While You Were Away

This post is mainly for my dad, who unlike the rest of us, has a life, and doesn't obsessively check the blogs, message boards and RSS feeds for news everyday of the off-season.

Michigan has had a pretty active off-season, perhaps the most eventful in 40+ years. A little synopsis for you. Please take notes as there will be a quiz before you enter the stadium for the first time this year.

Lloyd Carr retired the Monday after the OSU game. Said most of the usual retirement press conference stuff (had a great time, will miss lots of people, no opinion on who the next coach is, trusts Bill Martin to get it right, etc). The coach search was a wild ride of rumors, non-denial denials, plane tracking, and all out meltdowns on various message boards. At one time or another, the following coaches were rumored to be coming here: Les Miles (2 or 3 different rumors), Kirk Ferentz, Greg Schiano, & Jim Grobe. Finally, when it looked like all hope was lost, Rich Rodriguez was announced as the new coach. He dismissed all of the prior assistant coaches, hiring only RB coach Fred Jackson back. He brought a number of his coaches from West Virginia with him, and hired a new LB coach and defensive coordinator.


People in West Virginia were not happy that Rodriguez would leave his alma mater to come here. The University sued Rodriguez shortly after he left to collect his $4 million buyout. Rodriguez vowed to fight it. A six battle ensued, which included a lot of name calling, some silly posturing, and eventually ended up with Rodriguez paying WVU $1.5 million over two years, and the UofM paying $2.5 million. Some people in the local media saw this settlement as indicative of a character flaw on Rodriguez's part.


A number of players left the team after the bowl game. Receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington declared for the NFL and were drafted. QB Ryan Mallet transferred to his home state of Arkansas, stating that he didn't feel that he was a good fit for Rodriguez's new spread offense. Rumor around the blogs was that he might have transferred even if Lloyd had stayed. Offensive lineman Justin Boren, who started 12 games at center and guard last year and is the son of former linebacker Mike Boren, announced he was leaving after the first day of spring practice, stating that he felt that the "family values" of Michigan were eroding under the new staff. He subsequently enrolled at Ohio State, along with his younger brother Zach, who was offered a scholarship there only after Justin transferred. Despite comments from former players, like Desmond, who supported Rodriguez and cited rumors that Boren left because he wasn't guaranteed his starting spot back, some people in the local media saw this as indicative of a character flaw on Rodriguez's part.


Recruiting went well. The Wolverines received commitments from nine players after Rodriguez took over, including a number of players who committed on or right before signing day. A couple of players actually decommitted from other schools to commit to Michigan. This prompted a tirade from Purdue coach Joe Tiller, where he chastised Rodriguez for breaking a "Gentleman's Agreement" between Big Ten coaches not to recruit players who have publicly committed to other Big Ten schools. Tiller referred to Rodriguez as a snake-oil salesman in a wizard hat. Some people in the local media saw this as a character flaw on Rodriguez's part, even though recent history shows that just about every big ten schools has poached recruits from other big ten schools in a similar manner.


Rodriguez brought with him Mike Barwis, the strength and conditioning coach at WVU. After getting a big upgrade to the weight room facilities, Barwis has proceeded to totally revamp the strength and conditioning program, and has become somewhat of a folk hero among the Michigan blogosphere. Depending on which urban legends you choose to believe, he owns a couple of wolves for pets, he used to be an mixed martial arts participant, has never had a player miss an entire season due to injury, and will turn mere mortals into superhuman football machines. He has gotten rave reviews from all of the current players, a whole host of former players now playing in the NFL, both from here and West Virginia, who came to Ann Arbor this summer to work out with him. The hype about him got so deep at one point that MSU had to put out a story about their S&C guys, and how they were just as good as Barwis.


In March, the Ann Arbor News unvailed a huge four part story about Academics and Athletics at Michigan. The articles claimed, among other things, that the athletic department steered kids to certain easier majors (general studies), certain professors who were friendly to the AD, and encouraged independent study programs, and athletes were admitted to school who normally wouldn't go to college. The University of course quickly refuted the report's claims. The reaction from the national media was was one of indifference. When I saw Golden in April, he wondered why this was even a story. This is just standard operating procedure at Division I schools.


