What if Rich Rod had the transfer portal?
Thinking back on The Decimated Defense and all of the roster holes that Michigan was trying (largely unsuccessfully) to plug during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, what do you think would have happened if there had been an unrestricted transfer portal during those seasons? Do you think it wouldn't have made much of a difference because the problems were with coaching anyway? Or because the academic office is often a significant barrier to transfers? Or do you think Rich Rod would have been able to fill in the gaps much better than he was able to in real life? Would he have made it to a 2011 season and have been able to get that desperately needed win over Ohio State?
December 14th, 2023 at 6:44 PM ^
Dave Brandon would still be our AD
/JK. I think.
December 14th, 2023 at 6:45 PM ^
Whyyyyyyyyyy ??????
December 14th, 2023 at 6:47 PM ^
No amount of portal would have fixed those defenses.
December 14th, 2023 at 7:19 PM ^
indeed
December 14th, 2023 at 7:28 PM ^
Defensive coordinators are not found in the portal.
December 14th, 2023 at 8:26 PM ^
He actually hired a couple decent DCs. His problem was forcing them to run his 3-3-5 defense that they had no experience running
December 14th, 2023 at 7:37 PM ^
Shavodrick Beaver would have transferred in and led us to 3 straight national championships
December 14th, 2023 at 11:45 PM ^
In the Haloscan days, for a bit, I posted as "DreamBeaver."
December 15th, 2023 at 12:47 AM ^
A 70's classic by Gary Wright
O-oh, Dream Beaver
I believe you can get me through the night
O-oh, Dream Beaver
I believe we can reach the morning light
December 15th, 2023 at 1:11 AM ^
I met a dream beaver once. Ruined me for other beavers.
December 14th, 2023 at 8:06 PM ^
Another thing the portal wouldn't have changed: that he's a shit human being who got fired for sexual harassment at his next stop. There's a reason the man was nicknamed "Dick Rod."
December 15th, 2023 at 7:41 AM ^
He never valued defense at any stop
December 15th, 2023 at 4:36 PM ^
Eh, idk about that his WVU defenses under Casteel were in fact halfway decent to good.
December 14th, 2023 at 6:47 PM ^
This is really digging deep. I’ll play along. He would have gotten a few players.
December 14th, 2023 at 7:42 PM ^
Or the players he had on defense would have left sooner
December 14th, 2023 at 6:47 PM ^
Would he promise recruits to "lift them up?"
December 14th, 2023 at 6:51 PM ^
I mean sometimes when you're on...
December 14th, 2023 at 7:13 PM ^
....or maybe Ms. Rita's nachos???
December 15th, 2023 at 8:08 AM ^
Wonder how old Rita's doing these days
December 14th, 2023 at 6:48 PM ^
Not worth pondering over
December 14th, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^
hey I know that this is ancient history at this point but I was in school when Rich Rod was coaching and it can't be that long ago because I'm not that old. Right? RIGHT?
December 14th, 2023 at 6:52 PM ^
You tell us !
December 14th, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^
Rich Rod never was Michigan's coach. Those are just stories told to scare our children.
December 14th, 2023 at 6:53 PM ^
Don’t forget the mysterious disappearing headphones and the clap
December 14th, 2023 at 6:59 PM ^
This is such a good point.
December 14th, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
Hoke had the clap? Ewe
December 14th, 2023 at 7:05 PM ^
What, he had that, too?
December 14th, 2023 at 6:55 PM ^
What if Rich Rod had taken the Alabama job and had the portal?
December 14th, 2023 at 6:58 PM ^
woah. If Alabama had hired Rich Rod, where would Saban have ended up?
December 14th, 2023 at 7:01 PM ^
Oiho ?
December 14th, 2023 at 7:07 PM ^
Saban was hired at Alabama in 2007 but Tressel wasn't fired until spring 2011.
December 14th, 2023 at 6:55 PM ^
We would have about 100 additional anecdotes about players not being admitted and everything else would be roughly the same.
December 14th, 2023 at 7:06 PM ^
my brother in Christ, we had like 9 transfers just this year and they have generally been very good contributors.
December 14th, 2023 at 8:24 PM ^
This. The football staff has it figured out, which, with Michigan's labyrinthine set of restrictions, takes some sort of knowledge akin to hyperbolic trigonometry.
