Yahoo College Football: Enos to Bama
Source: Dan Enos expected to leave Michigan for Alabama. He’s expected to be associate HC and coach QBs.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 26, 2018
January 25th, 2018 at 11:40 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 12:08 AM ^
Some (Edit: Not) Quick MoThoughts:
1.) As stated by everyone, optics are absolutely terrible.
2.) Actual, on-field impact somewhat more nebulous, but believe I read Smart wanted him at Georgia, so, Saban + Smart = dude can coach.
3.) However, that fact, (that Smart wanted him first), could be revealing: perhaps Saban is really going after his direct SEC/CFP competitor Smart, rather than mostly irrelevant Harbaugh. (Making Harbaugh look bad could just be a bonus.)
4.) Whatever Drevno's actual culpability for this year's struggles, (as opposed to those resultant from injuries, QB problems, lack of blocking scheme cohesion, inexperienced players, etc.), perception becomes reality, and Drevno may have just gone from 'mediocre and apologizing for it' to 'radioactive'. Cronyism charges also appear to carry additional weight in the wake of this development, (note: I say 'appear').
5.) While Harbaugh's not the only coach to go without a pure OC, the lack of a clear-cut coaching hierarchy may now be contributing to a general confusion about team identity/vision that goes beyond the field. With no obvious "fall guy" for this year's results--that role being split between both Pep and Drevno, (and ultimately Harbaugh)--this angst could eventually seep/is already seeping into other parts of the program. One reason for having OCs and DCs in the first place is to establish accountability.
Without the assurance of accountability a true meritocracy cannot exist, because "when everyone's in charge, no one's in charge." If Enos was, as has been suggested, hired "in case Drevno couldn't turn it around", one can't be surprised he left for Bama, and hardly even angry about it. That's just not a sound method for hiring someone, much less engendering loyalty. Nobody wants to be Plan B.
Egos and friendships must be set aside, and Coach needs to approach this "with character and cruelty", or things could get out of hand. I have faith, but this kind of thing simply does not inspire confidence.
January 26th, 2018 at 1:39 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^
Well, thanks. Means a lot coming from you, mGrowOld. Also, I hope it doesn't offend that, based on your avatar--the flowing hair, the bone structure, the jaunty pose--I've long pictured you as vintage Kurt Russell, a personal favorite of mine.
January 26th, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 12:02 AM ^
so we don't have a 10th asst and he might give Marky D a call on his way out with some info and Saban still gets to take one of our coaches. And to top it all off. We're two weeks from signing day and we look like we don't have a clue. JH better have some evil plan to turn this around that we cannot see. Cuz this just looks bad.
January 26th, 2018 at 3:48 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 5:28 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 8:27 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 6:52 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
Well, we aren't losing anything..... They didn't even print his office name plate yet.
NEXT!
January 26th, 2018 at 8:47 AM ^
This take is so rediculous. We've lost a lot of time, effort, and opportunity in terms of finding a new coach. Outside of that, we've lost face, and have incurred more perception that the program is in disaray. Forget the guy, think about the program.
January 26th, 2018 at 9:42 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
I rolled my eyes at the "never trust a Sparty" crowd but they were right in the end.
January 26th, 2018 at 9:17 AM ^
....hit you in the ass on the way out. Low character. Not what we want, and he was half-ass at Arky.
January 26th, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 9:30 AM ^
Per M&B, enos had a non-compete clause in his Arkansas contract that prevented him from signing with another SEC team after leaving Arkansas. By signing with Michigan, Enos gets around the non-compete clause due him not going to an SEC team directly out of Arkansas.
I'm glad this guy won't be around, regardless of the rationale.
January 26th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
and I don't recall ever seeing a Michigan offensive coaching staff situation that looks like the disorganized clusterfuck that it does currently.
From a lack of having a clear-cut OC to hiring coaches with no defined duties at the time they're hired to hiring OL coaches whose blocking philosophy is at odds with the OC's to hiring guys who bail on you barely two weeks later, it appears that there's no overall strategic plan, but just a series of impulsive, poorly thought-out short term moves.
All this would be bad enough on its own, but coming hard on the heels of an absolute offensive disaster of a season that was bad enough that the HC apparently took control of the offense for the Ohio State game only to apparently relinquish that control for the bowl game, and it's no wonder to me at all that getting top-level OL recruits is proving to be a problem.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
Meanwhile, for the second straight season a playoff caliber defense was wasted. I expect the defense to only improve in 2018.
The one and only thing that everyone thought would take off like wildfire under JH was offense. Yet that side of the ball looks almost lost. 2018 is a huge year for JH and the UM football program.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
are still young. When they're Juniors and Seniors and Michigan is still having problems at the QB position, then I'll be disappointed. Harbaugh did a great job with Rudock and Wilton improved in '17 but would still make big mistakes in big games. Wilton lost all his veteran WR, which made it more difficult for him, then he was hurt. Our OL is young too, so I will not judge Harbaugh on that for a few years as well. I think many Michigan fans are just impatient and expect Harbaugh to be a miracle worker and some were expecting a NC in his third year. I think we are still several years away from being an elite team, may be during the 2019 season we may see a big turn around.
January 26th, 2018 at 3:52 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
Getting on here is beginning to be depressing. I mean, we continuously lose big name recruiting battles, our offense is going to suck AGAIN, and we can't even keep an AVERAGE coach. like WTF is going on? I'm hurting inside.
January 26th, 2018 at 2:00 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^