Toledo 13
Michigan 10
In many corners of Michigan fandom, the radical decision to jettison four decades of a winning leadership formula and hire Rich Rodriguez was hailed as essential medicine.
The current struggles are still being defended as necessary to purge the football body of malignancies and bring about a glorious future.
There’s even a cheeky and very popular blog dedicated to the “revolution” called the Wolverine Liberation Army. True believers in the wisdom of the move, the WLA even doubled down on their bet that a clean break with the past was essential, regardless of how ugly it got, saying after the Notre Dame disaster that the program had been “hanging on to the past too long” and was in need of “re-building and cutting ties with an underachieving past.”
According to the psychiatrists (or at least those who pretend to be psychiatrists on Wikipedia), Munchausen Syndrome occurs when a subject “exaggerates or creates symptoms of illnesses in themselves in order to gain investigation, treatment, attention, sympathy, and comfort from medical personnel.”
More to the point of this discussion, some of these pathetic souls are so good at this that they “are able to produce symptoms that result in multiple unnecessary operations.”
This is what has become of the Michigan Wolverines. The program has subjected itself to radical chemotherapy, despite not having cancer.
24 months ago, Michigan was in the middle of an 11-game win streak to open the season. Then they played Ohio State, in a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2, and missed a perfect regular season by a field goal—on the road.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Last year, they won nine games.
For the previous decade, they’ve won or shared the Big-10 title four times in a conference with 10 other teams chasing the same goal, been to four BCS games and nine New Year’s Day games. And just the year before the previous decade started, they shared a national championship with Nebraska.
This is the underachieving past?
Here’s a partial list of the teams that haven’t been to nine New Year's Day (or later) bowls over the last 10 seasons: Southern Cal, Ohio State, Louisiana State, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, and Miami.
Again, this is a partial list. I think there's about 110 more.
In college football, the real stars of the game don’t make tackles, catch passes, or throw touchdown bombs. They stand on the sideline with a headset and a clipboard, and they spend a bazillion hours a year flying all over the country constantly searching for the ideas and players necessary to get to the top and stay there. And they have help. Lots of help.
Michigan football hasn’t been to all of those fancy bowl games recently because of the winged helmets, or the tradition, or the perpetually disgruntled fans. It got there because they had a coaching staff that knew how to create a consistent winner that played at a high level nearly every season and that knew how to pour that culture into everybody who worked with them.
This is what got cast aside when Lloyd Carr retired and the University of Michigan decided it was time to cut ties with its “underachieving past” and not only go outside of their homegrown talent pool, but to grab a coach whose coaching philosophy cut against all of their tradition and the experience of the players on their team.
When experienced players started following the coaches out the door, many defenders of the revolution all but declared them lazy blobs or heretics that the softness of Carr and Co. had inflicted on the program. Good riddance to them!
What sort of hypochondria is necessary to look at that situation as it was and determine that it was best to purge not just the generals, but their system and the players who were loyal to it?
Who was winning all of those games in those past seasons? The water boy?
Through these self-inflicted dark times, the modified goal is that happy days will return when Rich Rodriguez gets his kind of players on the team. And that’s probably right. He’s a proven coaching talent, and once he’s had time to build his kind of system the results should happen on the field. A new winning culture may finally grow upon the salted earth of the old one.
Probably.
But here’s the deal: There’s no reason to expect the new guys to be better than the group they replaced. Less than a dozen coaches have won or shared a national title since Lloyd Carr last did it. There’s about that many or more every season with a decent shot at it.
Rich Rodriguez will certainly be cheered if and when he gets Michigan back to regularly competing for conference titles and in the national title conversation again.
But that’s where they were when he found them.
Having the patient celebrate after a full recovery from a needless operation is an odd and risky way to practice medicine.
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about 1 month ago
Cheer up Michigan fans. While I hate your coach, he has a plan. ND hit rock bottom last year and part of it was for both losing key players to NFL all at one time and not having the talent ready to step in the year after. You guys have that along with a new coaching change. Give it 2-3 years and your team will be back in the top 10.
from about 1 month ago
I hate Rich Rod, UM, Charlie Weis, and ND...just saying. Michigan will not be back in the Top 10 because Rich Rod is an awful coach who had a couple of good recruits and blew by a bad conference, although he did lose like 7 games in 4 seasons in one of the worst conferences there is. They managed to win a BCS bowl, but Oklahoma was either overrated or unprepared, or was that the game where Rich Rod didn't coach and someone else took over...
WVU sucks, and they always were only mediocre, but playing in a bad conference made them look good. I think Rich Rod is trash, and bringing him into a prestigious program like Michigan, (which I hate to say since I'm a PSU fan), is the wrong choice and will hurt Michigan until he is fired and a coach that can actually coach and bring Michigan level to a competitive level in a real conference, (the Big 10). I hate UM so I hope they stay with Rich Rod, and if I'm wrong I'll eat my words, but I think he is awful and he probably will be!
from about 1 month ago
Im sorry Isaac. That was the funniest comment Ive ever read. Did you really say that the Big 10 is a real conference? yeah I know my team is an independent... go on and say what you will. But the Big 10 is one of the worst conferences in CFB. The Big 10 stands no chance against the SEC or Big 12. Big 10 is probably about even with the ACC. Yes, your UPS team is good. Top 5 good for sure. OSU is really good with tyrell Pryor and a healthy Beanie Wells. But thats it. Illinois is overated. Wisconsion is showing that they stink, the rest are all bad. Really bad. So basically 2 good teams in Big 10. Thats a real conference?? Oustide of your UPS team, no other will have a chance to play in a BCS game.
from about 1 month ago
I'm not one to speak for Michigan fans, but I'm sure that comparing Charlie Weis favorably with Rich Rodriquez does a lot to reassure them about the future.
I'm assume that they'll be passing along their thanks very shortly.
from about 1 month ago
Mabye Ken, but look at the direction Weis has taken team since the debacle. He has been having very strong recruiting classes, and is having another great one currently. He is bringing in the kids that have the talent. Rich Rod is also having a good recruiting class right now. 11th in nation(scout).
The fact is that when you lose your starting/backup Qbs, RB, 2 WR, 4 of your O-lineman, things can only get ugly. When those replacements become sophs/juniors, only then things will get better. It doesnt matter who your head coach is. Without talent and and expierence, you stand no chance.
This domer is done defending Michigan now!
about 1 month ago
I am (or now maybe was??) a longtime advocate for change. I did not expect this much change this fast, and I have often stated that 1) This would be a down year and 2) Many of their problems would stem from having so many new starters as well as a new system.
I am now questioning my whole train of thought. Maybe UM wasn't the constant Championship team we've always wanted, but they were NEVER doormats. Come on. TOLEDO?
I thought Wisconsin marked a possible turning point in their season, despite a very transparent offense (having only seen a couple games to then, even I was calling the plays, mostly correctly) and even worse, being very slow for this 'spread option', I again had hope. Enter Illinois.
So much for hope. And, I have to wonder what happens to them if Juice goes down. he was their offense. UM has no Juice. (pun intended) And it shows. I don't know what RR is thinking, but he better do something to turn this around, and quick. Else he, and the AD that hired him will have some serious explaining to do.
about 1 month ago
This article is pretty acurate. Carr was a great coach, and well Rich Rod isn't Pat white made rod look like a great coach, but the masquerade is over good luck to the michigan fans, and get rid of rich rod.
from about 1 month ago
100% correct, Cody. At least some people can see through the disguise that the pitiful Big East put on Rich Rod to make him look good.
about 1 month ago
The thing about Rodriguez is everywhere he went he found success. His records (as coordinator then Coach), Glenvile State 43-28-2, Tulane 12-0, Clemson 15-9, West Virginia 34-14. So no, Pat White didn't make him. His system works.
I'm as pissed off as any Michigan fan, but I'm not going to jump ship just yet. I'll wait to see how the rest of the year goes and we'll see how the team fairs next year as well. Myself, other fans, and AD Bill Martin will wait as well.
from about 1 month ago
Jeff,
Are you really counting Rich Rod's time as an OC at Tulane and Clemson as if he was the head coach? Seriously?
As a head coach Rich is 2-8 @ Salem, 48-28-2 @ Glenville State, 34-14 @ WVU and, so far, 2-4 @ Michigan. That's an overall record of 86-54-2. That's not a record that speaks, in and of itself, of leading Michigan back to the promised land.
Lloyd Carr was never a Head Coach at any other college, he instead moved up through the Michigan "system". He finished 120-40 as a head coach.
I find the idea that Mr. 86-54 is going to some how be so much greater that old, boring, stuck in the past 120-40, a bit laughable.