Our stadium is undergoing some significant upgrades. Despite some initial skepticism, most reaction seems to be positive. The AD has been warning people to arrive to games earlier, however, do to longer lines to enter the stadium. Construction of the $250 million project is due to be completed prior to the 2010 season. Also under construction is a new practice facility.


After signing a multi-million dollar in July 07, Adidas introduced the new Michigan jerseys. The home jersey remains virtually the same as the last Nike jersey, with the swoosh replaced with the three lines. The road jersey contains large yellow stripes along the sides that has not been warmly received.


So there you have it. Despite all the negativity from the main stream media and national pundits, the Michigan blogosphere seems somewhat upbeat about there chances, with predictions centering around 8-4 or 7-5, with promises of death and destruction for Michigan's enemies in 2009 and beyond.

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

I don't understand why everyone seems to think the SEC is all that great. Every time we play them we win (13-4-1 all time now, including 7-3 in bowl games) Don't know why the Buckeyes seem to have so much trouble;-)

All kidding aside, what a great win against a very dangerous offensive team. The coaching staff gets all the credit in the world for coming out swinging, and not letting up on the offense all game. While fans around the country might think this was something radically different for Michigan, this is actually something that Michigan fans recognize. For a long time Michigan fans have lamented Lloyd Carr's "two offenses" philosophy. Carr has admitted in the past that the offense has two purposes, one is to score, the other is to possess the ball to keep it away from the other team. This philosophy manifests itself most of the time in a conservative, run or die trying offense that is the dinosaur that most fans associate with Michigan. But sometimes when Michigan gets down big, or needs to score late in a game, they will come out in four or five wide and will throw the ball all over the field. The difference in this game is that they played the entire game as if they were down 14 midway through the fourth quarter.
-They also added a number of trick plays, or variations of things that they normally don't run. The attempted a pass to tackle Jake Long. They ran a number of WR sweeps to Manningham. They ran a throw back pass where Manningham threw it back to Henne who threw it down field. They ran a beautiful throw back screen to TE Carson Butler that went for big yards. Basically they left no stone unturned, and tried everything but the kitchen sink. It was a thing of beauty, and something Michigan fans have been clamoring for for a long time. I wonder if Rich Rod offered any help with the game plan.
-Henne and Arrington probably made themselves a bunch of money today. There will be other QBs taken ahead of Henne, but he could be a real steal for some team. His performance today was the best by a Michigan QB since Tom Brady's 3-TD, 369 yard game against Alabama in the 2000 Orange bowl. Hopefully Arrington will be back next year, but he looked like the next great Michigan receiver. It would be a huge plus for us if Rich Rod can convince him and Super Mario to return.
-I think today's game, and the preparation leading up to demonstrate why Scott Loeffler and Erik Campbell should be rehired.
-If anyone tries to tell you that this was a win for midwest muscle over southern speed, tell them to go back and check the tape. Michigan was the faster team. Yes, Harvin is very fast, but Michigan's receivers ran circles around the Florida DBs. The Michigan Dline dominated the Florida offensive line by stunting and blitzing them to death.
-So what does this win mean in the grand scheme of things? They broke their bowl losing streak, showed an exciting, dynamic offense, and beat one of college football's "golden boys" in Urban Meyer. It means that we aren't as stuck in the stone ages as had been talked about. The transition to Rich Rod might not be as painful as we thought. The Michigan personnel isn't as incompatible with the spread as some in the media suggested. The next month or so should be very interesting, with new coaches, and new recruiting news almost every day.
-Finally, this win just feels right because of Lloyd's departure. He's a real mensch who always cared about developing men as much as developing players. It just wouldn't have been right for him to leave with a three game losing streak.

Other Stuff:
-Memo to the *uckeye fans who were congratulating Michigan fans on the win Thanks, but don't go thinking that our win tells us anything about your game with LSU. The team that played today was totally different than the one you beat in November: focused, healthy, and loose. If they played against you the way they did today, you'd have lost to Florida today, while we would have been subjected to another loss to USC in the Rose Bowl. And of course, LSU doesn't the same weaknesses Florida does on defense.
-Too bad the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl couldn't have switched opponents to create USC-Georgia and Illinois-Hawaii match-ups. Those would have been a lot more compelling. I like that the lower conferences have a shot at the BCS now (albeit a slim one). Hawaii deserved a BCS bid, just like the champion of the Atlantic Sun deserves a spot in the Big Dance. The fact that they were blown out doesn't change that. Illinois, on the other hand, didn't belong in the Rose Bowl. Certainly not when Missouri was available. I wouldn't be surprised if they a big disappointment next year and miss a bowl game.
-As an outsider, I like the Neuheisel hire by UCLA. Despite his past transgressions, he will bring a an excitement to the program, and might be just the guy to match Pete Carroll's youthful exuberance. If he gets Norm Chow as his OC, things could get real exciting in the City of Angels.

