It appears that Al Washington and Kerry Coombs are out at OSU
Interesting. A lot of turnover on that staff. Not surprised about Coombs but I thought they all loved Al Washington.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:40 AM ^
I assumed there would be a great deal of collateral damage since their defense got paved by Oregon, Michigan and Utah this season.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:56 AM ^
And by a few last year. Don't forget that Indiana drilled them and almost won that game. I know a few OSU fans (living in Delaware OH) who feel that this was long overdue
January 13th, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
But we, collectively as a Michigan community, have to assume they will come back, at home and be reborn and vengeful next year. This isn't going to be the end, but the beginning in both directions. This should be interesting (finally).
January 14th, 2022 at 6:02 AM ^
Since I'm perfectly comfortable making bad predictions and being wrong if it ends in wins over OSU.
Last year, I said anywhere from 6-6 to 10-2 and went with 8-4 with a loss to OSU.
This year I'll say 10-2 to 12-0...and predict 11-1 with a loss to OSU for the reason you mentioned. I think OSU will be too obsessed to lose. I've lived in Worthington and I think they'll be back to their "we'd rather go 1-11 ways" of the past.
That said, I now have confidence that, like you said, it won't be over and Michigan can reel some wins after next season.
I went back and watched the game last night.
JJ, Donovan, Andrel, Zinter, Colson, Hill-Green, and Moore all got significant time. Next year and the year after, that's a big part of the group that will carry this team. And the talent was there, those guys looked like they BELONGED on that field.
January 13th, 2022 at 5:05 PM ^
The LBs have been a problem for a while now. The coordinator change was imminent after the Oregon debacle.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:42 AM ^
Coombs is a plus recruiter. Can Jim find room for him ?
January 13th, 2022 at 10:47 AM ^
Dude looks like a Q-Tip. Pass.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
F.A.W.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
I thought Coombs was supposed to be one of their best recruiters, and he was churning out elite, NFL-caliber DBs almost every year when he was their DB coach. I get not wanting him as your DC anymore, but I'm very surprised they're letting him go completely.
If they want to just give Larry Johnson a kick to the curb as well I wouldn't complain. That guy knows how to coach a DL, this past season notwithstanding.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^
I thought there was rumblings that Larry was going to retire soon.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Yea, I heard he's going to help run his son's Twitter account.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:06 AM ^
I read something a little bit ago, that the Ohio faithful are a little upset with Coombs in that he only was able to land Sonny Styles, who was an Ohio kid and their other 5-star targets decommitted and followed the money down south. If Coombs lost his recruiting touch and he wasn't much of a defensive coach then what good was he to have on the roster.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
The money bags got too heavy to carry.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
I think the rumor is that Coombs still wants to be a DC. Plus, even with his ties to Ohio and OSU, it couldn’t have been easy what happened to him this year. The guy got demoted and told to sit in the corner after the second game of the year.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
Coombs collected 1.2 million while “sitting in corner”….. it doesn’t get easier than that.
January 13th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
I’m sure Coombs feels he wasn’t given the time to implement his defense and is unwilling to take a pay cut. Worst preparation by a coordinator I’ve seen in quite some time. He’s nothing more than a very good position coach in the power 5 ranks or HC in the MAC. He’s not a power 5 HC imo. I guess he thought he had enough talent to get by with a base 4-3 defense all season. After their Oregon loss it was said Coombs had no clue what went wrong schematically or with his personnel .
January 13th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
They hate Al. Whoopsie.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
Seriously, they couldn't find a better picture of Perry Eliano?
January 13th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
I thought it was the job of the GM to fire and hire, not the 3rd base coach.
January 13th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
Day is freaking impressive standing at 3rd, being a third base coach and being a third baseman (Eisen) all at the same time lol.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
Hopefully their coaching switches do not go as well as Michigan's did! A little worried about their new defensive coordinator though, Oklahoma State's defense was very impressive with far less talent.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
Not a huge surprise. I read that Washington took over a bit more of the gameplan elements when Coombs was pushed down and their defense still looked bad.
