Thursday, December 6, 2007

Can New Coach Survive?

I know I just posted yesterday, but these thoughts keep coming at me faster than I can type....

Here's a scenario: Once the Bumbling Boob (Come Sail Away With Me Bill Martin) finally does name a permanent or temporary head coach, is there any way the individual can survive?

What do I mean by that? Well let's look at what the "new" guy is going to be faced with:

1. Replacing Lloyd Carr. Yeah, we all know what we "think" now, but history will say that he won 75% of his games. First one he loses, we will all be talking about how Lloyd maintained the record at Michigan...
2. He won't be Les Miles. This one might, just might, be bigger and get more run than #1. If Les Miles continues to win down at LSU, I mean, he stays on top for 5 years or more, this will end up being the hardest thing for the new guy to live down....He will FOREVER BE IN THE MILES Shadow and Miles didn't even coach here....But we will believe that all the victories Les rolls up would have been Michigan victories...His record will FOREVER be compared to Miles. Yep, that one's going to be tough and Michigan will only have itself to blame.
3. No one is going to give him a chance...This one is also very much a reality. Think about it: Michigan Fan's have been abused in this process. So, whoever gets the nod, we are going to know what could have been - and we'll be pissed and who better to vent against than the guy that the Head Boob (DD, I might add) hired to be on the sideline...When it's the Head Boob's Head that we really want on the platter...Not the coach who's busting his hump trying to please the masses...
4. Is Michigan more like Florida, or are they more like Notre Dame? This goes into the "I know what you're thinking, but before you answer" category... Let's go back 6 years ago and look at what was happening. Florida was getting ready to can Zooky...They knew he was gone in September. He just didn't fit there and couldn't successfully replace Spurrier. Notre Dame was also considering dumping Bob Davie - and they knew it. Urban Mayer at Utah had a buyout clause for Notre Dame and Michigan in his contract....Notre Dame figures, "Well, I don't need to talk to this guy - he wants to come here!" So, when they fire Bob, they THEN pick up the phone and say "Hey, Urb, how about coaching the Domers?" Urban, hand over his mouth, with the other hand behind his back and his fingers crossed says he is committed to Utah and a week later goes to Florida...Florida had ALREADY CALLED AND MADE A QUIET DEAL with Urb before they canned Zooky. DomerLand hires and fires O-Leary in the same week and then finally settles on Losingham....Who is canned 3 years later and again the Domers don't have a guy lined up and they settle for the Weasel.....So, which are we more like? Well, from the cheap seats, we're starting to look a lot like the Domers...AND THAT, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE REALLY PISSES ME OFF!!!!! So the new guy will be stepping into a situation that he didn't create but will need to do a whole lot of winning right away to stay out of the 3 years and out scenario...
5. Who, after completely reviewing the facts, would take this Job now? This is probably the most interesting question. Bear with me while I ramble...Everyone who was thinking that Michigan was a dream job was probably thinking, like everyone else, that Miles was the Man. So, now that he's not, anyone who is considering it is probably making a list JUST LIKE THIS ONE and deciding does he want to put himself, his family, and everyone eles connected with him through the scrutiny that is going to come after accepting a job where you were the Fan's #2 candidate? That will be tough, and it's going to either take an EXTREMELY confident individual that knows he can come in and win immediately - and that's not going to be easy to find....Maybe Harbaugh, 'cause he doesn't care what anyone thinks....
6. He better have Michigan Ties. The Fans will go easier on a Michigan Man and give him more time...Anyone else will certainly be the target of pitchfork and axes type rallies for blood if he should go 0.500 in his first 6 or 8 games....We were ready to take Lloyd's head after an 0-2 start...Think a new guy could weather that storm any better? Especially if he wasn't Michigan Maize and Blue???

So, it's getting easier to see that The Boob will probably look towards an interim solution and let the program continue to slip into disparity rather than making the move he needed to make quickly and decisively....

MMQ

No comments: