The next head coach at Michigan must be . . .

I attended the Oregon-Michigan game on Saturday....after a second straight debacle, it is clear that head coach Lloyd Carr will be gone at the end of the season....Michigan looked slow, unprepared, unimaginative, and by the third quarter the players quit....

Back in 1998, Donovan McNabb of Syracuse carved the Michigan defense with his scrambling and mobility...however, mobile quarterbacks and the spread offense were not en vogue at that time....McNabb was ahead of his time....in 2000, head coach Randy Walker of Northwestern ran a "gimmick" offense called the "spread"....it was a foreign offense in the Big Ten....Michigan quarterback Drew Henson managed to lead the offense to light up the Evanston scoreboard with 51 points – but it still was not enough as the defense allowed the Wildcats to put up 53 points....

So over the years, as the spread offense became more popular Michigan’s defense never made the necessary changes to halt this innovative scoring machine...Michigan changed defense coordinators two years ago after Vince Young shredded the defense in the Rose Bowl...Jim Hermann was out and Ron English was in - but nothing changed...when playing against a spread offense and a mobile quarterback, the defense looks confused....yesterday the Oregon receivers flew past the Michigan corners....and when the Ducks ran the ball, the Blue’s linebackers and d-line missed numerous fundamental tackles...

But the problems do not exist just on defense.....offensive coordinator Mike DeBord has to be the most ignorant, unimaginative offensive coordinator in the country.....opposing defensive coaches must love to prepare for Michigan’s offense because they run the same damn plays every year....and during the course of a game, DeBord makes no adjustments...ZERO....DeBord’s philosophy is to establish the running game - which is fine....however when the defense stacks 8 guys in the box, DeBord refuses to throw the ball downfield.....a 10-yard pass is considered a deep throw in the Michigan playbook....other teams utilize their speed and talent at the wideout positions....in Ann Arbor, they pull back the reigns and now allow players like Steve Breaston, Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington to fully utilize their skils....

That is why there needs to be a complete overhaul of the mentality within the Michigan football program after this season.....God Bless Bo Schembechler.....I love Bo....in fact, a picture of Bo hangs in my kitchen.....Bo was a great coach and his views and thoughts about football were right on the money – for the 1970s and 1980s.....it is now 2007 and Michigan refuses to move along with the current trends of speed, special teams, mobile quarterbacks, and the spread offense.....even Mr. Conservative - St. Jim Tressel abandoned Tressel-ball last season and opened up the offense to utilize the talent that he had at the skill positions....

The next head coach at Michigan needs to not only change the offense, but also put an emphasis on special teams....I cannot recall the last time Michigan blocked a field goal, extra point, or punt....but I can easily recall the times when Michigan has allowed that to happen to them....the next head coach must also find a way for the defense to properly defend against mobile quarterbacks and speed receivers....both Appy State and Oregon run the spread offense, so Michigan knew what to prepare for....it’s not like these two teams surprised Michigan by changing their offense....but for some reason, the Wolverines cannot defend against that offense....

Finally, the next head coach must put the number 1 and 1a emphasis on winning the national title and beating Ohio State....Bo never cared about winning the national title - his goal was to win the Big Ten and go to the Rose Bowl.....that mentality must stop!!!.....it is 2007 and the young, talented high school football players want to play for a football program who wants to be National Champions.....they want to play in big non-conference games where the spotlight is on them.....they want to be in the BCS title game.....this crap of settling for a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth has to stop....time have changed, but Michigan is still stuck in the 1970s....

So who will be the next head coach?....in Ann Arbor there is a philosophy that only a Michigan man can coach the Wolverines....that is crap!!!....that is another philosophy athletic director Bill Martin must change - immediately.....Bo was never a Michigan man when he was hired after the 1968 season....so why has that cement thinking developed at Michigan?.....Michigan is one of the 5 premier college football programs in the country.....the University makes much money from the football program and after this season, the stadium is going to be renovated as loges and luxury suites will be added.....Michigan must put out the money and get a young, dynamic head coach.....supposedly there is an out in his contract for the Michigan job.....therefore, Martin and Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman must go out and do whatever it takes to hire Urban Meyer as the next head coach of the University of Michigan....