football

I'm the king of the RR fanclub.   I just closed it's doors and went into retirement,  because it is done.   I want to implore everyone else to do the same.  Now in Brian's post he put out 9-3 as the target next year barring unforseen circumstances.   I believe this is true(which is why I couldn't understand Brian changing and wanting a coaching change but whatever).

B. Hoke does not get 3 years, I don't want to hear the word rebuilding once in the press conference.  I want to kill the next person that says he needs 3 years to recruit defense.   We have loads of defensive players coming back and getting better.  Martin,  RVB, Roh and Black are going to be one of the top d lines in the conference.  If we get some fairly decent play from Demens and Woolfolk to settle down the linebackers and secondary we should be in great shape to get to the Championship game.

I'm all in for B. Hoke, leave the offense alone shore up the defense and we're rocking.     

With the close of the RichRod era within Michigan Football, it's interesting to note quite a few tidbits of his tenure, as well as the Machiavellian machinations that seemed to occur a little too frequently:

The entire LC faction within the athletic department seemed to have taken quite an offense to RR being named HC, to the point where it seemed the entire department should have been purged of LC hold-outs, and not just the football org.  The CARA leaks, lack of support from LC for 3 years (while within an hour of the announcement, LC calls the Hoke hiring "tremendous"), it's amazing Rich didn't lash out, or cry to any media source whatsoever.  Of course, that arbiter of actual capability and quality, the NFL, seemed to have a different view of Michigan assistant coaches and talent over the past 6 years.

I was struck by the near political machine operation (choose blue or red, I don't care) where the "Hoke element" played up his viability, and whispered it to the local ink-stained wretches, for them to place with an authoritative stamp of approval into their dying rags.  Surely they all didn't come to the same conclusion about his superiority independently, did they?

The farce of the NATIONAL COACHING SEARCH (n=1).   BS to the max, as posted ad infinitum.

Did the players really all jump for joy at the Hoke announcement?  Didn't realize college football players kept such close tabs on coaches in the MWC.  Hearing rabblerabble about "getting back to Michigan defense," what Michigan team do these kids know?  They should only know 2006...and that most of the aughts were pretty meh defensively, by scheme or by talent, it doesn't matter.

How about all those assistant coaches of Rich's?  I don't know how much dialing around he had to do to find them a home.  And most, if not all, are already hired.  How's that for a coaching tree?

Finailly, Rich will get a job next year, and you know what?  No AD will question how things went so poorly at U-M.  They'll be able to see it for themselves, in print, in text, in tweets, and all the innuendo and intrigue that prevented an agent of change from doing what he was hired to do. (Imagine any other professional organization that fought back so hard against the change that needed to be made, and won.  The other posts about the electric car bring GM to mind, but even drones at GM know to play along to what the big boss says, or find work elsewhere.)

(As an aside, as my brother and I were going back and forth on the firing, I told him, as I tell you now...RR will win an NC before U-M does.  That's paraphrased, I said "...before Harbaugh does."  Mark these words.)

[Ed-M: Diary bump for usefulness.]

Interesting tidbits from David Brandon’s meeting with the team yesterday – this was conveyed to me by a contact of mine (can’t say who it is and can’t say whether it is a player/coach/manager) etc., but much of this was rehashed on the rivals forum yesterday.

I was always a Harbaugh or RichRod gets a 4^th year guy, but hearing stuff like this is very encouraging. I’ll try to keep this concise:

-  I refuse to believe that Dave Brandon let his ego get in the way of this coaching search.  

He said he interviewed big names from every conference and found that some "big names" clearly have themselves as their first priority, not their players or the program.  This made his search a little easier.

-  He knows exactly what's been said on blogs and such.  Said he wasn't on either plane that we were tracking (hahahaha.)  He knows some will love the hire, others will hate it.  It's his job not to care.

