You are the coach now. "Fix" M football

It's very simple, really.  We need to bring the toughness back, like Bo's early-70's teams.  Grit.  Toughness.  Those coaches knew the secret to toughness:  no water breaks.  Drinking too much water makes you weak.  Gives you cramps.  Eat these salt tablets instead, son.

Also, the flying wedge.  We need to bring that back.  

3 yards at a time.  

I'm not prepared to say that it needs to be "fixed" yet.

We'll know a lot more at the end of this year. This season is pretty must-win, frankly. People can talk philosophical about how to move forward from 8-4 to get better, but they forget that a season like that will have the fanbase (including many of the people waxing philosophical) equipping torches and pitchforks, oppressive media scorn, recruits decommitting and/or bashing the program, key players transferring out because anywhere is better to be than here, perhaps even unexpected coaching departures, etc.

Then we would know what pieces to pick up.

I think this season can still be salvaged. ND might be really good. It's tough opening against them on the road. There is a good chance that the tackles will improve with game reps. Take 2 of 3 of the gauntlet mid-season, stun OSU, and we're on our way. 

But if that doesn't happen, I agree that Harbaugh needs to release the offense and bring in a dedicated OC. However, he probably won't, and if he doesn't I think we need to hunker down and trust in Harbaugh to learn from his mistakes. He has shown, consistently, a willingness to change and adapt, and much of what he is remains a good coach. But we're talking about Iowa/MSU level achievement going forward, then, not OSU level. 2019 has a chance to be a good year, but 2020 is going to be a rebuilding slog almost certainly now.

But let's see what happens this year. 

1. Bring back the short passing game from the Jedd years.  There used to be a plethora of neat little plays that had an open tight end or back catching a short ball in stride and running a bit more.  It was one of the more delightful things about Harbaugh back in '15 and '16.

1A. Throw a couple deep-ish jump balls every game, just in case it works.  Also, set up a deep shot at least once a half.

2. Stunt with Gary and/or Winovich about 1/4 of snaps until qb's learn that racing up into the pocket to flea pressure could kill them.

3. Actively seek interceptions by going to some zone coverage on 1/3 to 1/4 of snaps and punish qb's for throwing up prayers.  One thing teams don't fear about this defense is throwing interceptions.

4. Bring the fire back to the top of the program.  The current Harbaugh is a shadow of the guy who coached in '15 and '16.

5. Aubrey Solomon

6. If we make a change in the o line, make it right away, and then stick with it for the rest of the year.  Whatever improvement that comes will probably be methodical.

I do not believe change in technique is going to win tough games. There is not enough time or personnel to make that kind of change. Sure you can max protect but we lost a couple of key TEs who are good at that. Harbaugh has been very unlucky in my opinion. 

I am no coach but since you asked.....

1) Play Iowa ball. If Defense cannot hold we are screwed but I have Hope's still the offense will improve by mid season. And practice your 50 yard FGs.

2) Play young guys at tackles and take the lumps now. It will pay off later

3) play Gentry as WR 90% of the time

4) Max protect every damn play and punt if nothing is there. No PA. See point 1.

5) Play Ambry on Offense more and Hawkins on defense more. They are play makers. I know Hawkins messed up but he needs the experience.

6) More dump offs. We got a couple of FBs and good RBs. Use them.

7) Practice and run hurry up offense the next two games. Pretty much the whole game. We can sure use some practice.

That is all I got. I think this team still has it and will not be surprised by a turnaround. Will it be enough for this season? Not sure but I am expecting every game to be a fight till the end.

Buy 3 fake mustaches and some hair dye.

LT - Lake Jong

RT - Laylor Tewan 

Offensive Coordinator - Bart Riles

Build a time machine, go back 4 years, name Drevno OL coach only, and recruit about 4 more OTs each year from then until now.

Scheduling. You fix that first. If we play MSU and OSU on the road, then have a cup cake out of conference schedule.

Only call

innovative plays. Those are the ones that worked. If they didn’t work they weren’t innovative. It’s like the modern plays a few years ago. 

I am the coach.

First step, resign: I know nothing about coaching!

Second, sit back and relax.

Allow a great coach more than 3 full seasons to rebuild a program. 

The fact of the matter is that none of you (and myself) are QUALIFIED.  This kind of thread only permeates the Michigan fan base attitude.  "I like the other QB" or "I want a different coach" or "I'd have run a different play" or "I want zone coverage"...UNTIL YOU GO TO PRACTICE DAILY, just stop.  It's embarrassing.

I am not sure you change anything right now with 2 cupcakes coming to town, just keep coaching em up. You have to have a plan and stick with it. We're short on talent on the OL, what can you do but use the parts you have to an advantage somehow, maybe its the playcalling doesnt align with their OL talents? Who knows but its not time to abandon the ship/submarine

Hear me out, this might sound crazy but - a hurry up offense in the red zone. The last two years we've seen Michigan flounder in the red zone. I'm leaning towards it being due to the fact we're a bit too predictable when the field is compressed. A hurry up offense in the red zone would -

1) Skew timing of routes / snaps towards our advantage

2) Offset the timing of blitzes / disrupt the preparation of the defense

All I know is we are not going to get another coach better than Harbaugh at this current juncture. Coaches are not dumb and in the last eleven-ish years we have had three coaches. Nobody with the track record Harbaugh has is going to commit to that. The only coaches I would want would be Dabo, Saban, and Riley. They certainly aren't coming here.

