Andy Katz has written an interesting article on coaching succession in college. He isn’t talking about football (his focus is on Syracuse basketball), but this is certainly a relevant topic for the imminent retirement of Lloyd Carr.

Linky

Will Michigan follow the suit of Syracuse basketball (and Wisconsin football), or let Lloyd retire before searching for a head coaching candidate? It seems that, although Syracuse and Wisconsin certainly look forward, it’s definitely not a trend in the NCAA.

My take on the matter is that I would like to have a successor named prior to Lloyd’s final season (which is likely to come this year, or almost certainly in 2008). This would ease possible hits to recruiting, because recruits would know there is going to be continuity, and other head coaches (Miles, Meyer, Weis), would not be able to cast doubt on Lloyd’s tenure as head coach. Naming a successor would likely require promoting from within, something I am in favor of, though many in the Wolverine Nation are not.

Internal Candidates
The two prime internal candidates are quite obviously the two coordinators, OC Mike Debord and DC Ron English. Erik Campbell has been associate head coach for a while, but I don’t believe that he is looked at as a legitimate head coaching candidate, or he probably would have been promoted to a coordinator position in his 13 years at Michigan.

Ron English
One knock on English is that he hasn’t proven that he is a great coach, but rather than he is a great motivator and recruiter. However, my opinion on the matter is that those two domains are where the head coach must excel, and let his coordinators and other assistants do the scheming, etc. Another advantage of English is that he has shown to have a slightly more aggressive philosophy than fans are used to seeing from the Maize and Blue. English is a hot commodity, and it is likely that he would last only one or two more years as a Michigan assistant before being hired as a head coach either here or somewhere else.

Mike Debord
Debord, on the other hand, is a less exciting candidate. He gets a lot of (undeserved) flak for being uninspiring in his offense, but he is a brilliant coordinator and game planner, with the sole exception of the Rose Bowl debacle. Debord showed at Central Michigan that he may not be the most successful head coach in the world, but one must take into account the inherent advantages that Michigan holds over a MAC program. Still, a head coach shouldn’t need to have built-in advantages to succeed, and perhaps a better head coach (who could succeed at the lower level), would be able to use these advantages to take the program to all-new heights.

If you disagree with my take on the matter, feel free to debate in the comments.

Posted under Coaching

…which is Cold Pizza, but with a less retarded name.

When asked about LeBron, he said that King James is the only reason people in Cleveland are talking about basketball, instead of just the Browns with his boy Braylon. He was talking to Dana (another Michigan alum) and she dug it.

Also, arghhh boring offseason.

Posted under Blog News

1 Day, two commits. Hooray! 6-6 Tight End from Trotwood-Madison.

More on both of these guys coming up soon.

Posted under Recruiting

Indiana Offensive Lineman Kurt Wermers is expected to announce his commitment to Michigan this week. He will be the third OL commit for the Wolverines. At 6-5 and 260, he is projected to be a big guard. With Dan O’Neill at tackle, and Elliot Mealer (and now Wermers) at guard, Michigan will most likely take one more tackle in this class and be done with O-Line recruiting.

This marks a departure from the standard UM method of OL recruiting. In the past, they typically have grabbed the majority of OL commitments (if not all) after camp. I’m not sure there’s really anything to read into the difference this year, but it is certainly there.

Posted under Recruiting

There are courtesy of Scout Message Board user SuperStudSteve (ironically, an OSU fan who isn’t even named Steve).

White and Blue Away:

White on White Away:

Yellow on Blue Home:

Yellow on Yellow Home:

The away ones are Adrian Arrington from the Penn State game last year, and the home mockups are Marshawn Lynch with Mike Hart’s head (note the Cal logo on the V-neck).

My Opinion:

White on Blue looks alright, though I’m not sure it’s an improvement over the yellow pants. Personally, I think all away jerseys are getting a little played out (Texas does it best), and am not interested in seeing them (I know we had them in the 70s or 80s).
As far as the home Jerseys, I think the all yellow looks like crap. The yellow-on-blue, on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing a maximum of once a year for a special occasion. The majority of fans who are opposed think the “tradition” of the home jerseys shouldn’t be tampered with. However, like Brian feels toward night games, I don’t think a special occasion-type uniform would bring a certain energy to the team (think: maize out), and couldn’t hurt in marketing the program a bit (it would be a big enough deal to get play on random ESPN talk show #s 1-6).

