Was Bo Wrong or Right?
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.
October 18th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
There are a lot of really great lessons in that book. I had never read it before until recently when someone else on the board suggested it on a thread. I've definitely read many things in that book so far that, if done by Hoke & Brandon, the football program wouldn't be in the state that it currently is now.
In one part of the book he talks about doing the right thing and how JUB told him a few days prior to think of a time when he was in a crisis morally. After a few days, JUB came back and asked him what he came up with. Bo said nothing, he couldn't think of one single thing. In every situation he was involved in, they knew what the right thing to do was and just did it. Something that unfortunately has been difficult for those in charge at Michigan to do recently.
October 18th, 2014 at 7:23 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^
at this point. There is so much more to be seen on the field with an overhead view than standing on the sidelines.
Then Hoke could wear the headset to communicate with him, as he did with Borges at times.
I personally think Hoke is zoned in on watching player(s) during given plays vs. watching the person carrying or the flight of the ball, at various times. Try it during a game a few times and see how confused you can get about what just happened in relation to the ball or how it got where. More or less watch 1 or 2 players and you ignore the other 20.
My guess without knowing more is he's trying to observe and troubleshoot OL and DL play. Do that too many times probably under the pressure he's under this year, all things considered, and my guess is there have been moments where he was single-tracked on something other than just watching the game just like your average fan would.
There are plenty of problems to go around in Michigan football. Obviously Hoke owns them all due to his position of responsibility. I'm disappointed but hating on the guy for having to sort thru the chatter going on between the box and the field while doing other things certainly isn't my biggest issue.
Relative to Bo Schembechler, he, like other Michigan coaches, did a number of frustrating things..he was stubborn in his ways. It worked on the field when it comes to W-L record, but you also have to consider that the Big 10 (in the days when there were 10) was called the Big 2 and the Little 8. The Blog vastly a noob when it comes to Bo, Michigan was a run heavy, very solid run-defensive scheme with bend but don't break passing defense. It worked against the low-level competition but got hammered in a few Rose Bowls by west coast teams with speed and strength. I'm not trying to dog on our Patron Saint but you have to view a wide swath of the past for true comparison.
October 18th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
Who decides to go for it or punt on fourth downs? Does Hoke ever say anything? How about punt blocks, or long field goals? Just curious.
October 18th, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^
you would know that Hoke makes the call on 4th down.
October 18th, 2014 at 6:44 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 7:08 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
Like others have said, the problem with the headset isn't that people think if Hoke started wearing one tomorrow, we'd magically win out and go undefeated next season and everything is okay. It's that he doesnt' wear one, because quite frankly, he doesn't have anything to add. I don't get how you can be a coach at this level and not have an intellectual curioisity at how offenses and defenses work? Mattison isn't a spring chicken -- let's say he has to miss a game for a health problem...does Hoke take over playcalling duties?
October 18th, 2014 at 7:07 PM ^
October 19th, 2014 at 9:52 AM ^
October 19th, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 7:15 PM ^
destroy Michigan at the end of the season. Watching OSU dismantle, throttle and steamroll Rutgers, show just how far Michigan has fallen. Based on those eye tests, Michigan is a horrible football team in comparison and it is criminal that this program has been allowed to fall this far.
Next week maynot be as bad, but MSU will win that game so easily against us.
October 18th, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
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October 19th, 2014 at 2:44 AM ^
October 18th, 2014 at 8:51 PM ^
AND THEY SHOULD
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October 18th, 2014 at 11:32 PM ^
The problem isn't that hoke chooses not to wear a headset. It's that, if he did, he probably wouldn't have much to contribute. The one area where you would think this may be untrue is special teams, but Hoke has proven inept in that area as well based on our general anti-intellectual approach to that phase of the game.
October 19th, 2014 at 1:44 AM ^
The problem with Hoke is not that, "Oh he doesn't wear a headset." Hoke defenders just want to reduce everything to that so they don't have to critically analyze how worthless Hoke is on the sidelines. He doesn't coach the offense. He doesn't coach the defense. He doesn't coach the special teams, as many coaches who similarly defer to OC/DC do. He coaches the DL and stands there. If the entire team ran like a well oiled machine, we'd all have to admit that maybe his hands off approach to everything works.
Except there's not one element of the team that isn't utterly dysfunctional except for the elements Greg Mattison has direct control over and the DL. EVERYTHING ELSE is a cluster-f of disorganized grabassery. So Michigan has a $4m DL coach who just stares blankly and claps while everything else he's supposed to be managing crumbles in front of him. He's so removed from most of the gameplan and what's going on that he's barely a few steps above the HS coach Bo ripped.
Bottom line, a head coach that doesn't keep a tight grip over what's going on with his program isn't a head coach. He's like a school teacher that just expects his students to all do their homework and prepare for in class work without ever holding them accountable who is then stunned that nobody's done their work.
October 19th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^