Hoke To The Suture Comment Count

Brian

bradyhokewolverine

All in favor of having him actually grow those sideburns say aye. That's everyone.

Yay yay yay OMG… for now. Brady Hoke told the radio Denard Robinson would not transfer. So he'll go through spring at least. Also, Tate Forcier is going to try to stick it out:

"Tate wants to stay (at U-M)," Mike Forcier told TheWolverine. "I didn't come with a moving van. Our intent is to do whatever is necessary for him to rejoin the team and become a student-athlete again. We haven't talked to any other schools and we won't until we've exhausted every resource here. But Tate wants to stay and we want him to stay."

This is the greatest hire in the history of college football. This reminds me of when Vince Lombardi hired Jimmy Johnson, except faster:

Fred Jackson will return for his 20th season at Michigan and will coach running backs under Hoke, a source said Thursday night.

This is flantabulous. It reminds me of when you take some sugar and some eggs and some caramel and combine them in a delicious combination that's like custard except faster. It's Hokediculous. It's like that except faster. This is amazing. This coach is like the Heisman in a body, except it's like the Heisman in a body in one of those movies with a virus—he infects everyone with the Heisman. Word. Flan. Flan is the word, except faster.

But seriously folks. The inability of nuclear war to eradicate Fred Jackson probably pushes that Heckulinsiksinaski guy to WR coach and kills the idea that Eric "Obvious Nickname" Campbell would depart from the hard-partying Iowa WRs. Either that or it kills the idea that Scot Loeffler would enter at QB coach. Not like any of this matters, anyway. If you're not an OL or QB coach offensive assistants don't really matter.

Defensive coordinator search now even more bleedingly obvious. Jon Hoke, brother of Brady Hoke and a key aspect of Michigan's strategy to make their coaching staff literally as much of a family as possible, says he hasn't talked to Brady about the Michigan DC job and is "unlikely" to end up in Ann Arbor. That's fine by me since he's spent the last decade as a position coach in the NFL and would be something of a wildcard if he returned to college.

So. Michigan has a lot of money left over since they're paying Hoke twenty dollars and some donuts and is competing with San Diego State for the bulk of its staff. There is a guy out there with crazy recent college credentials that also comes with a reputation as a fierce recruiter. He runs the Big Ten default defense, a basic 4-3 cover two. He turned Miami—Miami!—into an APR-obliterating, arrest-avoiding team. That's Randy Shannon, kids, and we know two things:

  1. If David Brandon was serious about getting assistant pay up into the area of Michigan's peer group he's the guy who Michigan should be going after with an oversized novelty check.
  2. The chance Randy Shannon comes to Michigan is extraordinarily slim.

File on the ominous side of the ledger. So… uh… you know how Brady Hoke is a tough defensive-minded coach whose teams will run the ball and stop the run, boy won't they? Um… so… the thing is.

In eight seasons as a head coach Hoke oversaw one defense—this year's—that ranked above 84th nationally. Even during the miracle year at Ball State his team was sixth in the MAC. In fact, if you click that link and squint your eyes you might think the table of Hoke's defenses is the table of Greg Robinson's defenses. So… yeah. Um. Not to be a downer or anything. Also please don't bring up that the Graham/Malzahn combo obliterated Hoke's best team 45-13 and now Graham is at Pitt and has hired a couple Rodriguez assistants and I just feel kind of ominous about this whole section.

File on the happy side of the ledger. After nuking Navy the Aztecs rose to #12 nationally in the offensive FEI rankings. Michigan is still #2 even after the grim output against Mississippi State.

NOT ME. Probably. Look, so I might have had a bit to drink the past couple days but I can state with at least 60% confidence that this was not me:

image

I can recite pi to 54 digits, bitch. I'm Rick James.

The Process, conference edition. After consideration the Big Ten has declared that Legends and Leaders are awesome division names, thank you very much. This is emblematic of why the conference imploded on NYD: it is a league of ninnies. This space is going to stick to calling the divisions East and West even though North and South make more sense so Michigan can be Champions of the West.

Not so good. Tristin Llewellyn and Jacob Fallon are gone for the year for "violating team expectations." That ends Llewellyn's Michigan career; Fallon has an opportunity to return next year.

