Friday, January 11, 2008

Michigan Coaching Staff Finalized


Rich Rodriguez finally filled that pesky ninth spot on the coaching staff. In Ron English's stead will serve Mr. Scott Shafer, who served as Stanford's defensive coordinator for one season after two years in the same position at Western Michigan. Since Stanford is unspeakably terrible and cannot possibly reflect on his abilities as a coach, let us peruse his qualifications from Western Michigan.

Shafer was primarily responsible for the best one-season improvement in MAC history. Western Michigan was 1-10 the year before he arrived, then went 7-4 in 2005 and 8-5 in 2006. In 2006, Western Michigan ranked first in the nation in interceptions (24) and sacks (46), sixth in run defense, fifth in turnover margin, and 11th in total defense. The Broncos' rush defense (76.1 ypg) in 2006 set a MAC record for fewest rushing yards allowed per game. Shafer was a nominee for the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the nation.

Prior to joining Western Michigan, Shafer served as defensive coordinator at Nothern Illinois. NIU led the nation in interceptions with 23 in 2003 and had five defensive players named to the All-MAC team. In 2002, Shafer's defense led the conference in interceptions, takeaways, sacks, scoring defense and run defense.

Shafer graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1990. This makes him approximately 40 or 41, one year older than Michigan's departing defensive coordinator Ron English. He has a wife named Missy Elliot (yes) and a son named Wolfgang Taklin Shafer (yes).

So here is the finalized coaching staff for the 2008 Michigan Wolverines:

Head Coach- Rich Rodriguez (replaces Lloyd Carr)
Offensive Coordinator- Calvin Magee (replaces Mike DeBord)
Defensive Coordinator- Scott Shafer (replaces Ron English)
QB's Coach- Rod Smith (replaces Scot Loeffler)
RB's Coach- Fred Jackson (retained)
WR's Coach- Tony Dews (replaces Erik Campbell)
OL Coach- Greg Frey (replaces Andy Moeller)
DL Coach- Bruce Tall (replaces Steve Stripling)
LB's Coach- Jay Hopson (replaces Steve Szabo)
DB's Coach- Tony Gibson (replaces Ron English)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey! Stanford beat USC and.. uh... probably some other teams too. That was unnecessary.