Reading between the lines with Llllloyd Carr

Lloyd Carr speaks! Carr finally broke his long silence and spoke to the media in regard to the firing of both his coordinators. I'm no insider, but I'll do my best to translate Lloyd's coach speak quotes from the article...

"Anytime you have change -- depending on what those changes are -- it creates certainly new blood, and change is part of our world," Carr said Thursday. "It's just the way it is. It's no different in the coaching profession -- change is part of the process."

"Anytime you get pressure demanding heads to roll from the Michigan Mafia -- depending on how old and rich the alumni are -- if you want to keep your job, you fire coordinators. It's just the way it is. It's no different in the NFL, just ask Wayne Fontes how many coordinators he 'Processed.'"

"I'm always prepared for change, or at least I try to be prepared for change, at any position," Carr said. "There were a lot of people outside that were considered, and the people we ended up with were quality in every way."

"I HATE change! Hate it, hate it, hate it. But the Michigan Mafia didn't give me a choice. I didn't look seriously outside the program at all, as I wanted to stay on Bo's good side. There's that 'Michigan man coaching Michigan' thing that he's hung up on, you know? I realize they are retreads, but they are 'Michigan Men' in every way. As a 'Michigan Man' equals quality in Bo's mind, he's a happy man. For the time being."

"There will be significant changes on both sides of the ball," said Carr, entering his 12th season as head coach. "That will unfold in the fall, and hopefully it will be obvious. The most important thing is it translates into performance."

"SIGNIFICANT CHANGES? Umm, yeah, that's why we fired the coordinators, isn't it? Keep this under your hat, but this fall you can expect Mike Hart to carry the ball 40 times a game. That, and more pooch punts. The most important thing is that it translates into somehow beating that fat guy in South Bend and Cheatypants McSweatervest."

"You're changing all the time," Carr said. "Mike (DeBord), if you look, his experiences as a head coach at Central Michigan and being involved in the recruiting the last two years as our recruiting coordinator, he's extremely knowledgeable about our players and their strengths and weaknesses.

"There will certainly be changes, though. I don't think there's any question there will be change" with DeBord. "Philosophically, there are things that are different."

"CHANGES? Uhhh, yeah, I forgot for a sec. Even though our retread offensive mastermind went 12-34 at CMU, despite that Cheatypants McSweatervest guy beating our pants off in recruiting, I'm positive that Debord will find the next Braylon Edwards to enhance his rep with, much like Jim 'I'll always have a job thanks to Charles Woodson' Herrmann."

"You're still asking about CHANGES? I have no question there will be change, as I'm having Debord dust off the playbook from the Griese-Brady era. Philosophically, we're going back to 1997!"

Let's hope my translation is wrong, that the changes at Michigan are for the better. It couldn't be much worse. I just have a bad feeling that installing Debord as OC is much like Alan Trammell coming back to coach the Tigers. Lets bring someone back from the glory days just to buy time and keep the fan base off their backs for a season or two. Thus allowing Lloyd to set up a line of succession. For Lloyd's sake, I hope he has a 10 win season, or it's going to get ugly in Ann Arbor.