As far as impact goes, Fallon was only playing about half the time anyway and didn't stand out when he did. Llewellyn's loss will be more prominent. While it's impossible for anyone to replace his penalty acquisition skills with quite so much gusto, alternatives on the back line are Moffie and Clare. Moffie's been pretty bad this year—a turnover machine—and Clare has been on the back burner most of the season as Michigan tries to juggle eight defensemen. He'll probably benefit from the increased availability of playing time more than Moffie.

Etc.: Pat Fitzgerald's agent would like you to know that Michigan was probably going to offer Fitzgerald three million a year as part of their sham effort to make it look like other people were being considered. Brady Hoke buyout blah blah.

Comments

jerseyblue

January 14th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^

Holk's been pushing the 3-3-5  the last 3 days so he seems set on that.  Shannon would probably want to go somewhere where the HC is an offensive guy and would just let Randy run his 4-3 and leave him alone.

I'd love to be able to tell recruits we run a 4-3 because the scheme scared off Zettel and Jernigan more than the coaching situation. D lineman don't want to hear about 3-3-5.

OregonWolverine

January 14th, 2011 at 1:49 PM ^

It appears from the chart in BWS that Brian was looking at Rushing defense rankings, not overall defensive ranking. But still, the same overall point struck me when I was reading the Hoke profile on maizenbrew well before the Hoke hire: for a guy who talks big defensive talk, his results don't walk the walk.

Edit: actually, I screwed up, not Brian. As another poster pointed out, the broad context was Hoke as a supposed run-the-ball/stop-the-run guy, meaning that the relevant stat was indeed rush defense.

Blue Durham

January 14th, 2011 at 1:53 PM ^

being sarcastic. From the tone of what Brian wrote, it was meh, or whatever, at best. Which, I guess, is a little bit of a thaw, but just a little.

Regarding "readjusting our thinking/feelings" and "coming to grip with reality" I assume you mean coming to accept Hoke as the head coach, which is fine. As fans, I think we all hope he succeeds.

But this hire by the AD is troubling. I think most would conceed that Hoke would not be hired by any of the top 20 programs at this point in his career; Hoke was not on the radar even on mid-level programs looking for a coach at the end of the season, like Minnesota. At this point in his career, I just don't see Hoke being hired by these top programs, those with national championship asperations.

It seems that Hoke's primary qualification was being a head coach who was already a "Michigan Man," that he "gets Michigan," etc. (I won't mention the worse reason ever given for a head coach hire, that he already knows the words to the school's fight song). But why was this?

There have been a lot of references about "schisms" or divides within the program (or the entire athletic department). That Rodriguez and his staff didn't fit in. If the culture within the program is such that it takes a "Michigan Man" to "get Michigan" then yeah, the athletic department had a problem, but perhaps with the program's culture, not the head coach. Is Michigan's culture is so foreign from all of the other programs out the that only those that have passed through the program can find success as our head coach? That seems to be the conclusion to Brandon's remarks and process, as well as much that preceeded it.

I thought that Drew Sharp's questioning of Hoke regarding goals (Big 10 versus NC) was so damn ironic. This will likely upset some here, but this was exactly the kind of hire that one would expect a regional program to make, not a program with NC aspirations.

Rodriquez' hire was one of great aspirations both on the field and culturally. For whatever reasons, it failed. Perhaps Hoke's, with both lower expectations and aspirations, will succeed.

maizenbluenc

January 14th, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^

Rich was naive in his "we do this my way" approach, AND Bill Martin seemingly did nothing to ease / manage the culture shift.

In the end, we had a program that needed improvement, not a complete overhaul, and Rich attempted a complete overhaul. If he had come in, embraced Michigan history from the start (instead of the Lion King "it's in the past, it doesn't matter" story), kept more of Lloyd's staff, and went for a rip and replace on the offense and conditioning, while maybe leveraging a mix of existing staff and new staff to improve the defense, but retain "how to defend against B1G opponents" knowledge ... and then if Martin had been able to push a similar hearts and minds campaign ... well things may have gone differently.

