Do we have to stomp on Hoke's grave?
Look, I get it. We're all fed up with this team and the regression. The past three years have been incredibly painful, and the next three years probably won't be amazing either. A very good portion of that is Hoke's fault and his inability to win games. No question.
But, as frustrated as we all are, I feel like we've all lost perspective on who Hoke is. He hasn't been a winner, but he is still the person many of us both embraced and were inspired by in his first press conference. When he talked about how much he loved Michigan, you could see that burning passion and desire. Yes we suck, but he's tried to run a good, clean program, and I do believe he's tried to take his players and mold them into good young men with strong character. I will always want that in my head coach.
Even though he hasn't won here, it's not for a lack of trying. And even though he will undoubtedly be fired for the awful performances of the past three years, I would hope we all can can just go our separate ways without stomping on his grave. He isn't an asshole. He isn't a bad guy (unlike a lot of coaches out there). He just didn't win and that's why next year he's gone.
Edit 1: Sure Hoke isn't gone yet, but come on guys. It's not unreasonable to think that there's a 98% chance he will be fired.
Edit 2: It seems, Ron Utah said it more eloquently than I did: "Good-bye to a Great Man"
October 26th, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
I hate Brandon for hiring an incompetent football coach with a 47-50 record just because MICHIGAN FOOTBAW!
October 26th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
you got a mouth on you.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^
MGoBrewMom is a SAINT!
October 26th, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^
it's just that she is a lady too, and you know, she used a locker room word.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
So you're saying everyone's boner after the first year was a huge boner? /grammared
October 26th, 2014 at 4:32 PM ^
If you hate Brandon for hiring a coach with a 47-50 record. Did you hate him immediately? Or did you hate him after Hoke proved to be inadequate? If you thought Hoke was a bad hire because he came in with a 47-50 record, then why did you take time to reserve judgement?
So many questions.
October 26th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
Nothing has ever made sense. Just be happy he doesn't post very much anymore.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^
Stomp in Style With a Mexican Hat Dance!!! Arriba!
October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
The team sucks, and he leads the team. He's gonna get shit on as long as he's the guy.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
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October 26th, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^
C'sonte York can catch a football, we could have used him yesterday. Hagerup was suspended for a whole season and from the outside, appears to have learned his lesson. Bringing up Gibbons is a cheap shot. The whole university messed up that situation.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:11 PM ^
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October 26th, 2014 at 5:59 PM ^
I shouldn't be surpised at the number of people who downvote just because they can't handle the truth of the matter and resent anyone who points it ouit.
I kind of am though.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^
Actually, Lewan was under investigation at the time of the BWW Bowl. No decisions on charges were made until March 2014. His arraignment was scheduled for April 8th. You should changed your criticism to the factually correct "Letting Lewan play while under investigation....etc..."
October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
Stop defending this Matt foley motivational speaker.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^
follow that he's less of a person because he didn't perform his job well? If so, does it also follow that you don't do your job well because you're a contemptible twit?
October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
He's not even a bad coach. He's just a really, really bad Big Ten head coach. He's getting paid $4 million a year for incompetence. That's what we're stomping on.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
If he really loved Michigan he would resign and then maybe we'd have a slightly better prepared team for the rest of the season. If Nussmeier was named interm coach I wouldn't want him to be named head coach if they did turn it around, but if they play better it would be at least a nice change. It's obvious the leader of the team has lost them right now and we need someone with more intensity.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:22 PM ^
I'd take it one step further ... by resigning now he would at least give Nuss a chance to take over and use these last few games as an audition for his next coaching job. Does he owe Nuss that much? No, but it would go a long way to making me beileve he is actually this "great" man everyone who defends him thinks he is.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
NUSS?!?! how is this still a thing people are suggesting? the guy has been infinitely worse than Al Borges at his job. Think about that for a moment.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
This isn't the elephant in the room, its an entire family of pachyderms crowding in.
