Ex-Wolverine Updates: Post-Bowl Edition

Ray Vinopal

CB Dallas Crawford: In the Russell Athletic Bowl, Crawford had 11 carries for 35 yards and 3 catches for 22 yards in 36-9 loss to Louisville.

K/P Anthony Fera: Fera was 1/1 on extra points and averaged 42.1 yards on 7 punts, including landing 4 inside the 20-yard line, in the 30-7 loss to Oregon in the Alamo Bowl.

K Matt Goudis: Goudis was 1/1 on extra points in Miami's loss to Louisville.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez and his Arizona Wildcats finished the season with a 42-19 win over Boston College in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl. Running back Ka'Deem Carey finished with 27 carries for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Ken Griffey, Jr.'s son Trey had 3 catches for 41 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rodriguez finishes at 8-5 for the second year in a row, making him 16-10 during his time in Tucson.

Defensive coordinator Scott Shafer: Shafer and his Syracuse Orangemen achieved a 21-17 victory over Minnesota in the Texas Bowl. Shafer finishes at 7-6 in his first season as a head coach.

S Ray Vinopal: In the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Vinopal led his Pitt team his tackles with 11, adding 1 sack. The Panthers beat Bowling Green by a score of 30-27.

CB Adrian Witty: Witty had 4 tackles and 1 pass breakup as his Cincinnati Bearcats lost to North Carolina by a score of 39-17.

Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia

Mike Jones (#27) had a solid game for Western Michigan

TE Pharaoh Brown: Brown had 1 catch for 24 yards, made 1 tackle, and ran in a 2-point conversion for Oregon as they handled the Colorado Buffaloes by a score of 57-16.

CB Dallas Crawford: Crawford had 5 carries for 31 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a 6-yard reception and 1 tackle, in Miami's 45-30 win over Georgia Tech.

K Matt Goudis: Goudis was 6/6 on extra points and 1/1 from 24 yards on a field goal. Miami beat Georgia Tech, 45-30.

LB Mike Jones: Jones had 7 tackles and 1 tackle for loss in Western Michigan's 47-20 loss to Toledo.

TE Ricardo Miller: Miller started at tight end and caught 1 pass for 6 yards in UMass's 28-7 loss to Bowling Green.

WR Jerald Robinson: Robinson had 3 catches for 87 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown. Unfortunately for him, Walsh lost to Ohio Dominican by a score of 33-20.

S Marvin Robinson: Robinson had 4 tackles and 1 pass breakup as Ferris State lost a 31-28 decision to Saginaw Valley State.

Defensive coordinator Scott Shafer: Shafer's Syracuse Orangemen fell to 2-3 after a 49-14 home loss to Clemson. Former Michigan target Sammy Watkins had 4 catches for 126 yards, including a 91-yard touchdown, in the game.

WR Je'Ron Stokes: Stokes had 2 catches for 19 yards and 1 carry for 2 yards in Norfolk State's 26-24 win over Savannah State.

CB Adrian Witty: Witty had 2 tackles in Cincinnati's 26-20 loss to South Florida.

Ex-Wolverine Updates: The Coaches

Scot Loeffler is the new offensive coordinator for the Auburn Tigers

Taking a look into the past, here's a glance at every former Michigan coach over the past decade.  Most of these guys have landed on their feet elsewhere, with the exception of former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

If you have additions or corrections, please leave them in the comments section.

Teryl Austin (DBs, 1999-2002): Austin has spent his time since his Michigan days with the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, and Florida Gators.  He was hired as the secondary coach for the Baltimore Ravens prior to the 2011 season and still holds that job.

Vance Bedford (DBs, 1995-98, 2007): Bedford spent 2008-09 as Florida's cornerbacks coach before becoming defensive coordinator at Louisville in 2010, a job he still holds.

