Michigan Friday: Oh Shoop

Clarion-Ledger

For a team that's in the off season, Michigan Football continues to make headlines.  The latest is that Bob Shoop (Not Stoops) is joining the defensive staff.   Bob is a long term DC with stops at places like Penn State, Tennessee, and recently Mississippi State.   Bob led the #1 defense in country in 2018 but did not have the same luck at Tennessee or last season at MSU.  

 

Development vs. Recruiting - why do we have to choose? Shoop is known as a very good defensive mind but not at all a recruiter.  This seems to be a McElwain type of hire for Harbaugh.  

I'm a bit confused and hope this becomes clear, because after losing your top two recruiters if you hire another DC and an assistant S&C guy, I'm going to lose my mind.  The Shoop hire would be good for a Brown replacement but I don't believe that is happening. 

I do agree the Michigan's defense needs good minds around player development, game plans, and coverages but the lifeline of any program is recruiting and Michigan is a step or two behind the top programs right now.   

Please hire a known recruiter with the last spot open on the staff! If Jimmy has excelled at one thing while at Michigan, its been hiring top assistants.  I sure hope that streak continue, because if you can't recruit, you shouldn't be on the coaching staff. 

• Chris Evans practiced 3 times with the team during bowl prep and was/is in good shape.  
• Winter Conditioning for the football team started on Thursday. 
• There are two spots the team could travel to in the Spring.  Jimmy is not spilling the beans on the locations. 
• Jimmy is looking at Coy Cronk an OT from IU who is in the transfer portal.   Coy has started 40 games at IU but was injured last season, he is also not a DT. 
• Michigan Basketball plays Iowa on the road tonight without Livers.   Yikes! 
• LSU has lost both coordinators to new jobs and all of its players to the NFL.   After everyone wakes up from the drunken week, there are going to be a few holes to fill. 

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/01/michigan-friday-oh-shoop.html

Michigan Thursday: Pull Up The Stakes - Camp Is On The Move!

Wolverine Wire

Remember the question I asked you yesterday?  What would you do in this situation?  Your former company offers you $1M a year, a promotion, and a chance to work with your brother.   The catch is, its with the worst company in your market.

Here is another one for you:  Your a young defensive coach with a background of being a very strong recruiter.  For the past 3 weeks you have been recruited by BC and Rutgers to be their DC's which of course is a promotion with a big salary bump.   You take a long time to make a decision and then decide to stay in your current role.   Then in what looks like a very quick decision, you completely change course and head to one of the worst NFL teams to be a position coach.  That NFL team is owned by a Michigan Alumni in a role that doesn't take advantage of your greatest strength (recruiting).   Is that the move you make over the DC's roles?

Coach: Anthony Campanile 
Team: Miami Dolphins 
Owner: Stephen Ross 

I have a post in my head, with the title: Everyone Cheats.  This is a clear example Michigan doesn't understand how any of this works, as one the richest alumni is taking coaches off the staff instead of paying them or players to make the program better. 

Remember when I said, we don't know the entire story?  There is probably another Bacon Book in this hire alone.  

So now what?  Has Michigan lost out on some of the young coaches they were hoping to bring in? Are they going to hire a guy off the S&C staff?  Your guess is a good as mine, even the insiders seem to be confused at this point.  

Please note, I'm still in the camp (no pun intended) that losing coaches is a sign of respect from other programs.  Alabama loses a ton of coaches every year, MSU doesn't.   I'm more concerned about the impact to recruiting, which is clearly an area Michigan can improve in.   

Stay tuned as this has been a wild month.





from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/01/michigan-thursday-pull-up-stakes-camp.html

Wolverine Wednesday: One DT Out - One Coach Stays

Michigan Football has seemed to have gotten good news and bad news on the same day.

The Bad is that Michael Dwumfour has decided to enter the transfer portal.  Which I really don't understand, which leads me to believe we don't know the entire story.   We all know that DT is a huge area of need and that when Michael was healthy in practice was making news as a good DT.   The issue is he never seems to be healthy and even skipped the Citrus Bowl to get surgery in early December.

So why would a DT transfer when there is plenty of playing time available?  Carlo Kemp is coming back for a 5th year, but I don't expect that was the reason.  If I had to guess, I believe its that Michigan is recruiting 2 Stanford Transfer Portal DT's.    I like Michael a lot but this rule seems to apply to him:  The best ability is availability.   Good Luck, Big Man!

The Good:

What would you do in this situation?  Your former company offers you $1M a year, a promotion, and a chance to work with your brother.   The catch is, its with the worst company in your market.

That is the situation Anthony Campanile was dealing with and seems to have turned down.  The program was Rutgers, the job DC, and salary was rumored to be $1M.  Many insiders believe Anthony is now sticking with Michigan, though Joe Brady said he was staying at LSU and two days later takes the NFL Panthers OC job.   Rutgers has already hired a new DC, so that window seems to be closed.  

This is good news for the Wolverines and staff, Campanile is considered the best recruiter on staff  (after Partridge left).  Losing both top recruiters would be very hard to replace.   Jimmy and Don did a good job saving this one.  

