Gruden is Not Harbaugh

Does a dui remove a coach from candidacy for the Michigan job? Bill Martin has said:

One of the things Martin will pursue is background checks on candidates. When Michigan was searching for a men's basketball coach last spring, Michigan hired a private firm to dig into coaches' histories.

"You want to see if they've had DUI's, or they're a deadbeat paying their bills or if there's anything that could be a pattern that would embarrass Michigan," Martin said.

Well, in Harbaugh's case, yes. Laughably, Harbaugh has removed himself from contention.

“As far as the opening they have, the Michigan people will do a great job in selecting someone to carry on that tradition,” Harbaugh said. “It’s not going to be me. I am happy where I am.”

According to a Buccaneer message board, Gruden also has a dui, along with several of his players:

This sort of thing seems like a Right of Passage for Tampa Bay Buccaneers Players and Staff. Just a few months ago former Bucs WR David Boston was issued a DUI as well. TE Jerramy Stevens has one under his belt, as does Head Coach Jon Gruden and QB Jeff Garcia. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to make light of this situation, it just seems like an issue, that has occured repeatedly and I'm sorry but its kind of laughable when it happens to players on a team that should know better by now.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see what type of punishment is handed down by the League or Bucs Organization, if any at all.

I'm betting a mistake is a mistake, and won't remove Gruden from consideration at least. At least I'm hoping so.

Connecting the Dots!

Carr . . . . Martin . . . . . Wangler . . . . . .Miles = Coach


Beginning this summer, Lloyd knew he would retire. His wife knew.

One of the reasons Laurie Carr was able to get through the difficult start was the fact she knew this would be her husband's final season as head coach. She can't pinpoint the day, but there was some moment during the summer when he informed her this season would finally be it.

Lloyd informed Martin after ASseD. Bill has been assembling a list (in his head mind you to avoid the foia inquiries) of coaching candidates since. And, Martin says he is looking for another for Lloyd Carr. Who has these characteristics. Who will respect and carry on the Michigan Tradition of Winning with Integrity? Jon Gruden? Jeff Tedford? Greg Schiano? Kirk Ferentz? Mike Debord? Ron English?

One could assume that the search committee formed will help shape the final list and ultimate criteria. And, who will serve with Martin on the search committee? Tyrone Wheatley? Tom Brady? Lloyd Carr? Desmond Howard? I think you can count on John Wangler. We already know that John Wangler has Bill Martin's ear. The coin toss on November 16 was a coin made by his company. As Wangler said:

The former Wolverines QB said the rivalry was a great one before Schembechler and Hayes walked the sidelines, “but they were the ones who really took it to the next level. They put their stamp on it, and they were the ones who made it special,” he told The Ann Arbor News. .

Bill Martin accepted Wangler's idea:

"I thought it was a great idea,'' said Michigan Athletic Director Bill Martin. "It's got a great likeness of Bo on it and of course, I wasn't going to look at the other side.''

So Wangler has the ear of Martin and Les. And, in case you haven't read it yet:

Start with the quote delivered to the Detroit News by John Wangler, former Miles teammate and current Miles friend, the one that read like this: "If the job's open and they offered him the job, I believe he would come up. I don't think there's any ands, ifs or buts about it ... Les loves Michigan. That's always been his dream. He'd come here."

And, while Les has stopped answering his phones, he's still taking calls from old number 5:

“I have great friends in that area code,” Miles said, “and I do not answer (calls from) that area code.”

The exception, he said: longtime friend John Wangler, who was in Miles’ wedding party.

“If he calls me and I don’t return that call, I’m in trouble, but other than that I am a blind eye and a deaf ear, and I’m preparing for Arkansas,”

So, yeah, Miles and Wangler are talking regularly. And Wangler and Martin are talking regularly. And if Johnny isn't on the search committee, it would avoid the appearance that Wangler has had any official capacity in contacting Miles.

