Coaches Corner: A little rant about Agendas

Coaches’ Corner: A little rant about Agendas

For some reason, every time we write a post that Coach Rod’s “Mafia” disagrees with, we get accused of having an “agenda.” Therefore, to give this “mob” even more reason to get their panties in a bunch, here’s our take on Coach Rod and the 2008 season. I also wanted to get it off my to-do list. (Doh! I guess I do have an agenda.)

Assistant Coaches:
As head coach, Coach Rod has every right to hire any one he wants. In fact, we support him 100% in this vein. Head coaches, be it Coach Carr or Coach Rod, need to have assistants around them they totally respect and are comfortable with.

Consequently, he is 100% responsible for what these assistants do, same as Coach Carr, Coach Bo, or any other coach, even Coach George Halas.

What assistants do ends up totally on the head coach, for better or worse. That is why we had problems with some of the comments posted and why we were quick to defend Coach Shafer.

Many wanted to dump on Coach Shafer while giving Coach Rod a pass from any responsibility over happened on the defensive side of the ball. If Coach Shafer was not a correct fit, he needed to go. Coach Rod did right parting ways with him. Having said that, I am somewhat disgusted with how the firing/resignation was handled.

And I’m not saying this because I have any ulterior motives. So those who disagree with me, just take my opinion at face value, and let’s move on.

The 2008 season:

Defections: Michigan lost a ton of players including some talented ones. This by itself was not surprising. The surprise came from who some of the defectors were, not how many.

Also surprising was attitude of some of the comments on the message boards who thought that no matter who, left it was no big loss to the program. Then as the season went on, these very same people complained more and more about the lack of talent on the team.

Regardless of the head coach, losing as many quality players as Michigan did last year would have hurt ANY program in the short term.

During recent Threet-defection debate, I went out of my way never to mention Coach Rod, because this was a loss no matter who was coaching. Yet, once again, the “agenda” accusations began to fly.

Dismal Win Record: Nobody, not Coach Rod, Coach Carr, Coach Bo, nor CoachVince Lombardi-on-steroids could’ve gone 13-0 with this group of players. There was not enough talent, nor depth at any position, for this to happen. However, in saying that there is no way this team could have gone 13-0 and won a National Championship, doesn’t mean I look kindly on going 3-9 either. While there was not enough talent to be 13-0, there was too much talent to justify a 3-9 season. For this, Coach Rod needs to be held accountable. The buck, but unfortunately not yet The Buckeyes, stops with him.

Holding Coach Rod accountable for a dismal season, does not a Hidden-Agenda Hound make. It’s just being realistic to have certain expectations for Michigan’s season and holding the team — and the head coach — responsible for underachieving.

The Loses:

Losing to Toledo, Purdue, and Northwestern — without their best player — was unacceptable. Michigan had more talent and should never have lost to these teams.

Same thought with respect to Appalachian State — losing was simply unacceptable. This has nothing to do with who was head coach.

Come on, Michigan without a proper quarterback still should’ve had enough talent to beat a three-win MAC school. Holding the staff accountable for losing these games that we should have won was proper, no part of some evil propoganda campaign.

How Michigan lost:

No head coach with this group of players was going to beat Ohio State. It wasn’t so much the loss, as HOW Michigan lost that PISSED people off. Michigan showed no fight. They just shrugged their shoulder and benover. That was an unacceptable showing for players and coaches alike. We saw the same think when OSU beat us in 2007. It stunk then. It stunk last year. There’s no reason to keep quite about it.

The most discouraging aspect was that not one player stepped up to say “Enough is enough” and went out ro rip a Buckeye’s head off. What’s going here? Is someone putting Prozac in the Gatorade? This was inexcusable. Are we The Wolverines or the Wooly Lambs? Did the whole team develop acute testoserone-deficiency syndrome?

No, don’t have an agenda. JUST PISSED AND WASN’T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE! Sooner or later, the head coach has to take the heat.

Some of us wanted to hold Coach Rod, and the team, accountable for their part of what happened in 2008. When “the other side” saw this, they came out and with a vengeance. They let loose the hounds on us. Went into attack mode. Why? I do not see how wanting to hold the coaching staff accountable for what happened on field means I bleed any lesser Blue than the next guy.

Let’s just all agree to disagree.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine