OT Pelini Fired

Submitted by TimStraus on

Per Adam Rittenberg, Bo Pelini has been let go at Nebraska

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 11:01 AM ^

It is ridiculous to me that a blue blood program like Florida can fire a coach with 2 games left to go and Nebraska can fire a coach with more success than Hoke one day after the season ended and Michigan insists on dragging their feet and talking about evaluations and processes. Pelini had two 10 win regular seasons, matching Hokes best year and in 7 years at Nebraska he has never had as bad a year as Hokes last two.

I am willing to give it a few days before getting too upset at Michigan for not firing Hoke yet, but if this takes a week plus it is just another bad mark for this athletic department.

Wee-Bey Brice

November 30th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^

I really don't understand this perspective. People want Hoke to be fired yesterday just for the sake of saying he was fired already. Florida still doesn't have a coach and neither does Nebraska. There is literally no direct benefit. Our top coaching candidate is still coaching a team of his own, we can't move forward without his availability. Everybody is just piling on the AD for every action/non-action because we've been waiting since week 3 for the season to be over so we can move on. Whether Hoke gets fired tomorrow or two weeks from now, it really doesn't make a difference in our pursuit of a new coach. Everybody needs to relax.

HokelessRomantic

November 30th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^

The benefit of firing a coach now like Neb did is that you have put the world on notice and made the job available. Michigan has no head coaching vacancy today, which means that if we don't land one of the power 3 targets, the 4th option might have already been hired by Ned, or Fla, or someone else who decides to move on at the appropriate time... Which was yesterday at 3:30PM.

Yeoman

November 30th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^

Why do you have to have a vacancy to begin hiring a coach? Do you honestly think that all the communication that goes into a job search is done openly by the principal parties involved? Or that there's a single coach or agent in the football universe that isn't already aware that there's a potential vacancy at Michigan?

BlueKoj

November 30th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^

UM needs to wait until at least Dec. 28, and possibly longer for its #1 target. The other top targets are similar. They can't make a move on #4 until after the rest don't pan out. I'm not sure what your point is about losing #4 to NE or FL. There's no difference between UM, NE and FL as far as top targets are concerned (from a timing perspective).

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^

This is a systemic problem with the Michigan athletic department, thats why I want him fired now. They dragged their feet during the Rich Rod hiring and that turned out poorly. They dragged out the Rich Rod firing and we ended up with Brady Hoke, that also didn't turn out to well.

Now the new AD selection process could drag out longer than just about any other major athletic program in the country. It could turn out good (if Hackett's connections help us get Harbaugh) it could end up poorly (we don't get a great coach because they don't want to work for a interim AD). My fear now is they will drag out firing Brady Hoke and get stuck with a sub-optimal coach again (like Schiano).

Everything Michigan does seems to be on a slower time table than other, succesful athletic departments and that has not worked out well for them recently. This isn't a difficult decision, there is no evaluation needed, Hoke needs to be fired. You claim there is no benefit to firing him today, I push back and say there is no benefit to firing him two weeks from now and it could potential put us behind other programs in going after desirable candidates.

 

snarling wolverine

November 30th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^

Firing a coach, with no one lined up to replace him, isn't without its downsides.

What if Harbaugh wants the job but doesn't want to commit publicly right now and distract his team?  Do you fire Hoke right now anyway and spend a month without a coach?

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^

I am simply afraid of repeated past mistakes. If Harbaugh comes in this entire disucssion is pointless and my fears were misguided. But I have seen this show before, I am afraid we will put too many eggs in the Harbaugh basket. We wait to fire Hoke until closer to the end of the NFL season, Harbaugh decides to take another NFL job and Michigan is left scrambling and ends up with Hoke 2.0.

Hackett is different from Brandon and different from Martin, he may know exactly what he is doing. He could already be working behind the scenes and know who he is going to get if Harbaugh turns him down. But the longer Hoke remains head coach, the longer I fear it will be him or someone like him at the helm next season.

m83econ

November 30th, 2014 at 8:16 PM ^

They were in such a hurry to getting a name in place they hired Pelini withou even doing a search. It was never a question of if Pelini would get fired, just when. Look at the guy - in over his head and hardly what you would want as the face of your program.

Blue Mike

November 30th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

You fire Hoke as soon as you decide that he is no longer the right person for the job.  For Florida, that decision was made two weeks ago.  For Nebraska, that was (presumably) yesterday.  If Michigan has made that decision, and if they are contacting Jim Harbaugh they better have, then you have to fire Brady Hoke ASAP.

You don't have to fire him to appease the masses, or to formally start a search process, or to get the leg up on another school.  You fire him because that is the right and honorable thing to do.  It gives Brady closure and a chance to plan his next steps.  It gives him a chance to find his next job.

And do think the next coach wants to negotiate for the job without the opening official?  Then he spends the rest of his employment here wondering if the AD is secretly courting his successor behind his back.  Not a great way to build trust.

Hackett needs to make a decision and move forward. 

mb121wl

November 30th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^

I'm not sure it makes no difference when Coach Hoke is fired (or resigns).  Potential hires now have another big opportunity, creating competition for us.  And who knows when NU actually made this decision?  They might have been working on a replacement in a quiet way for some time.

snarling wolverine

November 30th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^

It is ridiculous to me that a blue blood program like Florida can fire a coach with 2 games left to go and Nebraska can fire a coach with more success than Hoke one day after the season ended and Michigan insists on dragging their feet and talking about evaluations and processes

Has Florida reaped any advantage from firing Muschamp?

