If you are Brady Hoke
and you just endured two consecutives season which by many accounts had the worst offensive line in Division 1 football how do you justify keeping the offensive line coach?
We all agree that the offensive as a whole did not perform to expectations. Most of the blame for the failure is because of the offensive line. Hoke has used inexperience and injuries as reasons for poor line play. I suppose in part this is true yet many Division 1 schools have succeeded despite inexperience and injuries.
Hoke decided to replace the Borges with Nussmier which in my opinion is an excellent move though somewhat puzzling since Hoke has stated that the problems with the offense was youth and injuries. If true, why was Borges let go and Funk retained? Even more curious is why tell the new OC he cannot have a say on staffing decision concerning the offense? If you are Nussmier and know you are inheriting a less than average offensive line and you cannot do anything about it would be like performing brain surgery wearing a catchers mitt.
By what logic does Hoke keep and protect Funk? I am not trying to get anyone fired here but I am flummoxed by the reasoning of letting Borges go and keeping Funk.
Thoughts?
February 9th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
Maybe Hoke took advice from Joe Dumars?
February 9th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
I'm in basketball mode. Offensive lines are for the birds.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 6:30 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 7:15 PM ^
Sad, but that's true.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:52 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 5:19 PM ^
It's about time someone addressed the o-line coaching?
Been avoiding Michigan fan sites since late September, I see.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:46 PM ^
constantly calls running plays into 8 and 9 man fronts leaving the Oline at a schematic disadvantage what is the Oline coach supposed to do? While I"m not supporting Funk, I would find it hard to blame him when the D has more men in the box than the Oline can block.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
w/ that line. Lost 5 games to 4 teams - Bama, ND, OSU and SC - two that played in the champtionship game and another 2 that finished in the top 8 of the final poll. We lost to SC w/ something like 10 seconds left on the clock Only other loss was to Nebraska when Denard went out. If I'm Brady, 2013 by itself doesn't describe a trend.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
"Even more curious is why tell the new OC he cannot have a say on staffing decision concerning the offense?" I hadn't heard or seen this. Where did you as I would like to read it. Truly asking not questioning you.
February 9th, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^
that when he interviewed Nussmier that coaching decisions and changes were not for discussion. From that I deduced Nussmier had nothing to say about who his staff would be.
I brought the subject up because spring practice is in a few weeks and I thought that there would be a possible change regarding the OL coach. Since it is now getting closer to spring practice, I doubt any changes will be made and I was curious as to what some of you thought would be his reason/reasons for not making a change.
My God the evidence is in front of him screaming DO SOMETHING! He has not and apparently will not.
February 9th, 2014 at 6:48 PM ^
Maybe let Nussmeier work his magic, or not before the ALL CAPS needs to be broken out.
February 9th, 2014 at 9:11 PM ^
I get you see the results and say "THIS IS BAD!! FIRE EVERYONE!!" and as a fan that's your right but for Hoke he has to not only look at results at why those results happened. What your arguing is that Funk hasn't developed many OL. That is the result of transfers and insane recruiting by RR (yes his actions do still have an effect on this program). What your not seeing is that for the first 18 months of Hoke's tenure the only underclassmen at OL that Funk could develop that were still on the roster before the training camp of the 2012 season were Chris Bryant, Jack Miller and Graham Glasgow. That's it, a guy who spends more time in the training room than on the practice field, an undersized former defensive tackle prospect that Hoke desperately grabbed in his first month on campus before signing day and a walk on. Can't blame Funk for Bryant's injuries and unless Miller gains about 25 lbs and increases his wing span a couple inches, he won't be able to phsically hold up out there as we saw the first 4 games. That leaves ONE guy that has an actual chance to see the field and Funk developed him into a pretty solid looking prospect and the only interior guy that started every game. Thank God for Tresselgate or we wouldn't even have had him this year. In my opinion it takes about 2 years to build a college lineman from a physical and most importantly a mental standpoint. Freshman, either RS or true, do not belong on the OL, it is the only position on the football field where talent cannot bail you out of a bad situation. The problem with our OL is that they are young and they didn't fully understand what they were doing last year. No amount of coaching change is going to fix that, that's why Funk is still on. Personally, I think if we see a jump from Kalis and Manguson next and a solid contribution from Braden I think that we have a chance at decency next year. And if those things happen it will show that Funk is a good coach put into a bad situation which is probably what happened here. Borges was fired because while he did inherit some problems, he created alot problems he didn't need to with some bad decisions. I don't see how you can lump Funk into the same category.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
mainly resulted from inexperience, youth, and constantly being put in a position to fail (e.g., lots of reshuffling/no time to gel, a variety of different blocking schemes, etc). If that is indeed the case...I presume a decent argument for maintaining Funk can be made. Moreover, iirc Funk is an inside zone guy, and of course that was a (the?) staple blocking scheme at Alabama.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^
You don't have to worry about getting anyone fired. Rest assured Brady Hoke will not come on here, read this post, and based on your comments decide it's time to fire Funk.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
Why not? I created a post on here to fire Borges and he did it.
