February 1st, 2018 at 6:54 PM ^
I am hoping that he coaches his ass off this season and we see a major improvement that makes every one of the people screaming that his even being around a single player means the death of the program eat their words.
But you can call him "trash" if you like. I like Pep a whole lot more than I like Dan Enos.
(I'm still hoping the 10th coach is for the WR's)
February 1st, 2018 at 3:20 PM ^
no matter how they spin it ther is no clean end to handle this turd
February 1st, 2018 at 3:36 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 3:37 PM ^
We can only hope it pays off Pepper!
February 1st, 2018 at 3:24 PM ^
In before, during, and after a bunch of MGoCoachingExperts have emotional meltdowns
February 1st, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
Quick, call Jim and let him know!!
February 1st, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
We could, but we're not sure whose job it is to do so.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
Retaining him is bad enough, a promotion from that performance last year is fucking asinine.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
Welp, time to start looking at 2019. We're not winning a Big Ten title with Pep designing and calling our passing plays. Sorry guys but there's just no way.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 5:13 PM ^
February 2nd, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
After everything this program went through from the near BCS Championship appearance in 2006 to the App State debacle in 2007 to the meltdown that was the transition to Rodriguez, to the hiring of a man in way over his head just because he knew how to drive around Ann Arbor on his own and he knew the fight song...
You think this program is a mess now?
Fuck off.
My God, the incessant whining here got real old a long time ago. Grown ass men who brag about the quality of the school from which they graduated...you're doing a top notch job of proving it.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 3:33 PM ^
Nothing like giving an underperfoming coach more responsibilities.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:33 PM ^
He was due for a promotion and title upgrade. /s
If true, this is a pretty dumb move.
1) Our WRs need a dedicated coach. If this is Pep, then fine. But then our QBs need a dedicated coach.
2) Pep should not be in charge of the passing game. He can have input, he can design plays, but he should not be part of the decision making process. I can't think of any creativity in the short passing routes outside of passing to McKeon last season. No memorable screens, no memorable WR slants, nothing.
This was not the news I was hoping to hear.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
Last year was a bad year, but this is getting beyond insufferable. Pep was a successful WR coach and a successful QB coach in the past. He was a successful OC at Stanford under Shaw.
Drevno has been a successful OL coach in his past. He's brought in some good talent at the position that is still young (that two guys underperformed some fans expectations that should have been RS FR is ridiculous; at least let them grow). His run scheme didn't really change that much from 2016 to 2017, it just was less successful because the talent and execution was worse. It was still diverse, it still had a lot of nice wrinkles, but fans miss that because it didn't work as well. Ok.
Look, things need to get better. I think Pep and Drevno are well aware of that. I think Harbaugh is well aware of that. One bad season (and by bad season we are talking 8-5) doesn't mean they aren't the right people. MSU just went 3-9 and didn't fire a single coach. People over react, they are too eager to fire and clean house. The performance was awful, but I think Harbaugh knows a thing or two about developing a good offense, and I would trust in his opinion that he has the right people for that job. I get that "trust the coaches" flies like a bag of bricks right now, but really people are self-deprecating about this team. You don't have to gush over them, but the majority of posts regularly being doom-and-gloom, we're the worst, these guys suck, well, that's BS from this fan base and doesn't help this program get better.
February 1st, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 3:50 PM ^
Drevno has never been a good OC. I think his success as an OL coach is overrated.
I realize that we went 8-5, but if you take Don Brown out of the equation we could have easily been 5-7. The offense ranked 100+ in the country. We threw single digit TD's which is less than Army and Air Force and they only throw the ball about 10 times a game max.
The offense was terrible against any defense with a pulse. The playcalling was horrible.
Also, we pay these 2 guys $1m a piece which makes them some of the highest paid coordinators in college football.
February 1st, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
Fine. Michigan didn't perform as well as they should have. Fine. I'm not saying mistakes weren't made (particularly with planning for the season) or that everything was perfect.