October 26th, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^
the Offensive roster last year was 1,000% better than it is today and Al Borges had negative rushing games to his credit. We wouldn't move forward at all if AB was still OC today.
October 26th, 2014 at 4:17 PM ^
I didn't say Nuss was without blame but at least remove the shadow of doubt that our offensive incompetence doesn't completely fall on him. And I don't think it does, actually.
Borges was terrible in his own right and had better players to work with but I think the real elephant in the room is Devin Gardner. He's going to cost a lot of coaches their jobs when all is said and done because he couldn't get beyond his 1st read. Missed so many open players over the course of his career, turnovers galore, I'm thinking he was the actual problem as he is the common denominator.
October 26th, 2014 at 4:38 PM ^
While Gardner has obviously had issues, I think it is very unfair to lay this almost entirely at his feet. He has nothing to do with our putrid running game, doesn't play defense, doesn't play special teams... It could very well be that Gardner is the "victim" of bad coaching. Otherwise, why when the change was made to Morris weren't things markedly better.
October 27th, 2014 at 10:48 PM ^
Good point. Maybe the OL being so bad year after year is the real culprit? That would point to Funk....
October 26th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
Now with the Morris incident and the spike yesterday, I have also lost faith in his "molder of men" ability.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^
I really don't think that matters at this point. He would have been let go this year anyway with the rest of them and he's still getting paid.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
has lost perspective on what a good college football team looks like
October 26th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 4:32 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
This year (and last) has been awful, but I disagree with your statement:
...and the next three years probably won't be amazing either.
If we do the right thing and ship Dave Brandon to re-training at Dominos, then we've got a shot at landing a marquee coach. Hoke has been a bad coach but an excellent recruiter. We have tons of talent and next season will be a tiny recruiting class. Even if we have to patch it together, we'll be fine. A guy like Harbaugh (or Miles...or Harbaugh) can come in an quickly turn us into a winner. Next season, we get our tough games at home and a marquee coach might even load up on last second 5* recruits.
As bummed as I am about this season, things can turn around very quickly with a Brandon firing. The situation would be much more like Urban coming into a stocked OSU than what happened with Hoke.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^
We aren't stomping on his grave. He doesn't have a grave yet. He's still the coach. But it's becoming clearer every week that he isn't up to the job.
I'm sorry this is happening. Nothing would have pleased me more than for Brady Hoke to pull this team together, get a winning streak going, and save the program and his job in the process. But by the end of the Minnesota game at the latest anyone who was halfway honest with himself knew that the odds against that were long.
I'm sorry. On a personal level I like the guy. I wish him well. I feel his pain -- I've failed at things too. But he needs to be cut loose. And until he is, you can't expect anything else.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^
Are we really talking about how hard he's trying? Do you think Rich Rod wanted to lose? And John L all those years? And Cooper before that? I get that winning isn't everything - even in big time college football, there is something to be said for character building of student athletes. But I'm not going to feel bad for saying Hoke's performace has been bad and that it's unacceptable for this product on the field four years into his tenure. Let him try somewhere else.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^
But, unless I've missed something, he's still the coach. So, I think the appropriate metaphor is that he's not in the grave yet. He may be circling the drain as people in the medical profession describe many's last days, but he's not in the grave yet. So, I don't think it's appropriate to chastise anyone about stomping on a grave that does not yet exist.
When he's gone, I'll still be trying to honestly assess the hows and whys, which I would not describe as "stomping on a grave". But, he's not yet gone.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^
$4,000,000/per year...
$333,333/per game
You get the picture...
Emotional appeal is DENIED.
Being a good person is an minimal expectation, try putting it on a resume if you believe it has any value.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^
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October 26th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 7:08 PM ^
Or, *gulp*, recruiting.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 2:44 PM ^
This baby can do 100 nails a minute!
October 26th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
and a great recruiter. i'd have a beer with him in a nanosecond. However, in the final analysis his real 'sin' is that he can't get that talent to play to their potential. i wish him well wherever he ends up, as long as he doesn't end up in ann arbor.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 5:55 PM ^