Adam Braithwaite (Safeties, 2010): Braithwaite was the defensive coordinator for Christopher Newport University, a D-III school, in 2011.  He was hired prior to this coming season to be the safeties coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Erik Campbell (WRs, 1995-2007; Asst. HC, 2005-07): Campbell was hired to be Iowa's wide receivers coach prior to the 2008 season, a position he has held since that time.  He also spent 2008-09 coaching the tight ends.

Mike DeBord (Various positions including OC, OL, TEs, and Asst. HC, 1992-1999, 2004-07): DeBord was hired as an assistant OL coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2008 and coached the TEs there in 2009.  He spent 2010 and 2011 as the TEs coaches for the Chicago Bears, a position he still holds.

Tony Dews (WRs, 2008-10): Dews spent the 2011 season coaching TEs and being the recruiting coordinator for Pitt.  He was hired prior to this coming season by Rich Rodriguez to be the WRs coach at Arizona.

Ron English (DBs, 2003-07; DC, 05-07): English spent 2008 as the DC for Louisville before becoming the HC at Eastern Michigan, a position he still holds.

Greg Frey (OL, 2008-10): Frey was hired as OL coach at Indiana prior to the 2011 season, a position he still holds.

Tony Gibson (DBs, 2008-10; Asst. HC 2010): Gibson was hired as the DBs coach at Pitt prior to the 2011 season, but left to become Rich Rodriguez's DBs coach at Arizona prior to the upcoming season.

Jim Herrmann (DC, 1997-2005): Herrmann was the LBs coach for the New York Jets from 2006-2008, then was hired to be the New York Giants LBs coach in 2009, a position he still holds.

Jay Hopson (LBs, 2008-09): Hopson was hired to be the safeties coach and DC at Memphis in 2010, but resigned after the first two games of the 2011 season after being demoted.  He was hired prior to the upcoming season to be the HC at Alcorn State (known best for producing former NFL quarterback Steve McNair).  Hopson is the first white head coach in the history of the SWAC.

Ron Lee (DBs, 2006): Lee was hired by the Minnesota Gophers to be the DBs coach from 2007-10, where he also served as co-defensive coordinator from 2009-10.  I can't find any info on where he might be coaching now.

Scot Loeffler (QBs, 2002-07): Loeffler, a former Michigan QB, spent 2008 as the QBs coach for the Detroit Lions.  He then spent 2009-10 as the QBs coach at Florida, 2011 as the OC/QBs coach at Temple, and was hired prior to the upcoming season to be the OC/QBs coach at Auburn.

Calvin Magee (OC, 2008-10): Magee spent the 2011 as Asst. HC, RBs coach, and co-OC at Pitt.  He was hired by Rich Rodriguez to the same role at Arizona for the upcoming season.

Terry Malone (OL, 1997-2005; OC 2002-05): Malone has been the TEs coach for the New Orleans Saints since 2006.

Andy Moeller (OL, 2000-07): Moeller was the assistant OL coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2008-10, and was promoted to be the OL coach in 2011, a position he still holds.

Greg Robinson (DC, 2009-10): Robinson appears to have retired from coaching after leaving Michigan.

Rich Rodriguez (HC, 2008-10): Rodriguez spent the 2011 season as a college football analyst for CBS Sports before being hired as Arizona's HC prior to the upcoming season.

Scott Shafer (DC, 2008): Shafer was hired to be the DC at Syracuse prior to the 2009 season, a position he still holds.

Bill Sheridan (LBs, 2002; DL, 2003-04): Sheridan spent the 2005-08 season as LBs coach for the New York Giants before spending one year as DC in 2009.  For the past two seasons, he was the LBs coach for the Miami Dolphins.  He was hired prior to the upcoming season to be the DC for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rod Smith (QBs, 2008-10): Smith spent the 2011 season as the QBs coach and co-OC at Indiana.  He was hired prior to the upcoming season by Rich Rodriguez to the same position at Arizona.

