This Month in MGoBlog History - November 2007: Goodbye, Lloyd Carr

Submitted by Maize.Blue Wagner on

Previously:

October 2007

November 1 - Thursday

A pretty boring recruiting post. Given the coming coaching situation, it’s not surprising that there aren’t any recruits on the board right now who would end up in the class.

UFR: Defense vs. Minnesota. The use of a “5-3-1-7 tech split” and the 3-3-5 seem inadvisable given how poorly they have defended the run. Good days from both Johnson and Taylor with +7 each.

A long copy paste from The Victors message board regarding stadium finances.

November 2 - Friday

Unverified Voracity Clarifies the OMD. Hart and Henne are both doubtful for MSU on Saturday. Also, apparently there was a Russian company on the field during the last game to measure decibels.

Preview: Michigan State.  

Finally, three opportunities for me to look stupid Sunday:

  • Hart plays.

  •  

  • Henne... doesn't.

  •  

  • Prediction One (With Henne, Hart): 35-10, Michigan.

  • Prediction Two (Without Henne, Hart): 21-13, Michigan.

  • Prediction Three(With Hart, Without Henne): 28-13, Michigan

November 3 - Saturday

Michigan State open thread.

Michigan beat Michigan State 28-24. WH highlights part 1 and part 2.

November 4 - Sunday

A schadenfreude Notre Dame post Brian copy/pasted.

November 5 - Monday

Michigan State torrent.

Unverified Voracity Shows You How to Win including pictures of a giant “Bow Down Sparty” sign that was hung in Spartan Stadium at the end of the game.

Michigan State game column.

Caulcrick forgot one thing: Chad Henne is a robot.

On the last two drives he was 12-14 for 129 yards, flinging wide open outs, finding Mathews on a critical third and long, and looping perfect touchdown passes to Greg Mathews and Mario Manningham. He was ruthless, precise, and busy calculating digits of pi deep into the millions. He has a heart of nails and lungs made from old tires; his hair consists of pipe cleaners cropped short and his bones are discarded pipes. You have to whack him in just the right spot at just the right time to get his late-model Soviet guidance chip to seat itself in his shoddy southeast Asian motherboard.

New Shirts!

November 6 - Tuesday

The old Blogspot site seems to disappear here. This next post just redirects to a Youtube video? Anyway, back to the modern site...

Spartans, Your Profession is “Loser”. This post looks about as as you would expect ten years later.

Blogpoll Ballot Week Ten.

Unverified Voracity Isn’t Missing Anything. Should Hart and Henne be held out against Wisconsin in order to be ready for OSU? Probably not, but they might be out anyway.

November 7 - Wednesday

Revised Blogpoll Ballot.

Blogpoll Week 10.

UFR: Defense vs. MSU. A good day from Terrance Taylor and Shawn Crable, but overall things were a little scarier than one would hope.

November 8 - Thursday

Unverified Voracity Wants Blood, Penalties. Things are humming along on the coaching front.

Astute (== not in coma) readers may have noticed a long hiatus in the "Profiles In Heroism" series; this is mostly because further explorations of the coaching pool seem utterly pointless given the sustained buzz about Miles to Michigan. Thus weekly evaluations of LSU.

UFR: Offense vs. MSU.

Heroes?

Robot Henne, Mike Hart's one good leg, and Mario. And Long, always Long.

Goats?

Evil Henne, Mike Hart's one bad leg, and Mario. And OH MY GOD CARSON BUTLER BLOCK SOMEBODY. Seriously, I would not be surprised to see a lot of Criswell coming up. We don't really need a dynamic receiver at TE. We do need someone who can block.

November 9 - Friday

Vicious Electronic Questioning: Wisconsin with Bruce Ciskie. UW has a lot of injuries, most notably RB P.J. Hill. And their safeties are supposed to be terrible.

Preview: Wisconsin.

Finally, three opportunities for me to look stupid Sunday:

  • Michigan racks up five sacks.

  • Hart gets 15 carries.

  • Michigan, 28-20.

Unverified Voracity A Snake A Snake. The Sparty statue got spray painted.

I love "unknown assailant," like Sparty is going to need counseling about this or something.

November 10 - Saturday

Wisconsin beat Michigan 37-21. Highlights.

Wisconsin open thread.

November 12 - Monday

Wisconsin game column. So Henne and Hart were mostly kept out of the game.

Could either have played? Absolutely. If Wisconsin was Ohio State they both would have, but it was not and they did not. You can debate the wisdom of this move, but not the result: the Wisconsin game was a glorified exhibition to Michigan. Both lines took their cues from the stars on the sidelines and took the game off. So did Ryan Mallett's brain. The kick coverage team, way ahead of the curve, continued its season-long vacation. In ways literal and metaphorical, Michigan did not show up.

