Excellent article about Hoke, Wellman and teaching leadership
Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports) put out a very good article about Hoke today. He's not my favorite writer, but the article is excellent. And, apparently, he knows Hoke well because both are alums of Ball State. Just reading the article got me pumped for this week's game and further strengthened my belief that Hoke is the right person to be the HC at Michigan at this point in time.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/brady-hoke-turning-michi…
August 30th, 2011 at 3:56 PM ^
understatement. Whitlock thinks Lombardi was dog poop in comparison to Hoke when it comes to coaching ability. He was literally the only one who thought Hoke was a realistic candidate for the UM job.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^
He couldn't have literally been the only guy to think that, or we wouldn't have hired him.
August 30th, 2011 at 4:01 PM ^
I will not read and I will not get excited about this coaching staff. I tried that with the last coach. I am going to revert back to my feelings on Lloyd for this season until Hoke proves me wrong (as Lloyd so often did).
August 30th, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^
Thanks. I seem to remember a similarly praising article written by him after Hoke had been hired.
August 30th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^
You've got to give the AD credit for recognizing how good a coach Hoke is.
Thanks psychomatt.
August 30th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^
Hoke hasn't won, much less (head) coached, a game for Michigan yet. While I'm very happy with: the article's positivity/enthusiasm for Hoke, his recruiting to date, and his seeming willingness to not force a square peg into a round hole; the jury is still out on his coaching ability at a big time program. I'm certainly pushing/hoping for Hoke to do well as our head coach though.
Let's not thank AD Brandon quite yet. Let's keep the cart behind the horse at least until we're in the heart of the big ten season.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^
According to the Great Book of Hoke : "Character-driven people: Believe it, then see it. Emotion-driven people: See it, then believe it."
I'm just being cheeky, heh.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^
Cheekiness aside, I think you make a valid point. It used to be that I expressed my belief that every Michigan head coach was destined to create or maintain greatness for Michigan before it actually happened. Now I choose to keep my beliefs to myself until they're confirmed by what I see.
I also note that I could take that quote from Hoke's book and reasonably argue that the people who caused the firing of RR were driven more by emotion than character.
Ultimately though, I'm not actually interested in arguing that , b/c we're three days from the 2011 season opener, and damn if I'm not excited to see our new head coach lead our team to victory. GO BLUE.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
What good does it do to tell someone to not be hopeful? Set yourself up for I told you so? Tries to make them be plesantly surprised if things go well? Makes sure they're not getting upset if things don't go gangbusters right away? It doesn't hurt to realize things might not be realistic, but what is the point of feeling the need to correct them? Let them be hopeful.
But your point on the quote maybe applying to Rich in this post was so good, I couldn't really object too much. Some of the other parts of it might fit too.
August 30th, 2011 at 5:06 PM ^
What other choice did he have? Process of elimination (coaches declining) left Hoke as the only name on the list.
August 30th, 2011 at 5:38 PM ^
You have to give credit when due and detract as well when he screws up. The reason he had no options was his own handy work in delaying the firing of RR.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:19 PM ^
Funny, that's the same thing your wife said about you.
August 31st, 2011 at 12:21 AM ^
I've been meaning to listen to them for a while. Thanks for the friendly MGoReminder.
I've been listening to a lot of Men at Work lately. The use of classical instruments makes me happy when combined with the '80s texture.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:30 PM ^
Brandon went against one of his "mentor" Bo's most adamant beliefs with the coaching change. He botched it so terribly and delivered such a crappy message that no elite coach who had other good options even considered the job.
If Hoke turns out great, it isn't any credit to Brandon at all. But Brandon will want a bunch of the credit that Hoke will deserve if it does work out that way. We'll see how much credit you want to give Brandon when the Big House looks like a big minor league ballpark with advertisments along the boards in a couple of years.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:10 PM ^
And it isn't true. It's nice to take one quote from Bo, saying a coach deserved four years (when building a program from scratch...not Michigan), but ignoring everything else he said. He said even after all he won there, it would only take 3 bad seasons, or 3 losses in a row to OSU for him to get shown the door. And this was after he was already a legend in waiting. He knew he had to win too if he wanted to stick around, even with all that he had proven to that point.
Keep up the good work.
August 30th, 2011 at 4:16 PM ^
Good article. Terrible comments. I blame myself for skimming past the end of the article.
August 30th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
Edit: to be read only in the voice of Bob Ufer.
Whoa Nelly! Team 132 takes the field September 3, and just like Navy Seal Team 6 carried out the Commander and Chief's orders, they are going to carry out Commander Hoke's 12 week mission to the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game, December 3, 2011
August 30th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^
Whoa Nelly is a Keith Jackson coined phrase. Is no one on this board old eough to have listened to a Ufer broadcast first hand?
This hits me right in my cotton pickin' maize and blue heart!
August 31st, 2011 at 7:54 AM ^
yeah I know, sometimes I'm just a little convoluted. Actually attended the pep rally before the 78' OSU game and got to hear Ufer speak live, it was pretty cool. Me and Rastafari were their watching Woody burn in effigy.
I should have said something like, "what's one thing ______ is always going to remember and never forget"
August 30th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^
firing me up!
August 30th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^
Commander-in-chief.
August 30th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^
Later, before they walk to Michigan Stadium, Hoke will hand each Michigan player a large trident pitchfork with his name and a message carved into it. The ethos of Team 132 Toughness Character Discipline I accept the responsibility to uphold our proud tradition.Cool.
August 30th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^
Think of the merchandising possibilities. DB's probably conducting market research as we speak.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:43 PM ^
Here is a quick crappy photoshop I did...
August 30th, 2011 at 8:19 PM ^
When you can get a pitchfork?
I hear you can kill a guy with those things.
August 30th, 2011 at 5:40 PM ^
That is all.
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August 30th, 2011 at 9:10 PM ^
Whitlock does say some dumb things from time to time ....
August 30th, 2011 at 11:21 PM ^
Hopefully in a few months Hoke's biggest champion is BWC.
As to Whitlock, I absolutely agree. After seeing the article was from him I refuse to click. Glad to see some life back on the board after the Kool Aid dates we all had towards the end of last year though.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:27 PM ^
Where are all the "WHITLOCK SUCKS" posts? Usually these type of threads are FILLED with them when it is ANOTHER topic of his. Funny how the tone changes when he is guzzling on our coach's dick.
(not that I wouldn't expect it to change - "WELL HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT NORMALLY.... but he knows Coach Hoke!" will be a popular response I am sure)
August 30th, 2011 at 8:11 PM ^
When he isn't bringing up race as the be all and end all problem of every column, they're not all bad.
August 31st, 2011 at 1:33 AM ^
White devil.
September 2nd, 2011 at 3:45 AM ^
What does he have in his lymphatic system if his thymus gland is the size and consistency of a golden egg!?
August 31st, 2011 at 7:53 AM ^
This seems to have become the conventional wisdom here ... I wish someone would provide some examples of Whitlock seeing racism behind every little thing in sports.
September 1st, 2011 at 2:53 PM ^
By the time I found this thread, you had already seen the front page reference.
August 31st, 2011 at 9:08 AM ^
Very well written article,