Dave Brandon statement of support for Hoke
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/brandon/spec-rel/112713aaa.html
Also strong support for Mattison. No mention of Borges.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:27 PM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 8:58 AM ^
you have to agree with this if you have any brains in your head.
yeah, it's kind of a sin of omission to exclude RR and Borges in those quotes.
it was also the only logical way to proceed. under no circumstances should DB make a comment about a fired HC.
I think people here are using this as a jumping off point to argue about the amount of blame RR and BH should get for this seasons malaise. to some, RR deserves ZERO credit for anything at all, to some, he deserve ALL the blame.
November 28th, 2013 at 10:41 AM ^
I always loved RR and personally think it is a bit of a slap in the face to him, but honestly I don't think there is any possible way you can reference him in this instance. Damned if you do and damned if you don't, only less damned if you don't, so he chose that option. I can't stand DB personally, but I completely understand why he said what he did even if if it was complete BS.
November 28th, 2013 at 11:10 AM ^
Brandon basically said the 2011 team was only good because of a few experienced upperclassmen who were Lloyd Carr recruits (who had previously been "underachieving") and Brady Hoke's arrival, and all our struggles before and since are because of Rich Rodriguez, and we'll only be good (like in the glory days under Lloyd Carr) once that RR stink finally wears off completely.
As for those Carr recruits who had been underachieving:
Former walk-on Will Heininger didn't do much in 2010, probably because he missed the entire season with an injury. Same goes for Troy Woolfolk (though he would also get hurt in 2011 and eventually get benched in favor of Blake Countess). Kevin Koger went from 199 yards in 2010 to 244 yards in 2011 (of course, Martell Webb had graduated so overall production at TE actually fell by 22 yards). David Molk was one of three finalists for the Rimington Award in 2010, then won the award in 2011 (maybe he got a lot better, or maybe the other finalists graduated). Junior Hemingway (who missed a couple games with injury in 2010) went from 59.3 ypg and 4 TD to 53.8 ypg and 4 TD under Hoke's tutelage. No Carr recruit threw a pass or gained a single rushing yard in 2011. Mike Martin (playing on a hobbled ankle in 2010) was 2nd team All-B1G. In 2011 he was again 2nd team All-B1G. Ryan Van Bergen did go from 4 sacks in 2010 to 5.5 in 2011 (I guess that may be worth 4 wins?). Mark Huyge did go from splitting time with Perry Dorrestein to starting full time at RT, so that probably is the difference right there. Thanks, Mark! Though you should really apologize for screwing everything up for us for so long.
Boy am I glad those guys finally stopped shitting the bed so we could be good.
Getting better had nothing to do with Fitz finally being healthy, Schofield adequately replacing Schilling, Heininger coming back, replacing Ezeh/Mouton/Rogers with three freshmen RR recruited who will all be 4 year starters (Morgan/Ryan/Countess), and a bunch of guys who played as underclassmen growing up (Floyd, Gordon, Kovacs, Avery, Carr recruit Kenny Demens, Roundtree, Gallon, Denard, Lewan, Omameh, Roh, Black, Gibbons, etc.).
Brandon is either a liar twisting an argument to support the guy he likes or a complete idiot with no concept of what our football team is doing.
November 28th, 2013 at 1:41 PM ^
Option 3 being "both".
November 29th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
I agree with everything you said, just to clarify. The last part of my post said everything DB said was complete BS, but that doesnt' change the fact that giving RR any credit (which he absolutely deserves) would have been a good idea in this context. That's all I'm saying. He should have just said they had a great season in '11 and left it at that, but not many people would ever accuse DB of being in touch with the needs of the fanbase.
November 29th, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
Sorry no. There is nothing Al Borges can do in the next two games to keep his job. His incompetence has extended into virtually every aspect of his job description, and his offense this year has embarrassed Wolverine nation ten orders of magnitude more than Josh Groban because at least that fiasco wasn't before national audiences.
Al is a good man, a decent man, and a class act, and used to be something before electricity, but when you're the third highest paid offensive coordinator in the country, and your incompetence impacts hundreds of thousands of Michigan fans, not to mention the hopes and dreams of seniors like Lewan and Gardner and Trouissant, niceness doesn't cut it.
November 29th, 2013 at 1:56 AM ^
"ten orders of magnitude more than Josh Groban because at least that fiasco wasn't before national audiences" was pretty bad, and the crap on the field seen for three seasons leading to that was the absolute worst Michigan football anyone still alive has ever seen from the home team in Michigan Stadium!
November 29th, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^
Wrong.
The offense in November is literally the worst either an offense or a defense has played over the course of a month in the past 7 years. Its probably the worst all time.
