This Month in MGoBlog History - December 2007: A Spinning Coaching Carousel Ends in Rich Rodriguez

Submitted by Maize.Blue Wagner on

Previously:

November 2007

 

December 1 - Saturday

Well the month starts with an ESPN Gameday report from Kirk Herbsteit that Les Miles to Michigan with Jon Tenuta as DC is official. The rest of the month must be all about finalizing the details, right?

Wait...what? Miles has signed a contract...extension with LSU.

Yep, it’s over. Press conferences are scheduled.

Angelique was on ESPN News to say it’s over. Bill Martin didn’t talk with Miles’ agent that morning.

Press conference video. Maybe it’s not over?

More statements from Miles, these unequivocal. It’s over.

December 3 - Monday

So what happened? Best guess is that LSU gave Miles an ultimatum, but he had not gotten any assurance from Martin. Once Herbstreit broke the “Miles to Michigan” news, Miles had to commit one way or another. If that hadn’t happened so quickly, he might have had time to use his contract extension with LSU as leverage.

Schiano has not been contacted! But ‘M’ has reportedly shown interest in Brady Hoke. This can’t be believed though.

December 4 - Tuesday

Maybe Miles will be in play after the national championship game? Maybe Ron English will have a one year internship as head coach? Brian doesn’t believe that Martin was unavailable on Saturday because he was sailing. That’s too far fetched.

So Miles’ contract extension hasn’t been signed yet, so maybe there’s a sliver of a chance?

Unverified Voracity Writes Open Letters. At least encourages open letters to Martin. The fires are stoked by a letter from a former player regarding the Miles debacle. Also, no one has a clue about who will be considered next.

Profiles in Heroism: Paul Johnson.

Kirk Ferentz is the leading candidate...again.

December 5 - Wednesday

So the rumor that Martin was sailing over the weekend has been moved to “likely”.

If Martin was a president, he would be William Henry Harrison. If he was a world-changing invention, he would be a Segway. If he was a football coach, he would be Charlie Weis.

Tom Dienhart says Brady Hoke is the leading candidate, so that’s obviously wrong.

Blogpoll will be delayed for technical reasons.

Profiles in Heroism: Kirk Ferentz.

Ferentz would not be a disaster of a hire, but he would be a disappointing one. He's no more moral than dozens of coaches across the country. He's increasingly incapable of keeping the kids he recruits under control. He lost to Iowa State and Western Michigan this year. He represents the closest thing to an extension of the Carr era available out there

And now the sailing rumor has been moved to confirmed.

December 6 - Thursday

Martin says he’s following a process, and he’s confident in the direct it’s going.

For Martin to simultaneously go "well, I never!" when LSU made their dastardly offer before the agreed-upon speaking-time and claim he's being "very aggressive" is ridiculous. It's ludicrously ridiculous and many other words that end in "ous" and generally indicate something improbable.

Profiles in Heroism: Greg Schiano.

December 7 - Friday

Schiano met with Martin in New York, was basically offered, and...turned the job down.

Brian is bothered that it has come to this.

So now what? Schiano's out, Ferentz is out twice, Miles is (probably) out, and Brian Kelly is allergic to cats and Carr is demanding his pet Siamese Wuffles be appointed offensive coordinator. Or something. Jeff Tedford would probably say "thanks, but no" and Michigan is looking at... who? Brady Hoke or an interim Ron English? Someone shoot me. If it comes down to that, there's one clear choice: make a run at Miles. If that requires firing Martin, then fire Martin.

Profiles in Heroism: Chris Peterson.

Broken link to something in this post, but Brian says that if you’ve been living under a rock, stay there.

Blogpoll Week 16.

Sean Payton is a candidate? No, that’s already shot down.  

Recap of Miles interview with Dan Patrick.

December 10 - Monday

Well, Miles is in play again. Apparently, Mary Sue Coleman has gotten involved, and there is an offer on the table. The anti-Miles faction is pushing Brady Hoke.

