Anyone Else Think the Hoke Push is a Bit Much?
I don't know about everyone else, but the whole thing (drama?) seems a bit oily, and more than a bit excessive:
Former players, and one former headcoach (psh-"Michigan Men"), coming out of the woodwork in droves to profess their man-love for BH. (Not to put too fine a point on Desmond's words, but if no one man is greater than the team, then why were all these individual, mythical "Michigan Men" placing themselves above the team with their silence, rather than their out-and-out support? Isn't that what a "team" is supposed to do? Be brothers in arms, united we stand?)
How many times does the Athletic Department need to update the FB page, and ask, gushingly, what our favorite pic/PC moment/BH hairstyle was? (Hokeamania, anyone?)
The interesting timing and placement of all the Detroit print media "bugs in ears" regarding BH's fitness to be a fine Michigan football coach, in the week prior to his actual announced hiring?
DB's mumbling about not breaking contracts with regard to the adidas contract and the players chanting "NIKE" seemed a bit contrived and more than a little BS.
And finally, unusual influx of new MGoBlog members, seemingly most with under 200 mgopoints, who are now the standard bearers for the defense of BH, his record, his opportunity, and the patience and time needed for him to do the job.
There's a real, "sell the sizzle, not the steak" odor to this whole "process" and it's one that never existed previously, to my knowledge. And I would have preferred it to stay that way.
All that said, yes, come mid-August, it will be "All in for Michigan" and I'll be there. Disappointment in all these role models and what they proclaimed will remain, but my support for my team will always be there.
And please, save the tinfoil snark. I know how this can read to the 2011 vintage Kool-Aid drinker, so save your gif's and save your Kool-Aid recipe. If needed for my maize-n-blue Jell-O shots, I'll ask.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:01 AM ^
After what this program has been through over the past 3 years, I think the way the former players have come out to show their support has bern very appropriate. And also because Hoke was not the first or even second choice of a lot of people.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:06 AM ^
my point. Sell the sizzle, as much as possible, because the steak isn't filet. Pretty much hamburger...
January 14th, 2011 at 10:12 AM ^
The traditionalists didn't want a steak to begin with -- they wanted hamburger. A nice Knight's half-pound patty. They wanted a coach who is part of, not bigger than, the program. A coach who owes his success to Michigan.
It's just two different ways of looking at the world -- program first, or coach first. I'm OK with the program-first mentality, and if you've been a Michigan fan for a while you can't be surprised that it won out.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:11 AM ^
Regardless of whether you think I agree with your logic, I disagree with your conclusion. I think the level of support has been appropriate, not excessive, and I love the vote of confidence he's getting from those who've been around him.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:15 AM ^
Awesome post man.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:09 AM ^
whoo!
January 14th, 2011 at 11:27 AM ^
Michigan football, having grown bored with its usual diet, entered into a brief romance with nouvelle quisine. However, finding the new stuff unpalatable if not downright inedible, it decided that a ham sandwich and a bag of chips was pretty good eatin' after all.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:16 AM ^
Maybe we are all learning from the mistakes of the RR era. Whether you liked him or not it is hard to argue that he wouldn't have had a better chance of success if he had better support. Now that we have a new coach, we SHOULD learn from that last experience and do a better job on the whole of supporting him. If RR supporters want to see Hoke shit on like RR was I would think that they are missing the boat. I say we should all get behind Hoke like we should have gotten behind RR. Lets move foward.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^
...that some of the people who were undermining Coach Rodriguez are some of the same people who are now congratulating Hoke. I don't like that part.
The really frustrating thing to me during the Rodriguez years was that we heard a lot about the lack of support and the backbiting of "factions," especially letterwinners from the Carr era, but we never really got the names of individuals. There were the dumbass public exceptions, of course; Braylon Edwards was the head of that class.
The pro-Rodriguez insurgency didn't have any trouble making their names known, even when they went to excess, i.e., Rick Leach. I just have this simmering distrust and low regard for the guys who never supported Rich Rodriguez the way that we are now being told to support Brady Hoke.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
That's a fair criticism, particularly with respect to anyone who was actively trying to undermine RR. On the flip side, I do believe it's human nature to actively support people that you have a personal connection with, especially in light of the apparent need to show support and solidarity given the fractures in the fan base and the loss of the "Great Unifying Coaching Candidate" (hereinafter referred to as GUCC) to the 49ers.