Good luck on that.
from about 1 month ago
Indeed, I counted his offensive teams for his record as well. I would have preferred Les Miles to be honest, but we have what we have, and that's all we can do.
about 1 month ago
Very good article. I wrote an article earlier in the summer that Michigan would struggle this year (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/34514-why-michigan-will-struggle-in-2008) and Michigan fans told me I was out of my mind. I truly thought Michigan would go 4-8 this year, but I'm realistically thinking 3-9, with a win over Purdue. I do not believe Michigan will defeat either Minnesota or Northwestern, as I previously predicted. I could be wrong.
Hang in there. With another recruting class, I look for Michigan to be a bowl team next season and a Big Ten contender in 2010.
about 1 month ago
I think it's a bit soon to say for sure that RR will fail, or that the Big East experience demonstrates this.
True, overall a weaker conference. However, the recruiting options were less as well.
For example, was Jim Tressell a weak coach because his domination of 1-AA wasn't against the best coaches?
That all said, there's enough material out there to raise red flags about RR and whether he will succeed at Michigan. One obvious one: West Virginia got better as the Big East started losing its best teams (Miami, Va Tech, Boston College.) If they stay, does WVa become what it was and draw all the attention to its hot coach?
Also, any system that relies so much on just one of the eleven players on the field (the QB) is loaded with risk, and he could be the beneficiary of that risk paying off (Pat White), while his time at Michigan may be the downside of that risk.
Who knows. I'm not a fan of the spread, but it can work and I'm not ready -- yet -- to pronounce Michigan dead because of RR.
about 1 month ago
Lloyd Carr was a good coach and a class act, but as a Michigan fan, I must say that change was needed. Coach Carr gave everything he had to Michigan football, and he had a very successful career. However, the latter part of that career was characterized by failure in the most important games, bowl games and Ohio State. Michigan teams of the early to mid 2000's were known for under performing and poor player development. The defense was known for fundamental mistakes such as poor tackling and coverage mishaps. The offense had become predictable and non-existent in the big games. The entire staff was responsible and a change was needed.
Here's my problem with Rich Rod. Great coaches run what is successful, not "systems." A perfect example of this is Jim Tressel's 06 and 07 teams which both played for the NC. You could also look at Bob Stoops' 00 team, which won the NC, in comparison to his 04 and 05 teams. These coaches didn't run systems, they just won games. Hopefully Rich Rod will bring championships to Ann Arbor, but I'm not sold yet.
from about 1 month ago
I agree about 'systems' and how they fail to utilize the talent available. It seems to be an awfully silly gamble to put your future on getting the just the right QB, but that's essentially what the spread is.
Watch Michigan State's 2004 season prior to Drew Stanton coming along, or what happened after he got knocked out of the Michigan game, to see another familiar example of how the loss of "the guy" causes the spread to disintegrate. In that case, it was a mobile and veteran QB coming on in relief and not getting it done.
Regarding the rest of what you say...
There were quite a few Rose Bowls in the latter part of Lloyd's career. One of them (USC 2003) was against a team playing for a national title. The next one (Texas) was against a team ready to run the table and win it all the next year. The third (2006 USC) was the season where Michigan nearly made the national title game itself but couldn't get three more points against Ohio State in Columbus.
Ohio State, of course, has been to three national title games during the "later years of Lloyd" that you are talking about.
So, your concerns about losing bowls and to Ohio State are really about not measuring up against what were the absolute best teams in the country in most of those circumstances. Here's a newsflash: One team MUST lose each of those games and Michigan can't win the national title every year, or even every other year.
Or, as it has turned out, even once every fifty years. Exactly where comes this assumption that Michigan is even supposed to be in this conversation most every week of most every season?
In short, that's a pretty unrealistic set of expectations.
And if it's poorly developed players and bad coaching that has gotten them as far as they've come, then I must ask again who is responsible for winning all of those games? How did this program get good enough to be in a position to repeatedly lose ROSE BOWLS to the very best teams in the land?
Who did all this and where have they gone?
about 1 month ago
Yes, it's unrealistic to expect a victory in every game. But the question is, 'Why was Lloyd Carr so unsuccessful against Jim Tressel?". Is it because he had inferior teams? I certainly don't think so and the recruits he brought in on a yearly basis were on par with what Tressel had. If Ohio State did have far superior players or teams, how was Lloyd able to dominate John Cooper only to go 1-6 against Jim Tressel? Players graduate, but the caliber of player at both schools hasn't changed. The only explanation for the disparity is coaching.
