November 28th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
All of you applauding Dave Brandon...do you enjoy being lied to like a politician begging for votes?
I understand why this blog was written but the execution is miserable. A short, direct, statement of support would have been fine and served it's purpose. Instead we get Brandon's deceptive comments and weird commentary regarding past coaching standards.
This is a man that is completely insecure because he knows he hired a cheerleader that no other BCS team would ever have. Then, he pays him like he's coveted by the NFL because Brandon made his useless comments about how Michigan needs to pay for the best to get the best.
Do you really think it was in ANY WAY necessary to pay Brady Hoke more than RR?
It's literally only so fans can't point to his salary and say Brandon was being cheap.
Beyond that, he had the nerve to compare this season with NICK SABAN at Alabama in his 4th year. Saban won the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN YEAR 3. Are you kidding? And in his "down" year he was 10-3.
Those 3 losses were against a ranked South Carolina team, #10 LSU, and Auburn. With Cam Newton. The eventual NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.
Sounds just like this year with Hoke.
Now that I think about it, we're really not being fair to Hoke. Sure this year has sucked but we did win the National Championship and go undefeated last year just like Nick Saban at Alabama so everyone just quiet down. Nothing to see here.
November 28th, 2013 at 2:02 PM ^
Brandon acts as if Hoke has the same track record as Nick Saban (or even Harbaugh). Nick Saban had already won a national championship went to Alabama. He was considered one of the best college coaches, hence Bama paying him.
Hoke has no track record of winning championships.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:52 PM ^
I like Dave Brandon. I don't blame him for trying to maximize profits. I think he loves this University and is great at his job.
That being said, fuck Dave Brandon for the blatant omission of Rich Rodriguez in that blog post. What a chickenshit comment, praising "Carr's" recruits.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:01 PM ^
I agree with your last paragraph.
November 27th, 2013 at 11:57 PM ^
Thank god I moved on from that mess...
November 27th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:53 PM ^
"They are only trying to hurt the program and the progress our coaches and student-athletes are fighting to make on Saturdays. Sometimes that progress takes a little bit longer than we all like, but we know the long-term success that it's going to bring."
It is a rather interestingly phrased statement (I'll put it that way), but I do like how he addresses this in particular regarding recent unfounded rumblings, if you will. It seems to me that sometimes the people who clamor and carry on about the need for progress end up being the very people who sabotage it in the end. Clearly, patience is being called for and I don't necessarily have a problem with giving it personally.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:58 PM ^
If people on message boards are hurting the program, what was Brandon doing when he was telling recruits he didn't know who the head coach would be three years ago? Or when he blatantly stated that a recruiting class wasn't as important as overpaying for a guy with a career losing record that no other major program ever would have hired?
November 27th, 2013 at 8:08 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
1. He didn't have to sabotage the recruiting class for months (he could have done what he just did to supposedly salvage a recruiting class rather than telling kids he had no idea who their coach would be and wouldn't have any idea until after the bowl game).
2. He didn't hire the right coach.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^
Your second point is obviously debateable, because we don't know who else was interested in taking the job or how well they would have done up to this point. As to your first point, i don't really disagree but hindsight is 20/20. If he was 100% sure he was going to fire him, then you're probably right. But it seemed to me like he was on the fence, and the ugly bowl game pushed him over the edge. I'm also not sure he said the things you're saying he said.
November 28th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:24 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^
the internet. You are defending a guy who achieved ONE winning record(and NO wins vs MSU and OSU) while castigating a guy who has had a winning all three years(and who has actually beaten MSU and OSU).
One would have to tried to real hard to write posts that are as poorly thought out as yours.
November 28th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^
Why do people act like RR and Hoke took over the exact same rosters and played three seasons? And that with those exact same rosters, Hoke has his record and RR had his?
Your post shows a total lack of understanding of each regime. All three of Hoke's teams are more complete than any roster RR coached. Hoke's biggest hole in three years? Having to fill in the interior of his OLine with young 4 and 5 star offensive talent while the rest of the offense is surrounded by veteran talent. The offense hasn't even suffered an injury all year and they look abysmal. I'll repeat: Michigan has played a month of offensive football that only 12 other teams in six years have managed to get under. That's insane.
Hoke took over a team returning something like 20 starters in year one. Rodriguez I believe had 8, one on offense.
And guess what? In year three we're in the EXACT same spot with each coach! Total incompetence on one side of the ball. The only difference is, Hoke has had a relatively easy ride thanks the roster he inherited thanks to Rodriguez/Carr.