Unverified Voracity Has Flashbacks because App St. is playing winged helmets (Delaware) in the national championship game. Also, John Wienke is looking around at other schools.

Steve Sarkisian gets mentioned, and to Brian’s delight, Jeff Tedford.

Profiles in Cronyism: Brady Hoke. There are a lot of different emotions going on in the comments that have been left over the years.

Overall Attractiveness: Awful. Awful, awful, awful. The worst possible candidate. The mere idea this guy -- who's never even been a coordinator anywhere and has his MAC team performing at a level well below the program's historical baseline -- could get the job is infuriating. Only at Michigan could this happen, and if it does I guarantee you that Bo is going to haunt the mofo that signs the contract.

December 11 - Tuesday

Despite renewed interest between ‘M’ and Miles, the LSU AD is saying no way; who would want move out of the south?

Terry Foster says Marvin Lewis is a candidate which is obviously false. This is partly because he is expected to be fired before the end of the season.

And again, Miles is no longer a candidate.

An imagined phone conversation between Miles, Martin, and Coleman.

December 12 - Wednesday

Again, what is going on? Also, Jim Grobe is a hot new rumor.

I would like to believe in the magic of smokescreens, but when a phone call with Les Miles, Mary Sue Coleman, and Bill Martin that should remain secret hits WTKA, then here, then the Free Press the problem with the search is not its obscurity but its transparency. And it's transparent that Michigan is flailing, divided amongst itself, and rapidly running out of plausible options.

December 13 - Thursday

Adrift. Here is a good recap of where things stand:

  • Carr retires, claiming the timing of said retirement has nothing to do with helping or harming anyone's chances at the job.

  •  

  • Kirk Ferentz is the first hot candidate. I still believe if he was willing to accept a paycut (and, possibly, Carrassistantpalooza) he'd be the coach and the search would have been brief. A few days after Carr retires, he's out again.

  •  

  • Les Miles is now a "done deal" for about a week.

  •  

  • ESPN and Kirk Herbsreit create the brief Miles-Tenuta era. Flowers sprout across the state. Wolves stop their eternal thirst for deer meat and sit down to have a nice cup of tea with representatives of the local ungulate population. GM announces six plant openings. Honda declares bankruptcy.

  •  

  • Sailboat Bill Martin sails on sailboat as Frantic Telephoning Agent Guy frantically telephones Sailboat Bill.

  •  

  • Miles announces he's staying at LSU. Flowers die. Honda buys ad space on Jennifer Granholm's forehead, tatoos "Suck It, America" on said forehead, crushes auto industry wholesale. Deer viscera everywhere.

  •  

  • New hot candidate: Kirk Ferentz. That dies again.

  •  

  • Actual new hot candidate: Greg Schiano, who reportedly turns down a contract offer comparable to the one he turned down from Miami last year. Reports that Schiano had tentatively accepted an offer before reversing course twist the knife.

  •  

  • Another new old hot candidate: Miles, who has a conference call with Mary Sue Coleman and Martin.

  •  

  • Miles shoots down hopes once more with a tersely-worded press release. Off camera, Skip Bertman holds a gun to his wife's head, Jack Bauer-style. Flowers die again.

  •  

  • Toyota tatoos something unspeakable on Granholm's butt. Wolves start eating people.

Andy Moeller got a DUI.

Next rumor up: Delaware head coach KC Keeler. This went so far that he had to deny reports. If anyone is interested, he is 44-11 over the last four seasons at Sam Houston St.

December 14 - Friday

And in the midst of all this, Brian decided it was a good time to switch things up and start using WordPress.

Mailbag covers Brian’s thoughts on Jim Harbaugh, Jim Grobe, and how he would have handled things if he were in charge.

Next rumor up: Rich Rodriguez. Apparently, Coleman and Martin were in Toledo negotiating with Rodriguez.