Not everyone showing active support for BH now was previously actively undermining RR. And it is human nature for some people to be silent and sit on the sidelines for someone they don't really know personally.
There are some who may be guilty of doing bad things to get what they want in terms of this coaching change. But there are also some who are genuinely happy, with "good" motivations and "right" reasons, that BH is the coach at Michigan.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:28 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
I'd like to know who you think tried to undermine RR?
I've said it before in other threads, but former players didn't have some agenda to get RR fired.
We had "team meetings" with RR as a show of solidarity and support. We had the Chili and Cornbread deal each year and continued the "tunnel of champions". And every practice was open to former players if they chose to attend.
Sure there were some strong opinions among the group about the way the hiring was handled by Martin, just like there was this time with Brandon. (You should see the one thread that's been going on for a while now on LinkedIn). Yikes! However, in the end, when Hoke was hired, we naturally threw our support behind the coach and the program. Nobody sent out an email that stated "stop the bickering and support your new coach." It just happened natrually. We all want the team to win. Some people like the hire and some don't. Regardless, we are all throwing our support behind Hoke (like we did with RR). The support for RR started to wane as the defense started to suck.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:39 AM ^
You have mad love for Hoke. That's your choice, but the hearts and sugarplums dancing around in your head are impairing your judgement.
Where was the support from the old players over the past few years? Some have been coming out and saying that they didn't feel welcome. Considering that it is on record that players such as Marlin Jackson, Victor Hobson, Jamar Adams, Braylon Edwards, James Hall, Larry Foote, and Tyrone Wheatley have all spent time working with the Michigan strength and conditioning staff under RR's term, I argue that this is an absolute farce.
There was a displeasure shared by some of the old staff and players that Michigan football was headed in a different direction under RR, which isn't that surprising given that there was an openly expressed sentiment that the brand of football that existed when they were at U of M was stagnant and bland. With that said, they didn't have to agree with the new direction, but not offering support over the last 3 years only to come out of the woodwork now to support one of their guys doesn't exactly sit well with me.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:38 AM ^
When times were really tough and a shitstorm of media frenzy about RR. Why didnt they come out and support the program, the coach and the team then????
January 14th, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^
I understand your point, but what I don't get is why to get riled up about it now. What's done is done. We won't be erasing the last three years anytime soon, and Rich Rodriguez will not be coming back. It's time to start thinking about 2011. When is the Spring Game?
January 14th, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^
there are people out there who can't express their love for Hoke without bringing up RR or the past three years. If I feel that their sentiment implies something that I disagree with, I'm going to respond.
I look forward to you lecturing them on "what's done is done."
January 14th, 2011 at 11:18 AM ^
You're right. It's irritating to see Hoke and RR attached like that. But it's unfair to Hoke just as it is to Rodriguez. All I'm saying is the RR supporters who complain that he never had a chance because of the division of the fans and attacks from the media (which I agree is true) are setting up a similar situation for Hoke.
And for the record, I probably will lecture more people on "what's done is done."
January 14th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^
It is a fair argument that players and fans should have come out and supported RR. The point I have is that it doesn't make that go away by turning around and doing the sdame thing to Hoke to prove a point. You did it so I am going to do it solves nothing and holds us back more than it pushes us foward. We all need to suck it up and move foward.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:19 AM ^
It's difficult to move forward when I continue to hear things that I don't agree with or that I find to be hypocritial, such as:
- The old players say that they never felt welcome under RR
- RR tried to fit square pegs in round holes and Brady Hoke is not going to do that
or my favorite:
- Hoke showed emotion in his press conference, which shows that he cares about this job.
I think I can move forward when the lemmings stop perpetuating nonsense.
January 14th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
Can't you see your hypocricy.
RR is exciting and Llyod Carr was boring and predictable.
RR can win it all and Lloyd was setling for Big Ten Championships (Even though Lloyd actually won a NC)
RR's players are lean and fast, Lloyds were fat and slow.