November 27th, 2013 at 11:59 PM ^
It is possible that he was waiting for Harbaugh to finish his season
November 27th, 2013 at 8:12 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^
I don't mind having patience as long as the promised land eventually arrives. But, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe when we watched OSU be better than us for so long while we struggle. For the record I think Hoke and Mattison should stay and Borges and maybe some other offensive coaches need to go. I think Hoke's recruiting success alone should give him the right to coach the guys he recruited as upperclassman. But, there are other signs, or lack there of...mainly the regression over the course of this season, that gives you cause for concern about the guy in charge. For me that's all it is at this point, cause for concern, but it's nontheless concerning. Sometimes our passion and frustration get the better of our logic. If I'm not mistaken the portion of our brains that controls logic has difficulty working when we are acting on emotion because emotion is a more primal drive than logic, which is more recently evolved.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:26 PM ^
Our recruiting gets an A.
Our Defense gets a B+, looking like it's moving toward an A.
Our problems have been on Offense. If we just had the same mediocre Offense that MSU has, we'd be undefeated or only have 1 close loss.
We don't need to trash our recruiting and our Defense, we just need to fix our Offense. If Hoke finds someone who can do that (and stays the hell out of his way), then we're on a good path.
That's what I'm hoping for.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:29 PM ^
I agree with this 100% D was an A in year one, but we had some good talent. A little less this year, but still B+ overall, and like you said, looking like A next year. We're a solid OC away from being a very good team.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:56 PM ^
I would personally give al another year, but at the same time if we get a great replacement then in fine with cutting him.
November 27th, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 7:56 PM ^
You wouldn't need to change many words for this statement to apply to RichRod in 2010. It's too bad he did not get the same consideration.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:00 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^
It would be easier to let it go if Brandon wasn't still acting out his childish vendetta against RR. Stunts like refusing to give Coach Rodriguez a bowl ring make me ashamed of Michigan.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:55 PM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 5:38 PM ^
It's beyond me why anyone would be so petty and childish as to deny RR and staff the rings they earned. It really makes Brandon look pathetic.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
Brady Joke. And what, exactly, does Bo Schembechler have to do with this season, last season, or next season?
November 27th, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 9:56 PM ^
Ha. This post made exfan very mad. Check his blog. Hilarious.
November 28th, 2013 at 7:20 AM ^
"Brady Joke."
Need I say more?
Although I will point out that my avatar pic looks even sexier on his home page.November 28th, 2013 at 10:26 AM ^
Wait a minute. That's NOT you? That's just an avatar? I thought we had to post pictures of ourselves so people would know what we looked like.
All this time I thought I was actually debating Brandon Graham yesterday when I had my run in with "Magnus", that Seth actually was a talking hat and people without avatars were invisable people.
This has made me re-think a lot of things. Plus I'll need to change my avatar real quick!
November 27th, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^
With the progression Cam Cameron has made with LSU as their OC, I wonder if he'd come back home and take the same position? Mettenberger has looked so much better under his coaching and offense than before.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^
The fact that he mentioned Mattison and not Borges is telling.
November 27th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
Borges' demeanor during his presser looks like he's come to the same realization.
I did not think that Hoke and the AD would make a move on Borges, given their narrative of youth and inexperience trumping all. But given Borges' demeanor in his presser and Brandon's carefully worded statement, I'm am beginning to think they are going to move on Borges.
Brandon is anything if not a bottom line guy. Given the crap home schedule next year, the last thing he needs is fans staying away for yet another reason. A new OC would inject some interest into a mundane season next year, as opposed to the old OC keeping even more fans away.
November 27th, 2013 at 9:11 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 9:20 PM ^
Dave Brandon got paid a lot of money to turn the 2nd largest pizza company in America into the 3rd largest pizza company in America. "Making" money implies something a little different to me.
November 27th, 2013 at 9:33 PM ^
RR turned a 9 win team into a 3 win team.
November 27th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
Right -- I'm pretty sure they returned eight or nine starters on offense in '08. If RichRod hadn't run off Mallet it would have been nine/ten.
/kidding
Following your logic somewhat, Michigan won a national championship in Lloyd Carr's last game by beating the prior year's champ. Same team, right?
November 27th, 2013 at 9:42 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
My disdain for DB lies in other things. The things you said are all true and they are the positives of his tenure.
However, DB had very little to do with retaining Beilein. Beilein wanted to finish his career at Michigan before DB was hired. DB simply had to draw up the paperwork after it became an obvious decision from the athletic department end.
November 27th, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
November 27th, 2013 at 11:19 PM ^
Who were these "many fans" you speak of? The 80% of the current Michigan Basketball fanbase that didn't give a crap about the program until it started winning again?
November 27th, 2013 at 11:35 PM ^
November 28th, 2013 at 1:17 AM ^