February 9th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^
As long as Michigan's offensive line gets out of the funk that was the past 2 years, the OLine coach should be safe.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^
This hasn't been discussed yet.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^
I'm not a big "How dare you raise this again?" guy, but if someone's going bring up a familiar topic, the least he could do is make it clear from the thread title. I opened this up hoping to learn whether I am, in fact, Brady Hoke, and I'm no closer to knowing the answer to that question.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:44 PM ^
Are you Brady Hoke?
Have you pointed at anything today?
NO-You are not Brady Hoke
YES-But was it as magical as a Brady Hoke point?
NO-You are not Brady Hoke
YES-You are Brady Hoke
February 9th, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^
Thank you, but I have a clarifying question.
I got down to "But was it as magical as a Brady Hoke point?" and realized that if I am Brady Hoke, then all of my points are as magical as a Brady Hoke point. Where does this leave me?
February 9th, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^
All it takes is one point. You can even try it right now. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Now, did that point harness the magic of a Hokepoint? If so, you are Brady Hoke. No non-Hoke has ever pointed like a Hoke, and no Hokepoint has ever been non-Hokian in its essence.
(Note: this test also works for smiling in case you were wondering whether or not you are Denard Robinson)
February 9th, 2014 at 6:41 PM ^
Yes: you are Brady Hoke in 2011
No: you are Brady Hoke in 2012 & 2013
February 9th, 2014 at 6:48 PM ^
If I am Brady Hoke...
...I'm pointing at stuff.
If I get around to it, I might +1 this thread. The only thing holding me back are those hundreds of words the OP used. TL;DR.
February 9th, 2014 at 7:13 PM ^
Not sure this has been fully settled yet. At one point Hoke was thought to poop gold and you ARE "Turd Ferguson" so perhaps you really are Hoke.
I'd keep checking if I was you.
February 10th, 2014 at 4:39 AM ^
Well, for a long while, and even today I still harbor some suspicion, I thought that Space Coyote was really Al Borges, so this is not beyond the realm of possiblity as far as I am concerned. Agree with you about perhaps not being fully settled yet, but Funk may get another year in what is viewed as a 2-year project at a minimum with freshmen linemen. And the point about Borges making the job of the linemen next to impossible at times is also salient. Hoke won't tip his hand.
February 10th, 2014 at 8:28 AM ^
On the plus side, I am younger and fitter than he.
February 9th, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^
Just maybe, Hoke actually sees Funk in practice and likes the job he is doing. The perception that other schools around the country deal with this level of inexperience is just not true, it almost never happens.
Also, as noted above, I don't know of anywhere that says Nuss had no choice in his position coaches and quite frankly even if this was true it would not be unusual.
One thing many forget is that most of these great OL recruits we got also almost all came with the caveat they would need some time to develp into their potential. Kalis being the only exception. Look at the depth chart, this team is crazy young. Also remember that Funk did help Develop Lewan and Schofield into great tackles, both of which will probably play on Sundays. Maybe that was a factor in keeping him around.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:58 PM ^
Funk is also said to have an excellent reputation among the coaching fraternity. Sean Kugler, for one, wouldn't have sent his son to play for any old OL coach.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:00 PM ^
I know if i were Brady Hoke, I'd make sure I wouldn't read any of threads or comments on Mgoblog.com.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
......accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene
February 10th, 2014 at 12:56 AM ^
I was just listening to this song from one of the semi-frequent Dr John shows that turn up on dime and etree. He almost makes one forget that it was written in 1944.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 5:19 PM ^
Given that, it seems like a curious decision to make the subject of your post "My thoughts." Wasn't it pretty obvious that your post would contain your thoughts?
February 9th, 2014 at 6:00 PM ^
the economic ramifications. Illicit responses help keep the Mods employed.
February 9th, 2014 at 7:33 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^
This is dripping with delicious iriony. Not only do you needlessly post, "personally" at the beginng of a post lamenting someone else needlessly stating, "thoughts", you compound it by rubbing the salt of, "...in my opinion" in at the end. That's double, delcicious irony.
February 9th, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 8:41 PM ^
Elicit. Some will, no doubt, be impolite. Some will get negged, perhaps even get the poster banned. But I'm not sure any could be truly illicit, not without coming here toking on a bong with it's wanger swinging free. Which is hard for a response to do.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:03 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 5:05 PM ^
Da dum dum
February 9th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
I would trademark the term "Hokemania" and parlay it into a vitamin empire and wrestling/MMA guest appearances. Then I would donate all of the proceeds to CS Mott Children's Hospital. Finally, I would put on sleeves just to see what it looked like. Then I would realize my pythons can't be caged, and Hokemania would run wild and rip the sleeves off.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:07 PM ^
February 9th, 2014 at 8:45 PM ^
This is to say Hoke gets to make two hires on his staff, OC and DC? I don't think it works that way anywhere, in football or out.
In your example, if the HC and the DC don't agree on schemes and staff, the hire does not get made. This is how it works.
February 9th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^