Hoke post-Brandon firing: "Maybe I just don’t care anymore."
Angelique had an entry in this morning's "The worst team I ever covered" in The Athletic to discuss the 2014 football team. The whole entry is fascinating, including Hoke having a preseason premonition that that year would be his last, but this paragraph really stood out:
After Brandon’s departure, Hoke, who would hold pressers on Monday and a short update on Wednesday, seemed to be a little more at ease when talking to us. In fact, they seemed to be some of his best pressers. I walked with him toward the podium on Wednesday and I told him just that, that he seemed more relaxed and the pressers were more information. He looked at me and said, “Maybe I just don’t care anymore.” That comment took me by surprise. But maybe he knew what was coming. Maybe, somehow, he knew in April.
Good riddance.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^
This doesn't bother me in the least. However, after reading Bacon's book, I am convinced that Hoke's supposed undying love for Michigan was gross hyperbole, fabricated by Brandon and his propaganda machine.
Possibly the most shocking moment from the book was when Brandon called Hoke from his ivory tower in Barton Hills to offer him the job, and Hoke's response was, "I'll have to talk things over with my wife first and call you back."
Brandon almost had a nervous breakdown waiting for his callback, and when Hoke finally called to accept the job, Brandon said, "I need you to accept the job without asking how much it pays, so that I can tell the media that you don't care about the money. Do you think you can do that?"
"Sure..."
Good grief, that man was a trainwreck.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
Are you not married? I don't blame the guy for wanting to get his wife's input before accepting a job that requires the family to move across the country.
I'd sure as hell run something like that by Mrs. Hatter before I said yes, just to be polite.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
I'm not criticizing him for that. However, if we are to believe that Hoke fell asleep every night in block M PJs under a Michigan comforter and a Bo plush toy tucked under his arm, and that he dreamed only of coaching Michigan, as Brandon wanted us to believe, then that's a conversation they seemingly would have already had. Maybe I'm wrong, I just got the sense from that passage that Brandon really went overboard playing up Hoke's love for Michigan.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^
I think it's generally accepted that when Dave Brandon's mouth is moving, shit is coming out of it.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
Hoke loved Michigan; I don't think it's reasonable to question that, and I disagree that Bacon suggested otherwise. Part of what made Hoke a fine recruiter was that his passion for this school was obvious. I don't think we need to take that away from him. Asking to talk things over with your wife is not evidence that you don't want a job. That's being a good spouse.
Now as for Brandon manufacturing the anecdote about Hoke not asking for money, that was just a classic Brandon moment.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
I didn't mean to sound like I was saying that Hoke didn't love Michigan, or that Bacon was trying to get that point across, although I see why my comment sounded that way. It just seemed apparent to me that it's something that was played up and then overplayed again and again by Brandon, to the point that it was greatly exaggerated.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:47 AM ^
Brandon asking Hoke to not negotiate his salary before the press conference: Hoke was very very smart to agree to that! Hoke ended up getting about $2 million more than he was actually worth, because the contract negotiations came after Brandon announced that Hoke had taken the job.
Brandon, brilliant businessman that he is, was completely over a barrel: he pretty much had to accept anything Hoke asked for at that point, or he would have had to go out and find somebody else.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
The one thing Brandon was supposed to be good at, and he couldn't even get that down correctly. Just goes to show you what hubris and arrogance do to your ability to make rational decisions.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^
From Brandon's perspective hiring Hoke was a rational decision.
He wanted to be the star of the athletic department (remember him cutting down a net and sitting in on FB film sessions). Hiring a mediocre coach and giving him the biggest payday he was ever going to get put Hoke firmly in debt to Brandon and therefore under his control.
Brandon sure as fuck wasn't acting in the best interest of the school, only himself.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
So Brandon is more or less like Ed Gein. Did some crazy, deviant, socially unacceptable things, but in his own mind was very rational about it. Makes sense.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
I definitely view that as referring to his relationship with the media.
October 12th, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
y/p given by D, this year and past years:
3.7
4.5
4.2
4.5
4.8
5.3
4.9
5.2
6.1
5.6
5.3
4.9
4.4
when did Hoke show up again?
How's it going in Lincoln and Westwood again?
And Harbaugh was what his first year?
And what Rich Rod's players did for him in 2011, I guess ... cuz ... he wasn't RR, is still "grand theft 11 win season".
He was waaaaaay over his head; and while he sucked at chess, he played checkers pretty good.
Of course, he'll also always be the poster child for sending a concussed player back into the game but I guess anything that helps ensure it dosen't happen any more, right?
October 12th, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
What?
October 12th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
Hoke era ......turned ......the defense .....around.
Also, he ......left ....the cupboard ......full.
