Was Bo Wrong or Right?

Submitted by MWolverine7 on

Pulled from Bo's Lasting Lessons:

Bo Schembechler

John U. Bacon

 

"I remember one time we were scouting a high school player here in Michigan, but I couldn't take my eyes off of his head coach.  The guy was just standing there on the sidelines , his arms folded, with no clipboard, no headset.  Nothing! And he'd always stand twenty yards away from everyone else. If their opponents had the ball down by his 10-yard line -which seemed to happen a lot-he'd be standing out by the 50. His poor assistants-and why they worked for this guy is a mystery to me-had to keep running back and forth to him just to let him know what they were doing.

I couldn't believe it! Honestly, what the hell is that? Why are they paying that guy? Why does he even show up for the games?  Needless to say, his team was awful-undisciplined, unfocused, uninspired.  But what would you expect,with no leader?"

______

I say he was right and this is why our current Michigan team is what they are and what they will continue to be until a leader is brought to give direction to a seemingly lost program.

 

 

MGoBoard

glewe

October 18th, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^

Bo wrote in his eponymous book that he'd never yell at a player on game day because they are already mad enough at themselves.

You seem to suggest causation rather than correlation between coach demeanor and team performance. I'm not sure what evidence you have to support this. In Bama-Arkansas, Saban exploded at and cursed out a player who caused a turnover. Bama scraped by for a win. Was Saban's team successful because he exploded? Or did it nearly fail because he exploded?

I expect you don't know any better than I do, but we agree on one thing: The real difference maker that you will find time and again is the W-L record. Lose and everything you do is wrong. Win and everything you do is right. That's ridiculous, and that's what I'm trying to point out.

Joined: 08/25/2010

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CC_MFan

October 18th, 2014 at 5:05 PM ^

negative feedback to a player coming off?  Ripping into a player is showing displeasure for the mistake, while coaching is telling him he messed up and how to fix it.  I never see Hoke give anything other than positive reinforcement when they come off, and that approach doesn't work well. 

Joined: 10/05/2010

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Ric8057

October 18th, 2014 at 2:18 PM ^

One of their biggest oroblems is their horrendous clock management and misuse of timeouts. I'd say it has cost them at least a couple games. I think a lot of this has to do with him being disconnected from the rest of the staff. Like other people said, if he's not involved in the actual game what purpose is he? It's the same point Bo is making in his statement.

Joined: 10/24/2012

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getsome

October 18th, 2014 at 5:40 PM ^

screw the comm gear, hokes just overmatched and overwhelmed at this level.  hes not coordinator material at even miami ohio or ball state, etc let alone michigan, and thats a huge problem.  other than being "a nice guy" and trying to base his programs culture on idea of his having 100-115 sons, the dudes clueless.  sure, he walked into kind of a mess, but just cannot be defended at this point, hes overmatched 

Joined: 09/07/2013

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bamf16

October 18th, 2014 at 6:51 PM ^

Give him 10-12 kids and make him responsible for teaching technique and offering perspective and advice on depth chart issues and perhaps matchup advice gleaned from filmwork with those guys.

 

That's what he is.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  Some guys are better coordinators than head coaches, and they have tremendous careers.  Other guys are just built to be position coaches.  Looking at the NFL team in my hometown, Dick LeBeau is an amazing defensive coordinator; he was an abysmal head coach.  The Steelers have Mike Munchak as their OL coach.  He's a great position coach.  He's not a coordinator.  He's not a head coach.  

 

Hoke = Munchak.  It's time for him to go be a DL coach somewhere.

Joined: 01/05/2014

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BornSinner

October 18th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^

The fact that 99% of coaches wear headsets doesn't strike you as odd that Hoke doesn't? They must be useful if EVERYONE wears one. 

Joined: 09/20/2014

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BornSinner

October 18th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^

No I toss those issues up to the inept archaic coaching staff forcing square pegs into round holes etc... 

 

The piss poor game management, idiotic decision making (both involving timeout usage etc), delay of games, slow ass offsense (slowest in the country yet?), and concussiongate would fall under the "WHY U NO WEAR HEADSET?!" meme. 

Nice deflection though. 

Joined: 09/20/2014

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BornSinner

October 18th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^

It certainly can't hurt can it? If it gets the message across just .X seconds faster, it may save us from SOMETHING who knows given all the information that goes flows throughout a game. 

At first we were all so starved of toughness and the Michigan way, that it was just a blip on a guy who seemed perfect for Michigan. Now after 3.5 years, it just comes off as stubborn for being stubborn's sake. 

Shit, there's even pictures of him under Carr's staff wearing headsets. I don't get it. 