While I've pimped Gruden quite a bit, it seems that anyone other than Miles is now a long shot. I cannot see Miles pulling Petrino, a Saban, or a Franscione. Which one of these guys can compete with Miles really depends on whether Martin thinks they have a character better than Miles, and are willing to accept a ginormous buyout clause:

On the type of candidate he is looking for, Martin said: “If someone is looking as a way station to move elsewhere, that’s not our guy. The one way that you can do it with the contract is have a huge buyout clause. If a guy objects to it, that’s going to tell you something about him, isn’t it?”

On the potential of paying a big buyout: “I’ll have to evaluate that. I wouldn’t let that stand in the way. I would negotiate that. That wouldn’t be one of the defining issues. If you have the right individual, that individual is going to come here.”

Link. With Miles we don't need to worry about his leaving. And, I doubt Gruden, even if wanted, would take a ginoriffic buyout clause. So, from where I sit, it's going to be Miles. Which Bertman has now implicitly confimed.

A.D. Bertman is trying to paint a contract renegotiation. He says LSU will do whatever is necessary to keep Les. Even if it means paying a Sabanesque $4 mill. But, he also claims that Miles isn't about the money:

“I don’t think this is a real money issue, No. 1,” Bertman said. “This guy’s more family-oriented and more community-minded and — this is my word — nobler than most of the coaches that I’ve dealt with.

“I think that this guy wants to come to work every day and feel comfortable. I think the people that he wants to come to work every day and feel comfortable with are on his side 100 percent of the time.”

And, while as of the 19th, the A.D. says that he has not been contacted by Michigan, that may not be the case as of today. Lloyd only announced his retirement on the 19th. Bill has assembled his team, and formal may commence literally, any hour following the 19th. DeBord has been contacted by the athletic department, and the contacts have, therefore commenced. The obligatory contacts of DeBord and Ferentz (Iowa AD has already said Ferentz will have no comment) have been made. Assume that the obligatory contact to the LSU AD has now been made as the 20th or 21st, which would coincide with the Bertman statement that LSU wants to renegoiate Les' contract and coach LSU in the MNC if he takes the Michigan job before then.

Meet Coach Miles.

So, in an effort to get to know our new coach better, I present you with this. Did you know Les has driven tons of steel?

Recalling his childhood in Elyria, Ohio, Miles said that during a junior high football game his father would yell out to him the number of the opponent’s best player on kickoffs. “Duke,” he would scream, using Miles’s childhood nickname. “No. 46.”

“It didn’t make a difference what my assignment was,” Miles recalled with a laugh. “I was blocking 46.”

Hope Miles worked at a variety of blue-collar jobs, but his drive led him to eventually become vice president of a steel company. Les Miles remembers his father coming home disappointed when a marketing colleague got a promotion over him.

“These are the days that make a man,” Les Miles recalls his father telling him. “These are the days that things don’t go exactly right, that you look forward to because they mark your life.”

He paused. “I’ve fallen back on those words at times,” he said softly.

After graduating from Michigan, Les Miles worked as an agent for a trucking company. His work ethic helped him rise quickly, and he even learned to drive an 18-wheeler loaded with steel. But the tug of athletic competition pulled at him, and he met with Schembechler three times before convincing him that he would take a job that would cut his pay from $50,000 to $8,200.

Or broken chairs in the lockerroom?

The former Oklahoma State lineman Sam Mayes recalled Miles as a smashmouth coach who fearlessly took on the longtime state power Oklahoma, beating the Sooners twice in four attempts. Mayes recalled a pregame speech in which Miles broke a chair against a wall in the student union to fire up the Cowboys before one of the victories over Oklahoma. “It was one of the most memorable moments of my life,” Mayes said. “It was like someone lit the room on fire.”

Gruden in the Mix?

