I 100% regret bitching about Coach Carr

[Michchamp]

I disagree that the play calling under Carr was ever that predictable. however, if on occasion fans did predict what was coming, looking at it objectively, you really couldn't argue that it was a bad call.

If you have Mike Hart and Jake Long, consistently running the ball off left tackle is sound football strategy. They did run for a lot of yards, and over the course of 2004 - 2007 won 73% of their games; 77% if you exclude the 2005 season when they were injured for most of it.

True, they did not score touchdowns on every play, and they did not win every game when both were healthy, but at some point, we get back to the issue of whether the criticism and critics themselves are valid...

 

[michlady77]

I wanted Carr to retire, I didn't want him fired. But I also wanted him gone and knew it was basically his call when he was going to leave - not ours. I didn't originally like the RR thing but I warmed up to it obviously. I don't know if I regret wanting Carr gone - what I regret is that we didn't have an AD capable of finding a Carr successor yet we all knew 2007 was probably going to be Lloyd's last year. Martin had well over a year to line someone up and we came out with RR. That's where the mistake was made. We've gone over this a million times before. Say we get Hoke in 2008. We probably maintain Mallet (despite him wavering) and we probably land Mark Ingram. Imagine where we'd be today with that. I guarantee 2008 wouldn't have been a 3-9 year. I do think it taught and is teaching our fanbase a pretty important lesson.

this

 

[deathroh]

no, it's not the same thing at all. I think by this point it's pretty clear we ran a 3-3-5 because RichRod told them to. Carr was very hands-off, as a HC should be, although at times, maybe too much so. Allegedly, the cause of the App.St. & Oregon debacles early in the season were due to him staying more remote in hopes that either DeBord or English would distinguish themselves as his successor.

RichRod, in contrast, seemed to be the WORST of both worlds when it came to managing his team, undermining the defense by insisting they run the 3-3-5, but then hiring and retaining incompetent or inexperienced assistants (Gibson, Hopson, Brathwaite), and staying remote from them.

Ok you're right, that was a bad example. But either way, Carr was responsible for the team never being ready for the start of the season, and he was ultimately responsible for the play calling becoming predictable enough that each of the 110,000 fans in the big house knew what was coming every play.

To MC's point, if they didn't run Hart behind Long constantly, then I would have been pissed. But I don't doubt that Carr preferred a more balanced, safe offense than some people would have liked to see, and he had a strong influence over his OC and to some unknown extent, the playcalling. Having a complaint about that is fine, but as you're alluding to, the last few years have shown us how bad it can be the other way around.

But as far as not having them ready early in the season, the only real instance of that is 2007, IMO. Sure, there were early losses in most of his seasons, but there were several other reasons I'd point to over "not being ready".

 

[redandguilty]

Looks like I'll have to distribute a few exaltations in this thread. I'm still very pro-Carr to the point where I can be trolled pretty easily on the subject. We'll see if that new Bacon book dings my opinion.

I wish Lloyd would write a book already. It could be his take on poetry and I'd still buy it.

 

[hungry]

Martin was a bean counter who was hoping that he would never have to hire a head coach. He had absolutely no clue what the fuck he was doing in that regard. He was hired to flip the books and he did do that. Hard to believe, but when he was hired, UM athletics was in the red, when he retired, the UM athletic department was loaded with money and making a profit. I, too, wanted Coach Carr to retire. I doubted him for part of the '01 and the 02 season, but was firmly behind him for about 4 years after that. When App St and Oregon happened, I wanted him to choose to leave.

Predicting what might have happened if some other coach was hired to replace Coach Carr is stupid. One of the best things about Brandon having hired Coach Hoke at this moment in time was that it allowed for the hiring of Mattison. I doubt for some reason that if Hoke was hired after '07, that he would have hired Mattison, although I do not know 100%. I just think that things fell just right for that to work out at this time.

I don't KNOW, though AND I doubt anyone on this board is close enough to the program to know any of this shit...

 

[uofmpoweri]

Carr needed to go. He wasn't developing players. He left Navarre start for 4 years which was horrible. He had a whole season where every play was a screen pass to Edwards for 3 yards. He wasn't developing NFL players, and the gap between Michigan and OSU was growing. Getting rid of Carr was the right thing to do. Hiring a guy with a gimmack offense and no defense was the mistake. Now we have to put this team back together. The reputation needs to be rebuilt and the players need to be recruited to play Michigan Football. We had 3 years of dismantling, it will not be rebuilt over night.

 

[dannydiggler]

Oh how the turn tables...... turn

 

[deathroh]

Carr needed to go. He wasn't developing players. He left Navarre start for 4 years which was horrible. He had a whole season where every play was a screen pass to Edwards for 3 yards.....

Unfortunately I have to go to bed so I can't finish reading, but trust me, I'll log on first thing tomorrow morning to see what other accurate, astute observations you have on the subject. Because this is an absolutely brilliant beginning...

 

[gobluewolverines]

I always respected Carr. he won a NC and was a classy dude that taught kids how important character is. and he always had respectable records @ UofM. i didn't like the loss to appy st but shit happens, i prefer to look back and think of all those years he dominated OSU.

 

[deathroh]

Eh, that wasn't really worth the wait.

 

[dipchit02]

I wanted Carr to retire, I didn't want him fired. But I also wanted him gone and knew it was basically his call when he was going to leave - not ours. I didn't originally like the RR thing but I warmed up to it obviously. I don't know if I regret wanting Carr gone - what I regret is that we didn't have an AD capable of finding a Carr successor yet we all knew 2007 was probably going to be Lloyd's last year. Martin had well over a year to line someone up and we came out with RR. That's where the mistake was made. We've gone over this a million times before. Say we get Hoke in 2008. We probably maintain Mallet (despite him wavering) and we probably land Mark Ingram. Imagine where we'd be today with that. I guarantee 2008 wouldn't have been a 3-9 year. I do think it taught and is teaching our fanbase a pretty important lesson.

I feel like either way we were not going to get Mark Ingram simply because Saban had been recruiting him for awhile (when he was at MSU) and Ingram really seemed to want to play for him.

I also have to agree with the OP in that the last few years I regretted wanting Carr to be gone and make way for a new guy to come in. With that said I really just wish that Carr would have ran the offense that UM ran in his last game against Florida because that was one of the best offenses that I had seen UM run in years under Carr.