Monday Presser 11-3-14: Brady Hoke Comment Count

Adam Schnepp

Hoke presser 2

file

News bullets and other items:

  • Hoke found out from Brandon that he would be resigning on Friday
  • Hoke will have a meeting with Hackett “sooner than later”
  • Peppers is getting better but isn’t where he needs to be, and Hoke said he’d “…have something soon” on the situation. Read between the lines and it doesn’t look good for Peppers returning to the field this season
  • Erik Magnuson “could” stay at TE, but he’s also first in at LT, LG, or RT if needed
  • Hoke referred to a Devin Funchess toe injury when talking about Darboh getting increased opportunities, so if you’re reading this congratulations, the universe somehow hasn’t collapsed into itself yet!
  • Hoke isn’t worried about his job. He says if you worry about it then you get distracted from the job itself, and that he’s never been worried about employment

Opening remarks:

“Thanks for coming. Number one, sorry I was late. I hate to keep you waiting. It was good to win last week. It's always good to win. That’s kind of redundant and obvious but for really how these guys of practice, how they prepare it's always good to be on the right side of the scoreboard when they do that. I thought when you look at how from both sides of the ball they played together it was truly a team win because we came over a little adversity. Defensively really thought guys played well up front. Tackles for loss I think we had 12 so the negative plays, that helped. Offensively 184 yards rushing, which is 5.3 I think it was per rush. Nice to see to be able to end the game to be able to possess the ball. They only had 53 or 54 defensive plays so opportunities weren't there because of time of possession. We did set up some short fields with the two fumble recoveries and that was very positive, but like anything else it's nice that you’re balanced and that's what we were but we've got another game on Saturday with Northwestern. We look forward to that. Came in and got some things done yesterday when you look at it more from a health standpoint but it's exciting to go to Chicago and play Northwestern.”

 

Has Erik Magnuson’s role change on an ongoing basis or was that something you did for one game because you were short?

“No, I think that something that we could stay with. Obviously it was we were short a little bit but he's a good athlete as far as a left tackle what he can do some things and I thought we put him in No. 81.”

Can you talk about the progression of your guards and how they’ve kind of gotten better as the year’s gone on?

“I think that’s- I think Kyle Kalis. A little concerned early in camp because he had a back issue that flared up and we were a little concerned about that but I think because a lot of it is his toughness and how he loves to play the game. I’ve been happy with him. He's going to get us a false start once a game it seems like, where we’ve got to do a better job and he's got to do a better job and he is, but the physicalness he’s played with has been good. I think Graham [Glasgow] over on the left side I think has been very good for us. I just think the development of all those guys has improved and Graham's played center a little bit at times.”

What is your reaction to Dave Brandon stepping down?

“Well, I think the one thing is I have a lot of respect for Dave and from a reaction standpoint he did a lot of good things for the University and now I'm really excited to work with Jim [Hackett].”

Have you met with Jim?

“I saw him after the game briefly. Just briefly.”

Did he talk to you about-

“No, it was just happy with the homecoming win, all that kind of stuff.”

Coaches are often tied to an AD. Does this make you any more concerned?

“You know, I've never been concerned about a job and I never will be because if I get concerned about a job then you get distracted from it. I threw brake drums on the assembly line for Dayton-Walther during the summer and I was never concerned because I knew I was going to outwork everybody. For this if I get distracted then I'm not being fair to those kids who haven't been distracted, so I've never, ever worried about employment.”

[After THE JUMP: bristling at player (under)development accusations and an ominous Peppers progress report you probably guessed weeks ago]

Was Dave’s resignation on Friday and all the distractions, I know you said this team has done a good job of clouding that out but was there a little bit of a weight lifted?

“I don't think so. This team has been close all year. They've stayed together all year. They’re unified, united. They work their tails off together. I don't think so.”

 

I know you said you met briefly with Jim after the game. Do you have plans to have a more extensive conversation?

“I'm sure we will.”

Sooner than later? Is that in the plans as of now?