I would also argue that the two leagues that are the most difficult to win in are the B1G and SEC, mostly because schools in those leagues actually play defense. You might also be able to include the ACC in that, but they are horribly top heavy. I hesitated to put Riley in there just because no one in the Big 12 and most teams in the PAC 12 don't play defense, so it makes all of their offenses look amazing. The playing field, mostly in the B1G East, is going to make it insanely difficult for anyone to consistently win 10+ games / B1G titles every year. Urban, the only one who has done it consistently, out-recruits everyone and it's frickin Ohio State.

I personally did not expect 10-3 for two seasons straight after Hoke. That honestly shocks me to think about. So Harbaugh, to me, is currently the best man for the job. I agree that he needs to take a step back from offensive playcalling IF it is true that Jedd primarily ran the Offense in 2015-2016. Find someone with a solid offensive track record or pedigree and hand it off to them. I don't care what kind of offense it is as long as it works.

All in all, I think we need to give Harbaugh something that most coaches are not given these days (unless they win 10+ games a year consistently) and that is longevity. Allow him to get to his first LEGIT full class of seniors and fifth-year seniors 2020-2021. Coaches stand a better chance of winning consistently if they have THEIR upperclassmen in the system.

I am bad a conclusions, but that's just how I feel about all this.

Throw the ball to Chris Evans.

Find whoever the explosive athletes are on their roster and find ways to get them the ball. 

It was a 7 point loss on the road to the now 8th ranked team in the country. We had the ball with a chance to tie with 2 minutes left.

Run the picket fence.

Get the ball to Jimmy Chitwood.

Don't get caught watchin' the paint dry!

Hire Walt Bell or Matt Canada as OC. Let them take the reins and run with it. 

Easy. Jet sweep right.

This is a true Eeyore take, and I don't buy it right now.  I still think Harbaugh will get it done, even though it is taking an excrutiatingly long time, on top of the 7 years of torture that preceded it.  However, I have to admit that this seems more likely now than it ever has, and I amazed.

No one.  There is no coach who can "fix" Michigan football because the problem is the Univ of Michigan, not the coaches.  Consider...

We've hired three head coaches; each represents a different philosophical approach.  Rich Rod was the hot head coach everyone wanted to hire (including Alabama) with the innovative system.  Brady Hoke was the "Michigan Man" who would get us back to what Michigan does well historically and understood our culture.  Jim Harbaugh is the unicorn, all things to everybody.  He's the hot head coach, the legendary alumni who gets the culture, a coach who innovates by refreshing the old school style that worked so well for us with Bo.  With the possible exception of coach Hoke, all of these guys succeeded everywhere they've been before and after Michigan.  Even Rodriguez took Arizona to a Pac 12 Championship Game.  So, either the water in Ann Arbor caused all of them to magically become substantially more stupid, or something else is going on.  What are the potential systemic issues that might cause Michigan to underperform?

Drugs.  We know there are programs who juice their players (cough, Michigan State, cough), and I believe we all think Michigan doesn't, if only for player safety.  Might that explain why our players fail to develop relative to their peers?  Ezekial Elliot vs. Derrick Green.  Wisconsin's and MSU's 3-star O-line recruits vs. our 4 or 5-star recruits.  Heck, Rashan Gary was one of the highest rated recruits ever, any year, any position. And although he is excellent and a future high first round NFL draft pick, let's face it; he's been overshadowed even at his DE position by peers within his recruiting class, like Joey Bosa or all the dudes on the Clemson D-line.  Consider also some of the criminal behavior other schools have to handle; perhaps one of the well known side effects of steroids?

"Character Issues."  We know other schools will continue to suit up players even after some fairly heinous behavior.  We're not completely "zero tolerance," but we put up with a lot less before we will dismiss someone from the team.  Also, other schools will steer players towards an "eligibility major" that will be useless to them after they graduate, whereas academics at Michigan are no joke.  Granted, many other schools are academically demanding too, but we are restricting ourselves to less than the full universe of Div 1 players, and competing with everyone else who wants them too.

Money.  Other schools pay players and their families; we're very confident Michigan does not.  Duh.  Queue all the arguments about which approach is more ethical, and the value of respecting NCAA rules that the NCAA refuses to enforce seriously.

Last and most certainly not least, Unrealistic Expectations.  (In other words, me and you, sweet pea.)  We think we are ENTITLED to a winning football program, AND one that restricts itself to doing things "the right way" (see above) because, gosh darn it, our parents and grandparents did, and we're special.  When reality fails to live up to our expectations, we grab our torches and pitchforks and go looking for someone to blame.  We make miserable the lives of the people who work punishing schedules under intense media scrutiny while trying only to help the young people in their charge get a good education, and live up to we fans' unrealistic expectations.  You think that might adversely affect their job performance?

I'm going to offer a little parable, and you won't like it.  The Univ of Pittsburgh won a National Championship in 1976 with Tony Dorsett (and many historians of the program think the 1-loss 1977 team was even better).  They had Dan Marino as their QB in the early 80s, and then they hired Serafino "Foge" Fazio as their head coach.  Great guy, long history in the program, Brady Hoke squared.  Pitt is only just now, almost 40 years later, digging out from the irrelevancy one (let alone three) unsuccessful coaching hire did to the program.

If Jim Harbaugh can't "fix" our program, we may be looking at a dark age comparable to the one Wisconsin started in the 1960s.  We may be irrelevant that long, and emerge from the twilight for reasons no can forsee and with the game substantially changed from what it is now.  In other words, our Barry Alvarez is currently playing peewee football, and those of us old enough to remember seeing Jim Harbaugh play in person may not live long enough to see it.

There, I'll see myself out and across the street to the dive bar.  You're welcome to join me.

Hire back Jedd Fisch,give him control of the offense, and start recruiting Offensive Linemen.