-  He did interview Harbaugh and Miles.  Harbaugh told him straight up that he was NFL bound and gave him advice.  Didn't offer the job to Les Miles.

-  Everyone he spoke to referred him to Brady Hoke.  Opposing coaches,  former players, former coaches all said he should consider Hoke.  

Michigan alumni really supported Hoke (Steve Hutchinson called unsolicited to say that "Brady Hoke was the best coach I ever had")

-  Only offered the job to one man -- Brady Hoke.  Called Brady yesterday morning and offered, Brady accepted immediately.  Didn't even ask about money.

-  Money isn't an issue.  We'll pour as much money as it takes into this program to win.  Football is the heart of our athletic department.  Whether it's $200 million to the stadium or new video boards.

-  Brady is very familiar with our team and the special athletes we have at certain positions.  "He knows you very well by number, and he'll learn your names starting tomorrow"

-  The team was overwhelmingly happy when he announced it.  I don't know that you could expect differently though.  Morale is high.

-  Even Denard looked happy.  Especially when they were prepping them for interviews and mentioned that Hoke will incorporate spread aspects in his offense.  At this point I don't think attrition will be high.

-  Team started chanting "Nike" towards the end.  Dave Brandon laughed and said he doesn't break contracts. 

Sounds like Michigan is on its way back.

Much as it pains me to have read Brian suggest that LC was some sort of nefarious kingmaker, lurking in the shadows, given that within minutes of the Hoke announcement LC tweeted his approval of this hiring, it dawned on me that the football admin within the athletic department resembled The Sopranos more than just a little...

Semi-lucid Uncle Junior - LC

Tony Soprano - RR

Bobby Bacala - Hoke (C'mon, people!  He even looks like Bobby Bacala!)

Silvio Dante - DB

Carmela - Miss Rita

Any suggestions for Meadow Soprano are welcome.

Seriously, though.  Michigan football seriously resembles a crime family...lifetime commitment, trust no one from the outside, tear down all other trains of thought, etc.

I'm no Misopogon, so I can't do all the colorful wordsmithing or attaching the nifty pics with photoshops, but the theme seems too close to reality.  Maybe too close...

What can we say?  The quotes are alarming in their insular and inbred way.

"We don't have to teach him the words to "The Victors."  Seriously, Dave?  I have only one question to that:  Did Bo know the words to "The Victors" when he, Don Canham and Bump were photographed at the coffee table press conference?

"Michigan was 5-3 against OSU, MSU and in bowl games while Hoke was in AA."  Again.  Seriously?  I didn't know Brady had so much involvement with the full team operation during his years as D-Line coach.  Having teams stocked with NFL caliber talent means U-M probably should have been a bit better than 5-3 against MSU in that era.

The delicate dancing around Hoke's record says all it needs to say.

Finally, the whole Plan A crap is patently absurd and laughable.  Who knew that the LC coaching tree concept needed such validation as to tear down RR from DAY ONE, and continuing into the very last days of his time in AA.  Yeah, that LC coaching tree is more of a bonsai with a few branches snapped off, rather than the Bo or Mo trees from 1970-1993.

So you heard too, huh? Yeah, Hoke is the coach. I feel how a lot of MgoBloggers feel around here. Blah hire, lacking the "sizzle." Let me just say this, I believe that Hoke will win over a lot of people in his press conference and throughout the offseason. You know why? He will express what we have wished the coach of UofM would have been saying and working for the past 3 years. That is, how much he is driven to beat tOSU. He will tell us how important the rivalry games are to him. He will hate along with us. He won't like MSU, or Notre Dame either. He will feed the fans what we have been hungry for. A coach who understands our feelings about those three teams. Most importantly Ohio State. That goes a long way in my mind. We practically begged Rodriguez to express such feelings, yet he never did.

Also, once he gets great defenses back here I think we will appreciate him all the more.

I don't see too many MNC's with this hire but getting back to the success we had under Carr would be a great start if we are going to be realistic.