“Yeah.”

When do you-

“Sometime sooner than later.”

 

Northwestern’s been struggling recently but watching them on film, offensively what challenges do they present?

“Well, they have had some- he’s had a rash of injuries. He’s had some things happen in the preseason that you have to manage as a coach and all that and I'm not going to speak for Pat. Pat's a great coach and a great man. He’s very prideful in his university. They beat Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a pretty good football team. They went to Penn State and beat Penn State there 29-6. Penn State still has Christian Hackenberg which is as good a quarterback as you'll see. They've [PSU] got maybe some other struggles but – you look at them on tape, Siemian has really good film. Really good tape. Justin Jackson, the running back. I think he had 99 yards rushing last week and I think he was going for either five or four games in a row of over 100 yards so he's rushed the ball. A lot of their offensive line men are guys who we've seen before and look, let's face it, the last two years that game has gone into overtime so it's been a tough game for us and we'll get their best.”

 

One more thing on Jim Hackett. Do you guys go way back? Do you know him from way back?

“When I was here before I had met Jim. Since being here I've met him. Did the Southwest Michigan Sports Authority thing he was a big part of.”

 

In terms of Dave Brandon, have you talked to him since and did you talk to him leading up to the resignation?

“I found out on Friday and the only thing-“

From him? From Dave?

“Yeah. And the only thing, to be honest with you, look, we're moving forward.We’ve got Northwestern. I'm not gonna – it's not fair to anybody who's involved to say when we did do this or when we didn't do this so I appreciate it but…”

 

Drake Johnson, obviously a big second half and end of the first half for him. Do you have a competition now for starting running back? Is he in the mix? How does that play out?

“Well, I think he's always been in the mix. I think here's what happened a little bit. You had a guy who it's the year of football. You had a guy who started a little lower then the other three guys on the depth chart. One of them gets hurt and now he’s getting a lot more reps within the system. He's getting a lot more reps with the offensive line, the first team and all that because of Derrick [Green] getting hurt and I think he's continued to progress. Yeah, they'll compete. They’ll compete for it like they always do and I would say right now DeVeon right now I thought he may be held back a little bit but he's fine so we'll see what happens.”

With Drake, did it take him a little longer to get over the knee [injury]?

“Yeah, I think that's part of it. And with an ACL, you don't – we had guys come back in eight months, we had guys come back in seven months but you're not all the way there, and part of that is a new system and if you miss all of spring in that system his development is probably where it should be. Darboh, same thing. Darboh misses a year, Funchess is hurt early in the year with the toe [Ed.- A: Did he just talk about an injury?] so he gets a lot of those snaps and you can see the development that he's made. Chris Wormley with Willie [Henry] being out. Chris and his development. Same with Matt Godin. Brian Mone has been here since January. He played a daggone good football game the other day. He's developing, and I would say Godin being the same. And [Ryan] Glasgow.”

 

With Drake Johnson, have you seen this coming in practice? Have you seen him continue to develop?

“You can see that he's a slasher. Little different running style and there's some reads and stuff that go into it, all those kind of things, but I think we all-  I don’t think we would have recruited him here if we didn’t think he had a chance to be pretty good. Now, I think they blocked the line of scrimmage pretty well but I think he made some reads pretty well.”

With the injury, when did you see him back to full health?

“Well, we thought in the spring maybe he could've done a little something but we were wise enough to keep him out. Once you get through that whole year cycle you feel a little better but at that time, I think it was the Central Michigan game from the year before, coming out of fall camp Derrick and DeVeon and Justice for a lot of reasons, protection being one. He was behind.”

What do you make or what do you say to the criticism of the coaching staff’s inability to recognize talent? You’ve been criticized in the development of talent. What do you say when Drake Johnson seems to come from nowhere, yet you’ve been riding running backs that have been unproductive.

“Well, what I would say is Jake Ryan is a semi-finalist for the Butkus award. You're talking about development of players, right? Frank Clark was 217 pounds when he got here. He'll be a draft choice.”

But running back in general.

“Well, we got a guy who got hurt who was a pretty good running back, too.”

What do you say to people who criticize the staff’s ability to plug in the hot player; an answer to the question of why did it take so long for Drake to get a chance?

“Because he had to get the opportunities from a practice standpoint of running with the first group.”

Mone came in with good size and everything, but what areas has he made the biggest strides in to doing what he’s doing right now?

“He's always had that striking ability for a defensive lineman. Very quick hands. Very big hands. I think it's confidence sometimes. I think he's more confident in what he's doing. The one thing with defensive lineman you don't want them to over-think the game. I think he did that a little bit, especially last week instead of just playing and so I think he just said ‘I'm just going to go play.’”

You finally got the defensive turnovers and obviously that impacted, that turned into 14 points. You said you work on it all the time but was there something you guys changed to get production?

“No, not really. It's sometimes how the game goes and I don't think we did anything different from what we always emphasize. You do some things – you study backs, you study receivers, sometimes they're a little loose with the ball so you may as you talk to your defense, talk to your group, say ‘Hey, you get an opportunity try to punch it or strip it or something like that’ but from that standpoint it just seems like sometimes it happens in waves sometimes.”

Jake [Ryan] was credited with two forced fumbles. Two years ago he had a lot of those too-

“Yeah. I don't think he was trying to strip the ball. I just think it's the way he's using his arms. I think that's part of it.”

Back to Magnuson, I remember in the summer you said he projects as a left tackle and then he played guard. Is he repping at left tackle right now?

“Yeah.”

Is that where you want him?

“Well, he's a really as well as anybody he's a guy who can play a lot of positions. Number one, he's really an intelligent kid. Number two, he's athletic enough to play guard, play center, which is the only position we haven't repped him at but he'd be the first guy in.”

At left tackle?

“Left tackle, left guard, right tackle.”

Is that where his future is?

“Yeah, I think I would say yes right now. Now, you've got to see how Mason [Cole] continues. Got to see how some of the guys who are redshirting – Juwan [Bushell-Beatty] is a pretty physical guy. I think Logan [Tuley-Tillman] is coming a long way.”

Two questions, Brady. Whatever message you were sending Jake Butt, do you think he got it?

“Yes.”

And how so? Did he participate in practice last week or was it a game suspension?

“He did not.”

He didn’t practice?

/nods

With Jabrill, has there been any more of a decision?

“No, but I’m getting closer to seeing where he is. I mean, he’s getting better but he’s not where he needs to be, and so that’s a very good question. I’ll probably have something soon.”

Your team has had a pattern of giving up late second quarter scores. How important was it to preserve the shutout going into halftime?

“Well, I think it was really important. I think the way the energy the guys had and the way they took the field, you knew you felt very confident about how they were going to go out there and play. And yeah, we talk about those situations being defining to someone to some degree.”

Comments

robpollard

November 3rd, 2014 at 6:08 PM ^

Perhaps I'm over identifying, but as a person who has hurt his toe, you tend to run/walk like an old man a good portion of the time if it is really bothering you. Perhaps that's why his speed/separation/effort seems to have noticeably declined as the season has gone on.

Of course, not sure exactly what type of injury it is and/or if you should be able to "play through it". But assuming Devin goes pro (which I am assuming) he may be able to point to this injury as the reason for his relative lack of productive and seeming lack of effort on a significant amount of plays, and thus still go in the first round.

MonkeyMan

November 3rd, 2014 at 6:15 PM ^

I think Hoke knows his firing is a done deal at this point

He keeps emphasizing the team working so hard all the time- he mentions it so much, and without any prompting or in response to any question, that it seems like a shield to deflect criticism- sort of like "support our troops- and shut up"

uncleFred

November 3rd, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^

but I doubt very much he's worried about his job.