December 15 - Saturday

Rodriguez has legs.

What a weird guy to come up: Rodriguez was a WVU player under Don Nehlen, a name that may not ring bells among Michigan fans of my age or younger. Nehlen, however, was a Schembechler assistant and retains ties to the program. So he's got a tenuous connection. However: Pac Man Jones, Chris Henry, etc. If there's a guy with obvious skeletons in the closet, it's Rodriguez, who's walked a fine line with guys of questionable character at WVU.

Brian goes to WVU Scout board to find a poster who had reliable information during the Rodriguez-to-Bama deal the previous year and the Beilein hire. This guy is fed up with Rodriguez and sounds like he expects him to be gone.

Rodriguez and his agent are refusing to talk or giving unlikely excuses. WVU posters are now saying he is slightly leaning toward staying.

Now the Scout insider is saying that Rodriguez is staying.

December 16 - Sunday

John Wienke has decommitted and will likely go to Iowa.

And now message boards have fully reversed course.

The rest of the board is either getting slammed with trolls or stuff is leaking out all over the place. Bob Lichtenfels at Scout is also reporting Rodriguez to Michigan based on a phone call from OMG shirtless mobile QB recruit Terrelle Pryor. I think this might be done.

Rodriguez to Michigan is official. He met with the WVU team earlier in the day.

December 17 - Monday

WVU fans camped out at the airport and got a few (terrible) pictures of the Rodriguez family leaving. Most importantly, the pictures included Calvin Magee and Tony Gibson, obviously indicating that they will be joining Rodriguez in Ann Arbor.

More big staff news as a recruit shares that Mike Barwis will also be coming to Michigan.

Unverified Butter Voracity Time. This post hasn’t aged well with comments on Rodrigues being “Bo’s last gift to the program”, he will adapt to Ryan Mallett, and he will be here for more than three years.

Profiles in Heroism: Rich Rodriguez.

Overall Attractiveness: There were three, maybe four, obvious A-list candidates who seemed feasible going into the year: Miles, Tedford, Rodriguez, and possibly Schiano. After flailing about for a solid month, they locked down an A-list candidate. There are no complaints from this sector. There is an apology pending.

Rodriguez is everything a Michigan fan could want in a hire; to get him after the month-long disappointment train that was the coaching search is manna from heaven.

Along with Magee and Gibson, Rodriguez also wants to retain Jeff Casteel, Bruce Tall, and Bill Stewart.

Buy shirts!

December 18 - Tuesday

Unverified Voracity Replaces Signs. Apparently, Rodriguez would have stayed at WVU if certain demands were met. These were fairly reasonable, but the athletic department did not agree.

Recruiting recap. The class has been kept together very well; however, all uncommitted prospects have faded away. The biggest news is Terrelle Pryor.

When Rodriguez left for Michigan, Pryor might have been the first guy to know. Pryor called up Bob Lichtenfels, told him the news, and said "put Michigan on my list." Some low-level internet buzz suggests he's not just interested, but likely to commit.

Basketball Recruiting. MI F Jordan Morgan has committed. It is also likely that SG Laval Lucas-Perry will transfer from Arizona.

December 19 - Wednesday

Apparently, there were rumors on WVU boards that Rodriguez would still come back. These have been put to rest with his immediate firing (his resignation was effective January 3).

Brian’s behind on his day.

K’len Morris is transferring from the basketball team.  

Brian culls other blogs for Rodriguez reaction. It’s a lot of sour grapes, which is retrospect sound sadly prophetic.

December 20 - Thursday

Brian gives an introspective, self-depreciating post as an apology and recap of the events of the last month.

A question: was this blog useful at all during the coaching search?

The traffic numbers indicate that it was at least interesting, but in the end the stuff on this blog couldn't have been more wrong. There was a ten minute window during which

  • MGoBlog had a post in which it noted the WVU message boards had done a sudden 180, and

  • said 180 had not reached the mainstream media.

