Unverified Voracity Is Still Falling
Something I forgot to put in the soccer post. LOOK AT THIS MAN JUMP INTO INFINITY
Did not even phase Dempsey one bit https://t.co/wNkOWfQE6n
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) June 7, 2021
Just city council things. How's city council going, nobody asked?
This Ann Arbor Council Administration Committee is off to a fiery start after council member Ali Ramlawi invoked the due process Nazi Germany was given after the holocaust in defense of what is happening to Jeff Hayner. #A2council
— Samuel J. Robinson (@samueljrob) June 2, 2021
Two months ago Jeff Hayner dropped an anti-gay slur on Facebook and the fallout has not yet stopped because no one can say "sorry" and take their lumps. (As this goes on, the majority faction is quietly busy doing good things for the city.)
[After THE JUMP: an ordering of things displeases me!]
Everything else has gone well. Football is not in a good place. The rest of Michigan's athletic department is challenging perpetual champion Stanford for the Director's Cup:
DI Standings released for 2020-21, includes fall and winter championships. @GoStanford
— Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup (@LDirectorsCup) June 3, 2021
leads the way by a mere one-half point over @UMichAthletics ... @bigten with 8 schools in the top-25 pic.twitter.com/rz3EyXRJqQ
Stanford baseball is still in the tournament and Michigan is not so they're not going to win. They're likely to finish closer to first than any non-Stanford program in a minute.
I am outraged about the content of a list, as the offseason intended. The Athletic, for some reason, has ranked the 40 head coaching hires in the Big Ten since 1999. Brady Hoke slots in 15th?!?! This list goes:
14. Jerry Kill
15. Brady Hoke
16. Gary Andersen
17. Randy Walker
18. Greg Schiano Part 2
19. Ron Zook
20. Tracy Claeys
21. Kevin Wilson
22. Jeff Brohm
23. Rich Rodriguez
I'm putting Hoke above Zook and maybe Claeys and no one else. And how is Kevin Wilson, who turned Indiana football into a terrifying and incredibly fun program and set the stage for Tom Allen's success, in the back half of this list? My head hurts just looking at this.
On the other hand, we get to talk about Tim Beckman again:
Beckman wished his mother a happy birthday to open Big Ten media days each of his first two years at Illinois. Nothing wrong with that, except he specifically said it was her birthday each time, and media day took place July 26 in 2012 and July 24 in 2013.
Mandatory embed:
Kwity doing well. Michigan's first round pick has hit the ground running in Indianapolis:
"Kwity is everything we're looking for in terms of a character of men and what he brings to the table, and you can see that on his tape," Eberflus said. "He has just been outstanding so far with us, working with the D-line coaches and everybody else."
What makes him so great, exactly?
Eberflus says Paye's attention to detail and examination of the minor things could put him on the fast track to seeing playing time this season.
I think a lot of the Paye takes were off because they had very little film of him as a senior, when he was a completely different player rushing the passer. If I had to bet I'd say he exceeds expectations.
Uh hello yes I am interested in this newsletter. Mel Pearson seems to be stating that Owen Power's coming back to campus in this here tweet:
Owen will look great in that jersey starting in the fall of “2022”.
— Mel Pearson (@CoachPearsonUM) June 6, 2021
〽️GoBlue ! https://t.co/qLQe5miuNr
That is almost unprecedented. The only two college hockey players to go first overall are Rick DiPietro and Erik Johnson. DiPietro signed immediately; Johnson did play his D+1 season at Minnesota. Power would be only the second #1 overall pick to play college hockey.
Michigan goalies scout Michigan skaters. Buffalo has the top pick in the draft and the local paper talked to Strauss Mann and Erik Portillo about Michigan's three top ten picks. On Beniers:
“He's just an all-around player,” Mann said of Beniers. “I think every scout or anyone that watches him can see that. It kind of seems like the guy doesn't run out of energy. He's just bopping around the ice, out-skating everyone. He'll lead a rush and then be the first guy back on the backcheck. Just kind of a complete player that energizes your team and his linemates and goes to the net really hard, does the little things well. He's a guy that everyone would want on their team.”
On Johnson:
“He's very creative out there,” said Mann. “I think he has a lot of fun with that part of his game, which is great to see. He was so locked in day one and he looked like maybe he was a high schooler still, but then you realize these guys are like 17-18 and it's just fun. It brings a good energy, especially with him. He just loves the game and loves to watch video and learn from guys and learn different moves and play with different types of things. There’s definitely a method to the madness."
Etc.: RIP to a real one. Wrestler Adam Coon is taking a shot at the NFL. Duke as the next Indiana has a pleasing ring to it. Scouting Michigan's NBA draft prospects. 22 minutes on the flex offense? Sure.