Steve Stripling (DL, 2005-07): Stripling spent a year out of college coaching before being hired as Central Michigan's DEs coach for 2009.  Prior to the 2010 season, he was hired to be Cincinnati's Asst. HC and DL coach.  Prior to the upcoming season, he also added the title of co-defensive coordinator.

Steve Szabo (LBs, 2006-07): Szabo spent as year as the DC/LBs coach at Colgate in 2008, then a year as Asst. HC and LBs coach at Eastern Michigan in 2009.  He took 2010 off from coaching before being hired as Illinois State's DC/LBs coach prior to the 2011 season, a position he still holds.

Bruce Tall (DL, 2008-10): Tall has not actively been coaching since being let go by Michigan, but he has been hired as the DC for the fledgling college football program from Charlotte, which begins play on August 31, 2013.

Ex-Wolverine Updates: Rodriguez's Staff

Former safeties coach Adam Braithwaite arguably had the most success of any former Rodriguez staffer in 2011,
as his Christopher Newport team almost finished in the top third of D-III defenses and the team went 8-3.
(image via Daily Press)

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez spent the 2011 season as an NCAA football analyst for CBS Sports.

Former offensive coordinator Calvin Magee spent the 2011 season as the offensive coordinator at Pitt.  The Panthers finished the regular season #68 in rushing offense (151 yards per game), #75 in passing offense (211 yards per game), #83 in total offense (362 yards per game), and #69 in scoring offense (25.75 points per game).  They also allowed more sacks than any other team with 4.75 per game.  Magee has been hired to re-join Rodriguez at Arizona and coordinate the offense.

Former defensive coordinator Scott Shafer ('08) has spent the last few seasons at Syracuse.  In 2011 the Orangemen finished #32 in rushing defense, #98 in passing defense, #64 in total defense, and #74 in scoring defense.

Former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson ('09-'10) spent the 2011 season away from football.

Former quarterbacks coach Rod Smith ('08-'10) spent the 2011 season as the quarterbacks coach at Indiana.  The Hoosiers went 1-11 with a victory over South Carolina State.  True freshman Tre Roberson finished the season  at 81-for-142 passing for 937 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions.  He also ran the ball 109 times for 426 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns.  Sophomore Edward Wright-Backer finished the year at 91-for-153 passing for 1,029 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.  He ran the ball 46 times for 68 yards and 0 touchdowns.  Overall, the Hoosiers had the #80 passing offense, the #85 total offense, and the #101 scoring offense (21.4 points per game).

Running backs coach Fred Jackson ('08-'10) spent the 2011 season at Michigan, turning Fitzgerald Toussaint into an awesome running back.

Former wide receivers coach Tony Dews ('08-'10) spent the 2011 season as the tight ends coach at Pitt.  Starter Hubie Graham finished the year with 27 catches for 307 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Dews has been hired to re-join Rodriguez at Arizona as the wide receivers coach.

Former offensive line coach Greg Frey ('08-'10) spent the 2011 season as the offensive line coach at Indiana.  The Hoosiers finished #58 in rushing (161 yards per game) and #95 in sacks allowed (2.58 per game).

Former defensive line coach Bruce Tall ('08-'10) was hired as the defensive coordinator at Charlotte, a fledgling football program that won't begin playing until 2013.

Former linebackers coach Jay Hopson ('08-'09) spent 2010 and the first part of 2011 at Memphis.  However, he resigned at Memphis after the first two games of the season, when he gave up 59 and 47 points to Mississippi State and Arkansas State, respectively.  His current job situation is unknown.

Former secondary coach Tony Gibson ('08-'10) spent the 2011 season as the secondary coach at Pitt.  The Panthers finished #71 in the country in pass defense (233 yards per game) and his defensive backs made just 4 total interceptions.  Gibson has been hired to re-join Rodriguez at Arizona as the Wildcats' secondary coach.

