Mailbag question: Coach Rod
Posted at 8:00am — 11/30/2010
Mailbag question: Coach Rod
GBMWolverine:
After watching Michigan all year, and looking at the Big East, I see why Rich Rod is struggling defensively at Michigan. The Big East is a horrible conference on the defensive side of the ball.
The bottom line is that Rich Rod cannot win in the Big Ten, or the SEC, with this style, one which does not fit the mentioned major conferences. Michigan has been horrible on defense and special teams since he’s been there. It’s time to go get Jim Harbaugh.
Your thoughts.
Dwain P.
————————————–
Thanks for the question.
As we have stated several times to our posters on the GBMWolverine message board, it doesn’t matter what we think, “they” think, or even what Coach Rod thinks of the direction of the program. All that matters currently is what David Brandon believes about the direction and progress level of the Michigan football program.
If Mr. Brandon assesses that the program is going in the right direction, and therefore wants to retain Coach Rod, then Coach Rod will become David Brandon’s guy and not the guy that Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman drove to Toledo to hire.
Here are some of our thoughts, first understanding that the three years under Coach Rod have certainly been trying ones for Michigan fans.
No one foresaw Michigan going 15-21, 6-18 in the Big Ten, and having a record of 1-13 against the top five teams in the Big Ten the last several years (Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State).
Michigan has improved the win total under Coach Rod in every year against teams such as MAC schools, lower division schools, and Big Ten foes such as Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois.
If Athletic Director David Brandon believes the win total, along with beating better teams, will start to improve, we can 100% understand David Brandon giving Coach Rod another year.
If Mr. Brandon concludes that Coach Rod has tapped out and the program will be stuck at the 7-5 or 8-4 range, he should consider making a move, especially if improvement in beating the stated rivals and the other top teams in the Big Ten is considered unlikely, leaving Michigan in the mid-tier, some would say mediocre, area of the Big Ten feeding chain.
We here at GBMWolverine believe that Mr. Brandon should only replace Coach Rod if he strongly believes he can make a program upgrade. Mr. Brandon should not replace Coach Rodriguez just to replace him. Further, we do not want Michigan turning into Notre Dame with four head coaches in the last dozen or so years. That in our opinion is a recipe for disaster and would extend the use of mediocre as a descriptor of the Michigan program.
We strongly believe the obvious, that Mr. Brandon is smart enough to realize, being the former Domino’s Pizza CEO with a lot of bigger paychecks by-the-way, that the importance of taking a long term view supercedes anything else in the decision process.
To evaluate things without emotion, and do what is best for the program, is a business like approach, and that is probably why Mr. Brandon disclosed to the media and others that he will wait until after the bowl game to complete a final evaluation of the football program, a method employed with every athletic program at Michigan.
That is why we believe Mr. Brandon publicly announced his timetable so he can sit down with Coach Rod, discuss his plans for the future, and see if any coaching changes or other changes will be made.
Also, some believe this is a stall tactic to give a certain head coach out west a chance to coach in a BCS bowl game without any distractions, or being asked related question 2-3 times a day when the media is around.
Some point to the extra money involved in any coaching change, a decision after January 1, 2011 favors Michigan.
We share many of your same concerns about the defense not progressing; quite frankly we have had similar discussions for the past three years based on practice reports and observation, games, and the status of recruiting on the defensive side of the ball.
One item that we find troubling is Michigan not being big or physical enough to play with the best teams in the conference. This shortcoming has not been exposed against non-conference opponents, or lower division teams, and possibly the bottom of the Big Ten, where overall superior talent has provided wins. But not once has this approach been successful against the better teams in the conference, as indicated by the statistics cited above.
The million-dollar question or the magic silver-bullet question becomes: is Michigan heading in the correct direction? Related to that general statement are other related concerns:
Is the roster being upgraded in talent?
Is the team improving?
Is there sufficient management and skilled direction?
A primary concern that has never been alleviated is Michigan still beating itself with mistakes, penalties, and turnovers. Those are discipline and teaching problems and until the mistakes are fixed Michigan will not improve much, at least against good teams.
Also, special teams have morphed into an embarrassment, one noted by Spielman who correctly stated: how in the world can Michigan not find skilled players and possess excellent special teams? The placekicking game is the first place to start, but not one area can be evaluated as above average. The fear of even attempting a field goal had dire consequences toward the end of the season. Several scoring opportunities were lost against Ohio State early on when the offense was rolling.
The offense cannot continue to run just a few base plays heavily dominated by Denard Robinson’s talent. Controlling the ball will always be an effective way of managing a football game, especially with a bad defense that cannot be placed in bad situations.
The offense cannot go into a shell and hide for a half like we saw in previous losses to good teams, or even most of the game as at Ohio State.
Some would say mistake after mistake after mistake is redundant. The long bus ride home from Columbus after not even being a serious opponent needs to be seen as a redundant event that needs to end, and end soon.
Written by GBMWolverine Staff
Go Blue — Wear Maize!