Fourth And Four

MGoBlog does not endorse the wild panic spreading through the Michigan internets, which is reaching truly epic levels. I'll see what happens with Loeffler and who replaces English and Malone before deciding whether or not to join the paramilitary organizations forming across Michigan at this very moment.

This... this bothers me, though:

Bears coach Lovie Smith offered English the job Thursday. English spent Friday gauging his chances of becoming defensive coordinator at Michigan. One source said that when Michigan offered only the chance of becoming co-defensive coordinator, he told Bears officials he would take the job.

As Yoda might say: either do, or do not. There is no "co-." This combines with the so-widespread-it-must-be-true scuttlebutt that Jim Herrmann was scouting around for positional coaching jobs in the NFL to form an image of the head man that is not flattering. Carr obviously believes there is a need for change but does not have the stones to cut Herrmann loose unless he has a soft landing somewhere. Thus the milquetoasty half-measure of telling English he can share responsibility. English figured that promotion was one in name only and bolted. Thus the Herrmann era continues unabated.

Meanwhile, Terry Malone--who operated an offense crippled by the players it couldn't field instead of the ones it could--joins the ever-growing ranks of discarded offensive coordinators. And discarded he was, unless you think that being the tight ends coach of a team that may or may not be in the NFL in a city that may or may not exist is better than being the offensive coordinator at Michigan. When it comes to offensive coordinators, Carr is One Angry Man. Compare that to the kid gloves treatment given to a man who even Carr has tacitly acknowledged needs to go.

Look, I don't know what goes on in Schembechler Hall. I have heard that Herrmann is well regarded by a few NFL teams. The fact that he's sticking around is not the end of the world, but Carr's inability to finish the job he set out to do is a continuation of the story we saw for the entirety of 2005. It's fourth and four on the thirty-four.

We're punting.

Update: I have no idea what happened to the "Analogy Time" post. Blogger ate it. The comments can be found here.