September 14th, 2013 at 11:41 PM ^
We're not around Hoke the way the players in that room are. But my sense is that Hoke is going for one of the true rules of teaching: never be too high or too low emotionally. Young people cue emotionally off people in leadership positions. Hoke's message is clear here: There is a lot to work on, and we will work to get it (it's encoded in the discussion about the five team goals, he's taking them back to the fundamental basis for this team. They know those five goals like the back of their hand.) He's pointing out that they got one of them, but not the other four, and that is unlikely to happen to great frequency.
But if Hoke isn't a screamer, isn't crazy eyes, can you not tell that this is a frustrated man who knows he has to do better, his staff has to do better, and his players need to do better? There's a tonality there, one which is probably more familar to his players who have heard him for weeks since Fall camp started. They know this is not normal and they know what is coming.
Crazy only works in tiny doses, after a while, it's seen through. But a leader who keeps a level head, discusses where the corrections are to be had, and begins accountability with himself, that is someone who holds the room.
Will it work? Will they learn? Will Michigan play better next week? Time will tell. I'm hopeful, but cautious, because we did see some flaws today. But if you wanted Hoke to be angrier or more passionate or more downright pissed, well, that is for you to figure out why you want that.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:49 PM ^
...did you, MGoShoe?
"Coach giving the team a piece of his mind. The fact that this was released speaks volumes about Hoke's displeasure with the team's performance."
First, if that's a piece of his mind, it's a small piece. I didn't even think he was yelling, just raising his voice loud enough so everyone could hear. Second, what in there is so controversial that they wouldn't want it released? He told the truth, even held back in my opinion, and he didn't name one single player by name except when they did something good (Wile getting that one off).
If you think that's harsh, somewhere upstairs Bo and Woody are laughing their asses off.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:54 PM ^
Hoke is such a good coach. I like that he doesn't yell at the players like some coaches do. I know every coach has his own style, but I prefer coaches to be like this. He tells them what they did wrong, was assertive, but didn't berate anyone in a vicious manner. Great job, Brady.
September 15th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 12:08 AM ^
Go to bed and sleep it off man. Stop being a baby. I guess all the experts who say Hoke is a good coach are wrong? I guess not losing a game at home since he started makes him bad?
We're all pissed about the performance today, but stop being such an emotional child.
September 15th, 2013 at 12:12 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^
He also has helped the University in pursuit of athletes that came here solely bc of him?
He took a defense averaging 30.0+(!) points a game to under 20.0 in one year! His team finally is getting his type of players in and we are just seeing the effects. His recruits are young. STILL has RR pieces on offense in ALL the skill positions.
Although I was also thinking, "if we lose to Akron, fire Hoke.", I can admit that I was wrong. It made me think if Toledo all over. And losing to garbage in Ohio. But, Akron did have some ungodly number of JUCO's playing today from FL, GA, CA, MS... That don't normally go to MAC schools... Akron may not be a 1-11 team this year... They may be a better MAC team than expected. Let the season play out. We're 3-0. Coach Hoke already has addressed what is wrong, and that's the first step is admitting and knowing what to fix.
Print what you said about Hoke and read it on January 9th. Then tell us you feel the same way.
September 15th, 2013 at 8:28 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 12:14 AM ^
We know the team is unhappy. We know they're better than they looked today, but not as good as we all would hope. Beyond that, we don't know anyting. But still, lets have a hundred and fifty post thread about it!
September 15th, 2013 at 12:21 AM ^
It used to be axiomatic that college football is a game of emotions. Today demonstrated that can still be true.
What happened in the past with a team like Akron may not be the case this year. People talked earlier today on the web about the fact that Akron was blown out by UCF. Well, UCF just beat Penn State, and while I don't recall the score, I think that UCF's point total against Akron was very close to the number they achieved against PSU's supposedly better defense.
Michigan played badly. The team wasn't mentally ready for this game. Maybe they read last week's reviews, and this week's predictions, and thought all they had to do was show up and it would be an automatic win.
I'm hoping (and I honestly believe) that the team will pull their socks up, and have their heads on straight the rest of the season.
We're lucky this breakdown didn't happen against a better team. Penn State, Texas, and Nebraska had embarrassing days and lost.
The team isn't perfect. It doesn't take much to see what needs improving. But I think that Hoke and Company are coaches who can fix or at least shore up the problems enough to have a good season.
It'd be great to have perfection, but the reality is this team still has its goals in front of it and a very good chance to have a fine season.
September 15th, 2013 at 12:24 AM ^
This happen more often than most remember. After a emotional victory or loss against an intense rival, the next game shows a team that comes out 'flat' much less emotion and intensity and struggles to gain any rythym. Did the team play poorly? Yes. Did many of them make mistakes, including the coaches? Yes. Was it hard watch and brought back memories of the Horror? Most definitely.
I watched most of the the Bama game after getting home from our game, the OSU game tonight and the ND game. This team is a far cry from the Bama, and ND played so-so but not as bad as we did. But From what I saw, OSU is a much better team than we are, more team speed and will test our lines and secondary for 60 minutes. Guiton may be a better QB than Miller.