The issue wasn't whether or not Lloyd Carr is a good coach. The issue was, is Lloyd Carr capable of beating Ohio State, winning Big10 championships, and competing for National Championships.
about 1 month ago
lol....wow...last year losing at home to App. State..this year...losing to Toledo! Michigan is the laughing stock of college football. Just wait until the Buckeyes.....you will be beaten like a read headed step child. I LOVE all the Michigan cry babies. Great hire U of M....Rich Rod....won at WV who played a joke of a schedule....i have seen High Schools that had tougher schedules than WV. Now, he will be smoked by a very slow Big 10, and now...beaten up by a MAC school. Michigan should be happy they dont play Ball State this year!
about 1 month ago
"The issue wasn't whether or not Lloyd Carr is a good coach. The issue was, is Lloyd Carr capable of beating Ohio State, winning Big10 championships, and competing for National Championships."
A) Yes. He had a losing streak to OSU, but he was competitive in many of those games, and IIRC he had one team going into that game as #2.
B) He won Big 10 championships. See original post.
C) We are SO MUCH BETTER now. Good Lord. We are going to end up looking like freakin' Minnesota. This offense is a gimmick. You are right. The old days were horrible. I hated going to the game, or watching an away game at 'keepers, and enjoying Michigan victories. That totally blew. I really enjoy the hope of rising to football mediocrity.
Alot of people want their teams to be consistenly up there, like the 'Niners in the 80's. The fact of the matter is that Michigan wasn't that caliber team. Neither is OSU. But they were (in M's case) very very close.
That was fun.
from about 1 month ago
Competitive, but not successful. 1-6 vs Tressel. Sorry Jim, but that's unacceptable. I'm still not sold on Rich Rod, but a change was needed.
from about 1 month ago
"Competitive, but not successful. 1-6 vs Tressel. Sorry Jim, but that's unacceptable. I'm still not sold on Rich Rod, but a change was needed. "
Yes. And we got it. 2-4. Much better.
Change. Yes. Listening to the Wolverines is now very similar to listening to the Lions.
I'll take 1-6 vs. Tressel and a few tweaks to try to improve vs. a complet charlie foxtrot.
Tell me this. All of our dreams are fulfilled and in 2010 the Football Odyssey continues. We are 5-0 and killing everybody.
Then someone injures our QB. We are toast.
Carr won, won cleanly, and I was proud to support the program.
about 1 month ago
To say that Michigan does'nt have the talent is ludacris. There are talented athletes on this team that can compete. They are not being used nor coached to their ability. I am a Toney Clemons fan. Clemons was recruited by Coach Rod. Clemons went to Michigan because of the coaching staff, the system, the ability of the coaching staff to get you to the next level, and the Michigan tradition. Who has Coach Rod sent to the NFL? Clemons is a record breaker for the recievers in the weight room, he had the best camp of the recievers. He has'nt been on the field. Why? Is it because he did'nt choose WVU and by golly look who you're playing (or not) for now! The Toledo game...what is he or any reciever to do if the ball is thrown to high for you to even jump to catch it or it's thrown to the wrong shoulder or to low? A reciever is as good as his QB and a QB as good as his line. All one unit. We all know how that flows. Leadership on the offense? These are 17, 18, 19 just 20 year olds. They don't have the guidance of a Mike Hart or Jake Long. The sophomores could step up but they are being benched by RR because they are not his recruits. You have a team of freshmen that are playing because RR promised them that if you come with me you will play as a freshmen they don't care about leadership they are playing on national TV and making headlines! So let them step up and lead as stars. RR does'nt want Carr's recruits. Next year UM will play freshmen and sophomores. Another season like this one. Hopefully Sam and Odoms will not be too beat up to carry the team then and the next two years.
about 1 month ago
People need to remember that Rich Rodriguez was not their first choice, in fact he was far from it. While I didn't, and still don't agree with the hire, Coleman and Martin needed to do something, and they did. Personally, I think the hire will set them back five or more years. I believe he is already on the hot seat. I am sure the Michigan faithful will disagree. That is fine, but they are wrong. Martin is on the hot seat and has been for some time due to the basketball team's performance and his sometimes rocky relationship with the late great Bo (RIP). If Martin is on the hot seat, the men that represent two of his three big investments, are on the hot seat as well. That is just the way it is.