Before you say "They're free now to contact people," all of the insiders are stating right now that Michigan is in contact with Harbaugh, so it's not like we're waiting until Hoke is gone to do anything.

BlueFish

November 30th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

And no attractive, qualified, suitable candidates remain, then U-M needs to seriously consider an interim HC, a la Luke Fickell at OSU in 2011. No sense in committing 3-4 years to a suboptimal candidate when you can wait a year and make a better decision.

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^

How are fans treating this like a reality show? Because they want a man who is bad at his job fired? Is everything people want done before it fits your timetable due to reality TV ruining society?

Stop equating fans wanting Brady Hoke fired to reality TV, that comparison makes no sense. Plenty of people have given their reasons for wanting Hoke fired, you may not agree with those reasons but it doesn't mean these people want some kind of spectacle. 

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

I guess I don't know who you keep directing all this reality show comparisons at. There will always be a lunatic fringe, but by and large I think most of the people on this blog are reasonable and just don't want the firing to drag out for weeks. Again, simply because people don't agree with your timeframe doesn't mean they are reality TV obsessed and demand a pound of flesh.

In addition people have enjoyed a spectacle for centuries. You would have to be pretty thick to think that reality TV somehow created peoples desire for a spectacle.

robpollard

November 30th, 2014 at 3:04 PM ^

Is there anyone (recruits, players, fans, other coaches) who thinks Hoke will be the coach next year? No, there is not.

Therefore, the reasonable and decent thing to do is fire him. It has nothing to do with a "reality show", but is simply a recognition of reality. There is a difference.

snarling wolverine

November 30th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^

Three reasons:

1) What's left of our recruiting class could be picked apart during the time when we officially have no coach.

2) It puts public scrutiny on the search and makes it harder for leaks to be contained.

3) It puts public scrutiny on any potential candidates (forcing them to speak out about the job) and alerts their own employers to the fact that they're in consideration, which can lead to bidding wars.

 

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^

1) The recruiting class has already been picked apart. The guys who have stayed (Malzone, Newsome) have committed to Michigan. They will stay committed until the new coach has been found. I don't think firing Hoke now would do anymore damage to the already decimiated class.

2) There is already a ton of public scrutiny on the coaching search. Harbaugh, Miles and others have already been asked about leaving to coach somewhere else and in some cases they have been asked about the Michigan job specifically. Firing Hoke will not increase the scrutiny by much.

3) I think this ties into number 2 as well. Besides, Michigan isn't the only school looking for a coach. Mullen is going to be asked about taking another job whether the Michigan job is open now or not. I also don't believe Michigan can secretly hire someone away to avoid a bidding war. Michigan can't secretly hire someone, fire Hoke and than introduce the new coach at a cheaper salary because no one knew it was happening.

I appreciate your reasoned and measured responses to all this, I just don't see any need to keep Hoke around past this week. But, we can agree to disagree, as long as we all agree we want Harbaugh.

vablue

November 30th, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^

Because having an opening that is not filled causes rumors to start about it being turned down. True or not, this puts a lot of pressure on the AD to hire someone immediately or the job starts to become undesirable. We saw this happen during the rich rod process when they intended to wait for Miles but that became impossible because of media and fan pressure. And we have seen similar scenarios play out at ND and USC. No need to fire this coach until you know you have a better replacement.

J.Madrox

November 30th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^

My main point outlined in an above post is the dragging of feet seems to be coming a constant issue with Michigan that has hurt them in the past. Hopefully things are different now, but the longer this goes on, the bigger my fear that past mistakes will be duplicated and Michigan ends up with a bad football coach because they spend to long "evaluating" whether Hoke should truly be fired.

My main point of comparison with Florida is people inside and outside the Michigan program (not accusing you) seem to think it is impossible to take quick and effective action in making a change. These things can be done quickly and the longer this goes, the worse off I think Michigan is.

This could all be moot if Harbaugh rides in to save the day, but that is why I am worried about Michigan delaying this process.

snarling wolverine

November 30th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^

he dragging of feet seems to be coming a constant issue with Michigan that has hurt them in the past.

Not really.  We've fired three revenue sports coaches in recent memory - Ellerbe in 2001, Amaker in 2007, and Rodriguez in 2011.   The first two were fired promptly after the season.  Rodriguez was the only time we stretched it out.

 

 

Muttley

November 30th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^

I hope Hackett and the decision-makers have got this nailed down and are just being considerate to our new coach and Hoke in the timing of the announcement.

They have to know what's at stake, don't they?

 

 

Why do Charlie Brown's stripes look like an "M" to me?

westwardwolverine

November 30th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^

It announces they are actually moving forward. 

Michigan has been so incompetent over the last 7-8 years that until Hoke is actually out the door, there is going to be the fear that he somehow coaches next season. 

At least Florida fans know for sure that Muschamp is gone and can look forward to change. We still have to sit here and wonder whether or not the nightmare Hoke created is over even if the odds are slight. 

MGoBrewMom

November 30th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^

My kids want an iPhone. They are part of the 5% of kids their age that don't have texting capabilities or the status of the phone itself. They will be getting a phone for Christmas. It is coming. It is definite...and just because other kids got their phone first, there are benefits to them having to wait. It is about our family, and the decisions we make are what we think are the best for our family.

Just because Johnny has something, doesn't mean you're getting it too.

Be patient.

Love,

Mom