Old School Meets New, and Wins Go Bye-Bye

Written by my alter-ego - The Old Man - prior to the start of the season...

I was 14 when my dad took me to my first Michigan football game. It was Bo’s first season, back in 1969. It was a cool November Saturday, and the Wolverines were playing the Badgers of Wisconsin.

I remember it all so clearly because it was the day I really fell in love with the game of football. I liked the game to that point, as my dad and I used to make it a regular thing to head into the street and toss the ball around most nights during the week. But I had never really played the game. And before my dad took me to Ann Arbor for an early Christmas present, I had never really seen the game.

What sticks out to me about that day is the hard running, the crashing at the line of scrimmage, the dirt and grass lodged in the helmets, and the fact that the other fans in their seats that day were loving it all as much as I was. It was where “three yards and a cloud of dust” got started. It’s what Big Ten football was all about for decades. It was why I loved the game.

I understand that things change, and teams, coaches, and players have to adapt. But what I’ve loved about the Big Ten is that, save for a few exceptions, the teams have held true to that “grind-it-out” style of play that defined the conference for so long.

Now, the team I grew up watching with my dad is making the change. Lloyd Carr, who I loved as a coach, is gone, and his replacement will usher in a new era for Michigan football. It may be for the good of the program that they bring the team into the “modern era,” but it doesn't mean I have to like it. It’s probably pretty cliché for the resident old guy on the writing staff to moan and complain, but it has to be said.

I don’t like the spread offense. I don’t like giving up years of tradition in exchange for feeling “modern.” I don’t like changing everything your team and program has been about for nearly 40 years just for the sake of change. I don’t like that the new guy has no connection to the school he’s now coaching.

I have nothing against Rich Rodriguez. I hope he does well at Michigan, and I think he likely will. But I’m the kind of guy who would rather have a little-known coach with a passion for and a connection to his new team. I would rather have somebody who understands Michigan.

I would rather have a coach who thinks tradition outweighs a gimmick offense.

I’m trying to brace myself for the sure mess that I’ll see take the field for at least the next two seasons. Those winged helmets will be stretched out with five receivers, running options, and highlighting a quarterback who will probably never throw the ball more than he runs it.

They’ll likely make it work in time, but until that day comes, how excited is everybody about Michigan becoming a 6-5 Big Ten team?

This isn’t going to be pretty.

I’m sure I’m in the minority, and I’m alright with that. I was asked to write about how I felt about the changes at Michigan, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. But let me assure you that this isn’t just some old man ranting about how some newfangled contraption is making his life more difficult. This is, however, some old man ranting about how much he’ll miss the days of knock-down, drag-out Michigan football.

For the sake of Big Ten football, I hope I’m wrong. I hope that some kid and his dad sitting at The Big House this season will see the product on the field, and feel that passion for the game that I felt so many years ago. But what I fear is that we’ll watch, and feel a little sick.