If you managed to visit the blog in this brief window you had accurate insight into Michigan's next coach you could not have gotten elsewhere. The cost was a nonstop avalanche of stuff that induced panic, made Bill Martin a sailboat pariah, and made everyone depressed for the better part of a month.

Then, bam: Rodriguez! Don't we all look foolish. Most especially me.

 December 21 - Friday

To everyone’s surprised, Rodriguez has fired all current assistant coaches. Maybe Steve Stripling will be retained.

Brian’s Christmas and New Year schedule.

A “stocking stuffer” post of various Michigan college football articles. Also, Varsity Blue reports that Fred Jackson will be retained.

December 27 - Thursday

Content for the rest of the month will be delayed by a day.

December 29 - Saturday

UFR: Offense vs. OSU.

What does it mean for Florida?

If Henne is not healthy we have no chance. If he playing at his apex we have a shot. Our running game is uncreative and full of fail and, like everything Mike Debord does, makes babies cry. We should use our killer wideouts and attack the Florida secondary, the Gators' weak point, but we might have to do so with the burned out husk of Henne or Mallett's suck festival.

December 30 - Sunday

UFR: Defense vs. OSU. Big day from Tim Jamieson with a +7.

December 31 - Monday

Florida Preview.

Loss will cause me to... UFR WVU games.

Win will cause me to... UFR WVU games.

The strictures and conventions of sportswriting compel me to predict:

We lose bad. This team has been disjointed and disinterested most of the year, and now they know they're in this bowl they don't deserve to be in against a team that's probably a lot better than them; the coaching staff is getting replaced wholesale, to boot.

And we're playing some sort of awful hybrid Michigan kryptonite, and it's a 100% road game, and it appears that one or both of Hart/Henne will not be 100%. Woo! Shoot me.

Finally, three opportunities for me to look stupid Sunday:

  • 4 Michigan fans attend.

  • They're pretty pissed off.

  • Florida, 35-17.

Comments

stephenrjking

December 3rd, 2017 at 1:24 AM ^

What a zoo of a month. Man am I glad to be done with that.

RR really was the best available candidate. In retrospect, Ferentz would have produced the best performance--he'd have beaten OSU more than once, not gotten the program in trouble, and produced a year or two that were really good but just short of great. 

But he was always Lloyd part 2 and I wanted a guy that could compete with Pete Carroll and win.

The guy that could compete with Pete Carroll and win was an innovative offensive mind. A guy who adapted with the times, who wanted to win with cruelty, who actually used the athletes to their fullest ability. Who ran a system that was ahead of its time, scything through rivals in a way that left the nation in awe.

It turns out that this guy was named Chip Kelly.

But everyone thought it was Rich Rodriguez, and he was a good hire given the context of the day.

M-Dog

December 3rd, 2017 at 11:51 PM ^

There is a lot of revisionist history about Rich Rod at Michigan, but we were all excited as hell about the hire at the time.

We were completely befuddled and humiliated by the Spread against App State and Oregon earlier in the year   . . . and now we were going to get the guy that was widely credited with inventing it!

After a decade of driving the outdated Ford minivan, we were going to upgrade to a Ferrari.

This was so not us.  This was so damn exciting.

We could not believe our good fortune.  It was Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

it did not work out of course, but we had no way of knowing that at the time.

 

Brodie

December 4th, 2017 at 3:28 PM ^

Sure, but I think we can agree that in the cold light of day RR was at his absolute peak in 2007 and wouldn't have maintained that level of production even at WVU. The winds of change were blowing too quickly and guys like Kelly and Meyer would surpass him before the end of the decade. 

crg

December 4th, 2017 at 6:16 PM ^

Speak for yourself - I remember that coaching search vividly and I was not impressed with hire (I thought Miles would have been the best hire at the time, but hard to say if that would have worked out).  I did not believe RR's offense would work in the Big Ten, although I had no inclination the defense would become such a problem after he arrived.

