Hoke NFL Caliber Coach per Analyst

Submitted by Roy G. Biv on

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120619/SPORTS0201/206190422/1131/sports0201/Michigan-s-Brady-Hoke-might-NFL-coaching-material-ex-QB-says

Per Brock Huard, on the radio in Seattle.  I can see his point. Hoke obviously isn't afraid to surround himself with quality assistants and has a very good sideline demeanor.  Quite a compliment for a guy who was supposed to be no better than M's 3rd choice.

Conspicuous for his inclusion among other NFL-quality coaches is Brian Kelly.  I don't think purple-faced implosions would play well in the NFL.

JeepinBen

June 20th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^

who say, wouldn't give coordinators more than 1 year contracts to let the coach hire who he wants to (like RR).

In any event, yes, there are coaches who are afraid to hire good assistants. The worry is that if an assistant becomes too good he'll overshadow the head coach. It's an ego/power thing.

jabberwock

June 20th, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^

RR deserved to be fired for making some very bad defensive hiring decisions (Gibson, GERG, meddling & then bailing on Shafer);  but it's a pretty well documented fact that he habitually begged the best DC he knew (Casteel) to come with him to Michigan, he even fought with the administration repeatedly about it.  99% of the defensive woes started there.

kehnonymous

June 20th, 2012 at 1:56 PM ^

Or to use another example much less nearer and dearer to our hearts, go to a prison or K-mart checkout line and ask an OSU fan about Tressel keeping Jim Bollman and Nich Siciliano; the general scuttlebutt amongst the Buckeye faithful - and I think they're right on this count - is that those two guys were pretty much yes-men for Tress.

Regrettably it's not like we can mock the results Tressel got with his staff but it's certainly fair to say that he created a culture where he had unparalleled control of everything and it definitely worked so long as a) he was at the controls and b) he didn't have to forward e-mails to compliance.

LSAClassOf2000

June 20th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^

It seems to me that Hoke's style of leadership is ideally suited for college football, but at the same time, I believe that this is a good compliment coming from Huard.

As someone pointed out in the " Hokeification" thread, he has a very unusual to connect with people and players, which is a skill that I see as far more effective with student-athletes than with paid personnel, especially millionaires. It seems to me that most NFL players tend to see their coaches merely as a supervisor to whom they nominally report, which tends to preclude the meaningful personal connections that Hoke is good at making. He seems genuinely drawn to the mentorship aspect of the game, and he has built a staff that is of the same mindset, and there is not a whole of teaching that seems to go on in the pros.

Of course, he has always said that this was his dream job anyway, and I think part of that is because of things (interpersonal connections mainly) that he wouldn't necessarily find in the culture of the NFL.

burtcomma

June 20th, 2012 at 2:50 PM ^

Told us that Brady Hoke would be an NFL coach one day, did he not?  I don't want Hoke to leave either, but we do have to remember the Knowledge's impressive record.....

jmblue

June 20th, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^

This is a good article for us.  It suggests that our coach is so good that NFL teams would like him - but they won't, since this is his destination job.

Ron Utah

June 20th, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^

This is great news, and good publicity for Hoke and Michigan...but the beauty of Brady is that he won't be heading to the NFL.  He's a Michigan Man, and he'll almost certainly retire as a Michigan Man.

Perkis-Size Me

June 20th, 2012 at 8:37 PM ^

Michigan is a destination job. Hoke has said repeatedly that he has arrived at where he wants to be for the rest of his career. He seems to thrive in a college environment, because he wants to teach kids about more than just football. And young players respond to that, especially at a place like Michigan, where a football player is going for more reasons than to win a national title. NFL players, on the whole, probably don't give a crap about their coach's life lessons. They only want to hear about what makes them better as a team.

I personally don't think he'd have the same kind of success in the NFL. No discredit to Hoke, as the man's ability to coach is phenomenal, but I don't think he's well-suited for a place where the athletes are motivated by a paycheck.

phork

June 20th, 2012 at 9:37 PM ^

I hope Hoke doesn't leave, I think he is great for College Football.  Someone you can plaster the "THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT RIGHT" label on.

BKs gimmicky offense would never fly in the NLF or even the NFL.