Former safeties coach Adam Braithwaite ('10) spent the 2011 season as the defensive coordinator at Christopher Newport, a Division III program.  CNU finished #85 in rushing defense, #94 in pass defense, #83 in total defense, and #116 in scoring defense while going 8-3 on the year.  There are 238 teams in Division III.

Where did Rich Rodriguez's staff go?

Running backs coach Fred Jackson was the only coach to survive the Rich Rodriguez tenure. (Ann Arbor.com)

Adam Braithwaite (Safeties coach, 2010)
Braithwaite was fired along with the rest of the defensive staff in January.  He was recently hired by Christopher Newport University to be the team's defensive coordinator.

Tony Dews (Wide receivers coach, 2008-2010)
Dews was hired by new coach Todd Graham at Pitt shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Panthers tight ends coach.

Greg Frey (Offensive line coach, 2008-2010)
Frey was hired by new coach Kevin Wilson at Indiana shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Hoosiers offensive line coach.

Tony Gibson (Defensive backs coach, 2008-2010)
Gibson was hired by new coach Todd Graham at Pitt shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Panthers cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator.

Jay Hopson (Linebackers coach, 2008-2009)
Hopson was hired by Memphis prior to the 2010 season to be the defensive coordinator and safeties coach.  The Tigers were #116 in total defense and #110 in scoring defense prior to Hopson's arrival.  Memphis finished 2010 with the #115 squad in total defense (460.67 yards/game) and the #117 scoring defense (39.83 points/game).

Calvin Magee (Offensive coordinator/tight ends coach, 2008-2010)
Magee was hired by new coach Todd Graham at Pitt shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Panthers co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach.

Greg Robinson (Defensive coordinator, 2009-2010)
Robinson's current whereabouts are unknown.  Rumor has it that he's been auditioning for Just for Men commercials.

Scott Shafer (Defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach, 2008)
Shafer was fired after the 2008 season.  He was then hired by Syracuse to be its defensive coordinator.  Syracuse had been #101 in both total defense and scoring defense prior to Shafer's arrival, but they improved to #37 in total defense and #81 in scoring defense by 2009.  Syracuse finished 2010 at #7 in total defense (301.46 yards/game) and #17 in scoring defense (19.31 points/game).

Rod Smith (Quarterbacks coach, 2008-2010)
Smith was hired by new coach Kevin Wilson at Indiana shortly after the staff was fired from Michigan.  He will be the Hoosiers quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Bruce Tall (Defensive line coach, 2008-2010)
Tall was hired by Charlotte to be the program's first defensive coordinator.

Top 10 Failures of Rich Rodriguez

1.  Losing games.  This is obvious, but it belongs on the list.  Rodriguez finished his three years at Michigan with a 15-22 record.  That winning percentage (.405) is the worst in Michigan history.

2. Losing to rivals.  Rodriguez was 0-6 against Michigan's two biggest rivals, Ohio State and Michigan State.  If you want to include Penn State, he was 0-9.  He was outscored by a total of 317-140 in those nine games.  It's unclear how much a couple victories against Ohio State or Michigan State might have affected Rodriguez's tenure, but wins against Indiana and Purdue don't carry the same weight.

3. Neutering Scott Shafer.  Shafer has proven to be a solid defensive coordinator at every other stop - Western Michigan, Stanford, and Syracuse.  The former two were prior to Shafer's hiring at Michigan.  But Rodriguez's other defensive assistants were proponents of the 3-3-5 and seemed to undermine his authority.  Late in the season, Rodriguez even authorized a mid-season switch of defensive schemes from the 4-3 to a 3-3-5; Michigan subsequently allowed 42 points to Purdue, a team using a converted running back to play QB.  Shafer could have been a good coordinator at Michigan and helped Rodriguez keep his job, but he was fired after the 2008 season because, well, someone's head needed to roll after a 3-9 season.