Don't get me started on the playcalling compliant. That's the go-to complaint and it doesn't hold a ton of weight with me, particularly after back-to-back years of top 15 offenses (FEI) with the same OC. Harbaugh and Drevno didn't forget how to call plays. That wasn't the major shift. The major shift was execution and talent. Those need to get better. Guys need to be coached up.
Does Drevno get credit for a top 15 offense (S&P)? He is the run game coordinator. He didn't have a role in that success? He didn't have a role in the run game steadily improving over the year? Despite going against loaded boxes? I don't think crap playcalling gets you a top 15 run game against stacked boxes on a play-to-play basis. I think poor execution of a passing attack, and the weaknesses associated with that passing attack, brought the offense as a whole down. Again, needs to be coached up. Maybe they have the guys in place to do that.
Do you think Michigan struggled against "any defense with a pulse" because the play calling was bad, or because they were out-executed? They beat down teams they executed better than, then got beat up by teams they didn't. Besides South Carolina, they faced some very good defenses. They moved the ball. They got guys open. But ya know, the pass pro was bad. The QB play was bad. The WR weren't very polished. So teams stacked the box. Have fun calling plays. Let's put the blame on that. No.
Again, they need to coach guys up. These coaches have done that in the past. "Take out the best unit and you get a worse team" is a pretty crap metric. No one is saying the offense was good last year. But if Harbaugh, who has a history of producing good and unique offenses, trusts these guys to coach the players up, maybe you should at least not trash it.
February 1st, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^
Drevno is the Offensive Coordinator he is in charge of a lot more than pass blocking and the rushing game. He is in charge of placalling, QB play, and receivers as well.
Play Action on a 3rd and 18 is not a good playcall. Throwing the ball in a monsoon against MSU were not good playcalls.
Yes we did lose games because of playcalling, execution, and multiple other things. Who is at fault for this? The guy that coordinates the offense.
Everyone is so quick to give Drevno all of the credit for the offenses in 2015 and 2016, but maybe Fisch played a bigger role in the offenses than we thought. It has been noted that Speight loved Fisch because he was able to simplify things for him and the offense this year was noticibly more complex mainly due to 18 y/o receivers running option routes.
Don't think I am taking blame off of Pep because I think he was very bad this year as well, but when an offense was as atrocious as ours was this year someone has to be at fault and that is the offensive coordinator.
February 1st, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
Offense Good: Harbaugh, Drevno, Fisch, Wheatley, Harbaugh Jr.
Offense Bad: Habaugh, Drevno, Pep, Frey, Harbaugh Jr.
Frey is gone. Harbaugh Jr.'s change in position didn't seem to be a problem. That leaves Pep.
Yes, offense requires all 11 playing in sync. Yes, young receivers. Yes, this. Yes, that. Michigan could have started ten 5th year seniors on offense and with the way the QB's played it would not have mattered. I can not overstate how bad the QB play was this year...across 3 guys!!! That is on the coaches. They couldn't find one functional back up out of three scholarship players. Think about that. 3 scholarships, 9 TD' passes, in 13 games.
February 1st, 2018 at 9:26 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 9:36 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
February 2nd, 2018 at 7:55 AM ^
I'm not talking about the fake draw against OSU. I understand running a fake draw under some circumstances at 3rd and medium because draw plays are used frequently in that situation. I'm talking about earlier in the year when it was a fake dive on 3rd and 18. Even if it is instinct defensive coordinators drop their LB's and DB's a little deeper pre snap so even if the take a few steps forward they are still in position to defend a pass.
I think a simple shotgun pass is the most beneficial in this situation because the QB can have his eyes downfield longer reading the defense. When you run play action pass from under center the QB has his back to the defense for a couple seconds so he cannot read the defenses initial moves. I'm not saying that I don't think play action from under center is a bad play, I'm just saying that there are other plays that are better at 3rd and 18.