Brian has sources that say Carr’s retiring is official and will be announced after the OSU game.

November 13 - Tuesday

Blogpoll Ballot Week 11.

Mailbag. How to honor Lloyd at the stadium? Does Mallett not play well with his teammates?

Brian is under some fire for posting that Carr will be retiring. It looks like it was specifically from Rivals. However, others like the Ann Arbor News are citing the post without attribution.

Unverified Voracity Gears Up with lots of info on the upcoming OSU game.

November 14 - Wednesday

Blogpoll Ballot Week 11 Updated.

UFR: Offense vs. Wisconsin. This was the worst game by a QB in UFR history, but hey! DeBord called a good game.

Blogpoll Week 11.

Apparently there was a Bow Down Sparty shirt.

Unverified Voracity Ministers Information that everything is just fine at LSU, Miles is happy and will never be going anywhere...probably.

November 15 - Thursday

UFR: Defense vs. Wisconsin. A rough day. The only bright spot was Terrance Taylor with a +8. On the opposite side, Obi Ezeh came in with a -7.

Ohio State: Where Even Smart People are Dumb. An OSU economic professor tries to debunk common college football statements.

Picture Pages: Reach Blocking Fails.

Vicious Electronic Questioning: Ohio St. with Tom Orr.

November 16 - Friday

Unverified Voracity Directs Traffic. The timing of Carr’s retirement might give a hint about who the next coach will be (say, if there’s a candidate who is in the midst of a national championship run).

Preview: Ohio St.

Finally, three opportunities for me to look stupid Sunday:

  • I've already provided plenty of predictions specific enough to look dumb later.

  • So leave me be.

  • Ohio State, 27-20.

Empire of the Fallen.

I am done thinking. Michigan is listless in the last days of a dying empire, but Mike Hart will run out of the tunnel and I will believe until I can't or I don't have to anymore. Go Blue.

Minivoracity with a couple links on the legacy of the senior class. Also, reports are that Hart is pessimistic about playing, but Brian is confident that Hart wouldn’t miss this game.

November 17 - Saturday

Ohio St. beat Michigan 14-3. Highlights.

Ohio St. Open Thread.

November 19 - Monday

Lloyd’s retirement is official. Players were told on Sunday afternoon.

Link to the retirement press.

Ohio St. Game Column.

Carr was stubborn, arrogant, and loyal to a fault. There is no Carr coaching tree because the program is inbred.

He was a tireless advocate for his players and his program. Last November I sat in Michigan Stadium and listened to him eulogize Bo and wanted no one else to coach Michigan.

There is an obvious split here. The first section is about Carr the coach; the second about Carr the man. I'll miss him sometimes, but mostly on Monday, not Saturday.

Unverified Voracity is Buried in the Backfield ...no, nevermind that’s Chad Henne who is buried as the entire OL wiffs. Also, lots of talk about Miles and how the timing is going to work. His hiring very much seems like a foregone conclusion at this point.

November 20 - Tuesday

Unverified Voracity Disassembles and parses Carr’s retirement presser. Also some Bill Martin shots at Harbaugh. Currently it seems like Michigan might be asking Miles to commit to coming after the SEC championship game.

Links to the eulogy of Bo that Lloyd gave last year.

Mailbag covering Bill Cowher and when should Lloyd have retired.

Blogpoll Ballot Week 12.

November 21 - Wednesday

New favorite internet rumor...Kirk Ferentz! Brian evaluates and rejects.

Unverified Voracity Builds a Culture of Stupids. The coordinators are going to be interviewed and DeBord is defending his record at CMU.

Maybe this would be slightly plausible if Debord had been forced out at CMU, but he did not. He packed up his 12-34 record and quit, quit like a little girl whose piano lessons are too hard.

Blogpoll Week 12.

LSU seems to have conceded losing Miles. Their AD said that in the event that Miles leaves, they would like him to coach through the national championship game.

Another post on mainstream media vs. blogs and how badly the former handles rumors.

November 25 - Sunday

Brian confidently says that Ferentz has been offered. Also, Lloyd has contacted the GVSU AD about Brian Kelly. Also, Notre Dame has contacted GVSU about Brian Kelly.

November 26 - Monday

Now it sounds like Ferentz has accepted.

Game column for two ‘M’ hockey victories from the weekend.

And...maybe Brian was too hasty about Ferentz.

November 27 - Tuesday

But on the other hand, flight tracker has a flight from Willow Run to Cedar Rapids.

