Roy Manning for RB coach?

Submitted by dnak438 on

Over on Touch the Banner, Magnus suggested that Tyrone Wheatley was unlikely to come to Michigan now that Trevno is in the fold and suggested Roy Manning as another possibility (LINK).

Looking at Manning's bio over on MGoBlue (LINK), I saw that he coached running backs before he got to Michigan, at Cincinnati (2012) and for two months at Northern Illinois (2013) before he was hired by Michigan. It's often the case that great recruiters are given the responsibility for running backs, and we know that Manning is a top recruiter.

If there's no room for Manning on the defensive side of the ball (something discussed by Brian and Ace in the last podcast) and Tyrone Wheatley would rather stay in the NFL or take a job as an OC, I'd think that Manning at RB coach (if he's willing to do it) would be a great way to keep recruiting acumen in the fold and maintain continuity among the coaches.

[EDIT: corrected the info about Manning's tenure at NIU thanks to comments by Mr Miggle]

bronxblue

January 1st, 2015 at 1:36 PM ^

Fred Jackson's definition of "coaching" is apparently quite a bit different from what most do.  Manning had a couple 1,000-yard rushers at NIU, and Cincy could move the ball and, I believe, had a 1k rusher while there.  He might not be great, but I'd absolutely believe him to be a competent RB coach.

MGoCarolinaBlue

January 1st, 2015 at 2:30 PM ^

Tyrone Wheatley was bad?
Tim Biakabutuka was bad?
Anthony Thomas was bad?
Chris Perry was bad?
Mike Hart was bad?

Did you know that there is a well documented psychological effect where the less someone knows about a topic, the more they think they know about it? It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect (look it up on Wikipedia) and people on this blog are among the biggest culprits I've ever seen. If you are not yourself a coach, you are not truly qualified to comment. If you want to talk about less than Stellar players under Fred Jackson, you need to talk about the stand outs as well. If you want to say that the good players were good because of talent and the bad players were bad because of coaching, I can just as easily say that the good players were good because of coaching and the bad players were bad because they didn't take well to coaching.

Every single former player I have ever talked to says the product we see on the field on Saturdays has MUCH more to do with the players and not nearly as much to do with coaching as we think it does.

MGoCarolinaBlue

January 1st, 2015 at 2:30 PM ^

Tyrone Wheatley was bad?
Tim Biakabutuka was bad?
Anthony Thomas was bad?
Chris Perry was bad?
Mike Hart was bad?

Did you know that there is a well documented psychological effect where the less someone knows about a topic, the more they think they know about it? It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect (look it up on Wikipedia) and people on this blog are among the biggest culprits I've ever seen. If you are not yourself a coach, you are not truly qualified to comment. If you want to talk about less than Stellar players under Fred Jackson, you need to talk about the stand outs as well. If you want to say that the good players were good because of talent and the bad players were bad because of coaching, I can just as easily say that the good players were good because of coaching and the bad players were bad because they didn't take well to coaching.

Every single former player I have ever talked to says the product we see on the field on Saturdays has MUCH more to do with the players and not nearly as much to do with coaching as we think it does.

bronxblue

January 1st, 2015 at 1:54 PM ^

Oh sure, there are better RB coaches out there.  But Manning is already in-house, he knows the players, can obviously recruit, and has coached the position elsewhere, so it isn't like throwing him into the DB role.  And thought Jackson maybe proved it exception, RB is one of the easier positions to teach on a team, so I'd be fine storing a great recruiter there especially with the offensive staff coming in.

Mr Miggle

January 1st, 2015 at 1:55 PM ^

in Manning's only season there, his first season as a position coach. He left when Butch Jones took the Tennessee job. NIU hired him in January. We stole him away two months later. He had previously been a GA here on offense. DNAK was wrong in thinking he coached a season at NIU. You were wrong about everything.

Swazi

January 1st, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^

1. Still don't know if Hart still has beef with Harbaugh.  He is pretty much the only alum that said nothing about the Harbaguh hire on twitter.

 

2.  Manning has proven to be a much better recruiter, and that is something we sorely need after years of mediocrity from Jackson.

dnak438

January 1st, 2015 at 1:46 PM ^

I agree that he's done well. I'm just not sure that two years at EMU and one year at WMU is super significant or moves the needle when we're comparing him to a guy that coached RBs for two years at Cinci and NIU and also did well... and whom we KNOW is a great recruiter and a great guy and is already on the staff and is VERY well regarded (see Seth's comment below).

Tater

January 1st, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^

Hart may be a great hire, just because he holds Sparty in utter contempt.  Since Sparty is still getting mileage out of his quote, seven years later, Hart might as well actually be in Ann Arbor.  

A lot of people mention Harbaugh's hire as "bringing the Ohio State rivalry back," but it may be even more important to reestablish dominance over Sparty.  It can't hurt to have a coach who never lost a game to them on the sidelines.

big10football

January 1st, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^

After watching our running backs miss holes all year, I more than ever think it is very important to have a strong running backs coach. Is prefer someone with more proven success there or at least someone that played the position.