Cool story bro - Pimp Hand Edition
Went to the lax game tonight with little macdaddy II. We got our clocks cleaned, albeit by a much better team.
As we were walking out I saw DB himself standing alone (oddly) near the exit at Oosterbaan. I figured I had to pay my respects. The man could not have been nicer or more polite. He told me how appreciative he was of our support of the lax team and seemed quite certain that the team wil be just fine after a couple years of D1 recruiting. He was also particularly excited about Hoke's mad recruiting skillz. He spent a moment talking to my kid and generally looked like a guy who is in COMPLETE control of his environment. I thanked him for everything he's done for the university and I left with the impression that he is most definitely the right guy for the job. Certainly better those clowns Smith and Hollis.
It was only on the way home that I realized I missed my chance to offer my opinion on RAWK music, mascots, etc., but, whatever. It was a pretty awesome brush with Michigan greatness. Yeah, I know, cool story bro but it really was pretty sweet.
I think when people like Tom Brady and Charles Woodson are calling you up and saying "hire this dude", the man is going to be pretty high on your list. And when you spend half a press conference on firing your last coach saying why this other dude (Harbaugh) is not going to be your new coach, he's not going to be on top of the "hire" list. Just saying. I know they splurged for Mattison, but Borges came from SDSU with Hoke. Don't think they necessarily had to spend top dollar for him. But good for them if they did. But you're right, Dave Brandon deserves the highest props for hiring someone who didn't have a "hot name" at the time and just going with who he ultimately thought was best for the program. Even when he had min-fan revolts going on. Bo who? Oh wait, wrong guy.
It's still pretty early in Dave Brandon's tenure. However, I'm quite happy with what he's done so far. I'm not here to judge his economic situation or whatever, just how he's doing as Michigan's AD. Maybe I'm just not a hardcore traditionalist, but I don't think the rock music is that bad. I do wish we could hear the marching band more (because I'm ex-marching band), but when I watched UTL on TV, the rock music definitely made an impact. If he keeps ads out of the Big House and doesn't make the uniforms too ghastly, I won't have many negative things to say. He loves Michigan, he loves Michigan athletics, he hired Hoke and he's doing his job well.
Brady Hoke is turning out to be a "tremendous" coach, and might even qualify for the word "great" in a few years. That, however, is independent of DB's decision. The decision was a terrible one. DB stepped in poo and, hopefully, will soon end up smelling like a rose: in Pasadena.
I am not giving DB any credit for how well Brady Hoke does his job, nor am I giving him any credit for hiring a sub-.500 coach to coach the University of Michigan. DB is extremely lucky that Brady Hoke is turning out as well as he has so far. Brady Hoke deserves all of the credit, and DB deserves none. He'll be happy to take all that you want to give him, though.
The bottom line: DB is like a tourist in Vegas who bet the Big House on an inside straight and won, and now puffs his chest out and tells people he's a "professional gambler."
Is great better than tremendous? I thought it was the other way around? Like Legendary>Stupendous>Tremendous>Excellent>terrific>great>good>ok>average>poor.
I think it was his 2 hour turned 5 hour interview with Hoke as opposed to pure luck. Say what you want about Dominoes pizza, but it is a very successful business. If Dave Brandon were as incompetent as portrayed, he would not have had that success.
And also the story behind the sub .500 record kind of helps as well. A pure position coach turned head coach at a school that sucks harder than an octopus tentacle that also doesn't give a crap about football? Yeah, his record is going to be pretty terrible to start. Getting that team ranked and in BCS contention? Impressive. Losing to 4 highly ranked teams (one of which beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl) by a total of 15 points at another mildly crappy school? That's also pretty damn impressive. You kind of have to look beyond W-L's when looking at a coach. It's easy to not do that and many prefer to just judge based on W-L's, but that doesn't tell the whole story.
You're right. DB deserves absolutely no credit for Hoke's success. But he does deserve credit for seeing that Hoke could acheive that success.
C'mon. It's not like he pulled a name out of the hat and got lucky. He spent a good deal of time talking to Hoke and talking to other people about Hoke. I think he, like many of our recent recruits, realized what a good and passionate coach Hoke is after spending some time with him.
Please explain to me why hiring Brady Hoke was a terrible decision. Would every head football coach that had a better winning percentage than Hoke have been a better choice in your eyes?
I presume DB did more than just look at the win/loss column of all of the various head coaches to make his decision. He actually talked/interviewed candidates and based on that information, he decided Hoke was the best man for the job.
We do not know what the hiring process really was. We presume it was Miles/Harbaugh/Hoke and nobody else because that is the meme that has been constructed here. Why can't you give DB the benefit of the doubt and believe that he is capable of finding a diamond in the rough rather than assume he sucks and got lucky?
Is there some DB hiring precedent that leads you to believe he could only get lucky? Where is he bragging that he's a great AD (pro gambler)?
Most of this site's vitriol toward DB is based on over-blown slights (he said his door was open to players, but it wasn't), game experience quibbles (RAWK muzak), slippery slope-type things (stadium advertising), and general who-really-gives-a-shit bs (mascot!)
I know the pop evil song is campy, cheesy, boring and not anything we as UM fans want to ever "officially" embrace. That said. My 7 yr old loves it and when they played it over the PA when we were at a couple games this year him and his 2 similarly aged cousins were just rocking out to it. That makes it sort of OK in my book. I understand that the musical tastes of a 7yr old are not very developed. He thinks the greatest song ever is "Iron Man" followed closely by "Thunderstruck".
When I see folks here getting their panties in a bind over the RAWK being played at games it just reminds me alot of the "get off my lawn" mentality. Remember, they used to call the big house the 100,000 seat library for a legitimate reason. Blue Hairs just sitting hands folded listening to the band play and clapping gently for a touchdown is not what I want to see and if playing some pop evil, white stripes or whatever else keep the fans pumped up, including 7yr old fans. Thats a good thing by me.
Flame away.