Michigan Football, the 2020 Abbreviated COVID Season

[Jeff Buchanan]

Hack, like I said in my post, you can't dismiss Spath's conjecture or what he implies by it for the reasons you mention above.

So, OK, "the Michigan football program is not a well oiled Machine and JH isn't what we expected him to be" which is what I posted. Now what?

For me, I still enjoy watching the game, analyzing Xs and Os, evaluating the Jimmys and Joes, during the game and after it. Subject to my views stated here about the game experience live and on TV, I still enjoy it, and live and in person it's mostly good - the tailgating with friends and either nodding in agreement or guffawing over the post game hawt-takes. The rest of it - that which has to do with speculating about the unknowable - I just shrug.

[AlabamAlum]

I think Harbaugh can right the ship. I just think he needs to have an Ogeron-esque awakening by surrounding himself with top flight assistants who have strengths that fill out some of his weakneses.

[lineygoblue]

And discovering Joe Burrow II wouldn't hurt either ...

[AlabamAlum]

LSU would have won a lot of games even without Burrow. They were solid. They had talent on the lines, a good scheme, competent game day coaching, and a wide assortment of good skill players.

[lineygoblue]

They would have won a lot of games, but Burrow brought it all together.

Same thing happened in Michigan's "half-championship" year of 1997. Michigan would have won a lot of games without Charles Woodson, but he was the guy who made the big plays on both sides of the ball, and on special teams, that clinched the key wins for Michigan. I doubt Michigan would have won its "half championship" without him.

[AlabamAlum]

Well, sure. My point is that without Burrow they would have had, at most, 1-2 losses. So, at worst, a 12-2 team. The reason is because of how Ogeron arranged his staff by taking a cut to get some top flight assistants.

[lineygoblue]

The reason is because of how Ogeron arranged his staff by taking a cut to get some top flight assistants.

Well, yes. And I can argue that Bo Schembechler also did that at Michigan, by refusing to take raises, and instead telling Don Canham that he wanted to pay his assistants more. This process was continued by both of his successors, Gary Moeller AND Lloyd Carr.

Schembechler established the foundation that led to Michigan's 1997 "half championship".

I know its hard to acknowledge here in The Michigan Forum, but Jim Hermann was one of the most coveted Defensive Coordinators in 1998, the year following Michigan's "half championship". Lots of teams wanted him, but he chose to stay at Michigan. Bo also brought back Gary Moeller after Illinois foolishly fired him, and Moeller not only became Bo's successor, but he was also one of Michigan's best recruiters in the state of Ohio and the Midwest. Bo kept Lloyd Carr from going to Notre Dame, when they offered him a huge contract to come to South Bend. I realize that Lloyd Carr is a huge joke here in The Michigan Forum, but he had an outstanding record, and was one of the finest coaches to roam Michigan's sideline.

So I agree that getting and keeping top flight assistants (of which LSU is losing 4 this year) is important in a championship run. But in my opinion, Burrow is the guy who made it happen on the field. You can have top notch coaching up the wazoo, but if the guys don't do it on the field, the team is going nowhere. Nick Saban is still a great coach, and he has top notch assistants, but he still doesn't win the NC every year.

[WingsFan]

Brian Jean Mary hired as LB coach. I never heard of him, I have seen some elite recruiter tweets

[Jeff Buchanan]

Player contribution to winning, especially at the QB position >>> a single coach or a collective of coaches.

The problem is that its difficult to flesh out what impact coaches have on player development in winning v. inate player skill sets. There are dominant players ...... Labron James, for example. Joe Burrow, IMO, was a dominant player. Tom Brady was and continues to be a dominant player. There are many other examples.

[AlabamAlum]

[WingsFan]

Jean-Mary joins the Wolverines staff after serving under Charlie Strong the previous 10 seasons, which included stints at Louisville, Texas and South Florida. Jean-Mary was the defensive coordinator at USF and the recruiting coordinator at Texas from 2014-16. I guess he's strong in Florida and Texas recruiting

[AlabamAlum]

[Jeff Buchanan]

Average QBs playing at the college level can become very good when surrounded by 5* talent. The "others" assuming you mean they were average game manager types, are examples of that within Alabama's system.

I'd have to go back and look in the case of Breeze's, Favre's and Manning's college days but I know, Brady had maybe one season with a combo of a great OL, receivers and RBs as measured by guys that went to the NFL. He was a good QB at M that became dominating in the pros. Why? Because once he got there he was surrounded by top talent and a system that he thrived in (not so much in 2019).

Breeze was very good at Purdue and so was manning at UT. I'd call them both capable of taking a game over on their QBing skill sets alone. Tua was like that. Burrow is like that. I think it can very easily be, but not always, the contribution of a great QB that is the difference between a win and a loss sometimes without regard to what coaches are on the sidelines. The impact of a great CFB QB with the innate skill set to take over a game can not be underestimated in assessing the win potential of any team.

I'll conceded coaching matters but I'm of the mind that it's hard to flesh the two factors out - coaching v. innate skill-sets - as it relates to winning to make the assertion that "your first domino to being a great team is always coaching."

When arguing the merits of a particular position, arguments that are cast in such terms as always or never are entirely assailable.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Good read on the two new M hires to replace Partridge and Campanele. The best part of the BJM hire is the massive whiff Brian Cook suffered when he confidently announced on Thursday, I think it was, that Campanele was getting replaced through a bump up on M's S&C staff of Tank Wright to an assistant coach. Not a lot of people liked that thinking it a lazy job of replacing two really good coaches. Not-so-fast.

Observers held, post the Partridge departure to the Dolphins, that watching who JH hired to replace them would provide a valuable window into the football program and how well JH understands recruiting and the importance of it's contribution to winning. Tank Wright wasn't considered adequately qualified and looked to many like making an easy move instead of putting in the leg work to hire a great coach/recruiter.

Well, Looky there. These hires are very good ones for the reasons outlined in the link below by Seth. He has the chops to opine on the hire, IMO, because he understands the Brown defense to a T and how the two new hires (the other one is Bob Shoop - Ss and, that hire seems to me, more of a HC in waiting, Jim McElwain type hire) fit into the defensive coaching staff.

Both of them, not unsurprisingly, reportedly have recruiting footprints in the same areas that Partridge and Campanele did. Read more below:

https://mgoblog.com/content/hello-br...cial#read-more

[WingsFan]

Jean-Mary, 44, Charlie Strong disciple who spent the past 10 seasons on Strong's staffs at Louisville, Texas and South Florida, where he served as defensive coordinator. He was Strong's recruiting coordinator at Texas, where helped sign three top-15 classes. His defensive units "were consistently among the nation's best in turnovers created, tackles for loss and pass defense," according to a Michigan news release. So I think this is good with him and Shoop aboard.