OSKEE.
Still gets me every time.
I can never get past the beginning, "we have a word, but it means something..."
Even better:
10 minutes of "in the weight room, in the community" on loop.
I love how they actually include the print of "The last E stand for" before Energy. Leave no doubt about what the fuck OSKEE stands for hahaha
I connected through O'Hare on Sunday. There is a BIG GIANT Orange Block I sitting at the entrance to one of the American terminals, it made me think of Beckmann.
The BIG GIANT Orange Block I does a very good job blocking foot traffic. It does a very good job getting in the way.
Ah, the time-tested media business model to sell controversy, not insight.
Which is a direct result of our time-tested preference for consuming controversial rather than insightful content. We get the media we ask for / reward.
“our”?
/ I get it, I get it
I'd expect that tweet to come from a rando like me. Kinda interesting for Mel to tweet that out, especially before the draft unless somehow Buffalo has already told Michigan they're going to take Power at #1 and they want to leave him in Ann Arbor? I guess that's not impossible but it seems somewhat unlikely
At the time time, I guess it's entirely possible that the Sabres organization already has an open line with Mel since Portillo (a Sabres pick) is on the roster and the Sabres gutted their scouting department so maybe Mel is their informal scout for all the top 10 picks in Ann Arbor. The Sabres are inept enough lately that this wouldn't surprise me. Hopefully Mel is dropping some knowledge and not just being hopeful
I took at as Mel tongue in cheek lobbying for Power to return, and not anything more.
Re: Owen Power... I think this is really analogous to the 2006 Entry Draft where Johnson was taken 1 overall and played a year at Minnesota before going pro; same with Joanthan Toews who was taken 3rd overall and played one more year at NoDak before going pro. IIRC, that 2006 year was much like this year.. Johnson was considered the No 1 pick but it wasn't a "this guy is a franchise changer", so the pro team let him play another year in college to develop at a NHL factory and push off paying him for an additional year.
RIP Buttsoup
On Brady Hoke consider this, he won a BCS / New Years Six bowl game and has actually beat Ohio St while also coming within a 2 pt conversion pass of beating Ohio St a second time.
Which he dorffed away by calling THE EXACT SAME PLAY IN THE SAME FORMATION, after OSU called timeout to see that formation.
Buddy that was all Borges. Brady had no headset, no playbook, just vibes ?
Right, so at the very least it is baffling that Brian seems to be saying he'd put RichRod above Brady Hoke.
mgoblog will always carry RR's water. Not sure why, given he also failed at Arizona AND had sexual harrasment charges levied against him. but alas, they have to stay on brand.
(also on brand, dennis norfleet was chronically underutilized, everything that happened during the lloyd tenure was a failure, denard robinson is the best michigan qb to ever don the winged helmet)
Yeah, the question is whether Brian is ranking the hire based on how good it seemed at the time given the market or if it's based retroactively on results. I would think the latter since you're correct, there's no possible way you'd have RichRod ahead of Hoke otherwise.
But if the former, RichRod was widely considered a home run hire at the time. He had just turned down Bama the year before (always a fun exercise to consider where Bama would be if he had accepted) and was the hottest name in coaching.
Similarly, how would we rate the Harbaugh hire? At the time, it was a total home run. There didn't appear to be anyone better available and was a hire that most teams wouldn't have been able to pull off, including some NFL teams. So Jim Hackett would have appeared to do his job extremely well. But with the benefit of hindsight, eh, not nearly as sparkling looking. So was it a good hire or a meh hire?
Maybe the lesson here is Michigan needs to do some real homework instead of buying the shiniest overpriced gaudy objection on the shelf.
Bo was a small name smaller school up and comer. You could argue Hoke was that, but I don’t think his bona fides compared to Bo’s, let alone other coaches available when Brandon took him.
RichRod over Hoke??!!?
I concede that you can make a non-insane case for this, which is in and of itself a damning indictment, but I think you have to squint really hard to read it. And I don't say that as a defense of Hoke.
That said, I and all of you have been flamingly wrong on this forum before, so....change my mind, MGoBoard.
It's a hard comparison to make. But I would pick RichRod over Hoke by a hair. While Hoke had a great 2011 season, overall he's not at all a great head coach, while I think Rich Rod is at least a decent head coach. Just look at their respective post-Michigan careers. Hoke not only has no business being a head coach, he really has no business being a coordinator either - his sweet spot being a position coach.
Hoke shouldn't have been our head coach, but he adored Michigan and was a good assistant here in his first time around. Brady, Woodson and a lot of other guys from the '97 team love him.
Rich Rod OTOH is widely regarded as an asshole by people who have been around his programs and finally got fired for sexual harassment at Arizona.
