iawolve

April 11th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^

He sort of has to prove them wrong, could argue with Kill being ahead of him. However, the Puntosaur is 2-1 against Hoke so that seems about right since he has a winning record.

yossarians tree

April 15th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^

Sorry, but Hoke doesnt get a full evaluation until after his 5th season. This was a total program rebuild. I've heard several Sparties spout off on this subject, concluding (gleefully, hopefully) that Hoke is a bust. Then I looked it up and saw that Dantonio was 6-7 in his third season. When their hero goes 6-7 and our "bust" goes 7-6, well, that pretty much sizes up that score.

saveferris

April 15th, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^

Unfortunately, I think we set the bar at an awkward level when we canned Rodriguez after his third season when he was faced with an even tougher rebuilding project than Hoke is facing.  I think showing any coach the door before his 4th season is lunacy, but we made it OK for the fanbase to expect more sooner.

Also, the fact that we've been reduced to measuring ourselves against Sparty as much as we measure ourselves against Ohio is an ancillary reason for much of the furor over Hoke right now.

Wolfman

April 15th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^

Nothing in Brady's history suggests he's as good as the 2011 first year record. He is not an "impact" coach. He has shown the ability to build programs, but due to fortunate circumstances for him, i.e., accepting two higher exposure, higher paid and what appeared well earned jobs, he was fortunate enough to grab one of the best DCs in the game and inherit a qb with an amount of athleticism we might not see here again. Borges had to do nothing but allow Denard to be Denard and the points went up quickly on the scoreboard.  He also inherited enough talent on defense and far more leadership in the form of three players on that side of the line that quickly laid to rest any questions that were there before the season began. This was easily a case of the sum being greater than the total of the parts, but that happens occasionally.  I think it happened in E. Lansing last season. Their offensive improvemnt from game one until conference startup was amazing.  Couple the above with the fact that MSU had its worst team in five years and OSU in possibly 15, and the ducks were lined up well.   Unfortunately though, he could have easily laid back-to back losses on OH, but allowed Al to call his worst half of football while employed in AA. I believe that second half is now being sold as a manual for "How not to call a football game."                               ^So we know he's not a miracle worker, as '11 might suggest by just looking at the record, but this is actually the season where he'll have to make tremendous strides. Gifts such as those handed to PSU last season simply cannot be replicated again and all other teams who have no business being on the field with us must be made aware of this in the game's first thirty minutes. As stated above, Brady has demonstrated the ability to build and rebuild both, but he's yet to demo nstrate the ability to consistently take command of a game early and have the second teamers finish the final 20-25 minutes, and this is scary because there have been far more opportunities to do so than there has been glimpses of us actually getting close to this level.  I am afraid he may lack that ability to understand what is actually in the toolbox and the knowledge to build the best piece of work with the tools on hand. All it will take, however, is a couple 10-11 win seasons to win me over. I remain optimistic.

991GT3

April 20th, 2014 at 6:03 PM ^

The dynamics and competition are different form his previous HC stints. The big question is whether he can grow into the job within five years. My belief is for him to survive he needs to overhaul his coaching staff. NUss is a good starting point. GM may not have too many years left. Several of the assistant coaches need to go.

If he remains loyal to them he will not survive.