Greg Matisson has changed my mind....

Submitted by Webber's Pimp on

I just finished watching today's press conferences. At one point Matisson almost broke down in answering a question about Hoke and the jawing on the sidelines. Matisson really went to bat for Coach Hoke today. I encourage everyone to watch the full video on the Mgoblue website.  Previously I had professed that I was done with Brady Hoke but in listening to Mattison's responses today I have to say that I'm willing to go along a little further.These guys are certainly working hard. Let's see where we are at the end of season...

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TheTeam16

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^

No kidding...that's was pretty emotional. hard to tell if he is just a man not used to failure that its trying to convince everyone for some more time, or if he genuinely believes what he is saying. I hope for the latter.

Joined: 09/07/2012

MGoPoints: 1137

pdgoblue25

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^

I'm not greedy, I'm not saying it's year 4 and we haven't won a national championship.  I'm saying it's year 4 with highly recruited players at almost every position, and we look like this.

Joined: 03/03/2010

MGoPoints: 19003

Class of 1817

September 22nd, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^

We shouldn't still be falling apart when meeting OK-Good teams. We shouldn't be nervous playing Average teams. We shouldn't be in shootouts or have to wear down Poor teams.

With the exception of 2011 against a demoralized OSU team, the Miracle UTL, a coin toss Sugar Bowl victory, a blown bowl loss to SC, and last year's gritty loss to a pretty good OSU squad...where is the quality play against top competition?

Over the last 3 1/4 seasons...I've seen 5 good games out of M against quality competition. Two of those were games where M played pretty poorly and I chalk up the victories to happily-accepted luck.

We should be able to be confident that our team will fight the likes of ND, MSU, OSU, and whatever bowl opponent we're matched up against.

And we should be beyond just feeling confident showing up versus the likes of Akron, UConn, NTM, and Utah...that should be a no-brainer at this point, and at ANY point in the program's history.

It's not that we're not dominating or vying for the top spot...

We're not even competitive anymore.

It's hard to say that, but that's the reality of the situation.

 

 

Joined: 06/23/2011

MGoPoints: 4504

pearlw

September 22nd, 2014 at 7:09 PM ^

Sick of talk? That's because there are 4 press conferences today, one Wednesday, radio show Wednesday night, morning radio appearance later in the week, etc. The "sick of talk" comment is silly as the football coaches have to talk to do all these press obligations before the next game. There arent anywhere near as many press obligations in basketball plus the next game is only a few days away so there cant even be that many. This isnt a valid criticism at all.

Joined: 01/09/2011

MGoPoints: 4657

MWolverine7

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^

He hasn't changed my mind. I didn't feel any empathy over Rodriguez's emotional moments and I'm not about to do so now. It's embarrassing.

Joined: 12/14/2013

MGoPoints: 5190

Gandalf the White

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^

without even watching the full video. Personally, I inflated my expectations a bit before the season began. Part of it was due to staff rhetoric, part of it was due to me just hoping we'd get back to Michigan football. I think the guy deserves another year because he is a good man and he sincerely cares about the program. BUT, I think that he needs to understand that tough decisions need to be made. We hear about competition all the time but no one ever seems to get benched. He seems like the kind of guy that wants to please everyone (except the media and non-true fans); it just can't be done.

Joined: 11/23/2013

MGoPoints: 589

mich_engineer

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^

Its hard to believe that Hoke is sticking with certain players through sheer loyalty vs. performance in practice/on the field.  Those "tough decisions" aren't benching a horrible QB for a superstar who just clashes - it's benching one player who isn't performing for another who is likely even worse.

 

In short, thinking that the 11 best players are currently NOT on the field, and that players with the talent to win games are riding the pine is absurd.

Joined: 11/30/2010

MGoPoints: 561

Gandalf the White

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:46 PM ^

referencing DG, and I do believe Hoke's loyalty/kindness/etc has kept him on the field. Is Morris better right this minute? Likely no. But, Hoke was hired to rebuild, and in that process it is well known that short term gains have to be sacrificed for long term development. I'm saying he didn't make that decision early on because of his feelings toward DG, i.e. he's a good kid, he works hard, etc.

Joined: 11/23/2013

MGoPoints: 589

mich_engineer

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^

Two major problems with that argument: (1) DG was clearly the wave of the future at the start of last year.  He had some spectacular performances and certainly seemed more than capable of continuing to improve and win games until he was battered into tiny bits and caught a case of the Joel Stave "yips" or something this year; (2) it is year 4 of the Hoke regime, and "building for the future" by inserting a currently inferior player at this juncture makes no sense whatsoever.

 

Calls for Morris right now simply refuse to confront their worst fear: Morris is probably WORSE at playing QB than Gardner is at the present time, as scary as that may be to comprehend.

Joined: 11/30/2010

MGoPoints: 561

Gandalf the White

September 22nd, 2014 at 5:07 PM ^

and wouldn't have had he not been here when Hoke arrived. Hoke and his staff wanted to go pro-style offense. They should have put in the QB they brought in to do that. Growing pains? Most certainly; but, we may be further along offensively than we are now.

Joined: 11/23/2013

MGoPoints: 589

Brick in The Wave

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^

Everyone loves a comeback and there might not be a bigger comeback in MIchigan history as big as if we come back and win the BIG.  I don't think it happens.

On another note the players are not immune to this talk and from what I can tell they love Hoke, at any point is there "hey I am gonna get fired if we don't turn this around" type motivational tool.  Do the players start to feel accountablity to the coaches

I can't see Hoke walking into the locker room and saying as much but at some point the players might use this. 

Joined: 05/17/2011

MGoPoints: 2421

GoBLUinTX

September 22nd, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^

People tend to rise to the level of expectation. Here's the problem, if the level of expectation is below the level needed to be successful, no amount of hoping, wishing, and love of the HC will alter the level of play.  Hoke and his coaches tell us there is an expectation for each position, maybe they've unwittingly set the expectation bar too low.  Maybe they, the coaches, are comfortable with the level they've set.

Joined: 12/02/2013

MGoPoints: 5895

BlueLikeJazz

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:16 PM ^

But here's why I'm sold on it needing to happen now (besides the obvious bad product on the field)

1-There may not be anyone good available, but that's been true pretty regularly for the last few years.  And at this point, I'm guessing they could find someone at least with a career record > .500

2-To that point, whoever was taking over in 2011 was taking a program with a few years of mediocre recruiting for a very specific style.  Anyone not running a pure spread was looking at a complete rebuild.  The defense had talent but it didn't necessarily look like it at the time.  Anyone considering the job now would have to recognize the boatloads of young talent on the roster.  That, combined with the program's significant resources, would have to be pretty attractive to a lot of more established coaches.

3-As far as inevitable attrition, this is probably the least damaging time to do it.  The incoming class is going to be very small, so even losing a couple players out of that wouldn't necessarily destroy it.  And there's so much depth and talent currently on the roster that losing a few guys off the two deep won't destroy the team either.  It won't help, but it seems like this roster is positioned better than most to absorb a coaching change.

4-This program is now 7 solid years into mediocre to bad territory.  Pulling a storied program out of almost a decade of mediocrity would have to appeal to a lot of coaches.  

 

Joined: 08/29/2014

MGoPoints: 7394

reshp1

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:20 PM ^

Not too many here question Hoke the person, I certainly never have. We'll need to decide at the end of this season about Hoke the head coach. I'm pulling for him, but I'm pulling for Michigan harder and if that means he gets replaced, so be it. I just hope we can make the decision in a level headed manner and not just jump to whomever is available out of anger or or panic or epression or whatever.

Joined: 10/31/2011

MGoPoints: 34177

JT4104

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:21 PM ^

Nope....emotions on a podium dont change the results on the field. Mattison has done his job as DC so far this year but his boss overall has been horrible and has been driving the bus into a deep deep hole.

Joined: 10/25/2008

MGoPoints: 12327

pinkfloyd2000

September 22nd, 2014 at 4:26 PM ^

...when we used to wrestle each other. It was ugly."

 

Ah geez, Coach...thanks for the disturbing visual image that will haunt my dreams for the next two weeks.

Seriously, though -- I really, really like Coach Mattison. A lot.

Joined: 01/27/2009

MGoPoints: 18477