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Posted under Misc.

Long time no post (arrgh boring offseason), so here’s a little bit of info on a couple of recent Michigan graduates.

Jerome Jackson (looks good)
Alan Branch

I’ll be out of town this week, so unless Paul posts something, don’t expect a ton of content. When I come back around, I plan to do more editorializing-type stuff, rather than just posting straight news, so look forward to it.

Posted under Personnel

Academic Progress Report for Michigan is available here, along with every Division I school.

Men’s Gymnastics was somehow in the 10th-20th percentile(!) within its sport, as was women’s basketball. Field hockey and women’s rowing were in the 20th-30th percentile within their respective sports. Every other sport had a respectable place among its peers.

These scores also provide an easy way to determine varsity sports that Michigan does not have:
Men’s Fencing
Men’s Lacrosse
Men’s Skiing
Men’s Volleyball
Men’s Water Polo
Women’s Bowling
Women’s Fencing
Women’s Ice Hockey
Women’s Lacrosse
Women’s Skiing
Co-ed Rifle

Posted under Blog News

Obviously unaware that the Michigan Basketball coach is prohibited from interacting with media.

Highlights:

• His final assistant will be Jerry Dunn, unless Dunn lands a head coaching gig somewhere else. If that’s the case, they will conduct interviews to complete the staff.
• He took his first full campus tour yesterday (I actually know a lot of people who saw him around), and liked it.
• He didn’t explicitly say what was going to happen with the unused scholarships (Reed Baker’s, Alex Legion’s). He likes transfers that are looking to move to a bigger stage, however.
• He has never has a favorite NBA team. Now the Pistons will be his favorite team. When he watches games, he is focusing on individual skills, not rooting one way or the other.
• The summer camps have been rescheduled to not conflict with other things (recruiting). There will also be team camps, where entire AAU teams are welcomed.

Posted under Basketball

One of those annoying photo albums that they do.

If you hate clicking through those bastards, here is a spoiler for you:

25) Erik Ainge QB Tennessee
24) Vince Hall LB Virginia Tech
23) Dan Connor LB Penn State
22) Shawn Crable LB Michigan
21) Adarius Bowman WR Oklahoma State
20) James Laurinaitis LB Ohio State*
19) James Davis RB Clemson
18) Vernon Gholston DE Ohio State*
17) Sam Baker OT Southern California
16) Keith Rivers LB Southern California
15) Steve Slaton RB West Virginia*
14) Keenan Burton WR Kentucky
13) Derrick Harvey DT Florida*
12) Desean Jackson WR California*
11) Tyson Jackson DE Louisiana State
10) Gosder Cherilus OT Boston College
9) Limas Sweed WR Texas
8) Chris Long DE Virginia
7) Philip Merling DL Clemson
6) Chad Henne QB Michigan
5) Aqib Talib CB Kansas
4) Brian Brohm QB Lousiville
3) Talais Campbell DE Miami*
2) Jake Long OT Michigan
1) Darren McFadden RB Arkansas

You can’t really complain about Humanity Advanced being the number one guy off the board. Asterisks denote underclassmen (will still have eligibility after ’07). Long is the first OT off the board (obviously), Henne the second QB, Crable the third LB. After a good draft year like this one, three preseason projections as first-rounders isn’t bad at all. Obviously these lists are projections and aren’t OMG Mel Kiper Brady Quinn Official. Laurinaitis picture linked because it’s against Michigan.

The only really questionable prospects I saw were Merling, Burton, and Bowman, who I have never heard of, despite being an avid follower of college football. I hadn’t heard of the OT from BC either, but offensive linemen get no exposure until the draft rolls around, and BC gets no exposure because they generally suck.

Posted under Personnel

Didn’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about Michigan, though the interview he gave was a fluff piece for the Stanford Scout site, so I guess that’s to be expected.

The Eligibility Chart and Depth Chart have been updated accordingly.

At this point, I will refrain from commenting on pot-gate.

Posted under Personnel