Michigan is the problem at Michigan
October 3rd, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^
Cites a situation where a player wasn't concussed while using the player's daily practice of vomiting as evidence that he was, then says, "do YOUR homework." Standard.
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:54 AM ^
RR shouldn't have been fired. A coach like Hoke would always be there. You don't fire a coach if his team is improving. Could you imagine a senior Denard in 2012 with that offense? Could you imagine 4 and 5 star recruits in that offense?
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:56 AM ^
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:58 AM ^
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October 3rd, 2014 at 2:02 AM ^
That is total bullshit. He had at least 3 5* players locked up before he got shit canned. And that was with the Freep, LC undermining him and the alumni players talking complete shit about him the entire time.
How many stars do his guys have now? A lot less than ours and look what they did.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:06 AM ^
Those recruits were good enough to win 11 games
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:33 AM ^
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:58 AM ^
I guess they were pretty good then right? Talented maybe?
Mattisson is a pretty good DC though. He was the bright spot for me in the Hoke hire.
October 3rd, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^
Top 20!
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:08 AM ^
He's put a few more guys in the NFL than Hoke with one less year to do so. Brandon Graham would kick you in the face right now.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:16 AM ^
But, if you think that RichRod's recruiting was good, then I don't know what to tell you. Take a look at the rivals rankings of his classes after you strip out players that didn't make it on to campus or flaked out after 1 season. The results are dismal.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:19 AM ^
Yeah the four and five stars Hoke has are doing wonders.
What about that five star Jake Ryan? Oh, he was a two-star offered by Rich? Huh.
October 6th, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^
Go look at the score of the AZ v. OR game....he just beat another top 10 team for the second year in a row....this time the number 2 team.....on the road....with a freshman QB.
He did that with what would be considered middling recruits at AZ and beat an Oregon team stacked with 4-5 star athletes that have been running the same system for years.
Very hard to argue that he hasn't done a great job in his third year at AZ and that perhaps he knows something about coachig football after all.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:24 AM ^
..and Hokey can recruit....but bu bbbh.... where is the development.
Fuck Scooby Snack from AZ was a 2 star
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:33 AM ^
Caveat: Although I supported RR, I do not think he could have survived at UM.
4* recruits were pretty much even over the first 3 years. I only did a cursory count but if my eyes don't deceive me 36 (RR) versus 31 (Hoke). 5* was substantially better with 1 (RR) and 3 (Hoke).
His last class fell apart but that was to be expected with the common belief it was his last year. Notable that Hoke's class last year is also a bit trim on "verified" talent... with only a handful of 4 stars and Peppers.
Keep in mind some names from RR recruiting:
Devin Gardner
Jake Ryan
Denard Robinson
Roy Roundtree
Kevin Koger
Mike Martin
Martavious Odoms
Taylor Lewan
Jaremy Gallon
Vincent Smith
Mike Schofield
October 3rd, 2014 at 7:20 AM ^
That's only 11 guys over three years. That's not good enough.
October 3rd, 2014 at 10:02 AM ^
Those 11 guys are a lot better than the list you could make for the Hoke all-stars. So far you've got:
Desmond Morgan (2011 - 3*)
Frank Clark (2011 - 3*)
Raymon Taylor (2011 - 3*)
Devin Funchess (2012 - 3*)
Willie Henry (2012 - 3*)
Jourdan Lewis (2013 - 4*)
Jake Butt (2013 - 4*)
Jabrill Peppers (2014 - 5*)
Mason Cole (2014 - 4*)
And that's about it in four recruiting classes. To go beyond that, you really have to stretch to find players that would be contributers on good teams. The jury is still very much out on everyone else.
October 3rd, 2014 at 5:05 PM ^
Desmond Morgan committed when RichRod was still coach.
"“I made the decision in my mind late Sunday evening, told my dad and then called coach (Rich) Rodriguez at 6 p.m. Monday,” said Morgan, who was selected as an all-state special mention honoree in Division 1-2 and earned a spot on The Press’ All-Area team. “Coach Rodriguez is a great guy and very down to earth. He’s personable, easy to talk to and not just a great football coach."
Granted, RichRod never got to coach him, but he did recruit him.
October 3rd, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
Except it didn't...
RR recruiting:
2008: #10
2009: #8
2010: #20
Average: #12.7
Hoke recruiting:
2011: #21
2012: #7
2013: #5
2014: #31
Average: #16
October 3rd, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
Recruiting would have been even better had he not been on the hot seat since he stepped in. Problem was the roster he inherited was so decimated that it takes a few years of good players to build depth at each position. He had to completely revamp the entire program and they still fired the guy in 3 years. It was a terrible decision and when RR really gets Arizona going with his roster rebuild, then he will be laughing even louder than I am sure he is already. It doesn't take a genius to see how good of a coach RR is. He is highly, highly respected by his peers and once he actually sticks to a team for more than 5 years, people that questioned him will see how truly wrong they are. Michigan is obviously the problem here.
By the way, 4 and 5 star recruits as judged by recruiting services are not the best guage of talent. RR consistently finds lower star players who can play. Why? Because in addition to being an innovative coach he is also an incredible talent evaluator. Scooby "two star" Wright was the one creating havoc all game long and forcing the fumble to seal the game there at the end. He is one of the better linebackers in the PAC.