Brodie

December 4th, 2017 at 11:11 PM ^

I hope whatever schadenfreude you get from being correct about Rich Rodriguez is moderated somewhat by how successful Urban Meyer has been running a spread it Ohio State. There is absolutely no reason that a particular style of offense cannot work in any given conference.

Magnus

December 7th, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^

Michigan was #3 in PPG in 2010, #3 in 2009, and #11 in 2008.

Michigan was #1 in YPG in 2010, #7 in 2009, and #11 in 2008.

The problem was that the offense would bog down against good teams. Against four ranked teams in 2010, Michigan scored a combined 66 points (16.5 PPG). Michigan scored 18 PPG against four ranked teams in 2009, and 17 PPG against four ranked teams in 2008.

And in three seasons against Ohio State, Michigan scored 24 total points (8 PPG).

Blau

December 11th, 2017 at 11:23 PM ^

the leftover mini van parts.

By the time RR got "his" offensive playmakers, he had pissed everyone off with shitty defensive play and coaching, the ice was just too thin for someone with no Michigan connections to survive. Everyone wanted the mini van again.

Most wanted RR gone, even when they knew his next upcoming season could've (should've?) produced a B1G championship-caliber team. Hoke got close with his transition year before man-balling everyone to a slow, self-defeating death (winning against the weakest OSU team in recent memory) but it just wasn't in the cards for ol' RichRod. Wasn't in the cards for Hoke either, I guess?

Brodie

December 4th, 2017 at 5:48 PM ^

I think the issue is that there was a lot of institutional rot in the late Carr years that made a lot of people want to turn things over completely, but I think it's fair to say that the growing pains of the RR years were avoidable and resulted in two additional coaching searches that have set us back a fair bit. Combined with the issues already screwing us over, things got bleak.

I agree a guy like Ferentz or even Schiano would have been fine. In this alternate world, we ride Steven Threet to a 7-5 2008 and then plough along with 8 or 9 wins as we had been most years since the early 90's. We would have been more even with MSU and probably could have grabbed more than one from OSU along the way. It would have been more of the same, without the prospect of Harbaugh at the end of the rainbow.
 

Brimley

December 9th, 2017 at 2:13 PM ^

You don't think Mallet stays if Ferentz is hired?  I always assumed he took a look at Rich's spread option and said, "Nope."

Whatever.  With the benefit of hindsight and a certain degree of wisdom, the biggest issue at the time was Lloyd's utter lack of coaching tree.  There was no obvious heir in 2007 and we wandered the wilderness for years as a result.

Brodie

December 4th, 2017 at 5:48 PM ^

I think the issue is that there was a lot of institutional rot in the late Carr years that made a lot of people want to turn things over completely, but I think it's fair to say that the growing pains of the RR years were avoidable and resulted in two additional coaching searches that have set us back a fair bit. Combined with the issues already screwing us over, things got bleak.

I agree a guy like Ferentz or even Schiano would have been fine. In this alternate world, we ride Steven Threet to a 7-5 2008 and then plough along with 8 or 9 wins as we had been most years since the early 90's. We would have been more even with MSU and probably could have grabbed more than one from OSU along the way. It would have been more of the same, without the prospect of Harbaugh at the end of the rainbow.
 

Brodie

December 4th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^

Schiano turned the job down and we knew about it. 

What we did not know at the time is that he later attempted to get the job back after Joe Paterno told him PSU was eventually planning to put Bradley in charge, this came out in John U. Bacon's book. 

M-Dog

December 4th, 2017 at 2:22 AM ^

It is fascinating to read through these again.  I remember them well.  It's amazing how much of this stuff is still available on the internet a decade later.

It brings back a lot of memories.

IMO, it brought out Brian's best writing ever.