But for whatever reason, this site treats these two men very differently, treating RR with a curiously respectful tone while heaping abuse on Hoke all the time.
I see what you are saying. You certainly can't ignore the off-field stuff.
With that, when it comes to pure head coaching acumen and associated results, RichRod is head and shoulders ahead of Hoke. And I agree, Hoke shouldn't have been our head coach, but he really shouldn't be anyone's head coach if you are looking for good results. And the market says so. As far as I know, no one of significance wanted Hoke to be their head coach.
RR's career says he was a one trick pony that Michigan hired at the exact time his one trick was being figured out. Hoke was indeed a position coach and by all measures a pretty damn good one. Similar to Bo in that respect. Bo was an O-line coach under Woody before taking a HC job at Miami OH. Sounds a lot like Hoke's trajectory.
As far as comparing qualifications as a HC between RR & Hoke, all I can go back to is the 3 phases of football. Offense, Defense & special teams. Hoke recognized that all 3 phases need to be emphasized. That alone makes him better IMO. RR simply ignored everything that was not his favorite pony. Even when that pony was no longer new.
RR was definitely a one trick pony. A pony that won him a lot of games. A pony that made him an innovator. A pony that garnered him praised from Urban Meyer who would consult with RR on offense concepts.
Hoke may have concentrated on all phases, but he wasn't very good at it. Hoke was not an innovator and went so far to say that the spread offense is "basketball on grass". Spread offenses are the offenses of today (and likely tomorrow) per Nick Saban.
Since I'm not a football coach, I always judge this situation by looking on to how each coached fared after their respective Michigan careers. RR's was far better. But I agree, RR's career seems to be fading now, but Hoke isn't really crushing it either. It took Hoke 7 years to get a head coaching gig after leaving Michigan, and its back at a small Mountain West conference school he was head coach 10 years earlier.
Brain viewed RR as the second coming and I'm really not sure if anything changes his mind.
I guess I'm mostly looking at it through the lens of their tenures at Michigan, but even with that consideration you make some good points. I dunno that it's enough to move the needle for me, but I can't disagree with what you're saying - have an upvote!
You get an upvote too!!
I think it's still too early to say Hoke has no business being a head coach. And he doesn't have a lot of post-Michigan data. He walked into a disaster at Oregon for just one year. He was solid at Ball State, good at SDSU the first time around and had a respectable year last year to debut his second time around. He's the kind of guy that can and has been better as a HC than a coordinator. They require some different skill sets.
A HC can be good being just a good recruiter and delegator. He doesn't necessarily have to be a technician.
And a coordinator can be a technician and film junkie and doesn't necessarily have to be a good recruiter if his other coaches are.
Will be interesting to see how Hoke does at SDSU and if he gets another shot to step up. RichRod is on the slow decline although he was solid at Arizona. I'm surprised they got rid of him given what their expectations should be.
I guess I should clarify that Hoke has no business being a head coach, let alone coordinator at a P5 school. Going back to a small school you used to be head coach at 10 years prior isn't exactly inspiring and certainly doesn't signify he can be a good head coach on the big stage.
With that, watching what happens next with Hoke will be interesting. If he can resurrect his career by getting another P5 opportunity and kicking ass, then I will gladly cheer him on and retract my statement.
>I'm surprised they got rid of him given what their expectations should be.
Just wanted to clarify-- Richrod wasn't necessarily fired by Arizona for the football team's performance, I believe it had more to do with the whole sexual harassment investigation/lawsuit and the whole extra-marital affair thing.
Brian about to click "Publish" on this article: Okay UV is all done, I'm sure glad no huge bombshell news stories are going to break right when this goes live!
Based on the recent WTKA round table, Brian doesn't want any part of the Bo conversation. He said like 5 words and deferred to everyone else. So I'm guessing he probably already saw the upcoming presser news and left it out.
Beckman wished his mother a happy birthday to open Big Ten media days each of his first two years at Illinois. Nothing wrong with that, except he specifically said it was her birthday each time, and media day took place July 26 in 2012 and July 24 in 2013.
Eh, I give him a pass. Within a couple of days of someone's birthday effectively is their birthday. He wanted to show his mom some love, fair play to him.
I agree. I mean, my wife doesn't have a birthday, she has a birthmonth. I swear every single weekend during the month she was born is dedicated to some sort of birthday event for her.
You too bud? Not much consolation though to know I am not alone...
Re: The Director's Cup. With just four sports remaining (and without the exclusions that will result from only being able to score in 19, so take it with a grain of salt), North Carolina has actually jumped us for the #2 spot. So, yeah.
You will recall that UNC is the only school to ever unseat Stanford, in the Cup's inaugural year of '93-'94.
Brady Hoke slots in 15th?!?!
