Mailbag question: Coach English?

Mailbag question: Coach English?

GBMW,

I remember when Coach Rod hired Scot Shafer last year and I thought to myself, he does not fit at all and his previous defensive team stats were horrible.

It turns out, he was not a good fit at all. In my opinion Ron English should have been retained due to the recruits he was convincing to come to Michigan. He was an aggressive recruiter and mainly was the one responsible for getting D. Warren here. We have no one on the defensive side of the ball that can recruit and close the deal.

Coach Hopson showed potential last year, but could not close the deal on some big recruits defensively. Ron English should have been retained, not Fred Jackson, your thoughts.

D. Phelps

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Thanks for the question.

In our opinion Coach English settled his fate when he interviewed for the head-coaching job at Michigan.

Some believe it was a "token interview" and Coach English is still not happy with how things went down, from the interview, to being fired, and not really having an interview for the defensive coordinator position.

We believe hiring a competitor for the same job is not usually a sound idea. Such a hire can cause split loyalties between players and make for uneasy relationships, especially with Coach Rod bringing in a completely different staff.

Players may have used Coach English as a sounding board or moan and groan outlet if the new staff put into place a program element whereby some players would initially balk at. Coach English likely would have found himself being pulled from two different sides during the initial weeks of RR’s regime. His only response would have been to flow with the coaches, creating even more division.

Believe us, we would have liked several of the former assistant coaches on this current team to have become members of the new staff. We believe UM let some very good coaches go, not only to competitors, but also to teams that are fighting to become part of a national championship team.

The staff, we were told, pulled some of Coach Hopson’s recruits last year. Is that really true or is this just basically covering yourself for kids leaving at the last minute?

None of us will comment negatively regarding Coach Jackson. Coach Fred is a good coach and we were informed he would do whatever was needed to stay, along with, we believe, the strategy that Coach Rod wanted one assistant coach to stay from the old staff to help keep that recruiting class together, along with trying to mend fences with the current team

Coach English is finding out right now how much tougher it is to be in control of an entire football operation, especially at a program that has not been very good in many years. Eastern Michigan is only six or so miles away from the big shadow of the Big House, and is second fiddle in the same county as the University of Michigan. Not many teams, excepting USC or UCLA , are in similar situations.

Thanks for stopping by Go Blue Michigan Wolverine
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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine