Michigan rolls over staff to stop slide toward mediocrity

By Seamus Finnegan  |   Friday, March 03, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Michigan Wolverines
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The dizzying last-minute losses to rival Ohio State and Nebraska in 2005 season left many Wolverine fans nauseous in 2005. Those results netted coach Lloyd Carr and his Michigan Wolverines a free ticket on the oft-confusing and nauseating coaching carousel.

The Wolverines made mass changes, replacing both coordinators and adding two new assistants on defense. The spin out of Ann Arbor is that Coach Carr lost some of his finer coaches to better positions in the NFL. The truth is that the pressure to compete for National Championships cost Coach Carr two of his closest colleagues.

On the offensive side of the football, Terry Malone went to the New Orleans Saints and was replaced by retread coordinator Mike DeBord, who held the same position on Carr's 1997 National Championship staff. DeBord returns after a failed attempt to revive the Central Michigan Chippewa program as head coach. Carr is promising DeBord will add more stability and punch to an erratic attack loaded with All-America potential. DeBord likes to run the football, so fans can expect heavy doses of probable Doak Walker-candidate Mike Hart.

On the defensive side of the football, much-maligned Jim Herrmann has left Ann Arbor to join the New York Jets. As a result, Lloyd Carr has handed the defensive reigns to secondary coach Ron English. English was swayed back to Ann Arbor after accepting the same position with the Chicago Bears. Retaining English was instrumental in maintaining some internal stability. He is also the Wolverines best prep-recruiter.

The Blue and Maize continued to raid opposing Big Ten teams for coaches in 2006, as Carr convinced Wisconsin Badgers secondary coach Ron Lee to accept the same position. Lee has had tremendous success with the Badgers staff and should quickly improve an already good secondary. In 2005, the Wolverines landed Michigan State defensive line coach Steve Stripling. Steve Szabo joins the program after being dismissed by the NFL's Buffalo Bills.

Szabo and Lee underline the theme of critical defensive change. Michigan has been replaced by the Iowa Hawkeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Ohio State Buckeyes as the premiere defensive units in the Big Ten. This is unacceptable in Ann Arbor, where fans have enjoyed decades of dominating defensive play. Szabo and Lee should make solid technical contributions this spring. This will be critical to the team's success, because the Wolverines' record in games in which they allowed 20 or more points was a paltry (3-5).

The influx and exodus of coaches from Ann Arbor leaves a once-storied Michigan Wolverine program with no identity heading into spring practice. Fans are expecting substantial schematic and philosophical changes to be implemented. Some feel that coach Carr is rolling the dice in an attempt to stop the Wolverine's slide toward mediocrity.

A return to Big Ten dominance and National Championship contention is within reach if the coaching changes can quickly create cohesion amongst All-American talent on the Wolverines roster. If they cannot fabricate the needed changes Carr, may find himself competing with Northwestern for bowl contention. Worse yet, he might find himself unemployed.
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