The Silver Lining: I Have Found It

Submitted by Jon06 on

I thought for a while that Brady Hoke's treatment of Shane Morris was without parallel, and then I remembered Lane Kiffin's treatment of Robert Woods against Utah in 2012. And here is the silver lining: there is no record, at least so far as I can find on the internet, of USC fans demanding Kiffin's head for the dangerously poor judgment.

The Michigan Difference is just this: this community actually cares. We care about the safety of our players and the integrity of our coaches. When a coach does not live up to the standard of integrity at Michigan, we demand change. When an athletic director runs a program that does not put the well-being of student-athletes first, we demand change. And when a football player's future is endangered by the incompetence or callousness of a coaching staff entrusted with his development and protection but blinded to the realities of medical science by the mantra of toughness, we demand change. Let there be change. Ensuring that the job not only gets done, but gets done right--that's the Michigan Difference. This time, at least, it has to be.

Sub-snowflake addendum: the main reason I don't like Dave Brandon is that he is the only person I have ever met in the administration at Michigan--and maybe Brady Hoke will turn out to be this kind of person, too--who does not respond to criticism from their Wolverine brethren with an honest attempt to learn from the feedback to do the job at a level that reflects well on an institution that's bigger than all of us. Dave Brandon is the only one who reacts to criticism with sarcastic dismissal, the only one who won't listen to his fellow Wolverine, and the only one who does not do everything he can to do the job at a level Michigan deserves.

Wolverine Devotee

September 29th, 2014 at 1:13 AM ^

Not in that bed. A different one. The girlfriend is eager but I don't wanna scare her away. I'm easing her into this whole WD life.

Now, here are the changes to the room back home. 

I made sure to get my signed Trey photo framed before I scoot back in August. Only place left to go was the flag space, so I went where no man has went before. 

 

with an expansion plan for future 8x10s

This was before I made the big change. I took these in earlier August before I met Trey and got the photo. 

wesq

September 28th, 2014 at 11:39 PM ^

I wanted to post a similar silver lining post but knew it was overkill.  Similar silver lining: I have never seen the entire fanbase like it is right now.  It is completely a matter of when not if.

Mike Kenn

September 28th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^

UM fans arent more ethical than other fanbases. to behonest, most fans were probably using the morris situation as an excuse to find yet another reason to fire hoke. yes, there is some concern for morris, i was scared for the kid too, but lets stop acting high and mighty for a minute. anyone with a clue wouldve been concerned for morris if they saw that.

Jon06

September 29th, 2014 at 12:00 AM ^

First, there is an undercurrent of suspicion among some posters that everyone else is just pretending to be mad about the concussion because they're looking for any excuse they can find to fire Hoke. I suspect those posters do not have a clue about what concussions do to brains.

Second, as for whether fans in other fanbases are equally concerned about player safety...

Woods, meanwhile, was dazed from a block he made on a punt return.

"I don't want Robert to hit like he did on the punt return," Kiffin said. "He could have just high-screened him, but he's so competitive you can't slow him down in a situation like that.

"He came right back in that quick. Many guys are going to stay out for a while but he's a dynamic competitor."

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=322780254

Bolded alterego time.

Well, sure, Kiffin said that, but he got fired the next year and people in any fanbase would've been calling for his head right then. It just takes some time for an AD to act.

Your search - "fire kiffin tomorrow" woods - did not match any documents.

I'm sorry, you were saying?

Mike Kenn

September 29th, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^

im sorry, i could have made it more clear but I certainly understand how important player safety is and i realize that most UM fans know that too. and im not suggesting that nobody was concerned about morris, but lets not pretend that there wasnt a feeling of "hoke screwed this up too". it may have not been the only concern, but many people, and ill admit, myself included, immediately saw this as an opportunity to question hoke. probably not the proudest thing i have ever admitted, but if im being honest, the thought popped into my head. 

 

and as far as the USC thing, i dont really know enough about the situation with kiffin to make an educated comment on the situation. my only point was to make it clear that michigan fans probably arent some special group of people because we seemed to care about the kids health. basically anyone who saw the sequence of events wouldve been worried about morris. 

Jon06

September 29th, 2014 at 12:32 AM ^

Thanks for the honest response. I didn't say this above, but it wouldn't surprise me if the people who think fans are just pretending to be disgusted had the same thought you did. My immediate reaction was shock, horror, and disgust. I was done with Hoke immediately.