The Cincy coach they got should be good for their defensive backs.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
Those OSU linebackers looked incredibly poorly coached, so makes sense.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^
In "The Game" they looked like the worst position group on the field.. for both teams. A converted RB was their best LB, and that's really bad for a program stacked with 4 & 5 stars.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
were your linebackers told to let haskins score, no one layed a hand on him? yes, on that last possession we were trying to save some clock. oh, i was asking about the td before the last one.
January 13th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
Don’t know what changed with Coombs, he was their star recruiter and coach before going to the Titans. Comes back and can’t coach, can’t be a coordinator…
Al Washington, addition by subtraction when he left here! Osu fans laughed when I said it, our lber play was not as good under him. Two years later and lmao!!!
January 13th, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
Coombs was hired in as the DC - a position he never had any experience at. And wasn't Washington the DL coach here ? His LBs at OSU sucked at best. Just some bad hires / promotions by Day
January 13th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
Karma is a bitch....screw Al Washington.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:05 AM ^
It must be nice, it must be nice...to have double digit win, Rose Bowl seasons be so bad you need to purge assistant coaches.
January 13th, 2022 at 1:11 PM ^
Apparently they don't think it's nice to have Washington on their side.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
Very grateful for their contributions on November 27th!
January 13th, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
Moths to flames were jealous of their linebackers single-minded affinity to fly to blockers.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
Oh what a difference a year makes, and 1 dominating win over OSU.
Last year - HaRBaugH SUckS!
This year - We can't lose Harbaugh, genius coach, best staff EVER!
Ryan Day was standing on 3rd and as a passing coordinator and proceeded to turn OSU into a soft Big 12 team upon promotion to head coach, despite all the talent they stock piled under sleazy Urban Meyer. Now turning over his staff - may his moves be as soft and inept as their defense this past year.
Harbaugh has been successful everywhere he has ever been, and given an equal playing field is a top 5 coach at any level of football. Those that were discounting the intrinsic advantages that SEC and OSU football factories have had over UM during his tenure don't understand football. Meyer being exposed at the NFL level is just further proof of CFB being skewed towards cheating programs, not superior coaching.
Get Harbaugh top 5 classes every year per NIL, and watch UM compete with any team in the country year in, year out.
January 13th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
I like what this man is selling
January 13th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
This is all fine but how do we get this coach top 5 recruiting classes every year with a money cannon stifled by blue hairs and pearl clutchers and unlimited access to the free agent portal known as transfer portal that our admissions staff will shit down his throat?
January 13th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
You just hate to see it.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
Unfortunately day is making a lot of good hires
January 13th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
Time will tell. I'm sure Washington and Coombs had some endorsements when they were hired.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
Coombs was a good defensive backs coach, he hadn't been a DC and that promotion didn't work out. Knowles is a proven good DC.
Any hire can not work out but they are replacing every position group that struggled with a coach from a top unit. They got a DC that put together a top 10 defensive unit. They got a DB coach that coached a great secondary at Cincy, etc. I hope it all falls apart, but the hires are good in terms of resume.
January 13th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
Damn shame.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Very interesting. Weren’t both of those guys supposed to be A1 recruiters?
January 13th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
Iirc, losing Al Washington was a big deal because he was a very good recruiter and a pretty good coach at the time.
January 13th, 2022 at 5:06 PM ^
Coombs is one of the best recruiters in the nation. He just wouldn’t take a demotion down to position coach. Gonna miss him and the fire he brought.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
If you listen to the Flipping the Field podcast (one of the hosts is an OSU writer - not a homer though) you'd have heard they think Al Washington is basically useless and does nothing.
January 13th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
They love you until they don't. That is a fact of life.
January 13th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
Hopefully the new hires do not result in improved performances from the team.
January 13th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
At 11 Warriors, they do not all love Washington. Where did you hear otherwise?
January 13th, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
Bad decision by Ohio State, I for one loved what they were building on defense. So did Hassan Haskins and the rest of the Michigan offense. I think this is a mistake and wish they would have brought them back for next season.
January 13th, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
In the weeks after the OSU game i bathed in eleven warriors schadenfreude and they all wanted Washington gone. Most of them wanted Larry Johnson gone and think he lost his fastball and maybe was just lucky with the Bosa's and Chase Young all along. Coombs was always going to leave after his demotion. Consensus was to ditch the entire defensive staff + studwara.