Yeah, we were definitely NOT higher up the food chain in 2007 than Tennessee is now.  It was just not as nationally publicized back then as it is now.  Our 2007 train wreck coaching search was mostly just the domain of Michigan-centric outlets like MGoBlog.

I would have absolutely fainted back then if you told me that we would go through two more of these searches in the next 8 years.

Unbelievable.

 

 

evenyoubrutus

December 3rd, 2017 at 9:29 PM ^

I'll never forget that month. My newlywed wife whom I had married six months earlier was recovering from major back surgery. I was at home taking care of her, and I hopped on my Dell Inspiron laptop and checked out this awesome new Michigan blog per the advice of my recent M law grad brother to see if there was any good info on the coaching search. I was immediately hooked and never strayed away.

jmblue

December 3rd, 2017 at 11:27 PM ^

Wow, I didn't remember Brian being such a fan of Brian Kelly.  

It's funny.  Reading these I find myself getting into it again, excited over the highs and down over the lows, even though I know exactly how it all ended...

evenyoubrutus

December 4th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^

I think there was a time when Kelly's personality was more arcane and he was considered, at least among the masses, as the leading candidate. As it turns out, he had burned too many bridges at Michigan to even be considered at all. There were rumors he used to call and "recruit" Michigan players who were on the bench to come play at Grand Valley. That sort of thing would never fly here.

Thank God for that.

M-Dog

December 3rd, 2017 at 11:38 PM ^

This was the month I switched from MGoBlog-lurker to MGoBlog-member so I could comment on the coaching search.

My wife's boss, a West Virginia congressman, was close friends with Eddie Pastilong (WVU AD).  There was some bad blood between Rich Rod and Pastilong.  She knew in November '07 that Rich Rod was going to leave WVU and go to Michigan. 

 

 

 

Gitback

December 4th, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^

With so many opinions on the RR hire, its inevitable that a few are going to hit close to the mark, and a couple did.  Brian, and probably most Michigan fans, were dismissive of anything that declared the hire a mistake, but a few of the reasons actually ended up being accurate.  

Black Shoe Diaries:

What happens if Rodriguez starts ignoring cherished time-honored traditions? What happens if he fails speak of Bo Schembechler and Fielding Yost as if they were saints? What happens when he loses to Ohio State and says "Win some. Lose some" in his post game press conference?

Yup.  That was an issue.  It got to the point that no matter what Rich Rod said it was interpreted as proof that he didn't "understand" Michigan.  This was surprising to me because, at the time, it never would have occurred to me that this could be an issue.  To see someone actually predict this as an issue was kind of impressive... although, had he actually WON, we'd have been more inclined to "pretend we didn't notice" his faux pas's... faux pasez... faux paws?  I have no idea what the plural is for faux pas.  

 

 

Brodie

December 4th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^

Rich "understood" just fine. There just happened to be a whole group of people who, for some reason, stayed loyal to the old guard uber alles and longed for a Bourbon Restoration style elevation of Ron English to the throne... they refused to accept anything RR did, as though you need to spend a decade here before you can understand we don't like Ohio State. 

megalomanick

December 15th, 2017 at 2:25 PM ^

Agreed.

Imagine a coach who treats MSU and OSU as just the next game on the schedule. Goes on to lose those games consistently. Then tops it off by giving a cornerback the #1 jersey.

He would be run out of town on rails...Or hailed as the savior of the program. I guess it depends on if we're talking about Rich Rodriguez or Jim Harbaugh here.

I'm being a bit obtuse, intentionally. I'm well aware there are other factors, and obviously Harbaugh>>>>Rodriguez. Though I still think that the "Michigan Arrogance™" and incestuous "Michigan Man" obsession unfairly torpedoed RR from the start and led to Brady Hoke being elevated to a position that he in no way deserved to be in.

