Michigan Football, the 2020 Abbreviated COVID Season

[iam416]

OSU was very fortunate that Tressell's time ended when Meyer was available

My guess is that Tressel would have remained at Ohio State had UFM not been available. I don't think they were willing to toss him overboard with no clear plan in place. Not only that, but it had to be a very good plan. Gun to Wizard's head, I think Ohio State knew they had UFM in May. It's also worth noting that OSU's ascendancy started with hiring Tressel over other bigger names like, e.g., Glen Fucking Mason. IMO, Glen Mason was the total "M Hire" -- an ex-player with some proven success at lesser programs. Geiger put his ass on the line when he picked Tressel.

Now, it was certainly fortunate that he was available. No question. And, perhaps even in some ways it was fortunate that they had a reason to jettison Tressel for UFM. The things that Brian goes into about Ohio State's gradual offensive transformation were far more due to good coaching. So, when UFM took over he wasn't taking over Craig Krenzel and the "I formation", but Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde. And Ryan Day is taking over an offense that gradually moved from UFM's more run-based spread to Ryan Day's more "pro concepts" spread.

As for OSU's just-completed transition, well, I would assume that they knew it was coming for most of last fall and did their due diligence. There was time to observe Day and to get a clear understanding of other alternatives.

I think this is entirely true and perhaps even more true than anyone really appreciates. I firmly believe that UFM wanted to see Ohio State continue on what he built. I firmly believe that the potshots that Florida fans took at him for "leaving the cupboard bare" -- lol -- irked him. I think UFM has seen gads of assistant coaches and knows a really good coach when he sees one, and I think he was very confident in Day. Parenthetically, he damn well knows shitty ones given his defense the final years of his career. Anyway, I also think Gene Smith is no fool when it comes to hiring coaches. So, I don't think they just made this decision for the fuck of it. I think they were dead set on Ryan Day. Whether they turn out to be wrong or right about him, it was in no way desperate.

That was the real lost opportunity at Michigan -- back in 06 Martin could have embarked on a long learning process. He proved he could do it by hiring John Beilein. It's not clear to me whether all the other powers that be around Michigan's AD would allow for a functional process when the football job is open though. And basketball may have garnered enough interest to prevent another kind of hiring process like the one that brought Beilein. If Howard turns out, that may be best attributed to dumb luck.

I don't know enough about the "Fort" machinations to comment. I do think it was clear to most that LLLLLLoyd wasn't long for the job. In any event, there's no way to fault the HARBAUGH!!!! hire. At all. That was a contemporaneous grand slam. I think it's fairly hard to be too harsh on the RichGOD hire, though I think some careful thought and examination might have led one away from him. I think the Hoke hire was inexcusably lazy.

[hack]

I'm not in Columbus and didn't follow along, but it also seems to me that Tressell>Meyer and Meyer>Day were drama-free situations. Of course hiring Meyer was a no-brainer, but OSU still surely has a whole bunch of donor-class buffoons and insiders and unofficial mayors just like Ann Arbor does, and Meyer>Day was a smooth process. Ann Arbor's group of those kinds of people, however, can be counted on to loudly weigh in on coaching-search names as they come up if they are outsiders (RichRod), wayward sons (Les Miles) or cultural fits (Brady Hoke). IMO those people make it very difficult for an AD to run a good search in Ann Arbor. I don't believe Rick Pitino would have come, or would have lasted long given what we know about his approach to compliance, but it's an example of this. Even when there was an obvious home-run hire, as Harbaugh was rightly perceived AT THAT TIME, and given that home-run hire perceived Michigan as the place he wants to retire, it still felt like an uphill climb, and Jim Hackett still had to create swim lanes and all that nonsense.

Is it fair to say that OSU's AD does not deal with that sort of thing? Sure, you make a good point that Geiger stuck his neck out to hire Tressell instead of making the safe pick of Mason, and no doubt that at that time those insiders I'm complaining about here probably were handwringing a whole lot about getting it right after canning Cooper. But it's still my impression that an OSU AD can go about his business with less of that circus-of-dysfunction kind of constraint. I could be wrong.

[Tom W]

That's true, I'm breaking nothing new, but I always sense that people don't understand how tall the task is. Maybe that's not true here, but listen to a day of WTKA and I don't think the general fanbase quite gets it. As an MSU fan, I totally see it, we're not even trying to compete and Saturday's debacle was exhibit A. Michigan is actually trying to compete and it is scattershot at best.

The next hire for Michigan coach is always viewed as the big red easy button. That also goes for the next great assistant coach they hire or the next big recruit or QB transfer. A lot of that aimlessness that Cook talked about was caused by short term thinking, half-hearted chasing of the next fad or "Michigan tradition" fan service.

Harbaugh still may be the best man for the job, but the word may is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. His whole tenure in Ann Arbor is a microcosm of the short term thinking. But if you get rid of him you may be prolonging the problem.

I can't vouch for WTKA, but it sounds like the 97.1 approach, lead by Valente, and is solely based on the assumption that ALL Michigan fans are either delusional and living in the past, or somehow accepting of their fate as an 8-4 program that may treat us to a Florida bowl game at brunchtime on NYD.

In reality, that's pure cow manure that is intentionally spread to generate contentious arguments that drive ratings up for sports talk radio. It's pretty clear here, and among the fan base in general, that people really are pissed off about how this program has been underperforming for (at least) the last dozen years. We shake our heads each and every year, knowing that there's no apparent reason why this program can't be competitive with ohio. There should be no need for an "easy button"

Just because we don't wear labels that call ourselves "fools" and "suckers" doesn't mean we aren't aware that we really are being played as them.

Harbaugh was supposed to be THE answer. We certainly had every good reason to think so. There have actually been flashes of this, but this all took a dark turn starting last November and has continued through this entire season. The fan base really does know that this is not what we expected. We've got damaged goods and talk of the offense being "on track" is a joke. If things do not change, and nobody really expects them to, then Penn State and ND will pretty much toy with them. It will be an ugly November when Sparty and ohio come to town.

[iam416]

Is it fair to say that OSU's AD does not deal with that sort of thing? Sure, you make a good point that Geiger stuck his neck out to hire Tressell instead of making the safe pick of Mason, and no doubt that at that time those insiders I'm complaining about here probably were handwringing a whole lot about getting it right after canning Cooper. But it's still my impression that an OSU AD can go about his business with less of that circus-of-dysfunction kind of constraint. I could be wrong.

I would say that it's a more cooperative approach. First, OSU's trustees aren't elected, they're appointed. So, they're not necessarily overtly political. I actually think this is of some significance. Second, OSU's trustees that care about sports are a limited, well-heeled cabal. These are the real decision-makers. Or rather, you're going to hire a football coach without there approval. So, Geiger was a strong AD and he liked Tressel, but Tressel still had to win over the cabal.

I don't think Gene Smith had anything to do with getting UFM to Columbus. I think that was all trustees. And I think the trustees trust UFM enough to go with Ryan Day.

So, I don't know how M works, but if you had Stephen Ross and two other well-heeled big dollar sports guys appointed as trustees and they sort of worked among themselves and with the AD on the really big hires, that's what OSU is. I don't know if that better or worse. They've had a mostly good track record of hiring hoops and football coaches, and they do well enough with coaches in sports no one cares about....or rather that not enough people care about to make it profitable.

Eh, I'll count my blessings and hope to christ that Ryan Day is who I think he is and he stays for awhile.

