(ESPN RUMOR) Potential Coaching Moves
Following the Wolverines' loss to Iowa on Saturday in which it was outgained 407 yards to 158 by the Hawkeyes and blew a 21-7 halftime lead, Michigan is 7-4 and Brady Hoke is approaching hot-seat territory. Some coaches I spoke with this week said, at the very least, he will likely have to part ways with offensive coordinator Al Borges. (If Michigan does open again, either this year or next, one trusted college football source suggested that LSU coach Les Miles could finally head home to his alma mater. “I’ll bet that’s where he goes and retires,” the source said.)
Mods feel free to delete if you think it's too much info from a paywalled article.
November 24th, 2013 at 7:44 PM ^
worse off then Lembo did. BSU at least won in recent memory for Lembo. Such was not the case with Hoke. In no way can you compare the two eras.
Btw, Lembo had Hoke's players as Juniors and Seniors. You conveniently left this out of your post.
November 24th, 2013 at 7:45 PM ^
Hoke made Ball State into a legitimate program. That is an incredible accomplishment that ignoramuses like you don't understand because you are totally unaware of teams outside of Michigan.
What? He had two winning seasons there, one conference championship, and his teams lost both bowls they went to (and they lost them quite badly too).
After he left, they went 2-10 (2-6) and 4-8 (3-5) before firing Parrish, and hiring Pete Lembo.
I'm not trying to knock Hoke, but saying that he built Ball State into a legitimate program is just flat out wrong
November 24th, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
They lost to Buffalo in the conference championship game in 2008. They then lost the GMAC bowl after Hoke left to finish 12-2.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:35 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:37 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:37 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:44 PM ^
and is detested by many at UM.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:54 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 6:42 PM ^
ethical behavior. Oversigning and telling a kid you have no spot for him is reprehensible.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:47 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 7:11 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:39 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:39 PM ^
Does upvoting the thread inclrease the likelihood of it actually happening?
November 24th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
As crazy as it drives most of us we must remember that Hoke LOVES Borges and the offense he runs and our flaiings and bitching mean absolutely nothing.
Borges will be the OC in 2014 no matter how poorly the offense performs in the last two games. His boss thinks he does "a fantastic job" and that doesnt usually equate to termination.
Sorry.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
If not you are making shit up.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:46 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 6:28 PM ^
And if I'm right then what? I will be the first to acknowledge and apoligize if Hoke actually makes a move in the off season and cans somebody but i"ll bet NOBODY says a word if he doesnt.
November 24th, 2013 at 6:58 PM ^
And if he does then what? What will you think if Hoke takes this team into 2014 with the exact same staff he has now?
November 24th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^
At some point you have to set aside your disgust and just hope the team performs. If they return and they fail again Hoke is probably gone.
November 24th, 2013 at 7:16 PM ^
We are on the same page then. I understand.
November 24th, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^
If Borges comes back and the outcome is the same, I am willing to wager that Hoke will not be gone. My guess is that he will get the opportunity to change coordinators and finish out his contract while the fanbase comes unglued!
November 24th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^
"Hoke will never fire Borges." I agree, but maybe he can help his buddy Al by calling up Eastern Michigan and landing him a head coaching gig there....
November 24th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
Do you want to destroy Michigan football?
November 24th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
Mods should delete this. It's not news; it's un-named coaches who seem not to know shit about the situation speculating. For all we know, the coaches could be Rich Rodriguez and Urban Meyer.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:46 PM ^
I agree, and I can't believe that link requires money. What lazy reporting.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:54 PM ^
It's a subscription website. The point is to bait you into signing up for it to get "insider information". Do you get upset when the previews on TV don't show the full movie?
November 24th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^
Nope. The only thing worse than doing nothing is firing Hoke. We do not need more instability in the program right now.
November 24th, 2013 at 6:39 PM ^
It has more to do with what we do if we fire Hoke. If Brandon has feelers out with a couple top-notch coaches the internet rumor mongering suggests (one of the Harbaughs, Les Miles, Sumlin) and one of them accepts, then there's no instability.
I'll use John Harbaugh as the example here mostly because of all the rumors, he seems like the likliest candidate. If we fired Hoke on a Tuesday and hired John Harbaugh on a Thursday, there's almost no instability. He's universally viewed as a better coach than Hoke. He'd almost assuredly keep Mattison. There'd be little instability in a change like that.
What would be disastrous would be to fire Hoke and do what we did after fired Rich Rod where we went through "the process." I hope Brandon does what he should have done a few years ago: have a few names, contact them, if they agree to the job, fire Hoke and name his replacement almost immediately. If they don't agree, realize that Hoke in year four is better than some second-rate alternative and hope for the best while having a year to prepare for the worst.
November 24th, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
4 coaches in 7 years is instability. I would assume DB wouldn't just fire Hoke for the sake of firing him without someone widely considered a step up ready to accept.
November 25th, 2013 at 4:04 AM ^
DB thought he would get Jim but his second pick was Hoke.
November 25th, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
that he came to Michigan to coach for Hoke. He clearly deeply enjoys the relationship that he shares with Hoke and that is a significant part of the joy he has coaching at Michigan. Mattison has made more than enough money to retire should he choose to. He can stay in AA to be close to his family with or without a job at Michigan.
If he feels that Hoke was fired unfairly it seems very doubtful Mattison would continue as DC. Even if he feels that Hoke was fired fairly, it is unclear that he would stay to coach under a new head coach.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
Everyone reads so much into Brady's media speak. Keeping/firing Al will tell us all we need to know about what Brady has been thinking all along. A blind pauper could see it's the only decision to make. If he sticks with gorgeous Al, it will probably cost him his lifelong dream job. If he fires him, pray he can find someone who is a marked improvement, or it might still end the same way.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:44 PM ^
ESPN hasn't been great at sports in a while and I feel as if this "source" is just a guy from the Michigan department sending off a trial balloon. No way we get Les Miles, and it's a definite low chance of Borges getting fired this week or the next.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:52 PM ^
Or it's the same source that a few days ago was reporting that Bo Pelinni was going to quit after next week's game. Speculation from unnamed sources. That's not news; it's gossip it it even rises to that.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:52 PM ^
Not a trial balloon from the Michigan department; it looks like an intervention by the remnants of the Miles crowd among the boosters. They've always had good contacts at ESPN and this looks a lot like the M.O. three years ago.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^
I think Brandon is results-driven and if this really is Hoke's "dream job" (I'd walk to Ann Arbor, etc.), Hoke will not live or die by Borges.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:49 PM ^
Not in 2014, at least. And he probably finishes his contract (through 2015).
Al Borges...well, that's another story. I can see him being replaced--possibly with Scot Loeffler. But it's not a certainty either.
Les Miles? LOL...not going to happen.
November 24th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^
My fault. Still, he did a bad job at Auburn and Vatech isn't doing all that well offensively this year as well.
55th in passing and 111th in rushing. Impressive.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:49 PM ^
Biggest question for me: If Les Miles indeed ends up at Michigan, can LSUFreek come with him?
November 24th, 2013 at 8:08 PM ^
I would much rather get LSU freek than Les Miles.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^
most of us believe Hoke deserves another year, regardless of the next two games, and that fire Al or not fire Al, he's butt will be on a frying pan (at least medium heat) next year.