It all worked out in the end, but the hypocrisy still rankles.

snarling wolverine

December 15th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^

Since when does Harbaugh "treat MSU and OSU as just the next game on the schedule"?  That is bullshit.  We just had our most innovative gameplan of the season for OSU.   With the exception of the Durkin game, Harbaugh's teams have been far more competitive against those two than RichRod's - we are incredibly unlucky to be 1-5.   RichRod's teams were blown off the field.

I'm not sure how many people outside the MGoBoard echo chamber care about the #1 jersey either.

I was "all in" for RichRod when we hired him but lost faith in him after a while. He simply didn't get it done.  15-22 overall and 6-18 in B1G play . . . ugh. Moreover, most of those losses were total ass-kickings, including his last three games as coach here.

He's not setting the world on fire in Tucson, either (24-30 in Pac-12 play).  Nine years at P5 schools suggest that he's a guy who can get you 7-8 wins and a crappy bowl, and that's about it.  His WVU record was a mirage.

 

jmblue

December 5th, 2017 at 6:54 AM ^

I think too much is made of this narrative.  If RR's teams had been more successful, he'd have been embraced by more people.  But he not only had a poor overall record, his teams seemed to fall apart after September each season.

In 2008 we started out 2-2, nearly beating undefeated Utah and coming back from 19 down to beat Wisconsin.  Extending the bowl streak seemed plausible.  Then we went 1-7 the rest of the way.

In 2009 we began 4-0 and were ranked in the top 25.  Fans were chanting "Rich Rod-ri-guez!" after games.  Then we went 1-7 the rest of the way.

In 2010 were began 5-0 and Denard was the Heisman frontrunner.  Then we went 2-6 the rest of the way.

Somehow, it seemed, we had become the Michigan equivalent of John L. Smith's MSU teams - hot starts followed by a loss to the in-state rival, and then a collapse.

 

1VaBlue1

December 5th, 2017 at 8:38 AM ^

And he kept blaming everything but himself and his coaches for the flameouts.  He threw players under the bus unapologetically.  He brought more hate and anger towards himself than anyone had towards him when he was hired.  Had he won, it would have worked out just fine.  But he did himself by continuing to lose in spectacular ways on - and off - the field.

SFBlue

December 4th, 2017 at 6:15 PM ^

What to me is the most haunting are the references to Hoke, and how he is being pushed by a "faction" of the U-M constituency. In retrospect, how could that have been anyone but Dave Brandon? In the coming years, the dysfunction of that '07 coaching search was incorporated, then branded, then implemented by the highest levels of the athletic department by Brandon.

Harbaugh almost instantly reversed much of that damage.  What has happened on the field is secondary. 

Tex_Ind_Blue

December 4th, 2017 at 11:24 PM ^

Please tell me that this series stops here. Jan-2008 is too painful to go through again. One exception might be the months between Brandon's ouster and announcing Jim Harbaugh as the new UM coach. Other than that, please leave 2008-2014 in dungeons. No need to relive them. 

jmblue

December 5th, 2017 at 12:35 PM ^

We had several fun basketball seasons in there.  2008-09 ended the NCAA drought; 2010-11 was the year of the Aneurysm of Leadership and mid-season turnaround; 2011-12 was our first Big Ten title in 26 years, and 2012-13 and 2013-14 were all-around awesome.

The 2011 football season was pretty fun too.

Maize.Blue Wagner

December 5th, 2017 at 7:45 PM ^

Ha, yeah sorry, but I'll probably continue. Maybe I'm just a gluton for punshment. 

One of the reasons I started this series two years ago was a faint memory of the crazy days just before the 2010 season. I think Pete Carroll was just dismissed from USC, and I think Troy Woolfolk had just been injured for the season. The college football world seemed to be tipped upside down, and the season hadn't even started. I think this was the time of the original posbang because everyone needed an emotional lift. I want to go back and see what that was all about. 



I would be interesting to try to find all the board posts throughout these eras too, but I don't have time for that.