[hack]

That does sound like a key difference in structure. Easy to make the argument that it's better than what goes on in Ann Arbor. Do you really think that was Meyer involved in his own succession? That would require him to care about an institution he had reason to be angry with. And on a scale from mercenary to loyal institutionalist, he's closer to mercenary. Perhaps giving him that role teaching an ethics course or whatever it was was part of a deal, but, frankly, it doesn't take a genius of any sort to conclude that, at any given point in time, hiring Urban Meyer's OC for a suitable role with your own football team is a pretty good idea. He's clearly elite at a number of things, including spotting coaches ready for a final OC gig before becoming an HC. I don't know about this -- I'm guessing. Obviously Meyer was involved to a significant extent.

I still do think that there's an element of Michigan's culture that's an obstacle to just making a good hire, and that is absent in OSU's similar class of people. The mistrust of outsiders in Ann Arbor sometimes seems to help them get in their own way sometimes.

[iam416]

I still do think that there's an element of Michigan's culture that's an obstacle to just making a good hire, and that is absent in OSU's similar class of people. The mistrust of outsiders in Ann Arbor sometimes seems to help them get in their own way sometimes.

Yeah, so amongst the trustees, my sense is that they each sort of have their things. There may some overlap, but there's not 20 opinions on 1 topic. There's an informal small sub-committee and then the rest harrumph. When it comes to hiring football/basketball coaches, I think the metric is pretty clear -- best man for the job as measured by, you know, on the field success. I don't think "Ohio State man" or "cultural fit" shit ever enters the equation. I'm sure they have to operate with some "off the field" constraints, but meh. Whatever.

My thoughts on UFM and Ryan Day are pure speculation, but I can't imagine OSU hiring day with UFM's endorsement. I don't know what his future holds, but I very much believe that he wanted to protect his legacy at OSU. He's also opening restaurants around town, and it's tough to brand yourself to $$$$$$ in Columbus if you're a total shit to Ohio State. I think he knows he's fine if takes another job especially if OSU is in good hands.

Eh, I'm not all that concerned about OSU's fortune. Just that it is. And all the shit is coming above board in a few years so that'll change CFB (and CBB) forever. If Ohio State is really shrewd they'll be working with local folks to put together "Licensing Rights Agencies" or some sort of program and operation to pay players pursuant to the new rules. Sign up with Buckeye Licensing for $75,000! Everyone should be working out that model right now. Or having their monied donors figuring it out.

[hack]

He's also opening restaurants around town, and it's tough to brand yourself to $$$$$$ in Columbus if you're a total shit to Ohio State.

Makes sense.

[froot loops]

I can't vouch for WTKA, but it sounds like the 97.1 approach, lead by Valente, and is solely based on the assumption that ALL Michigan fans are either delusional and living in the past, or somehow accepting of their fate as an 8-4 program that may treat us to a Florida bowl game at brunchtime on NYD.

In reality, that's pure cow manure that is intentionally spread to generate contentious arguments that drive ratings up for sports talk radio. It's pretty clear here, and among the fan base in general, that people really are pissed off about how this program has been underperforming for (at least) the last dozen years. We shake our heads each and every year, knowing that there's no apparent reason why this program can't be competitive with ohio. There should be no need for an "easy button"

Just because we don't wear labels that call ourselves "fools" and "suckers" doesn't mean we aren't aware that we really are being played as them.

Harbaugh was supposed to be THE answer. We certainly had every good reason to think so. There have actually been flashes of this, but this all took a dark turn starting last November and has continued through this entire season. The fan base really does know that this is not what we expected. We've got damaged goods and talk of the offense being "on track" is a joke. If things do not change, and nobody really expects them to, then Penn State and ND will pretty much toy with them. It will be an ugly November when Sparty and ohio come to town.

Yeah OK

[hack]

Patterson said that the goal of the offense, especially in games against elite defenses, is not to be always explosive, but to do what they can to help the defense. He does admit that they are leaving plays on the field.

Increasingly I'm thinking that the problem isn't that the offense lacks an identity or a set of base plays, but a branding problem. If they'd just gone with #strollinspace as lead hashtag, or #toddleonturf, we would all have an easier time seeing and understanding that this offense is truly just hitting its stride.