February 2nd, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
There are drawbacks to being in shotgun when you have to wait for the recievers to run 20 yards as well. There really are not many 3rd and 18 plays which are good. I still contend that example is not a good indicator of a good OC or not.
The true measure of a good OC is someone who can:
- Game plan against the defense to exploit advantages
- Make in game adjustments as needed
- Design an offense which creates confusion on defense because you can not tell what play is being run out of the same or similar sets and knowing when to call the counter to the standard base play
- You could argue fitting the game plan to ther personnel is also important, but the position coaches have equal impact and input in that area.
Any examples of these would be a fair arguement to have. Why someone called one play in an adverse situation is a weak justification for overall performance.
February 2nd, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
I realize that you have to wait for the receiver to run 20 yards down field in shotgun as well, but in shotgun you have more time to read the defense and use your eyes to move the defense rather than turning around and hoping your guy is open.
I agree with your measures of a good OC and those things rarely happened throughout the year. 2015 and 2016 we used deception when calling plays. This year not so much. The OC needs to work with the position coaches to put players in position to succeed and I don't think they did that. How many times did we work to get DPJ (our best offensive athlete) in space against a defender? Rarely. He is a guy who can make plays on jet sweeps or screens. We rarely gave him those looks.
Dont get me started on in game adjustments. We rarely came out of halftime with good adjustments. With the exception of a few games against teams with bad defenses we were significantly worse in the 2nd half of games. (Wisconsin, OSU, USC, MSU.) We always came out of halftime spinning our wheels.
February 2nd, 2018 at 7:06 AM ^
February 2nd, 2018 at 8:09 AM ^
If you look at Drevno's resume he has never been a good OC. People give him credit for the Stanford OL's but he was the OL coach for one year (the last year). Other than that he was the TE's coach and Greg Roman was on that staff. With the 49ers he coached with Mike Solari who has been an NFL Oline coach forever.
So is Drevno good or has he just been lucky enough to work with really good coaches?
February 1st, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 5:53 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 4:43 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 5:23 PM ^
If you think you can do better why don't YOU coach the team then!!! /s
February 1st, 2018 at 4:30 PM ^
remembering the breakdowns especially the Ohio State game. Michigan missed big play's in that game and their other defeats save the 2015 Ohio State and this past season PSU ballgame. I for one believe the game planning prior and halftime adjustments during game's have been solid. You can read the frustration in Brian's analysis over missed opportunities.
February 1st, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
Not a chance that Drevno had anything to do with the offense in the OSU game. That gameplan couldn't have been more different than literally every other game. If he did in fact call that game that leaves me wondering why he didn't call plays like that all year.
Also, the coaches have to be at fault for missed opportunities. It is their job to teach the players to execute.
February 1st, 2018 at 5:05 PM ^
The OSU game planning and play calling for UMs offense was considerably different then what we saw for most of the year.
February 1st, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 9:19 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 9:39 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
February 2nd, 2018 at 8:02 AM ^
I understand tendencies and you can take advantage of them. I just don't think he did it. You pointed out that teams did it to us this season which I agree with (PSU knowing we would Barkley would be one on one with McCray if they motion him out) but you never pointed out how we did it against other teams outside of OSU. I personally don't think we did.
February 1st, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
You defended Al Borges' horrendous offense for a long time, claiming he was a great coach and offensive mastermind hindered by lack of execution.
So, yeah......
What's he up to these days?
February 1st, 2018 at 5:43 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 5:57 PM ^
The fact Nuss is not a good OC doesn't make Borges any less bad. Nuss has shown himself to be a poor OC at Florida as well. Borges was terrible yet you defended him constantly and didn't think he should be replaced right to the very end.
I'm not going to dreg up all the Borges apology threads, analyzing his offensive playcalling savvy to death, but there are similarities:
1) don't replace the coach
2) playcalling isn't the issue
3) execution is the problem, if they players could only grasp the brilliant scheme
If players aren't executing, if the offense is putrid, it's time to change coaches or change scheme.
February 1st, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^