FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yeah, I'm still here!

My initial reaction is 'good hire', but I'll wait for definite confirmation and further scuttlebutt.  I've been burned by 'good hire' reactions in the past!

Oh, and I watched no other bowl games, but I did follow Elmhurst's (slight) upset of #1 WashU.   And couldn't resist giving my wife an early present (which didn't fit, so back to the mall ).

[DBQ1965]

Kudos to the MIAA on getting to #200.

[DBQ1965]

Weird that this hasn't made the news wires, but I guess Ron English has been hired as the next head coach at Eastern Michigan.

Weird that this hasn't made the news wires, but I guess Ron English has been hired as the next head coach at Eastern Michigan.

Thanks for the early "tip" sac.  I guess we'll see what the AM papers say.  Wow, that is a good hire for EMU and I think English has a good chance (hopefully) of doing what Gill has for Buffalo.  Also, as a minority background hire, at least the race card baiters can't complain about this selection.  He deserves this opportunity (frankly, I'm surprised he wasn't on the top of other lists of recent DI coaching openings - like he was a year or two ago).  Anyway, he is a good coach, enthusiastic and dynamic, so and let's hope that EMU's reputation of "the graveyard of coaches" does not have an effect on him.  

Hey, Mr. Ypsi:
What do you think of that choice?  Also, I see you are once again (like me) "burning the midnight candle or oil"!   Or is it that you are wrapping all those Christmas gifts you bought today at your local mall?

Nothing on the EMW website as of Sunday morning.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The AA News has a report this morning suggesting Ron English is 'likely' to be named 'shortly', but admitted they could get no confirmation from either side.

The EMU website would certainly not post anything until it is a done deal.

[sac]

Made it to 200.  Woop,  wooop

There's another rumor that English was offered the DC position at Michigan (completely oddball) turned it down when EMU offered the HC position.

I find this highly unlikely but still funny to think about.

[formerd3db]

Hey friends, +k to all for helping us get to the 200 page mark!  I will try to add some to those who helped us in the past couple of weeks as well.  Thanks, and we did it before Christmas.  I thank all of you for some great discussion here regarding our beloved college football, even if it isn't specifically about the MIAA. 

Yes, nothing was in our local paper here other than one of the sports writers had mentioned in their column that several candidates had turned EMU down.  While I realize that nothing was confirmed as yet, my previous comments are intended for "if this does come to fruition".

I also would find it hard to believe the story that English turned down the offer for DC - especially if a HC job is "in the works".  Keep us posted all and we'll keep on the lookout for announcements in the media.

BTW, Mr. Ypsi, I see you have that kind of problem, too, like me and some others i.e. getting the wrong sizes (or thing) for the wife!   At least you are taking care of it now instead of at the last minute.  On the other hand, I remember when I was young and my dad would take the entire day off work on Christmas Eve day to take both my brother and me to the mall with him to shop for mom.  It was a tradition for us and we had a "blast".  Shopping, eating Coney Island hot dogs for lunch, then getting home and prohibiting mom from coming into the bedroom as we quickly wrapped presents.  Of course, shopping so late always resulted in nothing fitting her and she had to take them back (not to mention some of the outlandish outfits we bought her which were not her style, but we thought they might work out since they were "the in thing" at the time - you know, mini-skirts, Nancy Sinatra knee high dress boots, etc., etc. oops!, I'm dating myself here .  Anyway, we had fun and those are some great lifetime memories, which I'll always enjoy, especially now that both my parents have passed away.  Sorry if I bored any of you with this, but...it is the Christmas season and "off-season" now for our DIII fb topics!

Talk to you guys later, my friends and if I for some reason don't post here, I will just go ahead now and say I wish all of you a blessed and most enjoyable Christmas and New Year's holiday over the next two weeks.   

[formerd3db]

Mr. Ypsi, I gave you a +k yesterday for one of your posts, so due to Pat's "24 hour rule" for this website, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to give you one for helping us get to 200 pages!

[formerd3db]

Comcast website just posted on their Sports Headlines via a Detroit Associated Press article that Ron English, former U of Mich and current Louisville defensive coordinator has accepted the head coaching position at Eastern Michigan University and will definitely be introduced as that tomorrow at an AM press conference that has been scheduled by EMU.

[D306]

YPSI   1 Karma for you for rooling over the 200 mark AND getting English as a Coach

Very good hire, young aggressive guy, with locakl success and Friends with Carr will bring the recruits

Alot of Offense returning he is a defensive coach by trade so expect an attitude change and improvment.