[froot loops]

I don't get the mentality of the offense sacrificing to help the defense. MSU suffers from the same mentality. The defense is the strength, the way Don Brown calls a game the defense will be a bigger strength if you get up a couple scores to make the opponent one dimensional.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't get the mentality of the offense sacrificing to help the defense. MSU suffers from the same mentality. The defense is the strength, the way Don Brown calls a game the defense will be a bigger strength if you get up a couple scores to make the opponent one dimensional.

It's classic Harbaugh, Froot. It's a Michigan tradition that teams like osu made a smooth transition away from during the end of the tressel era that Michigan manged to entirely fuck up.

Hack made a good observation a few posts back where he noted that the both the hiring process and post hiring management of the B-Ball program from JB to JH seemed and has seemed to go pretty well. What's wrong with the football program? Too many cooks in the kitchen and that applies to the many outsiders actually having or wanting to have influence. Independent of the fuck-up Rodriguez was at M and seems to be everywhere he goes, it is almost certain that his hiring decision was not well received by influencers and that he was probably undermined to the detriment of the program. Hoke was just a bad hire made by a bad AD.

I don't think there is any question that Harbaugh was a good if not great hire. But, I'd put the Drevno fiasco along with the cluster-fuck that has emerged on the offense and it's 4 OCs in 5 seasons squarely on Harbaugh and his mismangement of the program, not withstanding the speculation that he might have been forced to hire a new OC in his 5th season by the AD and/or the choice of Gattis was JH's.

[froot loops]

Yeah if you are shooting for Big Ten championships and getting into the playoffs, that type of mentality is the harder road to get to the playoff. It's more of an NFL mentality, you can win a Super Bowl with a decent offense and a great defense. No matter what in the NFL, the scoring totals stay the same, teams generally score 22 points per game. It isn't like that in the college game, you are bound to have to win a few shootouts. Its very hard to Tressell-ball your way to big success.

That's different than saying you can't run a a more pro style offense. But you need a NFL-caliber QB. That was the promise of Harbaugh and outside of the first year with Rudock he hasn't had a NFL caliber QB. I still happen to think you can do it and it may be an advantage recruiting wise. It would be similar to a 3-4 defense is in the NFL. But we haven't seen that fully implemented with Harbaugh.

It may be too many cooks in the kitchen, but that may be a fault of Harbaugh. He was given the kingdom, he has to lead.

[lineygoblue]

If I may attempt to expand on that a bit.

Against Iowa, I think Brown finally realized that the offense wasn't going to score again, so he had to treat the game as though he already had a multiple score lead, and call defensive plays that forced Iowa into mistakes. It was a gamble, but it paid off.

Jeff makes a good point regarding too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Brown has full control of the defense, and now Gattis allegedly has full control of the offense. Harbaugh is in the position of trusting these guys to perform at a high level, and if they don't his options are to let the season play out to whatever it becomes, or to take back control, and appear to not be a man of his word. He made a lot of comments about giving "total control of the offense" to Gattis, but I think truth be known, he now regrets that decision. But, that may have been the condition that Gattis put on Harbaugh before he'd agree to come to Michigan. "Give me full control, or I go to Maryland with my pal from Alabama". Harbaugh knew that he needed some new ideas, so he gave in.

The more losses that are added to Michigan's ledger this year, the more decisive the off season will have to be. Will we see yet another OC? Will Brown move on to Rutgers? Shoot.. will Harbaugh even hang around? Will he and Steven Ross have a meeting and figure out a way for Harbaugh to go to Miami?

Its a real soap opera right now, and its about to get even worse.

[iam416]

UFM said that Don Brown, when he came to the B10, was super creative. He then sort of started to rely on just being more athletic (more basic on D) and that ultimately led to the OSU debacle when he ran into a team that was decidedly more talented. UFM seems to think Brown is back to really coaching again and trying to work around and solve the holes on his defense.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STATE OF MICHIGAN FOOTBALL:
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