All Un-Quiet On The Ann Arbor Front

As I view the first bowl games of the season I can help but think about why my favorite team is not playing. This time last year, I couldn't wait for the Capital One Bowl. I figured that The Maize and Blue would give Lloyd Carr a great sendoff.

I was also looking forward to all of the new possibilities that Rich Rodriguez was bringing with him. What the hell happened?

3-9? Honestly 3-9? There wasn't one game we weren't in at the half and the vaunted Wolverines finished 3-9. I guess that's my fault for pinning my hopes on a team that had no offense in the second half of any game.

But, all hope is not lost. I like the fact that while Coach Rod has his pick of two experienced albeit not very good QB's and two absolute amazing athletes at the position already committed. 

So back to the reasoning for my title. So far the winters of '07 and '08 have been a little noisy. First, there was the hiring of Rich Rodriguez. This was and I still believe is, a great hire. But, the legal woes that ensued ate up a lot more of his time than needed. Yet, almost all of his staff followed him and the new era was in place.

Then came the departure of Ryan Mallett. I still concede that was not a big loss. He wasn't very consistent anyhow. After Mallett, during recruiting, Joe Tiller said that Rod was selling "snake oil" during the recruiting of Roy Roundtree.

Things got quiet for awhile until, Justin Boren decided to leave and throw Michigan football under the bus on his way to Columbus. Actually, I find that quite humorous. A source told me that Boren is constantly being yelled at for being lazy in practice and skipping weight room sessions.

When the WVU lawsuit finally got resolved, I thought okay no more distractions. Then came, you guessed it, 3 and freaking 9. So, now that the season is over, you figure things would stay quiet right? Nope. Sam McGuffie seems destined to juke and jive his way back to Texas. This decision is fine with me. He seemed very injury prone anyhow. Then came my saving grace...

The resignation of Scot Shafer. When he was hired I thought, wow, we might as well have re-hired Jim Herrman. Michigan needs a great hire in this off season at defensive coordinator. I have seen some different names thrown out there. My hope is for John Chavis. He constantly cranked out good defense at Tennessee. But, for staff harmony, some inside guys wouldn't be bad.

To finish, I wish all of the bleacher report readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And to all Michigan fans heres to a New Years bowl game in 2010.