go. If in a few more years, RR was there, could they finally been an elite program again? Maybe but we'll never know now.

But by hiring RR, having him recruit his players, get his culture in there, etc, you completely changed Michigan football. And now, with Hoke, you want to go back to the old days/old style under Bo/Carr while RR's players and culture have been established. So this will probably take another 3 years (possibly more) to overcome. So essentially, by hiring RR, Michigan lost about 6 years (the 3 to change from the Carr culture to the Rodriguez, and the 3 to change back from the Rodriguez culture/players to Hoke [Carr]), while if Hoke (or Miles, etc) would have been hired right away in 07, that culture is already there, and there's no need to change. You lose 0 years. It's unfortunate for Michigan.

I also hope that when Tress decides to retire, OSU learns a lesson from this and decides to (while not hire an exact Tress-like coach) not go way out there and hire someone who wants to completely change what is built.

fair enough, just curious as to your feelings on the issue. I know he is the HC and obviously responsible for the entire team, but this was a thought that came to mind.

Maybe RR is simply destined to be an elite OC somewhere with elite talent...wonder how he really feels about leaving WVU now?

It has been debated before here and probably on message boards all over the country, but I think hte spread is way overated. It will work fine on teams without dominant lineman and fast LB's and Corners. But it takes a QB with a certain skill set Cam Newton, Tim Tebow or Dennard Robinson. The problem with Michigan they don't have a supporting cast. Tebow had Rainey, Demps and Harvin, when he lost one of the puzzle they dropped off in production when they lost Tebow look what happened. Auburn had Dywer, Macaleb and a hell of an offensive line. Both of Michigans lines got blown up by OSU, MSU, and Wisconsin.

You're absolutely right, this has set us back. I think Bill Martin was in such a panic to get a big name that he jumped on the first one that would bite not even thinking of the rebuilding aspect.

Yes-I live here in Muncie, IN and Hoke did build the program up a little but high tailed it out at the right time because he had nothing in the cupboard after the Nate Davis/senior lines left. His stock would have gone down fast but he is a decent coach and in time, he might get Michigan back. I do however think Michigan could do better.