Here is the worst month for total defense and total offense during the RR era:
Offense:
110th overall September of 2008.
Defense:
111th overall October of 2010.
Al Borges offense is currently ranked 122nd overall in the month of November. This is uncharted territory for Michigan. If it wasn't for the Northwestern OT, we'd probably be dead last in just about every offensive category for this month.
November 28th, 2013 at 11:36 AM ^
surrounding Rich Rod by not mentioning Lloyd Carr. The fact that he praises Carr's recruiting and says nothing about Rich's when many of the key contributors on this team are Rodriquez recruits lays the base of the blame on Rich Rodriguez's shoes. (Granted, yeah the Oline problems are part on Rodrigeuz recruiting, but also part on The Process ...)
This is a very interesting statement for who is, and who is not mentioned. If I were Al Borges, I would be sweating bullets.
November 29th, 2013 at 2:01 AM ^
appropriate, and correct, to mention Lloyd Carr, and his recruits. Lloyd Carr is a great man, who won the only National Championship for Michigan in the last 60 years. The seniors on that team played well under Brady, and the depth Lloyd left for Rodriguez was far, far more talented and deep than the senior we have now.
November 29th, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^
You're telling me the 2008 roster looks better than the 2013 roster? You do realize you're full of shit, right?
November 27th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:33 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
I'm not sure why anyone thinks Cameron is a legit option. He is employed at the same position at a school on equal ground for a HC he's close friends with. Why would he leave? I highly doubt we could/would pay him more than LSU would be willing to.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:40 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:35 PM ^
...but in many ways Brady is already an on-field coach.
However, after his playing days are over I see him being more interested in an announcing gig or parlaying his last name into a brand like Beckham has done.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:55 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^
If Gisele, ya know, needs some help around the house, I'm happy to oblige.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:50 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 9:29 PM ^
I have dreamed of Mike Hart and Tom Brady joining our coaching staff for a long time now. I think Hart is more likely but a girl can dream, right? I don't think Tom will go into broadcasting. I think that's too far away from the real game for him. As someone else said, he's pretty much an on-field coach right now. One of the things I love most about him is how his teammates are always talking about his leadership and teaching. I think he would be a fantastic coach!
November 27th, 2013 at 11:28 PM ^
Interesting that this list is so dominated by defensive coordinators. I wonder why that is.
November 28th, 2013 at 6:41 AM ^
Not sure but it seems more often than not most HCs are known for being more involved on the offensive side, so they're probably not as worried about getting a big-name OC.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:37 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:40 PM ^
Cam burnt some bridges during his previous stint here. Moeller liked / likes (I suspect) him, but that opinion was / is (I suspect) not shared among the insiders.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^
For different reasons, Les and Cam would be wise to spend the rest of their careers well south of the Mason-Dixon line.
In the case of Les, he has grown accustomed to a culture of cheating (at Okie State and now at LSU). (I realize there are degrees of cheating. I just think it's worse in the SEC.)
Cam is probably a good citizen, but his world view fits the Deep South better than it does the Upper Midwest. Think Bill McCartney (outside football, that is).
November 28th, 2013 at 12:37 AM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^
RIP Pete...
Bad karma for Cam.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:33 PM ^
I would love Lane Kiffin but I doubt he wants to take that big of a step back. I don't think he's a great HC but could be a very good OC. That said, I'm sure some school below M and SC level will give him a HC gig.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:35 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:46 PM ^
I agree with you. But I think that's enough to get him a mid-level BCS conference HC job. He'll take a RR style drop to a lower level program. I'm sure he'd rather be the HC at say Syracuse or UConn before being our OC. Money would be better there too, most likely.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 11:35 PM ^
lol you guys are kidding right? Wasn't he Co-Offensive Coordinator with Sarkisian? What success has this guy achieved outside of giving great interviews and using Daddy as collateral to get hired?
November 28th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^
'nuff said
November 27th, 2013 at 11:47 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:37 PM ^
Why is our AD making an OC hire? That should the the HC's decision, and his decision alone. This is Jerry Jones-level of micromanagement...
The worst part is that even with that level of micromanagement, we will end up with Debord calling 898908908 off-tackle stretch plays per game next year.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:41 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^
I don't think DB is making the hire, but sometimes your boss helps you make your personnel decisions since it's on him as well.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:52 PM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 8:45 AM ^
Please point out the quote from Brandon where he says he will be making that decision.
November 27th, 2013 at 9:28 PM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 8:38 AM ^
I assume you're just engaging in snark.
If you're actually seriously proposing that the Brady Hoke hires Lane Kiffin? With all due respect, you've lost your mind.