The Strange:

With AC staying now the focus goes to, who is going to replace Partridge?  The leading candidate (per Mgoblog) seems to be Tank Wright an assistant on the Strength and Conditioning staff.   This makes zero sense to me and seems like a way to save a few dollars.   I don't know Tank's background but this would be one of the stranger hires Jimmy has ever made if it happens.   For Michigan not to find a few $100K more for a young raising defensive coach in college football is problematic to me. 

• You can try to fire Bobby Petrino but he just finds his way back.  He is the new head coach of Missouri State. 

• As a reminder the two Stanford DT's are Michael Williams and Jovan Swann.  A new name that Michigan is considering is Quincy Roche from Temple.  Quincy is a DE that had 13 sacks last season.  He is more Uche then Gary at 235 pounds. 

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/01/wolverine-wednesday-one-dt-out-one.html

Michigan Tuesday: Better Team Won

Vegas probably took a bath on the National Championship game, as the rumor was all the money was on LSU and for good reason.   It was basically a home game and they have one of the most confident QB's under center that I have seen in college football.

As much as we want to hope, Michigan is not close to either team.   Both teams had elite QB play (even though Lawrence struggled at times), elite RB's, and elite WR play.   Clemson on defense went with 3 DL's, 1 LB, and 7 DB's to try to stop the LSU passing game.   That and some bad field position worked for a quarter, until the LSU figured it out.  Then it was over.

I was also impressed by both defensive lines and how they were able to rush the passer even with only 3 guys rushing.   The lack of quality DT recruiting is going to hurt Michigan upfront for years to come.

Good job on the comments from yesterdays post!

LSU was the best team and it was a Cinderella year for them.  Congratulations to the LSU Tigers, now everyone is 0-0 again and its time to get back to work and see if the Wolverines can shrink the gap.

• Time Machine commit from DB Myles Rowser in the 2022 class.  Myles is an instate product at Belleville and brother of Andre Seldon.   Still very early for 2022 rankings but he is not in 24/7 way too early top 100.  Myles continues the brother theme for the 2022 with Alex VanSumeren the only 2 commits in that class so far.  Myles reports a Penn State and West Virginia offers so far. 

• Michigan finishes 18th in the final AP Poll. 

• In an expected move,  LB Edward Warriner has transferred from MSU to Michigan to join his dad who is the Wolverines OL coach.  Ed was a 3 star LB and probably will have to sit out next year with 2 to play.  No word if he is on scholarship or a walk-on, either way I support this move to keep daddy happy.  

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/01/michigan-tuesday-better-team-won.html

Help Maryland residents re-enter the workforce in 2020

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to help others in your community, we have the perfect suggestion for how to reach your goal.

While Maryland’s unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since March 2008, there are still plenty of individuals looking to re-enter the local workforce. 

from https://open.maryland.gov/blog/help-maryland-residents-re-enter-workforce-2020/

Michigan Monday: National Championship Night

I don't have anything on Michigan's loss to a bad Minnesota team yesterday.  I do have a PSA for you: if you want to remain a sane Michigan sports fan this winter, just watch Michigan Basketball at home or neutral site games.   Nobody in the Big Ten seems be able to win on the road this season.

When you watch the game tonight, I want you to watch with Maize and Blue glasses on.  What I mean by that, look at the difference between both LSU and Clemson and our beloved Wolverines.  

What are the major differences you see?  I would love your feedback in the comments on Tuesday.

I have watched both teams a few times and I will give you my list.

1. Talent level.  Each team has athletes at every level/positions.  
2. Defensive Tackles are real DT's.  Look to see the 300+ pound human beings on the interior defensive line.  (Not beefed up DE's or LB's) 
3. Speed at Skill Positions.  There are fast guys everywhere. 
4. How running the ball at the QB position, extends drives and wins games.

I have flip flopped on Don Brown from loving him to hoping he finds a new job outside of Ann Arbor.  With that said, I don't believe Michigan has a coaching problem.   I believe the 4 bullet points above are the differences from going Good to Great in Ann Arbor.   Michigan played Alabama and OSU and the talent difference was clear.  I believe Harbaugh has closed the gap but Michigan still has a long road until they have an LSU turnaround (which should be the example Michigan uses). 

The last time LSU won a NC, it was a huge turning point for Michigan's program.  If LSU wins tonight, maybe Michigan's curse will be over.   :)

• Jimmy's brother John had a crushing loss on Saturday as the Ravens were expected to advance and maybe play in another Super Bowl. 

• Ambry Thomas confirmed he was coming back to Michigan next season.  The depth chart is a bit thin at CB so this was good news. 

• For a University that has gone through one of the highest profile sexual assaults scandals in history.   It's unbelievable that MSU still keeps a football coach that brought Auston Robertson to campus.  Losing football games doesn't compare to bringing a sexual predator to campus and putting every female student at risk.   Mark Dantonio makes a $4.3M bonus on Wednesday, every dollar should go directly to Robertson's victims.  

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/01/michigan-monday-national-championship.html

Ferraro Foods selects Maryland for new distribution center

Harford County, Md. is the newest addition to Ferraro Foods’ growing presence across the East Coast.

from https://open.maryland.gov/blog/ferraro-foods-selects-maryland-new-distribution-center/