The straight scoop from
Colonel Mustard
Dec. 11, 1997
How do you begin to talk about a man whose teams you have lived and died with for more than half your life? I have not always agreed with him. I thought he was slow to change to a blitz defense. But he has done such a superb job over the last few years. The greatest mismatch in big games in our favor has been the coach. He clearly outcoached Bowden in the Orange Bowl four years ago, and his matches with the Vermin and Florida were pure genius. My most distinct memory of Tom will always be the look of total anguish and helplessness that I shared after the 2-point miss in the '84 Orange Bowl.
I was there for Tom's first game (despite being so sick someone else had to drive me there) and I am glad that it turns out I will be there for his last game. We will now just murder Tennessee and pick up some sympathy votes regardless of the Michigan outcome.
I feel if we hold the staff together we will be all right. We need to promote Brown to offensive coordinater and hire a new running backs coach. I think Solich was the natural choice. He's not terribly dynamic, but I think he will step up. I went to part of the breakfast this morning and saw Tom. What he said was that Newcombe should stay at WB if he doesn't start at QB. As you all know I couldn't agree more. He also said he should still return punts even if he starts at QB.
The world as we know it is over -- much sooner than we expected. None of us were prepared to deal with this now. We just have to get behind Solich and support him totally. I think we will be fine, but uncertainty is always difficult to overcome.
-- The Colonel