 

Joined: 09/20/2014

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Badkitty

October 18th, 2014 at 3:47 PM ^

It's a competitive field right? All coaches are looking for an advantage, some (cough, ESS EEE SEE) using questionable tactics (cough, over signing etc). If there's no relative advantage, then a bunch of coaches would eschew wearing a sweaty headphone for the 2 plus hours it takes to play a game.

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Joined: 01/07/2011

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bighouse22

October 18th, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^

You know I got into a passionate argument with my brother in law after UB was hired at OSU.  His perception was that Hoke was a knuckledragging coach who would never be able to beat a coach of Urban's caliber.

As this thing has gone on, I have realized he was right.  This staff is stuck in the past and refuses to acknowledge modern innovation exists or even works!  They really fit the description.  

I have seen to many other teams outcoach this staff for it to be an anomoly!  

Joined: 10/29/2013

MGoPoints: 3060

umumum

October 18th, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^

Why do you feel the need to respond to every headset comment?  Again, I don't really consider the headset a meaningful issue.  And I don't believe the vast majority of posters are suggesting that wearing one would fix the real football issues on this team.  But when your team looks disorganized game-after-game---and you do something that virtually no other coach does---then yes people are going to speculate on whether it could be part of the problem

Joined: 01/06/2011

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GoBLUinTX

October 18th, 2014 at 2:44 PM ^

about connecting the dots.  How does wearing a headset make the offensive line block better?  Or how does it make the linebackers shoot the right gap?  How does it make the WR run the correct route?  How does it make somebody with no medical training diagnose a concussion that medical personnel wouldn't diagnose for two more days?

Joined: 12/02/2013

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bighouse22

October 18th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^

Are you sure it took the medical personnel two days to diagnose the concussion.  I have yet to hear from anyone when they suspected a probable minor concussion!  I find it hard to believe that they came to that conclusion only after Brady spoke in the Monday presser!

If that was the case, then maybe Brandon didn't throw Hoke under the bus, must have been the Medical Staff that wanted him to look like an ass.  or he lied! or he never followed up with the medical staff.  Those are the possibilities.  All look really bad for Hoke!

Joined: 10/29/2013

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GoBLUinTX

October 18th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^

you don't keep up well, do you?

In the statement released Tuesday early AM, it was stated that it wasn't until Sunday late or Monday that the determination of "probably mild concussion" was diagnosed (I can't recall the exact timing).  Furthermore, Brandon categorically stated in an interview, reported by the Michigan Daily, that the medical staff was to blame, not Hoke.  And yes, it likely was the medical staff, having totally screwed up, that wanted Hoke to look bad.  Either way the medical staff has had several weeks to publicly correct the record laid out by Brandon but haven't done so.  Their silence shouts volumes.

Joined: 12/02/2013

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schreibee

October 18th, 2014 at 4:09 PM ^

Whoa Whoa Whoa there Hoss! You're starting to sound a little bit too much like someone who thinks Hoke just needs "a leetle bit more time and he'll have this thing right as rain"!? Is Texas a medical marijuana state? If you're smoking, put it down...if you're not, pick it up!

Joined: 11/02/2009

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umumum

October 19th, 2014 at 12:06 AM ^

I personally agree (and said twice) that the lack of headset is not a real football issue; I am just explaining why I think it reinforces the perception of his being disengaged.  When things go badly, perceptions start to matter.  Your argument might be valid in response to a different post.

Joined: 01/06/2011

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umchicago

October 19th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^

how does hoke, the head coach, even know who missed the block, ran a poor route or missed the wrong read, because he likely doesn't even know what the fucking play is until after it is run.  but he will find out on sunday during film session.

i'm fine with delegating responsibilities, but i think it's insane for a head coach not to wear a headset and provide and receive input at the ready.  

Joined: 02/05/2009

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bighouse22

October 18th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^

You're killing me.  That's like saying before email, snail mail worked just fine for relaying information.  It's about getting realtime information, quicker so that decisions can be made instantaneously.

It's called technological innovation!  How's your horse and carriage holding up?

Joined: 10/29/2013

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MGomaha

October 18th, 2014 at 9:06 PM ^

Who's responsible for the overall performance of the team? People love to say "well if X player would do this, and Y player wouldn't do this, and our X position group was better, we'd be 7-0!"

Brady Hoke is responsible for the football program and the performance of the football team. People pawning off bad play onto 18-22 year old kids playing for an education is hilarious instead of a man making $4 million a year to coach them to play better football and win games is hilarious.

Joined: 03/18/2012

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Jason80

October 18th, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^

You're successful you're an innovator. If you aren't successful then you are often branded a fool for not doing what clearly works. This is one of the hills Brady has chosen to fight on and this may well be a hill that Brady's Michigan career dies on.

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