I mean, previously I was still on the bandwagon with the guys who were hoping we'd can Brandon this year and let Hoke try again next year with a new AD, when I hoped he'd finally show us the turnaround we've been waiting for. But I was pissed Hoke wasn't in a referee's face demanding an ejection over the hit, shocked and disappointed Morris didn't immediately come out, and horrified and disgusted when he went back in. For me, the issue is 100% putting a player in danger out of sheer incompetence. That's so fireable I'm not sure how to express my reaction. But I've already gotten redundant so I'll leave it there.

Mike Kenn

September 29th, 2014 at 12:55 AM ^

its not even that i wasnt disgusted too. i was equally shocked that hoke wasnt running onto the field to defend his player. hoke looked pretty gutless and just.....dumb. like he looked like he didnt even know what was happening. 

but yeah, i was concerned about morris. he is just a kid and deserves better from his coach. i basically had a mix of thoughts. i was thinking about morris, thinking about hoke, thinking about nuss, wondering what the hell bellomy was doing...he pulled a friday night lights, boobie miles/chris comer "i lost my helmet"...just pathetic from hoke. i agree, its all geting pretty redundant by now. this whole situation just sucks

maizenbluenc

September 29th, 2014 at 8:46 AM ^

that Nuss should have pulled Morris out - even with Morris waving him off, AND the trainer should have evaluated him for a concussion.

Before we get all self-congratulatory however, I truly wonder how excised the fan base would be, and how much easier it would be to settle them if we were 5-0 coming off a year like 2011.

uminks

September 29th, 2014 at 12:38 AM ^

We were playing great and had a 48-3 lead on the gophers and Shane was just playing out the 2nd half and this happened it probably would not generate this type of traction. I disagree with inserting a player with possible concussion no matter who the coach or what the record. But because things are so miserable with the program this is getting much more traction.

Mike Kenn

September 29th, 2014 at 12:44 AM ^

excellent point. that is true. without a doubt the state of the team is playing a factor here. like you said, nobody is going to question that decision if the team is winning. a lot of the reaction here is due to hoke being on the hot seat to begin with.

hazardc

September 29th, 2014 at 1:12 AM ^

If we had that kind of lead and were 5-0, i think bellomy would have been in the game. 

 

I get the point you're trying to convey, but I've never seen TV  announcers be so adamantly upset about letting what happened on saturday happen in front of them. They were in utter disbelief. I've never seen something like this make the ABC nightly news. 

 

jsquigg

September 28th, 2014 at 11:55 PM ^

The way Michigan is handling this unfortunately confirms many of our worst thoughts about the program.  Dave Brandon is out of touch with the fans and the direction of the program and cares more about his own ass than anything else.  Brady Hoke is in over his head and is busier fighting battles with fans and the media than he is with preparing his own team.

Say what you want about Rich Rod.  He definitely wasn't well spoken, but when his program was under fire I saw a man in tears over the very idea that he didn't care about his kids.  With his job in jeopardy he sat his star QB in a must win game because of that person's health.  How many chances does Hoke get that Rich didn't?  

This program will never get better until we stop pre-screening every potential coach candidate with "Michigan Man" bullshit.  You don't start out a Michigan Man, you become one.  The program has never gotten over Bo's death yet it has forgotten that Bo came from Ohio.  I don't care where the next great coach comes from, but the program can't afford to miss out on them because they speak differently or run a "gimmicky" whatever.

Nothing will change until Brandon is gone.  Nothing.

Mike Kenn

September 29th, 2014 at 12:02 AM ^

i get sick every time i think of what we could have been if we kept rich rod. hoke took that team to an 11-2 record and a BCS Bowl win. Yes, mattison and hoke helped the defense and im not sure the defense wouldve been that good under rodriguez, but man, denard and gardner wouldve been deadly as upper classmen under rich rod. ..if only he couldve had anything on defense

Meson

September 29th, 2014 at 12:35 AM ^

Many people on this board also forget (or maybe weren't aware) that Rich Rod did the *exact same thing* at Zona as Hoke just did with Morris, except possibly worse:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2012/10/27/arizona-just-broke-th…

He left a clearly concussed, vomiting quarterback in the game against USC because they had a shot at winning.

Jon06

September 29th, 2014 at 12:48 AM ^

I was only vaguely aware of this. It is also shockingly awful. Fire Rich Rod ((again) in 2012). The response on Twitter was also disgusting: http://deadspin.com/5955530/what-a-man-reactions-to-the-university-of-arizonas-negligent-treatment-of-matt-scotts-concussion

But I am pleased that so many of you divined my true intention in starting this thread--I wanted to debate RichRod again, and this was the only way I could think of to bring him up.