Mailbag question: Assistants taking heat

Hi fellas,

Rich Rodriguez has taken a lot of heat all season, and continues to, for the team's poor offensive performance and output. Scott Shafer publicly took the responsibility for the defense (well, for those of you who believe that...). However, with the crappy performances of our 5-star stud defensive back (Warren) and our pre-season first round NFL draft consensus defensive end (Brandon Graham), to name a few, is it possible that these position coaches may simply be crappy?

Yes, Shafer was also the DB's coach, so it may HAVE been his entire fault. However, consider that Rodriguez may simply have elevated poor position coaches as well. Yes, WVU was a very highly ranked defense during coach Rod's tenure there, but then again, that was against the Big East.

It may have simply been an issue of talent, but we know that the coaches that the players have the closest relationships to are their position coaches. The Defensive Coordinator, and certainly the head coach, get less personal day-to-day interactions with these players.

My question is why aren't the assistant coaches held more accountable? Why aren't people calling for their heads? Is coach Rod's loyalty to his assistants blinding his judgment?

Thanks.

GregGoBlue

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Thanks for the question.

Coach Rod thinks the defense had multiple problems, and trying to blame them on any one thing -- or person -- misses the point.

In our opinion, there are several issues to consider:

#1) Lack of overall talent. We started talking about this during spring practice when we saw it first hand, but not many wanted to believe us or believe that the defense lacked talent and depth.

#2) The defensive staff lacked cohesion. The pieces -- assistants -- just did not mesh nor share the same philosophies.

#3) The emphasis placed on the offense during the spring.

#4) The available talent was not recruited to play in this defensive scheme and did not have the skills necessary for what the defense was trying to accomplish.

These, along with a few more other deficiencies lead to the problems that Michigan had on defense. And let's not forget the terrible performance by the offense and special teams which only exagerrated the defense's shortcomings.

Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine