Can Hoke Become Another Moeller?

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on

Gary Moeller's legacy related to Michigan has always fascinated me. He was fired in disgrace after embarrassing himself and U-M, but after a few years in the NFL, he came back and is now fully accepted as a beloved member of the Michigan family. There he was last week, posing with Harbaugh, Lloyd and Hanlon.

So, my question is: A dozen or so years from now, can Brady Hoke have this same legacy? When we introduce our new coach in 2027, will a gray-haired Brady Hoke be there, wearing a Block M shirt and posing for photos? Does Hoke have a future as another Gary Moeller?

JFW

January 5th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^

LOL. It was from my phone. Got autocorrected. But for the life of me I can't think of another attempt at Hoke other thank Hike or Hole. Home maybe? 

Yostbound and Down

January 5th, 2015 at 9:52 AM ^

Yeah, why not. Harbaugh gave Brady a little shoutout for not leaving the cupboard bare and at any rate if Mattison is retained it will at least partially because Brady got him here in the first place. I expect him to be a member of the Michigan family if he wants to be at Harbaugh's retirement after 10 straight national titles or whatever. He isn't an "outsider" like Rodriguez (and I hope RR was invited to the introductory presser too, and just couldn't attend because of Arizona's bowl game.

That said Moe was a good coach, Hoke clearly was not.

EGD

January 5th, 2015 at 10:01 AM ^

After five consecutive Big Ten titles, Michigan went 8-4 in 1993. Then they went 8-4 again in 1994, basically collapsing after the Kordell Stewart Hail Mary. The fan base, which expected Rose Bowls and national championships, was up in arms. Moeller had some kind of drunken incident at an A2 restaurant in the off-season, and because of it resigned in lieu of being fired. Carr was made interim HC, and promptly went...9-4. Then the team went 8-4 again the next season, before going 12-0 and winning the national championship in Carr's third season.

Nitro

January 5th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^

And it certainly was "some kind of drunken incident," but in a different sense of the phrase:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950503&slug=…

He really took it there -- it was belligerence at its finest.  Me and my friends sometimes like to remind each other to not "pull a Moeller." It's too bad we lost the best coach we've had in recent times over it (not including Harbuagh), but the info in the police report is pure entertainment.

Timnotep

January 5th, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^

I remember watching the Arizona Cardinals play a couple weeks ago and they were talking about the number of long term assistant coaches on staff, one of them having been a very talented assistant to various coaches for some like 40-50 years and the commentator made a point of saying something along the lines of "You don't see too many of them these days [long time assistant coaches] since every coach seems to be trying for a fast tract to a head coaching job. But that's not how it used to be"

This may be sort of a "duh" thing, but I'd be interested to see the correlation between the evolution of coaching salaries and the new "fast track" attitude towards coaching.

CoverZero

January 5th, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^

Yeah the coaches salaries are really crazy now.  However, the money involved with the programs is much higher as well.  Michigan football is about a 1/4 billion dollar enterprise and as CEO Harbaugh is getting compensated on a typical CEO scale for an organization of that magnitude... still though... Moeller was underpaid!

lilpenny1316

January 5th, 2015 at 11:06 AM ^

They won each game afterwards until they faced PSU, which we lost in a close game.  Gameday visited for the first time and I remember either Lee Corso or Craig James saying something along the lines of Michigan being one play from being undefeated.  We were back in the top 10 and on the fringes of MNC talk until that loss.

Also, the number of people who wanted Moeller gone pales in comparison to those who wanted Lloyd gone after the 1996 season and again in the mid-2000's.

EGD

January 6th, 2015 at 12:17 AM ^

Michigan only played two games between Colorado and Penn State in '94. One was against a bad Iowa team, the other a mediocre MSU team. Your comment implies that M went on some prolonged winning streak, but it was just two games. Then M lost two consecutive home games and the season, as far as most people were concerned, was a major disappointment.

HELLE

January 5th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^

Brady represented the university well and excelled at every aspect of his job, except what happened on the football field. He'll be back around in a few years and he needs to be. He is a great asset to our community.

Blue in St Lou

January 5th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^

I also expectthat Hoke will be welcomed back as a member of the Michigan family if he would like to be.  The fact that his circumstances are different from Mo's doesn't mean that the outcome will be different.

His Dudeness

January 5th, 2015 at 10:09 AM ^

How about giving Moeller a tiny little bit of respect for actually being good at what he does/did for a living?

I'm still super pissed about the Lions game last night so my responses are going to be harsh, but can we fucking stop with the Hoke shit?

HOKE SUCKED. THAT SUGAR BOWL WAS RR'S. HOKE DIDNT DO A GOD DAMNED THING.

Let it go guys. Let it fucking go.

 

The_Mad Hatter

January 5th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^

guys I work with met him a few times.  They both said he was a bit of a slob (shorts and flip-flops), but that he was a very nice guy.  Engaging, personable, and basically like your next door neighbor.

Then again, one of the guys said similar things about Ron English, so take all of that with a grain of salt. 

MH20

January 5th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^

What's wrong with shorts and flip-flops in the summertime?  The only time I wear anything else is when I throw on my Sebagos in an effort to class it up a bit.

Then again I might be the living emobiment of the word "slob" so who knows...

Sports

January 5th, 2015 at 10:30 AM ^

Hoke was fine. His teams were exceedingly average. They didn't suck statistically. The offense was bad one year and that's about it. Rich Rod wouldn't have won the Sugar Bowl, he would barely have been bowl eligible. His defense was atrocious. Defense, more than offense, stepped up in 2011.

AlwaysBlue

January 5th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^

but Martin and VanBergen said otherwise after the bowl game.  In fact the 3 most valuable players on the entire team were Carr recruits.  Hoke recruited well, never had the team quit on him (as Rodriguez' defenses did multiple times) and leaves behind a much better situation than what he inherited. 

GoWings2008

January 5th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^

If we the fans embrace him, he will have a place at the table in the future.  If we realize that he had a good effect on the program outside of his win loss record, then maybe.  However, I think he's going to end up as a head coach at another school somewhere and that will change the narrative that's told about him 10-15 yrs from now.

Cleveland Wolverine

January 5th, 2015 at 10:15 AM ^

We treated Moeller like crap based on one incident despite a pretty darned good record. Replacing a legend and unreasonable expectations cannot be easy. And FWIW, the legend was furious about the way Michigan tossed Mo aside. Thank goodness he has been so gracious and that enough time hes passed that we can treat him with well-deserved respect.

Hoke was a good soldier, always supporting Michigan and saying the right thing even in the face of disappointing results and being fired. 

Timnotep

January 5th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^

Hoke's legacy is tainted by mediocrity but I see no reason why he shouldn't be welcomed back a la Moeller. The guy bleeds Maize and Blue and has as much passion for the university as I've seen. IMO he shouldn't have been as high on the list of candidates as he was, but I wouldn't say he embarassed the university. He was in over his head and the result was a mediocre record, from what I've seen and heard (which granted isn't a whole lot) he's handled this whole situation in a pretty graceful way.

Lets not kid ourselves into thinking that Rich Rodriguez would've taken us to the sugar bowl let alone beat Virginia Tech in 2011. His defenses were embarassingly awful, no way we go 11-2 running a 3-3-5 in the B1G.

EDIT: someone also brought up Michigan's APR under Hoke which was rediculously high, another reason he should always be welcomed back like Moeller.

yzerman19

January 5th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^

Hoke graduates 69 of 69 and does nothing off the field except personify class and dignity.  Moeller, not so much.  But  Moeller gets invited back for pics and is in the fold.  If Hoke is not broght back like Moeller is, everything everyone says about what a "Michigan Man" is is horseshit.