You think his firing is a done deal because you've written this team off. If they win their last three regular season games and their bowl his job is probably safe. If he wins 2 of his last three and one of those wins is over Ohio his job is probably safe, even if he ends up 6-6 losing to Ohio and wins his bowl there is a very good chance his job is safe. 

Hoke hasn't written this team off. He believes, and with good reason, that if he can coach them to where they play at their maximum level they can win their remaining games. He believes that he and his staff can coach them so that they can accomplish that goal. 

He mentions how hard the team works because they, based on recent eye witness comments, are in fact working that hard. As a coach he knows that with enough commitment, effort, and drive, any college team can win. Maybe their odds aren't the best but they can win and he wants this hard working team to win.

One of the narratives around here is that Hoke is a bumbling simpieton. Well if he's a bumbling simpleton then it makes sense to take him at his word about his beliefs, if on the other hand he is not a simpleton then maybe we should respect his judgement. Eitherway there is no need to read alternative motivations into his comments. 

 

SalvatoreQuattro

November 3rd, 2014 at 6:56 PM ^

7-6 with a bowl win over a crappy team still gets him fired. This team is just not good and that is not good enough in year four.The poisoned atmosphere surrounding him is too toxic for him to return under any circumstance that does not include beating OSU. If beats OSU and goes 7-6 he stands a much better chance of returning. But that is highly unlikely.

Anyways, this will soon be a moot poiint as it is likely they'll lose at least of the next two. Maryland  and Northwestern both have enough talent to beat UM. Northwestern in particular will be amped up to beat UM after their humiliation at the hands of Iowa. Oh and the game is on the road.  

dragonchild

November 3rd, 2014 at 8:35 PM ^

Let's go over this one more time.  The wins DO. NOT. FUCKING. MATTER.  People knew going in there was a new OC and a very young team.  The question is whether or not the team progressed over the season.

They have not.

Michigan State to Indiana looks like progress, but Indiana is actually on par with Miami (NTM).  We won by the exact same margin.  The longest play was 34 yards to a D that gave up big plays to everyone, even Iowa.  DG is still throwing ugly picks.  The team is exactly as bad as it was to start the season.  He asked for patience and was given it, and has spent all of it telling us the team "practiced hard".  I believe they practiced hard.  I don't believe for a moment they practiced well.  Grade A effort, grade F coaching.  THAT is going to get Hoke fired.

Through it all, the staff has been putting the team in the worst possible positions to win and being so deflective of questions about their questionable decisions, the only plausible reason we can deduce for all their baffling decisions has been stubbornness.  Not to mention the bungles this season from Concussiongate to horrible misuse of time-outs to 10 men on special teams have reached comical heights from a guy who insists on doing things his way, from dinosaur punts to not wearing a headset.  THAT is going to get Hoke fired.

To top it all off, not only is everyone going nowhere fast, there's growing evidence they are going about developing players in the absolute worst way possible -- take a guy who looks a preconceived part, then try to teach them skills they're not good at to make them into players they're not.  Hell, we've broken our best four players from last season -- DG is dysfunctional as a pocket passer, Funchess is hurt (from being left in the ND game too long) and remember when he was a TE?  Jake Ryan is lost as a read-and-react MLB and Countess as a press nickel is a violin prodigy with a trumpet in his hands.  Rawls as a short-yardage back, Black as a NT, Omameh as a pulling guard. . . In retrospect, holy hell, these coaches are awful at utilizing talent.  This is like those perpetually inept MLB teams throwing millions at high schoolers who can throw 97mph and keep telling themselves, "If we can just get this kid to throw strikes!"  THAT is going to get Hoke fired.

