Brady Hoke NFF keynote speaker Toledo and Kovacs guest speaker 3/10
Brady Hoke was the keynote speaker at the National Football Foundation’s 52nd Annual Scholar-Athlete Dinner put on by the Toledo Wistert Chapert of the NFF. The Toledo Wistert Chaper of the NFF acknowledges the exceptional accomplishments of selected senior football players from the area. The criteria to be chosen in three-fold: The player must be at least All-League, have a GPA of at least 3.2 and be involved in his school and community away from football.
The evening for me started out with an hour long private reception where there were beverages and only about eight tables. Coach Hoke went up to each table for pictures and got a chance to talk to people. He came up to our table and introduced himself, "Hi my name is Brady Hoke", which I though was pretty cool he thought he would have to introduce himself. After taking a picture with him we talked about the excitment for team 135 and his favorite pizza joint in town, Gino's.
Kovacs came in and told the whole group a story. He was having lunch with his girlfriend when he got a text from Hoke, "COME SEE ME AT NOON". Jordan didn't get a chance to eat his lunch before leaving his girlfriend as it was 11:45. After running across campus worrying that somthing had to be wrong for him to want to see him so quickly he finally got to Hoke. Hoke then asked him how he felt about wearing #11 to honor the Wistert brothers to which Jordan responded "this couldn't wait 30 minutes!".
After the reception Kovacs introduced Brady Hoke at the awards dinner, but not before letting everyone know about Hoke. 1. He always txt's in caps. 2. On gameday he wakes up the d-line by body slamming their beds. 3. He though Kovacs was an accountant until senior year he told Coach that he was a Kinesiology major 4. Hoke does not eat on gameday and he gets "butterflies" in his stomach to which he added must have been some big tasty butterflies. 5. He points A LOT and even mentioned hokepoints.tmblr.com. He finished off with a joke saying that although it's a step down from last years speaker who was Brian Kelly, Brady Hoke is not chicken.
Hoke then came up and talked about his years at Ball State and how he had too much fun and was there to play football for his two years and was not until his Coach, Dwight Wallace got him to get his act together. He graduated with a degree in crimal justice and aspired to be a secret service agent. After having a job in his field of study he was asked to Coach a high school football team and took it up. After a couple of games he told his wife this is what I want to do, help young men grown like my coach did for me at Ball State.
Hoke said he has three things he always talks to recruits when he is on the the recruitng trail. 1. You have to have commitment, accountablity, respect and trust for you and for your team. 2. Honor your name on the back of your jersey. 3. Have in mind what you want to do once you earn your degree at the University of Michigan.
ALL CAPS and bodyslams, the Hokelore continues...
As a man I love coach Hoke. I hope he has the greatest coaching legacy in Michigan history. Come on team #135 don't let us down!
i actually just noticed i joined on 10-11-12 lol +1000 for me being accidentally awesome
really doesn't do much. You have to EARN it. :-)
March 11th, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
can be done with the occupant in the bed. On a side note, I know of one that jumped into his short sheeted rack so fast he broke his big toe. Sergeant Hulka would not have been impressed.
since my move to Mexico am not privy to the "ins and outs" of M sports. However, it is apparent this man is going to do things the same way as he has during his other stops and I, like you, am hoping he gets it done. It's been a tough couple of years by M standards, but, and although I can't recall where I read it, Brady has built his reputation by consistently superb recruiting, and although results aren't immediate he always rises to the top of whatever conference he coaches in. He has, to date, done the same thing in AA, so I'm hoping, for the same reasons as you - he's a genuinelly good man- that the same will hold true. Have this feeling this will be the start of routine double digit wins for him. The talent and experience he has on hand is just too good not to start paying dividends unless DB greatly overestimated his ability.
...all the success at Michigan he deserves. He represents the "higher principles" well and is a man of integrity.
That said, I remain unconvinced that he is best suited as the Michigan head coach, but would be more effective as a position coach. God I hope he proves me wrong!
I would prefer a coach who could stomach a meal on game day.
I mean he has been a coach for how long now? And he has game day nerves. Pathetic.
just my takeaway,
love,
jdon
March 11th, 2014 at 10:22 AM ^
I bet that every coach in the country still gets game day nerves, no matter how long they've been coaching.
March 11th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
It's not "game day nerves." It's habit. Also, if you don't get at least a bit nervous about something, you probably don't care. I'm sorry you don't feel that way about anything.
but I've been an actress, and I always had butterflies before a performance. Fortunately they miraculously went away as soon as the curtain went up, so I wasn't worried. No more thinking, just doing. But once I was backstage before a great role in a great play and realized I didn't have butterflies.
That was my first hint that it was time to move on. I realized I didn't care enough anymore, and if you don't care enough, you're not going to be that good.
March 11th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
I can tell who isn't a Michigan football fan on here.
IDK.
I guess that came off pretty harsh... I was having a tough day at school today. My bad.
I understand that people have game day routines and all that... I guess I'm just sick and tired of Hoke's face. I love this team and I expect next year to go much better now that we have two competent coordinators and some experience on both sides of the field, however in my heart of hearts I don't see the 'it' with Hoke, fortunately my opinion doesn't mean squat.
love,
jdon
March 12th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
no more rape ewok... I think his time had come and gone...
as for Snoopy. I've always been partial to this image. And I am an anarchist (obviously), so we will see how this avatar works out.
jdon
March 15th, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^
As I recall, the revelation that Hoke does not eat on game day came up initially in 2011 and I remember that he said that this is something that goes back to his days as a player too, so he's been doing that for about 35 years basically. Between playing and coaching, that's almost a year of not eating, assuming he's been consistent for all that time.
"that's almost a year of not eating"
Somehow I think he makes up for it.
It was easy to see why Brady is so successful in recruiting. He is a great speaker and speaks from the heart. I would have a hard time believing that anyone would not want their son to play for this man.
Also, Kovacs was hilarious, he had a ton of one-liners ripping on Brady.
March 11th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
I was in the Wistert Chapter Class of '96. Lloyd Carr was our keynote speaker for the night. Although Carr was a great speaker and had plenty of wisdom to share, I can assure you that your night was much less dry than mine...
So glad he didn't end up coaching in the SEC. He'd have WAY too much job security.
March 11th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
March 11th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
God bless you John B