Why wouldn't players from that era be lessed than enthusiastic about RR. You are less than enthusiastic about Hoke for the exact same reason and didn't even play for RR or have a personal relationship with him.
Every coaching change is going to have people who preferred the old coach and people who prefer the new. The choice is how do we choose to deal with it. People who liked Lloyd (and I am one of those) probably chose poorly and didn't give RR a fair shake. That was on us. What are you going to choose to do?
January 14th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
but forgive us for expressing our frustration with people who completely failed to deal with the last new coach properly.
IMO, the lowest form of hypocrisy is giving the "be the bigger person" lecture when said lecturer has done nothing but the contrary.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^
have a real good understanding of what it means to by a hypocrit.
Saying "Carr used bad judement in recruiting Cissoko, but RR absolutely had to take a chance on Feagin" would be a hypocritical statement.
Saying "Carr's recruiting of defensive backs over his last three years was lean and this contributed to our woes on defense" is not a hypocritical statement.
Or are you implying that you have seen me say something negative about Carr aside from the recruiting of the defensive backfield from 2004 to 2007? If so, enlighten me.
Also, I'm not arguing that the old players needed to openly embrace RR. You are right. It is human nature to be more comfortable around people and situations that you are familiar with. I can't fault them for that. However, I'm not going to get all warm and fuzzy inside because these players are again comfortable coming around the program when the reason they didn't feel welcome previously was because of their own insecurities and not from the staff not actually wanting them around.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^
Maybe it is a lesson learned from the Rodriguez transition - but I view all this as dripping with hypocrisy. MGoBlog is not where the flag waving should, or needs to happen.
If this is really an attempt to fix the problems from last time, msm and the old boy inner circle is where the issues are - convince the easily herded masses and the inner circle out there. Let us arrive at our own conclusions based on analysis and debated opinion.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^
After what this program has been through over the past 3 years, I think the way the former players have come out to show their support has bern very appropriate.
It is and it isn't. I'm the first to say Rich Rod loyalists need to start letting shit go, but I can't blame them sometimes when you see such a blatant dychotomy in public support from Mr. Classy's former players.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:02 AM ^
I bet all those posters under 200 mgopoints are secret plants from the athletic department! We're on to you now, Hokeshills!
January 14th, 2011 at 10:06 AM ^
at least I know I can trust you, you have more than 200 points.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:06 AM ^
I was wondering if the OP was suggesting some giant conspiracy to infiltrate mgoblog with positive Hoke comments.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:09 AM ^
The KGB has to be behind this
January 14th, 2011 at 10:58 AM ^
He had me fooled.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:22 AM ^
I hope Brady Hoke does well for the university and we can get back to what Michigan does best.... WINNING. Now, I do agree all of this Brady Hoke Hoopla is a bit contrived. I think the " Michigan Men" are trying to justify the ousting of Richrod... God, does anyone else find this "Michigan Men" to be a bunch of bullshit? I guess all of those Men are a bunch of douschebags and wear Members Only jacket. Get over it... UM just needs a great coach... Which they had with Richrod... Just the old guard is afraid of change. These visions of staying true to what worked in the past could be Michigan's own demise. I think these old birds, need to stop fucking with the program and let it continue its natural progression. We do not need to regress. Anyone wonder why the SEC is the premier conference? Why do you think there were two spread offenses in the NC game?
I went to AA for the UM vs MSU game (my first game ever) and was very troubled from what I heard and seen from these Michigan Men.. Granted, I understand these men have been attending these games for a very long time... Which is why I do respect that and understand their loyalty. But for christ sakes, when we had our field goal blocked.. They were asking what just happened... Was it an interception or touchdown... Then when they were informed of a block field goal.. They started bitching about Richrod and he needs to go! These senile fucks, didn't have a clue what happened in the game... Their natual reaction was to storm the barn and grab their pitchforks. All they can say or do, was to call for Richrod's head... Right there I knew Rich had a very uphill battle to keep his job. That ignorance and blind stupidity is a very scary and dangerous mentallity to anything in life. Let alone to my beloved UM. Give it up, Michigan Men! When I walked out of the stadium, I heard several echoes of the same BS.
