bronxblue

August 25th, 2021 at 9:13 PM ^

I think the fanbase periodically designates a guy as The Reason why the team is losing, and Funchess got that moniker toward the end of his career.  Stevie Brown I remember being an early whipping horse under RR, and guys like Taylor Lewan (especially once he left UM, but even before), Shea Patterson, and most recently Vincent Gray have been tagged to various degrees.  I'm sure I'm also missing some people in the list.

Brady Hoke leaving Funchess in a blowout loss to ND that led to him being injured for basically his entire last year remains the second-dumbest coaching decision in Hoke's career after the entire Shane Morris situaton. 

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171814

bronxblue

August 25th, 2021 at 10:23 PM ^

One in the same.  I mean, Morris already had an injured leg at the time before the hits and only after he was clearly hurt did he get replaced by Gardner.  Then the only reason Morris was even an option to go out was because Gardner had his helmet knocked off and Russell Bellamy couldn't find his damn helmet, which is some Varsity Blues-level dumbfuckery.

I will (slightly) defend Hoke in the moment (and I did at the time) because nobody on the sideline (including medical staff) seemed particularly concerned about Morris or his health, as evidenced by the fact nobody stopped him going out there.  At the time I assumed Hoke figured Morris had his injured ankle (which he was clearly hobbling on) and so sending him out there to hand off the ball wasn't a major concern in his eyes.  Obviously Morris was suffering from a concussion and should have never been let back in, though as we've seen before and since lots of teams took a long time to figure out how to handle concussions properly.  But honestly, Morris should have been out of the game 3-4 plays before that hit when it was clear his ankle was shot.

As for the NYT excoriating Michigan, UM absolutely deserved it but I also remembered seeing other guys equally concussed still trotting on and off the field across college football; the stupidity and mishandling of that situation wasn't limited to UM - they were just a high-profile example.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171814

Dean Pelton

August 26th, 2021 at 12:13 AM ^

Hoke deserved to be fired. However it was reported that Hoke wanted to call timeout so Devin could re-enter the game without sitting out for one play. The referee told Hoke that wasn’t how it worked. That is 100% wrong. Hoke was correct and the refs should have received a lot more blame for not knowing the rules. Although honestly Delany hated Michigan and the refs probably did it on purpose. Still, Hoke was in over his head and had to be let go.

Joined: 08/01/2020

MGoPoints: 9300

leu2500

August 26th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^

And also, per Bacon’s book, this game was the 1st game for Michigan’s new press person, so unlike previous games, the broadcast feed wasn’t being monitored so that backup notice of the hit was missed.

 

and John Falk had been fired, so his practice of having a person assigned to hold each QB’s helmet & shadow its QB wasn’t being used, hence the helmet snafu that resulted in Morris going back in the game.

 

Both of these were Brandon decisions.  
 

we will never know what the Hoke years would have been like without Brandon’s interference.  And Hoke will never tell what all he had to put up with from Brandon. 

Joined: 01/22/2011

MGoPoints: 2119

Forsakenprole

August 26th, 2021 at 2:34 AM ^

Hoke was not a good head coach, but imagine how much better this team would be if he was our D-Line coach or say co-DC? He would have us swimming in powerful D linemen; I often wish we would offer him whatever money he wanted to bring in a full two deep of NFL D-Linemen… the D Line recruiting disaster of 2017 likely wouldn’t have occurred (that’s where our depth is meant to be - they would all be Covid 5 year seniors). 

Joined: 09/18/2018

MGoPoints: 1061

bronxblue

August 26th, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^

I think Funchess played not unlike a lot of WRs when things aren't going their way; DPJ, for example, was often accused of not blocking downfield particularly hard and failing to really engage if he didn't see the ball coming to him and yet there has been a long line of people defending his underwhelming career at UM as caused by the coaches, the QBs, etc. 

I don't think Funchess had a great career or anything at UM but there were lots of players over the years who underwhelmed or had bad attitudes of whathaveyou who skated by without receiving the direct ire of fans who are just mad the team isn't winning.

Again, it's selective annoyance with players is what I'm pointing out.  It's like people getting mad at Vincent Gray for the entire defense falling apart last year.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171814

Michfan777

August 25th, 2021 at 9:07 PM ^

I wonder if this effectively ends his career at this point. This will essentially be his 3rd consecutive season he’s missed (he got injured in the first game of 2019 and hasn’t played in the regular season since).

Joined: 10/10/2018

MGoPoints: 24543

Dean Pelton

August 26th, 2021 at 12:22 AM ^

Funchess perfectly encapsulates Michigan football. He has all the physical tools. Yet for some reason can’t put it all together. Sometimes he seems uninterested, yet can also have games where he looks unstoppable. In the end it is beyond frustrating. 

Joined: 08/01/2020

MGoPoints: 9300