4. Hiring Greg Robinson.  Robinson had intermittent success as a coordinator in the NFL and in college.  But just like Shafer, Robinson was a 4-3 or a 3-4 guy.  In my opinion, the defense showed some promise in 2009, when Robinson used safety Steve Brown as an outside linebacker and freshman Craig Roh as a rush linebacker.  However, Rodriguez used the 2009-10 offseason to convert to the 3-3-5, and Robinson was obviously uncomfortable and inexperienced with running that defensive set.  That resulted in 458 points allowed in 2010, an average of 35.2 points per game.

5. Not retaining holdover players from the Carr era.  Michigan was extremely short-handed in 2009, fielding a team of 69 or 70 players who were given scholarships right out of high school.  Some of those players were bound for a career of anonymity, I'm sure, but others were not.  Quarterback Ryan Mallett was vaguely in Heisman contention this season.  Justin Boren became an All-Big Ten guard at Ohio State.  Adrian Arrington chose to enter the NFL Draft (and became only a 7th round choice) a year early.  Rodriguez can't shoulder the blame entirely for these departures, but there's no question that a guy like Boren would have been helpful in 2008 and 2009, the former season featuring a starting guard (John Ferrara) that was a mid-season position switcher from defensive tackle.

6. Stretching too much.  The Detroit Free Press reported some trumped-up charges regarding Michigan's practice schedule, and that sparked an NCAA investigation.  While the charges were blown out of proprtion, they were a black mark on the Michigan program and resulted in probation and some lost practice hours.  Rodriguez wasn't responsible for everything that went wrong in the compliance department, but his staff did fail to keep track of its countable practice hours accurately and a graduate assistant watched some voluntary 7-on-7s, which is a no-no.

7. Not finding his Steve Slaton.  Pat White got a lot of hype at West Virginia, but running back Steve Slaton was almost as important as White.  And prior to White's arrival on campus, Rodriguez used running backs like Quincy Wilson and Kay-Jay Harris to great effect.  Rodriguez never found "that guy" at Michigan, partially due to injuries and partially due to recruiting.  Therefore, the offense wasn't as spectacular as it might have been.  The lack of a running game cost Michigan a couple games throughout his tenure.

8. Not developing top prospects.  Rodriguez seemed to have an abnormal number of high-end recruits bomb out of the program.  And it's probably a coincidence, but most of them seemed to come from the defensive secondary.  Four 4-star players recruited by Rodriguez never made a significant positive impact at Michigan (Demar Dorsey, Boubacar Cissoko, Justin Turner, Vladimir Emilien), which resulted in five true freshman defensive backs seeing significant time in 2010.  Furthermore, arguably Michigan's best prospect in the last few classes (William Campbell) has yet to make an impact at Michigan and just switched from nose tackle to offensive guard in the middle of the season.

9. Handing out the #1 jersey to J.T. Floyd.  Before Rodriguez ever coached a snap at Michigan, he tried to give the #1 jersey to true freshman cornerback J.T. Floyd.  He was either unaware of the jersey's significance or chose to ignore that aspect, but it was nonetheless a mistake.  Nothing seemed to highlight the fact that Rodriguez wasn't a "Michigan Man" more than the #1 jersey snafu, which pitted some alumni and fans against him from the start.

10.  Poor player personnel decisions.  Part of the heat falls on the assistant coaches, but Rodriguez shoulders most of this blame because he has the final say: Rodriguez didn't put his players in their best positions to succeed.  Running backs Sam McGuffie and Vincent Smith played far too much when there were more productive and explosive backs on the roster (Brandon Minor and Michael Shaw for starters).  Obi Ezeh should have been an outside linebacker starting back in 2008; and at least according to their play on the field, Ezeh should have been replaced by Kenny Demens much earlier.  Cameron Gordon - who has linebacker speed - spent half the 2010 season playing free safety.  William Campbell spent two years toiling on the defensive line before making a permanent move to the offensive line, and he didn't even redshirt to allow for a fifth year of eligibility.