Unverified Voracity Talks About Other Stuff including hockey recruiting and why the band was quieter this year.

No one was aboard the plane yesterday; just a coincidence.

Ferentz’s weekly press conference has been canceled which may or may not be legit. Also, Fred Jackson is a candidate for the Duke head coaching job. So obligatory joke goes: Fred Jackson is Mike Krzyzewski but...fast?

 November 28 - Wednesday

Blogpoll will be delayed.

Ferentz is out, so back to Miles.

We'll see; he has support from a lot of important people but obviously not the most important one who's not Bill Martin: Lloyd Carr. The Ferentz thing is a solid indicator of that. (And, yes, there was most definitely a Ferentz thing getting pushed very hard by Carr and others -- this is "Ferentz is no longer a candidate," not "was never.")

November 29 - Thursday

Michigan has requested permission to speak to Miles.

A significant number of people have sent in the same story: there is an old guard at Michigan strongly opposed to Miles' candidacy, while younger folk, big money donors, and those not as closely connected to the current regime support it. I get stuff from people on side A skeptical about Miles' chances; I get stuff from people on side B saying it's done. Like, done-done-done and going to be announced Monday. I lean towards the latter, and expect Miles will be the guy in a few days.

Blogpoll Week 13.

Unverified Voracity Has Permission. Michigan can talk to Miles after the SEC championship game. However, all the details could be worked out before that with intermediaries.

November 30 - Friday

Miles has told his players that he is leaving for Michigan. Brian puts it happening at 90%.

Coaching search recap.

It seems that Bo was always fond of Les, recalling Miles visiting him after his open heart surgery in his book. If Moeller had coached another 5-10 years, Miles would have been the successor (either directly promoted as a UofM assistant or from Oklahoma State/Dallas Cowboys) with Bo's public blessing. If we're talking anywhere between 2000-2005, Lloyd probably would have been too old at that point to start a head coaching tenure. Lloyd actually interviewed for the Wisconsin job after the '89 season, but the job went to Barry Alvarez.

The upshot: given everything out there at the moment, I would be very surprised if it was anyone other than Miles; the aggressive timeline is a bit shakier given what looks like real resistance to the idea from some camps in the athletic department.

IMO: Miles expects an offer and will take it if he gets one; he told the team as much. Pro-Miles people in the AD expect to offer him Sunday after the SECCG and announce early in the week; Anti-Miles people in the AD are hoping to delay, interview some other guys, and possibly find someone else.

Comments

God

November 14th, 2017 at 7:12 AM ^

The osu open thread then had 0 comments. The Indiana thread this year had like 1500. Im guessing the OSU one this year will have at least 2000.

Maize.Blue Wagner

November 14th, 2017 at 8:09 AM ^

Yeah, I wouldn't take that as fact. There is a lot of stuff that gets lost in ten years. The Blogspot page kept a little more, but even then it will say zero comments but Brian will later make reference to the comments in the open thread or comments on the post, etc. 

A2toGVSU

November 14th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^

I also miss Vicious Electronic Questioning. I miss reading honest opinions of opposing bloggers of their own teams.

It made for a more interesting watching experience

stephenrjking

November 14th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^

I'm generally fine with Michigan missing on Les, because I think he wasn't good at using the talent on his team and that talent at LSU arrived on campus due to methods that would not survive any sort of investigation from Michigan. And Rich Rod, while he didn't work out, had tons of credibility and potential at the time, so he wasn't a bad choice even if he wound up failing miserably.

Picking Ferentz looks like it might have been fine in retrospect. I'd have hated the choice and every minute of it, but the chances that we beat OSU more than once and exceed our achievements from what we've actually had in the last ten years are pretty good.

But, man, whatever coach you think we should have taken, the process of hiring a coach was an absolute disaster that year. Different factions working against each other, vague feelers and offers and rejections, Lloyd's eventual hamstring of RR after the hire: it was an embarassment to the program and the school at every possible level.

Bigly yuge

November 15th, 2017 at 10:57 PM ^

What a crazy season that was. The talent on that team should’ve seen us roll to a bcs bowl or even a national title. Unfortunately Michigan’s schemes were so archaic that we got worked again and again by far inferior teams. Then you look at the last game of the season vs the defending national champion Florida gators. Michigan opened up the playbook and destroyed one of the better defenses in the country.

I was sad to see Lloyd go, but also happy bc it was clear to me that Michigan football needed to modernize itself. RR and Hoke tried but failed miserably. Finally with Harbaugh we are taking the necessary steps toward becoming the best we can possibly be.