Beyond RichRod: The Brain Trust

After today's loss to Purdue (the first home loss to the Boilermakers since 1966) Rich Rodriguez is on his way to a 5-7 season.  That simply is unacceptable to the University of Michigan faithful.  There is no way the UM football coach should have two losing seasons in a row, PLUS bring an NCAA investigation upon the football program for the first time in its 130-year history.  If RR is fired or steps down after a 5-7 season, the next question people will ask is who will replace him? 

Well you have to look at the foundation first.  UM doesn’t need to make the same mistake with RichRod and look for a savior in one man.  It needs to re-build the program from the bottom up, by handing over the reigns to the most qualified group of former UM assistants in the business. Call it a Brain Trust if you wish.  In this day and age, with coordinators making boatloads of money and having maximum control (heck even Mike Barwis, the strength and conditioning coach, makes over $200K a year!), UM needs to re-build the program around three former trusted assistants:

Mike Trgovac (Defensive Coordinator)

"Trgo" (pictured above) served the NFL's Carolina Panthers well as DC from 2003-2008.  He helped lead them to Super Bowl XXXVIII, and the NFC championship game in the 2005 season.  In 2008, the Panthers went 12-4, won the NFC South, and a first round bye in the playoffs.  Trgo was given an offer to continue as DC in 2009 but resigned due to the fact that star DE Julius Peppers wanted him out. 

A fiery, yet jovial coach by nature, Trgo is now the defensive line coach with the Green Bay Packers, and is more than qualified to return to the college ranks as DC.  Overall, Trgo is the most accomplished former UM player/coach on the defensive side of the ball and UM should look to him to restore the glory of its defense.

Scot Loeffler (Offensive Coordinator)

Widely respected in Pro Style/West Coast offense circles, Loeffler was hired by Urban Meyer this year to turn Tim Tebow into a legit NFL prospect.  While the Gator offense has had its ups and downs this year, they hung 41 points on Georgia last week and are peaking at the right time. 

If Urban Meyer (the pontiff of CFB coaches at present) thinks highly enough of Loeffler to entrust Tebow’s future with him, then Loeffler is on his way to getting hired as an OC somewhere.  Therefore, Michigan should bring Loeffler back home before some other program inevitably makes him an OC. 

Erik Campbell (Assistant Head Coach / Wide Receivers & Tight Ends Coach)

Why RichRod let him go is a mystery no one will ever know.  All Campbell did at
UM from 1995-2007 was produce a long list of NFL receivers (Amani Toomer, Mercury Hayes, Tai Streets, Marcus Knight, David Terrell, Marquise Walker, Ronald Bellamy, Jason Avant, Steve Breaston, Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, and of course Braylon Edwards). 

His track record speaks for itself.  He served as Assistant Head Coach under Lloyd Carr and should return to that role.  Forget Iowa, bring Soup Campbell back to where he belongs!

Lastly, we cannot forget the service Fred Jackson has given to UM football since 1992 as Running Backs coach.  The only Lloyd Carr assistant retained by RichRod, Jackson should remain in his position at Michigan for as long as he wishes. 

As for the other UM assistants, they haven’t proven anything in their two years in Ann Arbor. 

While UM President Mary Sue Coleman recently gave her unwavering support to RichRod, she basically is punting on the issue until the next Athletic Director comes on board in 2010.  With Bill Martin retiring next summer, it will ultimately be the new AD's call as to whether to retain RR after the 2010 season.  But if RR goes 5-7 this year, should UM give him another year? 

If RR can't take the heat anymore and resigns, then the UM administration should not put all its eggs into another exhaustive search for a head coach and instead look to rebuild the football program from the bottom-up.  It should turn to the aforementioned Brain Trust of former assistants to build a foundation around.        

Discipline and winning the Michigan way is what matters most.  Go Blue!