Hoke did beat OSU once and was a botched 2 point call from another.
I give Hoke way more credit for the near victory than the actual 2011 win. That 2011 OSU team was the worst in decades. Nearly knocking off #3 OSU was a terrific game and a legendary effort by Gardner. It still hurts we couldn't quite pull that one off
The Athletic, for some reason, has ranked the 40 head coaching hires in the Big Ten since 1999.
I wanna see the top 10! Does OSU hold all of the top 3 or did they throw in a Chryst or Fitz for parity?
Top 10 for those without an Athletic subscription:
1. Meyer
2. Tressel
3. Dantonio
4. Ferentz
5. Fitzgerald
6. Franklin
7. Chryst
8. Day
9. Bielema
10. Harbaugh
Thanks CW! How could I forget about Mork?!? I'm surprised Ferentz went ahead of Fitz & Chryst. Day must basically be lower due to tenure because he's never lost a conference game. I think that with two consecutive conference championships deserves a bit higher ranking, but I'm not gonna argue pushing OSU guys down.
Yeah, they basically implied Day will be higher up the list soon. I like the area they put him, two years is not enough to have him in the top 5 imho.
I think they did a pretty good job with the top 10, but I agree, I'd move Ferentz behind Fitzgerald and Chryst. That would also move Franklin behind Chryst, and I think I'd move him below Day as well. I just really dislike Franklin, so that's my bias speaking, though I reluctantly admit he does deserve to be ahead of Harbaugh.
The other change I'd consider is Dantonio over Tressell. Tressell has the national championship, but that was probably the flukiest championship in my lifetime in college football, and Dantonio getting MSU to a playoff berth is more impressive to me. I know there's more to it than just that, but I think it's a close call between those two.
I just really dislike Franklin, so that's my bias speaking, though I reluctantly admit he does deserve to be ahead of Harbaugh.
Is Franklin really better than JH? I feel like they are basically the same. Both are good recruiters. Both have their problems with in game adjustments. Both have had losing seasons. Both have had issues with player retention. The big difference is PSU has fared better against OSU, but I feel like that has more to do with OSU than anything else. I feel like if PSU was OSU's chief rival it would be flip flopped. I guess at the end of the day you give Franklin the nod because of the one win over OSU which gave Franklin his only conference championship, but he also lost to UM 49-10 that year. I give him the nod, but don't really think it's because of anything he did. I think they are basically equally good, but not great, he just has the benefit of not being OSU's rival and JH does not.
Yes, Franklin, in 2021, is better than Harbaugh. The Athletic's collection of non-Michigan writers thinks so. CBS's staff thinks so. Bleacher Report's staff thinks so. 247's staff thinks so. Saturdays Down South's staff thought so in 2020. Sporting News' staff thought so in 2020. The only current ranking I can find that has Harbaugh over Franklin is something called Stay Alive in Power Five. I've never heard of this esteemed publication, but it has Harbaugh 18th and Franklin 22nd.
Michigan fans tend to view Big Ten East coaches in a skewed way.
Also, Franklin is better than Chryst, too. Franklin is 2-0 against Chryst, and only one of them has a conference champion. Also, Franklin's Vanderbilt .615 tenure actually puts Chryst's .500 record at Pittsburgh to shame. Of the lists linked to above, only Saturdays Down South had Chryst ranked above Franklin.
College Football News, 2020 rankings
Yes, Franklin, in 2021, is better than Harbaugh. The Athletic's collection of non-Michigan writers thinks so. CBS's staff thinks so. Bleacher Report's staff thinks so. 247's staff thinks so. Saturdays Down South's staff thought so in 2020. Sporting News' staff thought so in 2020. The only current ranking I can find that has Harbaugh over Franklin is something called Stay Alive in Power Five. I've never heard of this esteemed publication, but it has Harbaugh 18th and Franklin 22nd.
Yeah, that doesn't really move the needle for me. Most writers focus on what happened last year. Franklin having a slighty less, but still losing record, during Covid where UM had their two best players opt out and a slew of crushing injuries doesn't hold a lot of weight to me. Even so, the two are 3-3 against each other. Again, I can see giving Franklin the nod simply due to better showings against OSU, but I think that is because UM is OSU's rival and not PSU. I think they are the same.
Most writers focus on what happened last year.
I don't know. Perhaps. They could be that narrowly focused. Or, they could be thinking "Penn State has beaten Michigan 3 of the last 4 years."
Hoke maybe would have made it with better QBs. Morris busting crushed him. Hoke was a sublime recruiter, got us back into Ohio and out-recruited OSU in their own state. Do we forget the defense he built ? Guys like Charlton, Wormley, Gedeon, etc... what did him in was QB and the OL.
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