If I ran the circus...

Happy holler-days everyone, hope you all enjoyed your family time. A bunch of things to post here in the next couple of days before the games start coming three at a time.

A few suggestions for our new coach (in no particular order):
1)Hire Erik Campbell and Scott Loeffler back. A number of people panicked when it was announced that Rich Rod had fired the entire staff, only to find that he hired Fred Jackson back the next day, and was rumored to bring Steve Stripling back. I would suggest he also consider rehiring WR coach Erik Campbell and QB coach Scott Loeffler. A DB/WR for Michigan in the mid 80s, Campbell would provide a link to Michigan's tradition that is important for a coach new to the program. As a WR coach, he has produced an array of players that is perhaps as impressive a group as there is in the country: Amani Toomer; Mercury Hayes; Charles Woodson; Tai Streets; Marcus Knight; David Terrell; Marquise Walker; Ronald Bellamy; Braylon Edwards; Jason Avant; Steve Breaston; Adrian Arrington; and Mario Mannigham. He is a slam dunk hire. Loeffler might be a little shakier hire, given that his coaching experience in past dealt with classic, drop back passers, instead of the dual threats that Rich Rod's offense prefers. But Loeffler's attention to mechanics might be just what running QBs need to elevate their passing games. Loeffler is also an excellent recruiter who has had a hand in the recruitment and/or development of Michigan QBs from Griese to Mallet.
2) Upgrade the schedule. A non-conference schedule of Notre Dame and three MAC teams just doesn't do it for me, especially when the ND road game coincide with the OSU and Penn State road games. How about a home and home with another major power, or at least someone who might get the fans interested. I understand we don't want to over-schedule, but you have to give the fans something more than Utah, Toledo, Miami (O), Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Illinois (next year's home schedule). Some suggestions for home and home series: Texas, Virginia Tech, Rutgers (away games at Meadowlands), just about any SEC team other than Vandy, Ole Miss or Miss State, Boston College, Nebraska, California. You could also bring in some interesting WAC or Mt West teams for one game shots: Hawaii, Boise State, Fresno State.
3) A night game or two a year. I'm not talking about going crazy with Thursday nighters or anything, just an occasional prime time game early in the year (perhaps the best non conference game each year)
4) I would suggest that the new coach plan a weekly lunch with Jamie Morris and Jon Bacon. Bacon, author of the a definitive work on Bo, and Morris, on of Michigan's all time greats will keep Rich Rod well versed in Michigan lore. MVictors has some other suggestions to help Rich Rod come up to speed.
5) Open up at least one practice in the spring and one in the fall (before the season starts) to the public. I'm not talking about divulging game plans or anything, just something to get the fans excited and give us a taste or two in the off-season.
6) Play a real spring game, not just a glorified practice. Print up rosters, pass out to fans, get it broadcast on 'TKA, do a little marketing to make it an event. Perhaps an autograph session, or a fan FG kicking contest, or something to make it interesting for fans.
7) Don't mess with the uniforms, at least not in a major way. None of that all yellow crap you had at WVU.
8) Don't treat the fans like we are an imposition. Market the program a little. Nothing over the top, just enough to remind people that football is supposed to be fun.
9) Just before kickoff, after the band has left the field, play this clip of Bo on the big screen. I know you probably don't worry about the video display, but this is just the best pregame speech ever.
10) Remember that your players are supposed to be students also. They may not be the best students out there, but they have to at least try to get their degree. Any one who is not interested in going to class doesn't belong at Michigan, no matter how talented they are.
11) Don't give into pressure to change your coaching strategies or style to fit anyone's notion of what Michigan football should be. Michigan football is not limited about one particular brand of offense or one brand of defense. It is about a commitment to hard work, integrity, and giving more to the team than you give to yourself. You can follow the lessons of Yost, Crisler, and Bo without running their plays.

I'm sure I will have plenty of suggestions along the way, but that's it for now.