October 3rd, 2014 at 6:24 PM ^
His recruiting sucked, yet he improved every year. Hoke recruits great, but his teams get worse every year. Good argument there, sport.
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:58 AM ^
He absolutley had to be fired. We were awful, his roster management is still a problem (though would be less so if this talent could fucking develop anyone).
But some of the blame is that we didn't actually get Casteel and THAT is on Michigan.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:01 AM ^
But the team was improving. If you project to win more games the next year why not keep your coach? If we improve by one win a year we would have won 8 in 2011, 9 in 2012, 10 in 2013 and 11 in 2014. I think this would be a 10 win program right now if RR stayed.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:05 AM ^
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October 3rd, 2014 at 2:10 AM ^
Nice revisionist history - the 2 or 3 5*'s he had in his final class bailed AFTER he was canned.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:38 AM ^
Which 5 stars are you talking about?
October 3rd, 2014 at 3:12 AM ^
Dee Hart, Jake Fisher (the injured OL for Oregon) and there was one more but it's late and I'm blanking on his name.
October 3rd, 2014 at 3:23 AM ^
Sammy Watkins? If those are your three guys, wasn't only one of them (Hart) actually commited?
October 3rd, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Sammy Watkins & Dallas Crawford
October 3rd, 2014 at 6:31 AM ^
Though he wasn't officially committed, he was about to commit to Michigan when RichRod got fired. I remember a TomVH article or blurb in which Frost said he was "99 percent" going to Michigan before the coaching change.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:11 AM ^
We got smoked by OSU, but beat ND.
Hoke got destreoyed by ND, and lost a squeeker to OSU. And before you bring up Hoke's lone quality win against OSU, might I remind you, they were 6-7 that year... and probably the worst OSU team of your lifetime.
Utah and Minny... really? You wanna go there? RR never lost to Minny and nearly beat a Utah team that went undefeated and beat Bama.
October 3rd, 2014 at 4:20 AM ^
Agree with you. I'm surprised how many people have short term memories. Our defense in 2010 was every bit as bad as our offense this year if not a little worse. No sane person would want to back to that era and there's little evidence it would have gotten worse. He should have canned Tony Gibson in 2009 and he would still have been back in 2011.
October 3rd, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
I believe that RR's plan was to fire his entire defensive staff if he came back in 2011.
October 3rd, 2014 at 8:10 AM ^
every year? People talk about RR like he is a god, but my memory reminds me that I couldn't wait for him to leave. He couldn't compete against top 10 teams at Michigan and his teams regressed every year except on offense, which couldn't score against good teams anyway.
God bless him, I was so glad he was fired and am stil glad he is not our coach. I certainly wish him success in Arizona, but if I'm going to waste time hoping for a coach, it will be Harbaugh or Tressel.
October 3rd, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:32 AM ^
Not a chance. Do you remember how terrible those defenses were?
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:57 AM ^
Sorry, I cant give a guy credit for "improvement" when you take over a 9-4 team and promptly take them to 3-8 for simply "improving" to 7-6 three years later. RR did a nice job at WV, but he did absolutely nothing in 3 years at Michigan to suggest that the team would ever be better than mediocre.
October 3rd, 2014 at 3:12 AM ^
He had Nick Sheridan as his top QB option. Nick Sheridan
October 3rd, 2014 at 3:39 AM ^
At least he whipped MN on the road that year!
October 3rd, 2014 at 6:59 AM ^
Winning....
October 3rd, 2014 at 6:50 AM ^
You seriously think he could never exceed mediocre? He did it at WVU, and he's doing it at Arizona, but no way he could have done it here? Those schools fully support/ed him. Yes, it was a rough transition here at first, but the cupboard wasn't exactly stocked, and not with his type. Yes, good teams owned us, and yes, the D sucked. But the guy was improving. It does make you wonder what might have been if DB embraced the guy and ponied up the cash for a real DC. I welcomed Hoke over RR, and I'm not saying I'd still want RR here, but I can look back now and see the situation for what it was. He really was treated like shit here from the start.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:03 AM ^
And you certainly don't fire him to hire a coach like Hoke who was never going anywhere.
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:55 AM ^
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:03 AM ^
Hoke rode those upperclassman to a 11-2 record
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:40 AM ^
So you think RR would have been able to completely turn around the defense like Mattison did?
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:52 AM ^
rather than $200,000 and i think that hire would have been a lot more effective than GERG was.
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:55 AM ^
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:57 AM ^
That's on Martin, as much as I hate Brandon. But yeah, with Casteel we win a title in one of Denard's upperclass seasons.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:14 AM ^
but remember, assistants under Carr were very underpaid compared to pretty much every other big time program. Casteel was only making $350k at WVU when RR wanted him to come, and that was too steep. Fast forward to 2014 and Matison is making $800k. Also RR made way more than Carr, and Hoke makes more than RR did.
Salaries have escalated greatly, and I dont put that totally on Martin. He had just approved the $220MM stadium expansion. He was being mindful of his budget, but yes, I wish Casteel had come.
October 3rd, 2014 at 3:10 AM ^
Brandon came on in plenty of time to get Casteel. He said no, fired RRod and then allowed Hoke to DOUBLE the salary for the DC position.