Personally, I laughed when he was hired, because I saw all of this coming. Rich Rodriguez is not the coach some people think he is. He was successful at Tulane, but Tulane is a mid-major and he had three second round draft picks on his offense and more speed than his opponents. At Clemson, he was not all that successful in the ACC which is why as soon as he left, Bowden dumped his offense, quickly. His offense worked against the lower half of the ACC, but only marginally well against the top half and it didn't work at all against Florida State. Remember, this was during the time when the ACC was a one team league. While it did work better in the Big East, his scheme tailed off at the end of his tenure as it was regularly shut down or held in check by the likes of South Florida, Pitt, Cincinnati and UConn. Not exactly a murderers row of opponents. The fact of the matter is that his scheme only works when it is newly implemented. Once teams see it, his offenses become average rather quickly.
Most Michigan fans seem to think he is going to get the best of the best. While the jury is still out, that assertion is at best a complete guess. He could not get to a championship game when he had more speed and athletic ability than every team on his schedule, what makes people think he will do it when the odds are more even. Take a look at Penn State if you want to reboot a team. Penn State has as much speed as any team in the country and have simply scaled up their two minute offensive, that is it. Michigan is in trouble. There is no doubt. Rich Rodriguez may or may not be able to bring them back up to the Lloyd Carr standard, which is pretty much the standard Michigan had set for itself over the previous forty years. A good team, but not the national power Michigan fans want. If Michigan wants a national power, they should have followed Penn State's lead. Build on what they have and start to inject SEC type speed into the mix. Stop trying to compete against Ohio State (and vice versa) and start competing against the nation. It is as simple as that.
about 1 month ago
Man, am I ever glad Rich Rod turned Bama down!
from about 1 month ago
And likewise, I'm pleased that Michigan State finally found another Nick Saban. The place hadn't been the same since he left, but it's starting to look familiar again.
about 1 month ago
I agree tonie. Michigan does have alot of talent and they should be conteneding for the big 10 title this year. It was a mistake to hire Rich Rod. These players were so used to playing classic michigan football and now they have to basically erase all of that and play a whole new system that just doesn't win games right now. Everybody knows that once rich rod gets his players the team will be good, but Michigan has great players right now that just need to play a different style of football. In my opinion Michigan football didnt need a change, in coaching maybe but to change the system was a big mistake and they're paying the price this year. With a loss to Toldeo Michigan will not make a bowl game this season, unless the go back to playing michigan football which will never happen.
from about 1 month ago
Michigan really doesn't have as many talented players as everyone thinks. A lot of them are either A. injured, B. not stepping up, or C. struggling. The team as an entirety is just struggling. No excuses. Coaches, players, its on them all.
about 1 month ago
"If Michigan wants a national power, they should have followed Penn State's lead."
Amen.
The Spread should have been a neat formation we ran out of our normal offense, if we wanted it.
I admit, I was sucked in by Barwis. But now we have a raft of injuries and a losing season. And along the way, our team is getting worse.
Jim
from about 1 month ago
Ahh... the Barwis Revolt.
I've been wondering when those injuries would bring out that bug.
from about 1 month ago
To elaborate on what some would call my "glib" way of speaking...
The Barwis magic is supposed to make a team stronger so it can outlast a team in the second half. Well.... If you can't beat up on a team like Toledo while playing at home in the second half, then something's amiss with the theory.
And that's before you talk about injuries.
BTW: Penn State is a 23.5 pt favorite, according to a line I just read.
about 1 month ago
I just keep thinking back to when we had a Freshman at QB (Henne) a Freshman at RB (Hart) and still managed to have a winning season.
That is a well managed, well balanced offense and a well managed system.
Now, our defense, which was supposed to be the strength of the team, looks like a joke. Under Carr you had horrible games (A.S.). Now, we are having a horrible season.
My personal feeling is that 10 years from now the spread is going to be like the Run & Shoot, a nifty gimmick formation you use for the 2 minute drill.
As to the Barwis revolt, its a legitimate question. From what I've read Barwis' techniques are sound (The Olympic lifts have been around forever). However, the rash of injuries makes you wonder what is going on? Gittleson didn't have 'prehabbing' but neither did he have the rash of injuries?
Perhaps there was somethign to having a bit more mass to protect you? I don't know.
I worry that Rich Rod will stay for two years and have two lousy seasons. Then its decided a change needs to be made, and a new coach coming in to put in a conventional offense has a bunch of guys who are 20lbs underweight for a full season of facing heavy running teams.
Jim
about 1 month ago
Jeff you contradicted yourself.
I too was wondering when the rash of injuries would come up. I don't think they get enough "recovery" time before they have to start working out again. They lift the following day after the game. Not good. They are building all of these new facilities, have state of the art equipment, new this new that to get them faster, quicker yet they failed to bring in a staff of massage therapist.
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