December 14th, 2023 at 9:54 PM ^
…and witchcraft 🧙
December 15th, 2023 at 12:43 AM ^
Yes, and Rich Rod would go after 100 Demar Dorsey's and get none of them.
December 14th, 2023 at 7:01 PM ^
I'll play.
Do you think it wouldn't have made much of a difference because the problems were with coaching anyway?
That seems like the correct answer.
Or do you think Rich Rod would have been able to fill in the gaps much better than he was able to in real life?
Sure, but not enough to make a meaningful difference.
Would he have made it to a 2011 season and have been able to get that desperately needed win over Ohio State?
I can't see him topping Hoke's "pooping gold" 11-2 season. The defense still would've been some degree of incoherent. Schools would've had another year to scheme around Denard and his limitations as a QB.
December 14th, 2023 at 7:01 PM ^
Michigan would have gotten players
Michigan would have lost players
RR never fixed the defense
December 14th, 2023 at 8:20 PM ^
i know it's fun to dump on greg robinson here, but the truth of the matter is that greg showed up at michigan and there were only 28 scholarship players on defense - rich rod had used the rest of the scholarships on offense. that wouldn't have changed with the portal. only NIL, paying for some serious talent would have changed that.
December 14th, 2023 at 8:31 PM ^
Bingo. Rich Rod’s biggest downfall was roster management. He recruited a bunch of tiny guys to run his spread option offense and largely neglected the defense (and OL for that matter). He married his team to the 3-3-5 defense he ran at West Virginia, no matter what background his DCs had, and left glaring holes throughout the roster. I believe when Hoke took over, we had something like 8 scholarship OL.
as you mentioned, the portal alone isn’t going to save that. Scholarship limitations would still be in play and unable to offset the cap with NIL.
December 14th, 2023 at 8:38 PM ^
correct. greg had never run/utilized a 3-3-5 before rich rod mandated it, and that is/was a very poor defense for the B10 in 2010 and thereabouts. greg won two super bowls as a DC. he was a very good DC.
December 15th, 2023 at 4:41 PM ^
I actually don't know if he was a good or even decent dc at that point in his career, not like he had any success after leaving UM either.
December 15th, 2023 at 7:31 AM ^
Eh, he had some very good OL's, for the system he ran. They wouldn't translate to what we need today, but they were good. Hoke is where the OL started falling apart.
December 15th, 2023 at 2:29 PM ^
He had good OL because he inherited Carr’s OL. He neglected to recruit the OL, which is why OL play gradually declined. Can’t blame Hoke for inheriting 8 OL because the previous coach didn’t recruit the position. Rich Rod’s lines would also have faltered once Carr’s upperclassmen graduated and his own lack of focus on the position came to fruition.
3 OL in the 2009 class, one of which moved to Defense.
1 OL in the 2010 class.
3 OL in the 2011 class (Hoke hired at the tail end of this class)
December 14th, 2023 at 9:13 PM ^
Where all the Gerg faith come from?
December 14th, 2023 at 9:30 PM ^
knowing him, his family, and his football history for 35 yrs. i spoke to one of his brothers today for close to an hour.
greg passed away last year. i hope when you call him 'gerg' you feel good about yourself.
December 14th, 2023 at 9:45 PM ^
The guy was an NFL DC for a decade and won two Super Bowls. He was a highly respected defensive coach. It was just malpractice on Rich Rod’s part for hiring a great 4-3 DC and making him run a 3-3-5
December 15th, 2023 at 4:43 PM ^
I mean I think the game in general had passed Greg by at that point, let's not pretend he did anything great after leaving the RR shitshow either.
December 16th, 2023 at 8:59 AM ^
Probably had a little something to do with his reputation being tarnished after being tied to the debacle that was the Michigan defense… not exactly a great DC candidate when you’re already 60 years old and your most recent job featured the worst defense in Michigan history.
My goodness. It’s amazing to see the rush to criticize the proven DC that wasn’t allowed to run the defense he’d ran his entire career instead of blaming the shitbag head coach that made him run a defensive scheme he’d never utilized. Why don’t we just hire Lincoln Riley to run the triple option?
December 14th, 2023 at 9:05 PM ^
And honestly the offense wasn't so hot, especially against good competition.