Yes, this season didn't go the way wanted it to. However...

Submitted by MGomaha on

This season was disappointing, on so many levels. Injuries to some promising young guys, guys getting kicked off the team, losing... lots of losing.

But, there were a lot of bright spots. Yes, the point of playing football is to win football games, and Brady Hoke did not do that well enough and will lose his job for it. However, I will applaud coach Hoke for the types of guys he has recruited and the types of values this program (for the most part, i.e. Gibbons) has had under him.

I'm going to user Devin Gardner as an example: 59.5% completion percentage. 42 touchdowns. 31 interceptions. 15-14 as a starter.

These are not great statistics for a quarterback here. They are not the standard, nor will they ever be. But these statistics are vastly more important:

Graduate of the University of Michigan in 3.5 years. Soon to be a TWO TIME graduate of the University of Michigan. Countless hours of helping around the community. A finalist for an award recognizing on and off the field excellence. 

There are a lot of people who criticize Devin's performance on the field, and rightfully so.  But there is much, much more to life than Michigan Football. This is something 95% of Michigan fans understand and doesn't really need to be repeated, but there are always a few bad apples.

I'll always root for Devin Gardner in whatever he does because I truly believe he embodies everything that is right about Michigan. And what he embodies is the whole reason I care so deeply about that program and school.

Thank you Devin, Jake, and the rest of the seniors who did so much for this team and this program.

Go Blue.

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MGoCarolinaBlue

November 29th, 2014 at 7:43 PM ^

If your response to that situation is anything other than feeling terrible for everyone involved in it, you're an asshole. Ignorant at best. Clark most definitely had a more difficult upbringing than anyone else on that team or on this blog. The reality of DV is that it recurs in an intergenerational cycle where the abused become the abusers.

Did you know that at the start of the season, he said that his aspiration was to go to the Rose Bowl so that maybe, just once, his Mom would actually be able to see him play? If that doesn't break your heart then I have nothing else to say to you.

Joined: 03/19/2013

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atom evolootion

November 29th, 2014 at 6:46 PM ^

Major character issues? Frank Clark wasn't in Hoke's doghouse this year. He was a leader on the field until the flash-in-the-pan incident in which he effectively ended his career. If I recall correctly, a whole crowd of people were saying Devin Gardner had character issues leading up to, and going through, the Minnesota game because he was upset about getting the hook, and now he's the epitome of a Michigan Man. I don't think some people know what character issues really are. There are mistakes and there are character issues. Character issues are deal-breakers. Jameis Winston has character issues. Terrelle Pryor had character issues. Cissoko had character issues. Frank Clark stole a laptop, paid his dues, cleaned up his act for three years, and got himself into a world of trouble in what probably amounted to a split-second decision that couldn't have been premeditated. Major character issues... I swear.

Joined: 11/03/2013

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MGoCarolinaBlue

November 29th, 2014 at 7:56 PM ^

If you went to Michigan, chances are overwhelmingly likely that you had it pretty damn good growing up. You have a responsibility to be empathetic towards those whose lives have been fucked up beyond your imagining. If you condemn a young person who's had a life several orders of magnitude more terrifying than what you can conceive of, YOU have character issues.

People do not make it out of that kind of background without bringing some serious baggage along with them. They just don't. No one comes out healthy and whole without a long and difficult process of healing.

No one is nominating Clark for any kind of character award. That much is obvious. But we should be pulling for him to get his life turned around.

Joined: 03/19/2013

MGoPoints: 5775

BigCat14

November 29th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^

his 'Major character issue'. When you drink you are more susceptible to making poor decisions. Even one time beating a woman is a 'Major' character issue. Clark has the right and hopefully the capability to be contrite and prove it over time to his girl!

go Blue!

Joined: 09/14/2009

MGoPoints: 1141

atom evolootion

November 29th, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^

I don't mean to sound like I approve of what Clark did. I absolutely disapprove of doing bodily harm to anybody, child, woman, or man, except in self-defense. What I'm saying, though, is that mistakes happen here and they happen there, but character issues are more of the chronic things that come out because of who a person is at the core. With that, I go to somebody like Artest, who continuously did things, or Anthony Mason, who was always fighting with somebody. It's the way you can predict that a person is just bad news. Nobody saw that in Clark, even after the laptop. We thought he was straightened out. That's why most of us were shocked with the news. Look at Jameis Winston; the way he played today, to go along with his chronic history of doing things, would it surprise any of us if news came out that he was shaving points? That's what I'm getting at...

Joined: 11/03/2013

MGoPoints: 1069

Matthew

November 29th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. - John Wooden Not saying the players or coaches necessarily DID do their best to become the best they are capable of becoming, but there are other ways besides wins and losses to measure success. Also, Bo said in the book with Bacon that when Ara Parseghian went winless in a season as coach of Northwestern it was the best coaching job he has ever witnessed because he kept the team together and playing hard.Now I'm not here comparing Hoke to Ara or Bo I'm just giving a different way to look at the situation. We suck. Hoke should be fired. No doubt about it.