AP reports that Gruden and Pettrino are possible candidates. Sure they're both on the list of 20, but are they actually possibilities? In Gruden's case consider the fact that he was identified as an option when Tressel was hired at OSU:

Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden joined Oregon’s Mike Bellotti in dropping out of contention, following in the footsteps of Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Stanford’s Tyrone Willingham and Pittsburgh’s Walt Harris. Ohio State assistant head coach Fred Pagac and former OSU and NFL linebacker Chris Spielman interviewed for the job, but neither received a call-back.

Does Jeff Backus quotes below sound more like Les Miles or Joh Gruden:

Backus, on his favorite Carr story:"I have a lot of things, but more than anything, just the guy. He’s a stand-up guy through and through. I love the guy. He gave me a chance to have somebody to look up to every day. I was 1,000 miles away from my dad. My parents were in Atlanta, Ga. So he gave me somebody to look up to, to follow, to learn what it takes to succeed in this business and life. That’s one of the greatest things a Michigan player experiences when they’re playing for Lloyd. It’s not just X’s and O’s and football. I mean, he’s teaching you how to live life and live life the right way every day. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.

Backus, on the next coach: No. 1 thing, integrity. Have strong moral beliefs and stand behind them. Run the program the right way, just like Lloyd and Bo did. Just carry on the tradition. I’m not saying he can’t freshen things up, but the integrity they had, the moral standards that they had, was undeniable. They carried it throughout the way they handled their job and the way they lived their lives. I think that’s so important, because that’s the tradition of Michigan football, and that’s a big part of the tradition there. He might have lost his last game, but you can never take away the type of man he is, and that’s more important than any football game.

Do Wheatley's comments regarding Gruden sound more like Lloyd or Miles:

"I'm not going to have any magic; I'm no guru like the guy with the Lakers," Wheatley said, referring to Phil Jackson. "I don't have any Zen books. But what I do know is coaches."

Wheatley was more than just a player who carried the ball. He was a student -- a student of the game and a student of coaches like Tampa Bay's Jon Gruden.

"I've been watching coaches for 20 years," he said. "I've been watching motivational styles. I kept track of what worked for me and what worked for other players.

"The biggest thing is to get them to believe in themselves."

That was his challenge after taking over a team that never enjoyed a single victory last season.

"You've got to get them to trust you," Wheatley said. "If you have the experience, they will trust that. I speak a bunch of mumbo jumbo and they'll do it if they think it works.

"I tell them we've got to do things right. Gruden used to say: 'Do it my way because it's my way. It's not the right way because it's my way. It's the right way because it's right.' "

Link here. This from my earlier post 10/14.

I'm not saying it's going to be Gruden. I think it'll be Miles. Hell, I think it already is Miles. But, maybe, just maybe Gruden is on the short go to list. And if so, I for one am in favor.

Pimpin' Gruden

Shameless pump for Gruden, along with yet another Michigan connection. BTW, way to go Tyrone -- possible assistant under a Gruden led M:

"I'm not going to have any magic; I'm no guru like the guy with the Lakers," Wheatley said, referring to Phil Jackson. "I don't have any Zen books. But what I do know is coaches."

Wheatley was more than just a player who carried the ball. He was a student -- a student of the game and a student of coaches like Tampa Bay's Jon Gruden.

"I've been watching coaches for 20 years," he said. "I've been watching motivational styles. I kept track of what worked for me and what worked for other players.

"The biggest thing is to get them to believe in themselves."

That was his challenge after taking over a team that never enjoyed a single victory last season.

"You've got to get them to trust you," Wheatley said. "If you have the experience, they will trust that. I speak a bunch of mumbo jumbo and they'll do it if they think it works.

"I tell them we've got to do things right. Gruden used to say: 'Do it my way because it's my way. It's not the right way because it's my way. It's the right way because it's right.' "

Link here.