We're not turned off because they're losing; we're turned off because they're terrible, which also happens to be why they're losing.

dragonchild

November 3rd, 2014 at 9:17 PM ^

I don't think he should be fired "no matter what".  If the team flips a switch and runs the table culminating with a roughshod trampling of Ohio State and a decisive bowl game win, I'm on board with a fifth year.  That's just not going to happen, is the thing.  There is such a thing as evaluating future results based on past performance and the most recent predictions of this team's performance have been dead-on.  MSU's curb-stomping was so predicted it wasn't crushing and disappointing so much as boring and sad.  We have enough on Hoke to get a very good idea of how the team will do.  There's a scenario where Hoke could go 7-6 and get a fifth year, namely if they had a freak series of breakdowns that are fixable and bad luck that will eventually go away.  We saw some bad luck early in the season, that went away and. . . the team still sucks.  On the flip side, you said:

"7-6 in year 4 at michigan, should get him run out of town so fast."

No.  I mean, I don't believe that should happen.  It won't happen anyway, because he's not going to win 7 games.

I mean, if I read you wrong, I read you wrong -- misunderstanding isn't my intent.  But I ranted because I disagreed with the words I read.

ItakeHGH

November 3rd, 2014 at 9:28 PM ^

responding to someone saying if he goes 7-6 his job should be pretty safe.  But anyway, i disagree.  What more needs to be seen from this guy? He's a terrible coach.  With an anachronistic offense that sucks has sucked, and will keep sucking, shitty punting formation, awful clock management, the worst 2 minute drill in the history of football, empashis on time of possession, bad player development, and stupid in game decisions (save his first year).  The guy fucking sucks, can't stand him, and don't want him back no matter what.  All I was saying.  Sorry for the confusion 

RJMAC

November 4th, 2014 at 1:07 AM ^

What if Hoke played DG the whole game against Minnesota and the ref gives our receiver the completion against Rutgers . Those were two winnable games right there. They would be 6-3 right now with two games they should win coming up agaist NW and Maryland. What if the OSU QB (who was limping in last weeks game) gets injured in the MSU game? A plausible scenario give MSU aggressive D. Michigan might be playing the last game against OSU with a backup to the backup QB. That game becomes much more winnable. I mean , VA Tech beat them by two touchdowns at the horseshoe. So evaluating future results, with the emergence of a better running back in Johnson, which will open up the passing game more for Darboh and Funchess, there's a decent chance Michigan wins the next two games handily, gives OSU all they can handle, and possibly win that game. What if that happens? Does Hoke come back?

markusr2007

November 4th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^

I could be wrong about this,but I think Michigan has suffered more than most other teams in the nation over the last 10 years in their recruit evaluations being way overblown (overstated recruit talent).

This is nothing new for Michigan football historically speaking, but it's getting pretty godammned old if you ask me.  Name one other college football team that lands Top 15 recruiting classes on a consistent basis and loses quite as many or more games as Michigan does? Not many.  Michigan had the No. 1 class in the nation back in 2005, and it flamed out spectacularly.  What I'm saying is that Michigan has quite possibly the worst luck in recruiting outcomes in the nation for many, many years. 

I agree that the coaching has been very poor under Hoke (what could one expect afterall with washouts/hangerson from Ball St. and SD State?) and only undermines the potential outcomes further. But I also think that talent assessments of Michigan's recruited classes by major press orgs have been prejudiced and just way off the mark.  Given recruiting hauls the last 10 years, MSU and Wisconsin have absolutely no business winning division and Big Ten conference titles and going to Rose Bowl.  Yet that's exactly what's been happening.  They are hauling in 2 and 3 star recruits and churning out mid- to high-functioning offenses and defenses by national standards, not just shitty Big Ten standards.

This was the year Michigan could put to bed the consequences of the 2008 and 2010 coaching turmoil. But now we will enter it all over again.  The good news? It's ironic, but Michigan will likely have a very poor measured recruiting class for 2015, which of course translates into the Wolverines winning a national title game in 2018 of course.

 

Red is Blue

November 4th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^

It seems to me that the issue is not overall recruiting rankings, but how the classes fit together. Hoke seems to love him some big dudes. Unfortunately, size often comes at the price of speed. If you take the most highly rated big slow dude at each position, you can end up with a reasonably highly ranked class that is not a good team.