So ....Harbaugh ...didn't .....start 0-4.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
Whoa, were you hanging off a cliff or fighting a super villain as you wrote that?
October 12th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
Both!
I was going for the whole "let the numbers tell the story" thing.
My bad, didn't realize it was so obtuse.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:00 PM ^
This is why reporters are not trusted and have become marketers. Also, fake news. Who will refute this?
October 12th, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
I get what you're saying, but I also get that saying "fake news" without a smirk makes you sound stupid. It's a childish response to the media.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:00 PM ^
Let's move on.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
We're Michigan fans; we never move on.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:04 PM ^
This makes me respect him a little more. He was so happy-galumphy that he became a bit of a cartoon character; this makes me see him as a little more rounded person.
October 12th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
being a coach under Brandon must have been awful.
October 12th, 2018 at 1:07 PM ^
I'm a very soft personality. So although I knew as well as everyone that he had to go, I was very sad for Brady that the experiment didn't succeed. Having Hoke consistently go to the CFP would be like having Beilein for both basketball and football. I love what Harbaugh has done and is projected to eventually do. He's revolutionized this machine from the trash heap. But winning at the highest level despite unfathomable niceness is outrageously rare. Even hiring a coach that nice to a premiere school is rare. Damn that Hoke couldn't pull it off.
October 12th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
The only thing I knew about Hoke is that he was our DL coach in '97 and he was the coach at San Diego State. I knew he was a friend of Brandon and was the reason he got the job. He was touted as a Michigan Man and after his first season, I was on the Hoke bandwagon. His second season, I thought he just had some bad luck but the 3rd season, I knew he had to go. Having Harbaugh as our coach makes it worth suffering through the RR and Hoke coaching years.
October 12th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
I could be wrong, but I don't think Hoke had any particular relationship with Brandon before he was hired. He was of course a Carr assistant though.
October 12th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
The only thing I knew about Hoke is that he was our DL coach in '97 and he was the coach at San Diego State. I knew he was a friend of Brandon and was the reason he got the job. He was touted as a Michigan Man and after his first season, I was on the Hoke bandwagon. His second season, I thought he just had some bad luck but the 3rd season, I knew he had to go. Having Harbaugh as our coach makes it worth suffering through the RR and Hoke coaching years.
October 12th, 2018 at 1:59 PM ^
Brady Hoke is a good man who made some serious mistakes and was not good at his job here at Michigan. He doesn't deserve hate or scorn from Michigan fans any more than Bump Elliott does, whose record after four years was notably worse than Hoke's was.
October 12th, 2018 at 2:27 PM ^
Folks, let it go. I don't understand the obsession some people have with continuing to pound on a coach who is long since fired from what he openly said was his dream job, and who was generally thought of as a decent human being. That it didn't work out of the team, the fans, or him sucks. Move on. You don't see Harbaugh taking pot shots at the 49ers every time he's at a mic. Follow his lead: Look forward, not backward.
October 12th, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^
Hiring Hoke killed Michigan football. The hole is too big for Harbaugh to dig out of.
Although, ironically as long as Urban Meyer is at OSU Hoke will be the last Michigan coach to actually win a game against OSU.
October 12th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Uh, Michigan football is alive and well, in spite of the Rodriguez and Hoke eras. I shudder to remember the laughing stock of Rodriguez's defenses and Hoke's offenses.
October 13th, 2018 at 12:01 AM ^
Yeah, if we had the RR offense and the Hoke defense we may have had a good team. Michigan should have hired Brady Rodriguez or Richard Hoke. Though teams with good defenses dominated RR spread.
October 12th, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
Good Ridance??? Why? Leave that out of your post op
October 12th, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
Speaking of him only as a football coach, I never thought it was a good hire, especially after that first press conference. I thought we clearly needed, if not Les Miles, then an equivalent -- someone with a proven record of winning on the big stage.
October 12th, 2018 at 5:04 PM ^
Brady Hoke: Good points-
1.) loved Michigan
2.) knew how to build a defense
3.) Seems to be a man of generally good character.
Brady Hoke: Bad points-
1.) Shifted from disciplinarian to coddler by the 4th season
2.) Didn't know jack about offense, and allowed Borges to run it into the ground with offensive schemes that even an NFL lineman would have trouble with
3.) At least our win total went up every season under Rich Rod.
October 12th, 2018 at 7:15 PM ^
3.) At least our win total went up every season under Rich Rod.
In year 1 of RichRod our win total plummeted from nine to three.
October 12th, 2018 at 5:14 PM ^
Good guy, I was fortunate to meet him once. Failed, but loved Michigan. I will choose to be thankful to him.
October 13th, 2018 at 4:10 AM ^
Hot take.
If Hoke moves DG to QB and Denard to RB/slot we win a national championship in 2012.