Quote Originally Posted by drudy23 View Post
Steele is very much the "my guy" type of person. This is obviously just speculation, but Steele seems to be the type that will give guys some extra rope to figure it out because of the relationships and history he has with his coaches. I'm guessing alot of first-time head coaches go through this.

Most of these guys aren't afraid to pull the trigger on mixing up their staff after a few years, especially if they struggle. Most tenured high level coaches would never go 3-4 years with mediocre results and not make changes.

Mack fired Gaudio after like 1 or 2 years - you have to be willing to fire your buddy in the lead chair.

Having siad that, recruiting has been pretty good. Michigan has Martelli on the sidelines and I'm guessing it really helps in-game situations. I'm also guessing he doesn't do much recruiting - which is fine. He probably doesn't want to anyway.
Michigan has been pretty disappointing this year. I'm not blaming Martelli or really anybody as they have disappointed "expectations" and who knows whether those expectations were reasonable or not. Understand the question you are asking and why you are asking it. But, up until Nova, many of us on this board described Steele's in-game management as improved. As far as needing bench help from the git go, you're correct that posters have been discussing this throughout Steele's tenure. I struggle with the issue as Steele had, what, a twelve-year apprenticeship? He worked under a few different coaches and should have absorbed a helluva lot just by observing. I recall a few times, prior to this season, that "deer in the headlines look" on Steele's face during some losses. I haven't seen that this year but perhaps that's just me.

We are all looking for answers to explain the humiliating drubbing we took from Nova. Maybe our guys just wilted under pressure playing a team that has owned us in their house.