Depth is certainly an issue still with this team. The depth we have is in the number of bodies, not seasoned talent - YET.
I thought Gardner would have learned from the pick in the endzone last week and he almost repeated it again. He is not fast enough to outrun every pass rush and shouldn't be trying to be a hero on every broken pass play. He had a Denard type of day today and it happens. The interior Oline is very young and the Dline is young. They will learn from this and will get better. Team 134 is not going to go undefeated, but they will get better.
If Gardner conties to turn the ball over three times a game, he should go back to #12 though.
One more thing, DB - cut down the size of the student section, that was embarassing and aside from OSU and maybe Nebraska, it will happen again this season. GA is not the solution, cutting back on the number of seats is a better plan.
September 15th, 2013 at 12:45 AM ^
Whether they show up in force or not, the games are supposed to be played first, for the enjoyment of students attending the university, who are paying through the nose for the privilege, at today's tuition rates. I agree with most of your post, but I think the proposal to further punish the students for showing up late to games isn't right.
The general admission seating for students is obviously a foolish idea and a failure. Students will show up when they want to show up. Period. No amount of donuts is going to make them line up like children at disneyland for the opportunity to see Michigan play Akron at closer range, especially at noon on a Saturday.
Cutting back the student section defeats one of the major purposes of having football, which is ostensibly to increase the attraction of the University to prospective students. Telling students, "We're going to make it more difficult for you to attend because you're not being very good football fans" makes very little sense to me.
Punishment thinking doesn't work well for 18-22 year olds, and today's GA seating showed that quite well.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
I am not opposed to cutting the student section. I understand your point, but there are too many people who want those seats for the athletic dept to waste them on students who obviously don't.
September 15th, 2013 at 12:34 AM ^
I enjoy rooting for this team. I like the coach. I love how he values developing strength of character as much as anything else. For the folks who are so freaked out, if being a Michigan football fan makes you so angry and frustrated and upset with so many UNACCEPTABLE things even when we win, then why the do you keep it up? Go do something else with your time.
Or not, keep being arm chair an Brian Kelly if you need, but life is too short for so much negativity.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:31 AM ^
I wish I could plus 1 million this post.
You are absolutely right. It was a frustrating day but I'm pretty sure the team is more disappointed then we are or at the very least taking a long look. These are 18-22 year olds. There will be ups and downs hopefully a lot more ups.
I still think we are headed in the right direction even though it was a frustrating game to say the least.
Let's see what happens each week. I'm kind of wondering how the mgoblog staff approaches this game.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 1:16 AM ^
Personally when he says theyre going to better prepare them, he promises, to me it sounds like practice for the first part of the week is going to be rough.
However, I dont think the team will take an opponent lightly the rest of the season. Theyre going to have a fire lit the rest of the season.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:28 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 6:07 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 1:29 AM ^
"We will prepare you better, I promise you."
Ouch. I wouldn't want to be on that field Monday.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:15 AM ^
Eactly what I thought.
Seemed like he was saying "your in for hell at practice" the nicest way possible.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:30 AM ^
Our D has turned into mush. Almost reverting back to the porous defenses of the RR era! I'm a bit surprised since talent wise, we have hauled in some good players thought we seem to have missed out on that good to great DE and this may be our downfall this season.
I don't see us beating MSU or OSU unless we really improve. NU will probably beat us as well since we have trouble against spread teams.
September 15th, 2013 at 5:20 AM ^
so far, but comparing it to RR's defenses is just hyperbolic. No way in hell RR'S defenses come up with two stops inside the 5.
Also why are people all of sudden giving MSU so much credit? They haven't played anybody yet, and their performance today doesn't all of sudden mean MSU doesn't have massive problems on offense. We will see how MSU looks against ND's defense, but something tells me their offense will resemble the horrow show it was the first two weeks. Nebraska's defense is a tire fire, worst in the conference to this point.
September 15th, 2013 at 9:06 AM ^
I feel sorry for UConn I expect to see an annihilation. But then again I did expect that against Akron. I wonder is Tressel had anything to do with that performance?
September 15th, 2013 at 10:00 AM ^
Like many, I'm especially concerned about center and left guard. Any sense that Bryant, Braden or Bars might be options? Or any of the new kids?
September 15th, 2013 at 11:31 AM ^
So I decided to wait for almost 24 hours to post anything on here, because of the meltdown happening. The team played poorly and they will probably play poorly again, at some point, in the future. Terry Bowden had told his kids that they may never get a chance to play in a venue like the Big House again and to make the most of it. Well they did. We can nitpick the team and say they need to fix this or fix that, but a week ago we were singing the praises of Borges, Hoke, and Mattison. Now after a poor showing against a team that may be better than originally thought, some people are calling for Mattison to be replaced. Relax there are 9 more games and 2 bye weeks for this team to improve. If we have a similar showings against more teams then it's time to worry.
September 15th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^
"We will prepare you better; I promise you."
That is coach-speak for "You are going to work your asses off this week and watch your mistakes on film until you are as pissed off as I am right now."
September 16th, 2013 at 1:39 AM ^
This speech was okay I guess. But after I watched the game I was hoping he would really chew them out and light a fire under their ass. No excuse for the lack of effort out there.