The Victors

One of the many (and correct, IMO) reactions to the Whitt hiring was that we fell upward, in terms of having a professional set of coaches compared to whatever that was under Sherrone.

Well, based upon one play on each side of the ball yesterday:
- running the ball on the 3rd and 5 to burn mere seconds and/or an Iowa TO rather than an aggressive stance designed to maintain end of game possession
- Spying the QB with our slowest LB on the final play

I think it's more than fair to question our coaching 4 games in as to whether they really understand risk and reward in end-game play-calling, and whether we should expect them to maximize results from our talent.

This is not and shouldn't be a training job at U-M. The big benefit to hiring this staff was getting experienced coaching that knew how to win, not one that needs more time to grow into their B1G environs. For example, we still had formation and personnel issues throughout this game, including burning our very first TO because we had twelve defenders on the field on an early 4th-and-1 play. This does not inspire confidence, nor does their inability to break down the urge to taunt opponents at the expense of stupid late hit penalties.

I think it's certainly fair to conclude already that the staff isn't what we hoped for in terms of disciplined play and understanding risk & reward in-game. Rather than say we're giving up on this staff, I'd say it's more understanding what we hired relative to expectations. They're trending 2005 Carr/Herrmann-like, rather than some OSU-killing staff of ball coaches.