EMU will be moving up in the MAC I am very excited for the team and college.

Per everyones earlier posts, I think many of us want more for EMU

Have good Holiday folks

[sac]

Far be it for me to ever get excited about EMU football, or EMU anything........I guess I'm kind of indifferent to this hire.  English appears to be a good guy with a promising future but at UM as the DC he had one good defense in 2006.  That defense included 5 current NFL players in David Harris, Jamar Adams, Alan Branch, Lamar Woodley and Leon Hall.  Throw in NFL reserves Prescott Burgess and Shawn Crable along with potential 09 draftees Terrance Taylor and Morgan Trent (highly doubtfull imo) and he simply had a stacked defense talent wise to work with.   Behind them though was very little, and those players certainly didn't progress much in the 2 years English was running things.

Michigan's D's have had a terrible habit of poor tackling and taking poor angles of pursuit for several years now, English did nothing to improve this aspect while at UM.  Harris, Woodley and Hall were solid tacklers in their own right, once they were gone so went the tackling.  I'll also add the Big10 was the worst offensively in 2006 I have ever seen it, so while viewed as a 'great' defense by fans, they didn't face much of a challenge.  They got schooled by Ohio State and So. Cal, two teams with great fire power.

In 2007 the defense regressed but I still would have preferred Rodriguez give him a shot for a couple more years.  English was one of only 3 coaches I would like to have seen retained  (Fred Jackson and Erik Campbell the others)


With all that said I somehow think English will do well at EMU, but I just can't see them being anything more than middle of their MAC division.  They seem to be well behind CMU and WMU.   Two or Three good years and he'll be off to somewhere else like Brady Hoke.

I guess the question I have is, without Lloyd Carr's influence in this search, is Ron English even a candidate for this job?   Something we'll never know of course.

[DBQ1965]

As an outsider, let me say that I think it would be good for the MAC if EMU has some successes and is able to up-grade its program to be a consistent winner.  EMU is a perennial underdog in the MAC ... plus it sits in the shadow of the so-called Big House ... and that has got to create some sense of inferiority. 

Because I almost always pull for the underdog ... I say Go E & E ... English and Eagles

[formerd3db]

sac:
To be honest with you, I don't think any of the coaches in the MAC who do real well for a long time will/would be around a long time.  Let's face it, the MAC is really a FCS (i.e. I-AA level league).  While I agree with you that I think English will do well at EMU (and/or at least have a very good chance at it), as far as his stint at Michigan, to be honest, you have to go back even further before him in regards to what you relate about Michigan's defense.  Heck, even back in Schembechler's day, Michigan has always had trouble with covering the tight end, poor tackling, failure to have a great pass rush from their D-line late in the game, etc., especially in the bowl games.  So it pre-dates even English.  As great as some of the teams that Michigan has had even in it's best years, IMO, those aspects have always been their "Achilles heel" and one that has prevented them from being "really great".  And I'm a big U of M fan myself, being that my dad was an alum of the school.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how English does and who he puts together for his staff.  I'm wondering if he'll keep a few of the current coaches - from the current website, it appears he, so far, has kept some of the younger guys in the GA and FO positions, especially the young man from Adrian College, one of our former ALL-MIAA players.  We'll see what plays out.

[sac]

Why stop at 200 we're on a roll..........

Bad news, Lions go 0-16  (remember I said the Lions could beat GB, it was 21-24 with 7 1/2 min to go, they could have.........then the Lions secondary showed up )

The good news is the Cowboys missed the playoffs so the Lions will also have pick #19 in the first round.  Bad news is they also have pick #1 and #33 which means they stunk.

3 of the top 33 can't hurt (if they don't screw it up), even though they need 30 of the top 33.

So, who do they take at #1?

[sac]

Best article about the Detroit Lions ever written......

http://www.freep.com/article/20081229/COL01/81229054

[Mr. Ypsi]

Only ONE team in the history of the NFL has had TWO 100-yd+ receivers and TWO 100-yd+ rushers all in the same game.  Who?

Why, the Packers as they gave the Lions their 16th loss, of course.  Becoming the 'official' worst team in the history of football wasn't enough - the Pussycats needed to make their opponents the most versatile offense in the history of football at the same time!

There has just GOT to be some sub-clause somewhere in the NFL by-laws to permit firing William Clay Ford.