Do we have to stomp on Hoke's grave?

Submitted by YoungGeezy on

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"

bouje2

October 26th, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^

I never embraced him and always said "I will judge him after a few years" when everyone got a huge boner for him after the first year.



I hate Brandon for hiring an incompetent football coach with a 47-50 record just because MICHIGAN FOOTBAW!



Red is Blue

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.

ST3

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.

bouje2

October 26th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^

He BLOWS at his job. I wish I got to cry on a pile of money because I tried hard at my job but sucked.



Stop defending this Matt foley motivational speaker.

UMxWolverines

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. 

MileHighWolverine

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.

MileHighWolverine

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. 

Red is Blue

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.

Hank Hill

October 26th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^

This is Michigan Fergodsakes.The job requires more effort than what has been put in, obviously. So yes, it has been for a lack of trying. Folksy football coach can't coach football. Hoke has been the loudest about "expectation", and they have not been met (outside of great practices), so we will stomp wherever we please.

123blue

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.

KSmooth

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.

Vasav

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.

m1jjb00

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.

Casanova

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. 



 

Frieze Memorial

October 26th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^

Can you imagine what it must be like to stand on the sidelines on national TV knowing that everyone, I mean everyone, knows you're gone? Or running a practice where every player knows? What a nightmare. I'm quite sure I would resign just to avoid the humiliation.

An Angelo's Addict

October 26th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^

I think it would be stomping on the grave when he is officially gone. Right now everyone is trying to make sure as many nails are added to the coffin. He is a great guy and a very nice person. But it needs to be shown how upset everyone is so that the impossible doesn't happen (1 more year with hoke)

XM - Mt 1822

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. 

MaximusBlue

October 26th, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^

Stop feeling sorry for a man who is failing miserably at doing his job. It's nobodies fault but his. He gets paid very handsomely to be an awful, stubborn head coach.