Current QB's Thoughts on UM Fans

If I'm reading you comment correctly, and I might not be, you think that people are grabbing on to the Morris thing in order to gain some moral high ground while calling for Hoke's head. This is absolutely happening in some cases.

However, I'd be willing to bet that most people feel the way I do about the Morris situation: it negates the last positive thing Hoke had going for him. As a head football coach your job is to first protect your players and mold them into great young men, and second win football games. The lack of progress (and more importantly the regression) of the on the field product is obvious. Hoke is not a great X's and O's coach and he is not going to win many games.

Before the Minnesota game I had to admit that although the guy isn't a great football coach in terms of Wins/Losses, he seemed to care immensely about his players and their well being, on and off the field. After the Morris incident, I think he's proven that he is either not competent enough to protect his players or that he's willing to play guys through dangerous injuries. Personally I think it's the latter, but both are equally damaging to the player.

So when it comes down to it, it was about football records and ticket prices, but now it is more than that - he's bad at everything a coach is supposed to be good at, and this can have real consequences on the lives of his players.

Great post, great perspective.  Thanks.

Beautifully written. It is all about perspective, and I don't really think that Brandon/Hoke are bad guys, nor do I blame athletes for having a different point of view on the two of them. As you said, these are guys that have actually talked to the athletes and have presumably been friendly with each other. 

However, I think that in this case Cleary is not seeing the full picture. "I know you think that your history as a Michigan fan somehow makes your opinion relevant, but it doesn't." 

Yes it does. Where do you think your scholarship money comes from? Why is Brady Hoke making over $4 million dollars this year? Where does the athletic department's $125 million budget come from? Ticket sales, donations to be on a waitlist for those tickets, TV deals based on viewership. We, the fans, made you. 

As much as I'd like to believe the opposite, college athletics is a business. I don't care how well Brandon/Hoke treat the team if they can't do their jobs well. This is not a charity, and with the money these guys are paid the fans deserve better.

Good post. I agree, re: Hoke. I don't think he's a good X's and O's coach, but I have no problem continuing to maintain that he cares about his players, despite what seems like a lapse in judgement on Saturday.

Where we may have a slight disagreement is on Brandon. To be honest, up until the past 12 months or so my view on him was considerably more positive than the rest of this blog. However, a number of scenarios have eroded my support for him and caused me to see the error of my ways. The ticket pricing, noodle, skywriting etc. were annoyances but not worth getting frustrated about, in my view, and I thought the response to them here and other places was overblown. However, the Gibbons scenario and now this instance of throwing his coach under the bus, lying to our faces, and generally causing a stain on the reputation of our University grow larger and larger goes to show that those other minor annoyances were just warning signs. His character and ideas about what Athletics at U of M should look like were always there, and I wasn't paying enough attention.

I get your point that we should be very hesitant to impugn the character of a man most of us have no personal relationship with. However, he is a public figure, and he makes public decisions and public statements that, in this case, deserve to be criticized publicly. 'Slimeball' might be a little unnecessary and inflammatory, but what else should a guy of his character be called? I can't think of a whole lot of nicer words that fit, but I can think of a lot of less nice ones that would apply.

There's always going to be crazies out there who take it to an extreme. They're the same ones who tweet recruits who choose a rival school. For the most part, the complaints now have been pretty justified and rational.

somehow makes your opinion relevant, but it doesn't.

I know that this is a kid--I am sure a fine kid--voicing his frustration with criticism of a coach he has come to love. But if fans' opinions don't matter, organized sports better find a new business model fast. I suggest that Mister Brandon head up the search committee.

It's important to realize that in the end you are accountable, and then to know to whom you are accountable.  High school students are accountable to college admissions boards; whether they like or not, the acceptance is based on the admissions criteria of the school.  Corporations are accountable to the stock holders, and there is a bottom line.  Likewise, college football teams are in the end accountable to their students, alumni, and fan base.  The coaches and players may not like it and the feedback may sting, but in the end it is the bottom line.  Rather than complain about it, it would be better if our program would stand up manfully and say, "Yes we are accountable to the the fans, who pay for this program and give it the excitement.  We hear the feedback and we are working on it."  That kind of response would not only be the adult one but it would promote the kind of loyalty they espouse.

I didn't say any of that.  It was simply a comment that what he said probably wasn't the greatest decision in the world, because nothing good was going to come from it.

This thread is a perfect example. 

He never said that players should always keep their mouths shut but in this case it might be a better idea. Most of the angst is directed at Brandon anyway.

But that is the attitdue that Dave Brandon is pretty much working every day to foster--us vs them.

UM athletes, coaches and admistrators are the people that matter.  UM alumni and fans?  Fuck them. 

We don't need to turn this into an "us versus them". 

I don't see many fans attacking players, only administration.

I see some players attacking fans and defending the administration.