Regarding my mgo points, yes its below 200. But I was on and off this site for a very long time and was compelled to register to defend Richrod. Not just RIchrod though. It's okay to make adjustments and changes. If you stick to the same formula/mentality, eventually someone will figure it out and make adjustments. If you don't adjust, then you will continue to slip out of the picture, then lose. Now since the struggle is over, I'm not inclined to visit this site as much. I still am very borderline obsessive with the Maize and Blue... Just out of juice on this one. But the batteries will recharge... But for now, I will try to answer my Brady Hoke questions from all of the LSU fans while trying not to get upset. Because they are laughing at us for hiring a San Diego State coach. God, I hope this coach does well, but I'm just sickened by some (not all) of the douschebags on this site and old birds.
January 14th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
I work for a large corporation and we take social network marketing very seriously. We hire temps and students to create volumes of content all of the time that support our products and services (Linkin In Facebook, blogs, etc). To think that someone (a 3rd party PR firm for example) might employ this technique on behalf of U of M is not only plausible, but probable
January 14th, 2011 at 10:04 AM ^
I believe you are overthinking this, but the total 180 from many fans and media from three years ago is amazing.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:11 AM ^
But until this past week, as a longer-term mgoblogger, I found it unusual and kind of weird that the thread about Brian on WTKA yesterday entitled "Cook on WTKA."
When has Brian ever been referred to as "Cook" on here?
Just noting that there's a very definite new-style poster, and they seem to be very "All In" to Brady Hoke.
And yes, I'm a 46 y/o cynic in the metro-Detroit automotive industry, as well as a Class of '87 grad.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:24 AM ^
Jaded much? I'm 46 as well (though I took longer to get around to graduating until '89) and asked a similar question a few days ago about whether all the regulars had been raptured or if I missed the memo about everyone getting new login identities. It's been a bit surreal.
Is there a samizdat mgoblog where all the oldtimers went?
January 14th, 2011 at 12:52 PM ^
and we lost momentum in the one week of not being able to post or vote.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^
I've seen him referred to has "Cook" many many times. Granted I'm usually a big lurker, but it wasn't odd to me to see.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^
I would hate to be on your bad side. So what is the problem? You want us to suffer more so you can complain more? Be happy that we have Positive Vibes pumping through the university again.
Lastly, I find it so annoying when people blissfully refers to themselves as cynical. What a way to live life…
January 14th, 2011 at 10:45 AM ^
Nah, I just don't take the spoon-feedings as well as I did at a far younger age. I scratch a bit deeper and ask "why?" About five times. It's amazing how the answer changes with each "why?"
And no, I don't want more suffering. I just wanted us to be an organization of its word, and if we gave a guy a 6 year contract to effect a culture change, then let him have his 6 years. It's a very unprecedented firing, considering the time Bump Elliott and Tommy Amaker were given to work through their method (or "process" if you must).
January 14th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^
You called people out for having ~200 points, when you really don't have much more than that yourself.
Not attacking your credibility, just pointing out that there is a bit of a contradiction.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
It's a general number, observing the comments, how long I can guesstimate they've been on the board, or active on the board, etc.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^
Rosenberg tweeted that Hoke was "killing it!" in the presser.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:14 AM ^
You read Rosenberg's tweets?
How's that going for you?
January 14th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^
I don't think you can drink the kool-aid until you get off of Rodriguez's balls and come up for air.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:09 AM ^
...we have a winner!
January 14th, 2011 at 10:22 AM ^
are you hung over?
January 14th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^
And finally, unusual influx of new MGoBlog members, seemingly most with under 200 mgopoints, who are now the standard bearers for the defense of BH, his record, his opportunity, and the patience and time needed for him to do the job.
Are you suggesting that there is an orchestrated effort of trolls trying to sell BH to the program? That seems a little much.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^
Brady Hoke's charisma, fitness as a coach, and chances for success aside, I'm with the OP. You'd have to be blind not to notice the number of new Pro-Hoke accounts the past couple of weeks. A couple of DB (database, not Dave Brandon, ha) queries could confirm that.
Hoke-a-mania/Hokemania reeks of sappy corporate PR. Doesn't mean it happened, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Oh, and I still wish Brady the best. Really -- I do.