Would you prefer to be in Dick Wad's shoes or Charlie the Tuna's?
Just thinking off the top of my head: Michigan outplayed Ohio State for most of the game and there's only a few yards difference in overall offensive stats. It's the QB turnovers, 5 to 1, that made the difference.
This was nowhere near the embarrassment of last year's 42 - 7 can-of-whup-ass game, nowhere near the kind of game most posters to this board predicted. The Wad has found two QBs who can play his style of ball and you can see just how important it was that Pryor ended up in Columbus instead of this guy's team.
I don't know if Robinson can be turned into a passer. I do know he can make defenses look silly, but he also has the capacity to make his offense look silly.
The question, it seems to me, is what are you going to find out there that's going to be better than sticking with Dick Wad?
The coaching fraternity is pretty small and I think it's interesting that in the last decade the Ohio State job was turned down by Bob Stoops, the Notre Dame job was ignored by Urban Meyer, the Michigan job was refused by Les Myles.
The three top all time programs of the 20th century were turned down by coaches who felt they had more opportunity in the Sunbelt than the rustbelt.
I don't know that much about ND, but the facilities at OSU and UM are as good as any in the nation, better than several other consistent Top 25 programs. The pay package probably wasn't at the same level as Oklahoma or SEC schools could get away with at the time, but I sense that coaches aren't as driven by money as they are by competition and the chance to grab the brass ring. I think OSU, UM and ND whiffed because those three coaches thought there was a better opportunity to get their program into the NC game in the SEC or Big 12 than Columbus, Ann Arbor or South Bend.
So, if you're a big Go Blue money lender where do you turn? Dantonio probably wishes he were back on the banks of the Ohio. Ferentz? I think he's probably done the second best job of coaching in the Big 10 -- when you think of all the intangibles and tangibles that work against Iowa, I think he's flat out remarkable -- which of course leads to Pat Fitzgerald who has to be my pick for the best coach in the Big 10. He has so little to work with to include home town newspapers who feature Notre Dame, Michigan and Illinois in that order, over the local boys at Northwestern.
But could Fitzgerald do the job in a big setting? Does he even want to leave Evanston? Ferentz? I think he'd be an excellent fit at Ann Arbor, but can you convince alums who think you should be in the NC game every other year to take a coach you've regularly beaten like a drum?
Where do you look outside the conference? If Stoops turned down OSU what makes you think he's going to rush to Ann Arbor? He clearly thinks the talent is right where he's at -- and could you sell the alums on a guy whose taken as many lumps as Stoops has in the last few years?
Les Myles? Would you embarrass yourself that much as to ask a second time? Would Gary Moeller make death threats if you did? And is he any better at picking QBs than Dick Wad?
Pete Carroll? Don't make me laugh. Yeah, I want to move to Ann Arbor and leave the beach, the no touch media, the NCAA teflon and the Song Girls and all that So Cal talent behind so I can take a recruit into Detroit and show him the GM headquarters building.
You can't afford Saban and that leaves Meyer, who a) everyone thinks want's to blow touchdown Jesus to get to South Bend. b) wonders if he can recruit Florida's top tier talent to play north of the Mason - Dixon line. c) sure likes being #1 d) probably wonders if he can win at a school with tougher academic policies for athletes than those in Gainsville.
Harbaugh? If he doesn't jump to South Bend first, if he recants all his comments about Michigan and academics... and frankly, hasn't he lost the Nor Cal version of The Game the last two years?
I think it will be interesting to watch what happens. First, it's a good year to be Brian Kelly -- or maybe it isn't -- he could very easily get waxed by Illinois and Pittsburgh and then where's his appeal?
Mike Stoops? He certainly had a better year than his brother, but it's pretty much a one year resume.
I think it's a pretty grim picture. If you're a Michigan mover and shaker you had to be thinking it would take a minimum of three years for Dick Wad to turn out "his" team and you had to realize that even with Long, Henne, Breaston and Hart you managed to lose to Appy State. Could you really go before the public, in the midst of 15% unemployment, and sell them on a buy out and then a new record salary to draw a big name coach to the school? And frankly, where do you look?