Blue Durham

January 14th, 2011 at 3:56 PM ^

Rodriquez was a "my way or the highway" type of coach over the average BCS coach. But someone who has had the success that RR had when he arrived can't be blamed by using the same approach that brought him that success. I suspect that most successful BCS coaches are that way - Bo certainly was, as was Bear Bryant, Nick Saban and Charlie Weis (well, forget about that last one) . But the difference was Bo won in his first year, RR didn't. Bo acknowledged that there was a lot of talent on that team. I don't think there was anything near that when RR took over.

I don't know how much it hurt RR by bringing in most of "his guys" and letting Carr's assistants go. But I do think that the one RR failed to bring with him, his DC at WVU, probably had dire consequences.

I've wondered what would have happened if Carr had retired, as he wanted, after the 2006 season. Whoever would have replaced him would have been set up for a very good winning season, at least in 2007, thus at leastpartially establishinghimself. It alsowould have given the new coach a chance to try to address needs in the depth chart with that year's recruiting class.

His Dudeness

January 14th, 2011 at 11:43 AM ^

Also please don't bring up that the Graham/Malzahn combo obliterated Hoke's best team 45-13 and now Graham is at Pitt and has hired a couple Rodriguez assistants and I just feel kind of ominous about this whole section.

Yea, but I bet they discussed what they were going to get paid!!!1!! And.. and... I bet they need a map of Pittsburgh!!!

/my head still hurts

//really bad

Bryan

January 14th, 2011 at 11:51 AM ^

The chance Randy Shannon comes to Michigan is extraordinarily slim.

As thin as the zero point zero chance that Hoke comes to M from a few weeks ago? Hmmmm?

GBOD79

January 14th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^

Brady Hoke is just not intimidating when photoshopped to be Wolverine. He looks like a plump Joe Dirt. Or the character Chris Farley played in Billy Madison.

Frank Sobotka

January 14th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^

Shannon seems like a no-brainer, but something scared the bejabbers out of Mack Brown and his family atmosphere when they talked to Shannon just after Muschamp left.  I suspect the same thing would happen here.

mgoSk

January 14th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^

As far as outside hires go, Shannon's the best available DC in my opinion. I remember reading after his firing about how he left hand written notes in many of his player's lockers. Shannon did a tremendous job reversing the negative aspects of Miami football, improved graduation rate, overall APR, etc. He definitely cares about the kids, and if he was interested in becoming the DC at Michigan, I'm sure he'd interview well.

GoBlueinEugene

January 14th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^

I know he's here primarily to play football, but he is (like everyone else on the team) a student-athlete. If he can't cut it as a student and meet minimum academic standards, well.. I don't know. The great thing about UM is our rich football tradition and our top-notch academics. 

champswest

January 14th, 2011 at 12:20 PM ^

comment in his bowl interview (before grades came out) that RR's offense is perfectly suited to Denard and not so much for him.  Then he gets himself into academic trouble.  Then RR's offense gets replaced by Hoke's offense which may turn out to be more suited to Tate than Denard.  Tate has got to be thinking, "Damn, why do I keep shooting myself in the foot?"

MGoPietrowski

January 14th, 2011 at 12:33 PM ^

How many more dumb ass things can tate do.....(mope on the sidelines, fail out, tell people he's leaving on multiple occasions) before the Michigan community realizes that this guy just isn't worth it. If he didn't throw an interception on his first possession of every game, things would be different, but this guy is studying, acting and talking with the ego of a Cam Newton, while playing (when he is playing) like a Steve Threet. I'm tired of the Tate headlines. All it does is steal focus away from working hard and winning football games. 

dieseljr32

January 14th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^

I would gladly take Randy  Shannon but something tells me we're going to have some obscure person as the DC.  Just a gut feeling, no inside info.

Then again, I was with Brian when he said a couple weeks ago that Hoke has a zero point zero chance of being the head coach.  Anything can happen.

willywill9

January 14th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^

If Offensive Assistants at the position level don't matter... let's get rid of one and Focus Primarily on STs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111  it would be a ST Coordinator.

Okay really though, after reading this entry... i feel so much worse about this Hoke hire :(  I don't know why yo, I just do.

dr eng1ish

January 14th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^

I see no evidence in this column that Brian is warming up to the hire any more than he did after the presser. Unless you count the Fred Jackson imitation which is clearly sarcasm, although I'm sure Brian would agree it's a good move.