The Future

You could visit mgblog if you are interested in hearing repeatedly how inept Lloyd Carr is. And, Brian cetainly posts some engaging and thoughtful statistical based observations of Michigan football. But the crux of the site, and many other in the blogosphere is that Lloyd must go, that he should have been fired by now, that M could never be more than a mediocre team with Lloyd.

This is all bologna. The kind with green mold growing in the center.

Lloyd Carr has exceeded the win loss percentage of Bo. He is a great man. A great coach. His players past and present speak highly of the coach. He has brought consistent top flight receivers and quarterbacks to the program (with Loeffler). He's not perfect. Neither is Urban Creyer (who blew a lead last night to LSU). I should look at the blogs in FLA, I haven't yet. But were Brian writing on Florida, perhaps it's time to let Creyer go

Oh, and Pete Carroll, he should be fired. USC eclipsed Michigan's ASseD by losing to the fighting Harbaughs. They were 40 point favorites. Ok, the Fighting Harbaughs' arent DIAA, but, they probably have less talent. (they have high admission standards, remember). Obviously, the game of college football has passed Carroll bye bye.

Don't look now, but Michigan has as good a shot to win the Big 10 as OSU or Illinois. (Illinois -- wtf??) While I don't dislike ASseD and ODD less than anyone else, I'm willing to look at the big picture. At big 1o titles. At national championship contentions and victory. At last years run for undeafeted, and close loss at OSU. Does anyone even remember the 97 team? Did they wing the football over the whole field as did Terry Malone? Did they dazzle the opposition with statues of liberty? No, the ran the ball, and ran play action waggles. I suppose that's not enough to win anymore, though. Right?

There is always room for improvement. Our coaching staff is certainly not perfect. English outcoached himself in prep this year. He forgot about tackling. Forgot about position. Forgot that he didnt have a first round draftpick to call the D and run to the ball, etc. Make no mistake, English ran a complicated D scheme this year -- too complicated. He abandoned the basics in favor of complex schemes. I will agree that Lloyd has trusted English more than he should have. But, it you presume that Lloyd is retiring this year, as I do, it's not too surprising that an effort to allow he and DeBord a shot at the job with increased responsibility.

The arguments that Lloyd has stayed loyal at the expense of the program reeks of moldy bologna. Jimm Hermann was shown the door politely. So was Malone. English was hired. English was not a Carr croney. He was (and could still be) a highly touted up and coming coach. Carr didn't hire English as DC out of loyalty. Were that the case, Jim Hermann would still be DC (and maybe were he, the D would not have collapsed in games 1 and 2 this year).

The point is, many are simply to quick to judge on the last 3 games of last year and the first 2 of this year a man's entire career. With that aside, all signs are that Lloyd does want to, and will, retire following this season. Bill Martin will, and no doubt has already begun, conduct an extensive search. So who, will be on that list: Tedfore? Miles: certainly. Tergovich: probably. Cameron: possibly. Kelly, certainly will get an interview. Weis: not even Spot's can make enough wings for that guy -- no. Ferentz: not likely.

What about Gruden. Certainly. He may live out his desire, or Tampa's, this year. He's an energetic relatively young coach with instant credibilty. He has drafted and coached many a Michigan player. Would he entertain the offer? While at Dayton he described Michigan as his dream job:

While Gruden was at Dayton, he completed just six passes in 15 attempts and never threw for a touchdown. He did score three times carrying the ball in mop-up duty. The most action he saw was as a holder for extra points and field goals.

Filling out a questionnaire about his future back then, Gruden said he planned to be the head coach at the University of Michigan by age 39. As it turns out, the shortcomings he had on the field have been eclipsed by the way he has exceeded the norm as a coach.

Link here. Gruden is now 44. It may be time to move on. He's a just better than a 500 coach at the NFL level, (80-68) but has been to the playoffs 4 of 9 tries, and won a superbowl. For context, Pete Carroll was 33-31 before being fired by the Patriots in 1999.



If Lloyd retires, one of my first three calls is to Gruden.