Also, qb play is so important. Outside of Denard in Hoke's first year, when was the last time we had a qb play well in his role in the offence? Junior Henne?

WolverineBeastBoy

November 3rd, 2014 at 6:31 PM ^

Peppers is out for the season is what ive been hearing. Also glad to see coach Hoke in good spirits, good he isnt worried about his job. Still wondering about Funchess injury.... when did he injure it?

HarBooYa

November 3rd, 2014 at 7:31 PM ^

The fool's opportunity to be optimistic here. While I don't think it's likely we win half of our remaining games, I think it gets increasingly interesting if we win next week. If we win against Maryland thereafter, we are all talking about a win or get fired game for Hoke against osu. That would be ideal from a current fan's standpoint.



The worst would be we regress the next two games and the osu is a pure pride game (no bowl eligibility, no job, no nothing on the line but yo stave off further humiliation).



Ooph, how far we have fallen.

JBE

November 3rd, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^

If Michigan can't get Harbaugh I honestly would love if they retained Hoke. All this transition and turnover has been more detrimental to the program than any other factor. You have to get Harbaugh if he's available, but if they don't I'd roll with Hoke over any of other names that have been realistically thrown out there.

flashOverride

November 3rd, 2014 at 8:23 PM ^

I have a hell of a time with this one, I really do. On one hand I totally share your view - if it's not a championship-calibre hire, keep Hoke. I am tired of transitions and see no upside to hiring another MAC-level guy who is just going to continue what Hoke is doing, get fired in three years, and officially coronate Michigan as this era's Notre Dame. I think people who want Hoke fired regardless of who's available to replace him are simply pissed that the team sucks (as am I, believe me) and just want their pound of flesh. Contrary to what a lot of people here think, Hoke's not an idiot. He's a mediocre coach in over his head, but he's not an idiot. To me, one mediocre coach is the same as any other. If the change is only going to be from mediocre coach to mediocre coach, keep Hoke.

Which brings me to the part that has me torn: if Hoke is to be retained for 2015, his contract must be extended. Extending Brady Hoke's contract is a tacit admission that Michigan has accepted mediocrity and domination at the hands of Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio, and probably James Franklin and a few others. It would be a black day.

So yeah, to me, it really is Harbaugh/Harbaugh/Miles/Mullen/McElwain/Graham or bust, and a lot of people here don't even consider all of those names acceptable. It guts me to say, but I am not at this moment optimistic about the future of Michigan football. Hoping for a miracle.

RockinLoud

November 3rd, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^

No way, if you cant get Harbaugh you have to make a serious run at Mullen. If you can't get Mullen... then, well, ok then you entertain keeping Hoke. But would it be better to fire him regardless and role with an interim coach, like Nuss? Or would that crater recruiting so much that it would be better just to keep Hoke? I really don't know, but Harbaugh is not the only option that should be pursued and if it doesn't work automatically keep Hoke, imho.

snarling wolverine

November 3rd, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^

Which brings me to the part that has me torn: if Hoke is to be retained for 2015, his contract must be extended. Extending Brady Hoke's contract is a tacit admission that Michigan has accepted mediocrity and domination at the hands of Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio, and probably James Franklin and a few others. It would be a black day

Why does it have to mean all that? I doubt his buyout would change.

cozy200

November 3rd, 2014 at 9:40 PM ^

Dantonio, Urbz, Kill, the list goes on of "small time" coaches who did pretty damn well. Now did they have a track record of real success before making the leap? Eh. Are there enough flame outs to equalize those names? Sure. But in the end, I would limit any of our options. Just give me a coach who wears a headset, calls plays and is not a cheerleader/game manager. I don't care where he comes from.

flashOverride

November 3rd, 2014 at 10:20 PM ^

I hear you, but my concern is that Michigan just tried that - Hoke was the guy with the Tressel/Dantonio-like level of prior record who I hoped would have Tressel/Dantonio-like success. He didn't, and I think he's more representative of what typically happens than they are. I just think Michigan needs a splash or needs to stay put.