Joined: 04/27/2010

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Bodogblog

November 29th, 2014 at 7:09 PM ^

Hoke held the team together. But he didn't come close to have them playing near their maximum ability. The players on this team probably know how Parsegian's team felt, but they have no idea what Wooden is talking about. No doubt they practiced hard, and put in a tremendous amount of time, effort, and sacrifice. But these things are just prerequisites, or they're less important than approach: all of that work has to be directed toward being better than the other. It has to have a pass/fail of victory at the end, with the fail hurting like nothing else can. None of it means anything if you lose, that has to be the approach. It's all wasted. It makes it much harder. If you feel bad, but not too bad after losing, you don't "get it". That's why kids like Hart just willed themselves to victory at times. It's why guys say "just throw me the fucking ball, I'll score." They take it in their own hands because they have to win, because they cannot stand it when they lose. They can't think for days. Hoke never inspired that in his guys or broght that out. His guys dropped balls or allowed defenders to take it away from them or went the wrong way on a cut and looked around with their hands in the air. They spent all of their time worrying about executing. When they failed, they were disappointed about not executing. They didn't spend enough time thinking about winning, or that they just could not bear the thought of losing. This is all nonsense, of course, what the hell do I know. Just my take on a eulogy for another sad end to a coaching era.

Joined: 06/08/2010

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BayWolves

November 29th, 2014 at 6:09 PM ^

Hoke should come back to California where he'll fit in better. Everyone here gets a trophy just for trying and 13 year olds get a celebration for learning how to tie their shoes.  There's also a graduation ceremony.

Joined: 06/21/2011

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MGomaha

November 29th, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^

It's like no one read the post.

I can look at the big picture of guys who have their whole lives ahead of them instead of "WELL THEY DIDN'T THROW ENOUGH TOUCHDOWNS FOR MY FAVORITE TEAM" 

Not once did I say "WELL MORAL VICTORIES ARE OKAY" nor did I say Brady Hoke's tenure was successful.

I fucking hate losing. But I love having my words twisted because I believe there is more to life than Michigan football.

Joined: 03/18/2012

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schreibee

November 29th, 2014 at 6:31 PM ^

Well, if "I'd just prefer to win" can be construed as "opposed to being proud of the players as men" then there are SO SO many other universities you could root for whose values align more closely with your own Mr Yost. Yes we ALL want both, but you expressed a value judgement as to which is more important to you of the two. I hope it's not the majority opinion on this blog!

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 21184

Mr. Yost

November 29th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^

But I don't think just because we have good kids that means we can't be an elite football team.

I commend Hoke for doing the right things off the field and getting guys who are student athletes and represent the Michigan the right way.

But '97 Michigan had plenty of great guys...and they won.

Joined: 07/25/2011

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Humen

November 29th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^

This season sucked. A few of our seniors are great people. Great.. Another year of hearing crap from Ohio fans. However, the intensity has died down over the last 2-10 stretch. That's something to be happy about, no?



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Joined: 10/04/2010

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Wendyk5

November 29th, 2014 at 5:56 PM ^

The few bad apples can really bring down the 95%, especially on a day like this when we're all disappointed for a lot of reasons. For those of us with kids who play sports or who played sports as kids themselves, it's maybe easier to understand the whole picture, and not just the wins and losses, or the mistakes. I have seen so many kids play with incredible heart and still lose, watched them deal with huge disappointment, and then bounce back. As an adult, that's so heartening to see because isn't that what we're trying to teach them in life, and hopefully through playing sports? It's not about a moral victory here. It's a much bigger accomplishment than that. 

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 68182

Wendyk5

November 29th, 2014 at 6:13 PM ^

I don't see the point in reminding everyone what "losers" we are. Serves no purpose. Others on this board appear to disagree with that sentiment. We all know the coaching staff is on its way out. We all know that Devin didn't perform up to our standards. Devin knows it, too. I'm not sure why at this point it's important to reiterate something that is obvious to everyone. 

Joined: 11/20/2008

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Bagheera

November 29th, 2014 at 6:38 PM ^

I agree with you, but I also don't see the point about desperately searching for bullshit moral victories, especially when they aren't even well-supported by fact. This year sucked, the team sucked, and that's really all there is to it.  Anything else just sounds like a bunch of Hoke/Mattison talk.

Joined: 11/18/2014

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tlo2485

November 29th, 2014 at 5:57 PM ^

if Florida wins they will be 7-4 and ranked... missing out on a win over Idaho that was cancelled... and with a great chance to beat someone like Nebraska or Iowa in a new years bowl..... I really hope our decision regarding hoke is not difficult for anyone involved in the decision making process

Joined: 08/06/2010

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