[Austroturf]

I generally think people over estimate the importance of the head coaches and under estimate the importance of the assistants.  At Stanford, one of the things Harbaugh did really well was continually bring in really high quality assistants many of who had substantial NFL experience.  This was really important in our success and FWIW he put together a high quality staff at the Niners as well.

Look at the MI staff.  The OC & DC are both long time college guys with no NFL experience and no apparent past relationship with JH.  I think that is a big part of his problem.

As coaches get successful, some start to believe their press and think that they are the key to success.  I think that is what has happened to JH and frankly to Shaw as well.  JH has the problem that he is well known to be crazy and I am not sure really top people want to work with him anymore.  Shaws problem is hubris and ego.

Compare those two with Saban.  Saban continually loses assistants but reinvests in high quality guys.

There is a lesson here....

Agree with this assessment.  A successful program needs to be well-staffed from top to bottom.  In my view, many of the issues Shaw is facing today relate to the fact that he does NOT have the same caliber staff as Harbaugh had in his last year (2010).  Look at these names from 2010: Shaw, Fangio, Hamilton, Taggart, Mason, Turley.  Under Harbaugh, Lance Anderson was the outside linebackers coach, while Pritchard was a grad assistant.  The key leaders in Harbaugh's last year all had the potential to move on to bigger roles and eventually did so, leaving Shaw with the task of replacing them with individuals of similar caliber.  That did not happen.  Harbaugh may be struggling at Michigan to assemble a staff as excellent as the one he had at Stanford in 2010, but Shaw (with connections to the NFL) is struggling just as much.  It is telling that 1) Shaw has never fired an assistant and 2) no assistant in the last three years has been poached for a bigger role (except Peter Hansen, now DC at UNLV -- but how big a step up is that?  I do not recall any rave reviews on this board regarding his work as ILB coach).  Would Pritchard or Anderson ever be considered for an HC role?  I doubt it.

[Austroturf]

I generally think people over estimate the importance of the head coaches and under estimate the importance of the assistants.  At Stanford, one of the things Harbaugh did really well was continually bring in really high quality assistants many of who had substantial NFL experience.  This was really important in our success and FWIW he put together a high quality staff at the Niners as well.

Look at the MI staff.  The OC & DC are both long time college guys with no NFL experience and no apparent past relationship with JH.  I think that is a big part of his problem.

As coaches get successful, some start to believe their press and think that they are the key to success.  I think that is what has happened to JH and frankly to Shaw as well.  JH has the problem that he is well known to be crazy and I am not sure really top people want to work with him anymore.  Shaws problem is hubris and ego.

Compare those two with Saban.  Saban continually loses assistants but reinvests in high quality guys.

There is a lesson here....

Agree with this assessment.  A successful program needs to be well-staffed from top to bottom.  In my view, many of the issues Shaw is facing today relate to the fact that he does NOT have the same caliber staff as Harbaugh had in his last year (2010).  Look at these names from 2010: Shaw, Fangio, Hamilton, Taggart, Mason, Turley.  Under Harbaugh, Lance Anderson was the outside linebackers coach, while Pritchard was a grad assistant.  The key leaders in Harbaugh's last year all had the potential to move on to bigger roles and eventually did so, leaving Shaw with the task of replacing them with individuals of similar caliber.  That did not happen.  Harbaugh may be struggling at Michigan to assemble a staff as excellent as the one he had at Stanford in 2010, but Shaw (with connections to the NFL) is struggling just as much.  It is telling that 1) Shaw has never fired an assistant and 2) no assistant in the last three years has been poached for a bigger role (except Peter Hansen, now DC at UNLV -- but how big a step up is that?  I do not recall any rave reviews on this board regarding his work as ILB coach).  Would Pritchard or Anderson ever be considered for an HC role?  I doubt it.