Sooner or later, he will join the HOKEAMANIC revolution! The time is now, brotha!

08mms

January 14th, 2011 at 2:18 PM ^

It's not a revolution, he's the slightly overweight son of the king who was third-in-line to the throne and was suddenly thrust in front in a difficult time of war.  Time will tell whether he is overwhelmed and falls or grows into his role as rightful heir to the throne.

notetoself

January 14th, 2011 at 12:26 PM ^

Either that or it kills the idea that Scot Loeffler would enter at QB coach. Not like any of this matters, anyway. If you're not an OL or QB coach offensive assistants don't really matter.

wait. so it matters? or no, wait. my head hurts.

Don

January 14th, 2011 at 12:34 PM ^

David Brandon. Which leaves guys like Shannon and Tenuta completely out of the mix. The DC will be some relatively unknown guy with an indifferent resume who won't compete with DB for media attention.

TennBlue

January 14th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^

and very possible.  CEOs are known for their egos and need to be the center of attention.  With Brandon relatively new to the AD position, it will be interesting as to whether he allows the athletics itself to be the prime focus, or him.

We bought into an image and reputation when he was hired, and some of the luster has faded with his handling of the last couple months.  The real measure of Dave Brandon's tenure will be what he leaves behind - a corporate brand or an athletic program.  We won't know for quite a while yet, unfortunately.

Blue in Yarmouth

January 14th, 2011 at 1:48 PM ^

didn't buy-in to any of the DB BS when he first came on. I knew nothing about DB and therefore wanted something tangible to base my opinion on before I was willing to claim I had faith in him or that he had a pimpm hand.

To date, he has done absolutely nothing to make me believe he was a good hire for an AD. Also, I think the poster that suggested he wants the focus on him because of his big ego is right, but I would much rather go back to the days of Martin where the AD was seldom seen or heard. Hell, I'll even buy DB a sailboat if that's what it takes..../S

Section 1

January 14th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^

I am not ready to condemn Brandon so quickly and completely.

He handled the NCAA investigation in a particularly masterful way.  He did a very nice job on The Big Chill.  The game was scheduled before Brandon.  But the game was a Brandon Production.  Brandon made and executed the decision on lights, and the ND night game.  I'm not terribly enthralled with night games, but I think a lot of peple are.

Anyway, if you are going to condemn David Brandon for the coaching search process, I suppose that's only fair, since Bill Martin did a basically wonderful job as AD, and is now being widely condemned as a failure because of Rich Rodriguez, which is at least two or three rotten misconceptions all rolled into one.

dahblue

January 14th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^

Brian, I know you don't like the hire, but why keep raining on the parade of those who are happy (for the first time in a long time) about our future prospects?

Brady Hoke told the radio Denard Robinson would not transfer. So he'll go through spring at least.

So, Denard staying means "through spring at least"?  Why not say that about every player on the team.  It' accurate if they stay and prophetic if they leave.  It's good news that Denard is staying and it's ok to be happy about it.

Then, to rip Hoke, you get facts wrong even though you posted a link to that source:

In eight seasons as a head coach Hoke oversaw one defense—this year's—that ranked above 84th nationally

"This year", SDSU's (scoring) defense was 35th nationally (according to your link).  That's pretty good.  Here's another positive for you...SDSU was 19th nationally in scoring offense this year (while we were 25th).  In short...don't worry; be happy (so sayeth Bobby McFarin).

dahblue

January 14th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^

What's my dispute?  Brian said that SDSU's defense ranked "above 84th nationally".  Yeah...wayyy above.  They were 35th!  Why not say, "SDSU's defense was not 119th"?  Accurate in a sense but extremely misleading.  That's not a good road to good down.  I "switched" to offense to show that SDSU had a very good defense AND a very good offense.  It's ok to see some positive things about Hoke's past performance.

When I first looked into Hoke, I thought..."eh".  I asked people here for their thoughts and they weren't positive (mostly focused on his record...which is very similar to Fitzgerald, who is loved here).  Looking a bit deeper, I saw some of the positives mentioned above.  Then, the press conference sold me.  I really like the guy and will continue to like him unless his on-the-field performance gives a reason to change that opinion.