Jackson says practices are 'laid back' and 'not very focused' at times

I get that coaches need to do better and like most I'm ready for a change there. That being said where is the player leadership? Good coaches create an environment to enhance this through captains, individual and team goals with meetings to assess progress, etc. But, players also have to step up. I was not a football player, but rather a D2 baseball player and have been a college S&C coach at several levels including FCS football level. As a coach we always did. But, as a player and a two year team captain in baseball I also personally held my teammates accountable.

My freshman year I was a utility player and spot starter. My sophomore year I was a starter, but not a leader. Returning my junior year I was a team captain and all conference player and repeated that my senior year. We also had a coaching change between my sophomore and junior year and one of the major themes my other captain, my new coaches, and myself had was a need for a change in culture to be more focused and accountable. 

People make mistakes. You look at them, support your teammates, try to learn from it, and move on.  But, when people make mental errors, give less than acceptable effort, don't support their teammates, or put themselves ahead of the team captains call them out and they don't do so in private. You do so in front of the team and let them know it's not acceptable here. Quickly they either change or leave. This happened at my school and turned a losing program into a two time conference champ. My question is where are the team leaders holding their teammates accountable? I don't see any confrontation, any fight, or any call outs. Tebow was annoying in many ways, but he stood up publicly and held himself accountable first, then said he won't accept it any longer his teammates. This is needed to turn this around. Too many guys are either too soft or not vocal enough. I don't think coach is soft, but maybe he simply assume guys can motivate themselves, which is not happening.

Awesome.  Carr culture again?  Michigan .....Man.......

This sounds a lot like Michigan under Bump Elliot right before Bo arrived

• Full pads and live 1st offense v 1st defense everyday/too much hitting
• Thursday walkthrough not intense enough
• not enough note taking in meetings
• coach doesn't wear a headset
• not a Michigan man
• carries a stuffed beaver on the sideline on game day
• coach plays Josh Groban too much
• too much clapping

If you don't win enough (2004-2020) these start creeping up and get really loud

My new mantra and I'm going to post this over and over again: just fucking play hard.

You won't win if you don't play hard. So, just fucking play hard.

I'm not 100% sure what to make of it. I worked as an athletic trainer at BG when Meyer was there. He turned that crap show into a top 25 team hosting game day. Personally, I can't stand him but spending 2+ years at every football practice, summer camp, etc, it was interesting...to say the least. 

There were times he was militant...and other times it was totally chilled out. What he was good at was figuring out what he needed to be when. When it came to the mental edge he just knew what the guys needed at that point in time.

BG beat Northwestern and Purdue in the same year and those practices were relaxed as hell. There was just a feeling of "let's give it our all and the cards will fall where they may". 

Now...against NIU when gameday game into town there wasn't any playing. It was militant. He was preparing the dogs for blood (that's an actual quote not me engaging in hyperbole). They guys didn't mess around that week and they had the mentality of being all business. 

My point is I hesitate to be overly judgmental without more context but the biggest worry is about them being "sloppy on thursdays". Even when meyer was in a more casual mode they didn't get all sloppy. 

All that said I can't stand the man but learned a lot lol. 

We're talking about practice? Not a game? Practice???

These comments are a bit out of context. If you’ve ever played organized football, you realize as the week grows old, the latter days are more of a walkthrough. That’s just how it is. I’m not happy with the coaching staff, but it’s quite a stretch to take these comments and try to hammer them for poor effort.

Can Jackson coach?  He seems to know what’s going on. 

The OP with a very leading, clickbait title, considering Jackson’s full quote. 

I’ll say it again it’s simple Jim has to go period.

Pretty click-baity headline there OP.

The actual quotes aren't all that surprising from a player on a 1-2 team and amount to little more than "we need to do better in everything" from film room prep to practice in pads days to practice during walk-through days.

If you read the article, this isn't what he actually said at all....

I can't speak to the general veracity of Wolverines Wire but that article appears to have been written by a middle schooler or a poorly-programmed bot.

Sounds like we're still "on track."

Im so pissed off this is where we are, this is so fuckin stupid.  I hope all coaches feel shame

I support (I think we all do here) all these young men putting on the winged helmet, even though we bitch on gamedays about missed catches, blocks, tackles etc.    Life of a fan, but we respect those players continuing to work their asses off....we are just a bunch of arm chair QBs

But for this staff to fail these men like they have been, its disgusting.  Either way we will have large attrition with recruits, possibly current players, so fuckin get a plan ready Warde...you're up.  

My dad and his group of Eastern Michigan/Michigan college buddies are fuckin nuts about M football..like we all are...they never waiver, always have hope, always think M will come out on top, always think a national title is coming soon.....for that group to finally give JH the middle finger, thats saying something. 

 

This is sorta the definition of taking words out of context.  Jackson says they have good practices Monday thru Wednesday, but Thursdays aren't in pads so it's a bit more laid back (and he thinks the Thursday practices haven't been the best), and the "not very focused" is in relation to a bunch of young guys at receiver meetings not taking notes.  He also says

It’s all there, we just have to put it all together. When it’s all together, we’ll be a really good offense and really good receiving room.

Again, the team is struggling but the response here feels disconnected to the actual claims being made by Jackson.  He's not saying the team is too laid back or not focused, he's simply pointing out specific areas where he thinks they could improve somewhat - the type of things you'd expect to hear from a leader at a position group.  It's a young team in a lot of flux, and so they're struggling getting things in order.  That's understandable.  And it's my understanding most teams lay off pads on Thursdays because they don't want to wear guys out before possible travel.  So my guess is most teams would say those days are more "laid back" than others.

Seeing the quotes in context made me neg your OP summation/headline.

This is NO surprise. His Michigan teams consistently make mental errors and play flat. They are still kids who need to be pushed beyond their limits through discipline and hard practices. I played a lot of basketball through college (both D1 and D3) and I had more than my fair share of coaches  - including AAU ball.

Harbaugh's Michigan's teams always remind me of two of the teams that were massively talented, but underprepared and lacked mental discipline because the coaches didn't focus on it. It was so frustrating when your 6'10" and 6'8" guys who were legit D1 prospects continually get out rebounded by smaller teams, no one talking on defense, and a lack of scouting prep before games. It was mind boggling. Of course the coach had a boat load of victories, but he rarely beat teams on par with the same talent or better.

The fact that this has been allowed to happen reflects very poorly on the WR coach. Unfortunately the WR coach is Gattis. I really want Harbaugh to turn things around and stay for a long time. I hope he finds a way.

I am not making excuses. I believe the whole covid thing has caused teams across the country to react differently.  It has to be difficult especially to not have spring ball.  Other teams are struggling that are pretty young with a lot of players in backup rolls that could have used spring and those early non conference games to gain some experience Lsu, Oklahoma, Auburn and PSU just to name a few. Then there is no season then there is. Play 8 games is like a slap in the face after all the work you have done. Empty stadiums everywhere.  I am just saying these are you men across the country and you have no control over the roller-coaster all have been on.