Let's talk some Michigan Football!

2011-02-03T19:08:00.009-05:00

Hola amigos! A lot has happened since I last posted. A whole football season has come and gone; we fired one coach and then hired another, Simon Cowell is no longer on American Idol and the Detroit Lions actually seem like they could be a decent team. I think it is time I give you my opinion on the state of Michigan football in a series of posts. First I will introduce you to Brady Hoke "The New Coach”, the hopefully shortly after I will follow up with a few more posts regarding some other important topics: "The Transition & Staff”, “The Recruits” and “The Future”

The New Coach
After the 2010 season ended, it became pretty apparent to everyone not living under a rock that Rich Rodriguez was in pretty hot water. Had he not lost to Mississippi State by 74,000 pts, I truly believe he would still be the coach right now. But he did lose by that many and he is not the coach. Once Rich was fired, it did not take long for names to be thrown out as to who the next head coach of the Wolverines may be. I refuse to get into the quagmire that we all know as “The Process”. So let’s just say that during “The Process”, when Brady Hoke’s name was mentioned, there was a very large and vocal subset of the fan base that would not cease whining. “We will stop supporting Michigan football if Hoke is hired! Hoke would be the worst coaching hire ever in the history of the universe, including Charlie Weis at Notre Dame! Fire and brimstone will reign down on the Big House and we will be plunged into a million years of darkness.” There was so much drama going on, I believe I actually saw a few Internet trolls lurch out of their parents basement to see the light of day.

Hoke was eventually hired, and as most can tell, the earth maintained its orbit and hordes of demons did not come pouring out of a gaping chasm of fire. So in that aspect, the Hoke Era started off on a positive note. Shortly after he was hired, Hoke traveled to Ann Arbor (yes he really did walk from San Diego to Ann Arbor) and had an official press conference. It was at this press conference that people actually took the time to learn something about the man, other than the fact that he is not either Jim Harbaugh or Les Miles. Fans were given the opportunity, and to their credit, most took the time to learn about the guy. When they did a funny thing happened, they actually started to like him. Shocking huh? (Insert judging a book by its cover cliché here). Hoke took no more than one minute to endear himself to fans by saying he refuses to wear red because it is the color of “that school down in Ohio”. We also learned that he took the job without even knowing what Dave Brandon was going pay him. There was one major negative that came out of the press conference, that I do feel the need to address. If I had one piece of advice that I would like to give coach Hoke at this time it is this, limit the number of times you say “reach out and touch these kids” in your future press conferences, although Principle Rooney may disagree.

During the course of his presser, Hoke talked about every single item that Rich Rod seemed to get flack for. The traditions, the rivalries, the toughness needed to play in the Big 10, the need to foster relationships with in state school for recruiting. The thing about it though, was not what he said, but how he said it. The comments were not meant to snipe at Rich Rod as he drove off; the comments were made because that’s what he believes to his core. Press conferences like that can be misleading though. It is pretty easy for a new coach to come in, promise this, promise that and swear things will change. But Hoke didn’t do that. He talked about the tradition, he talked about the former players and coaches who laid down the foundations and talked about how he would teach the team toughness. I have to admit I was sucked in hook, line and sinker. After the last question was asked at the presser, I fully expected the lights to go off, strobe lights to come and Coolio’s “Fantastic Voyage” to start blaring as Hoke danced off the stage and waved for the Michigan faithful to follow him to the promise land. Sorry Josh Grobin….

But what about Brady Hoke’s coaching resume? Sure he can talk about all this warm and fuzzy stuff, but can he coach? Hoke started his coaching career at Grand Valley State in 1983, and then was hired the following year by Western Michigan head coach Jack Harbaugh (Yeah Jim’s dad). He coached along side Jack’s son John as well as a name that might be familiar to some, Greg Mattison. He only spent a few years at Western, but the foundations for his future as a wolverine were firmly cemented when he took that job. After spending a few years at WMU, he worked his way around to larger and larger schools. Then in 1995 Hoke was hired by Gary Moeller and DC Greg Mattison (see the pattern?) at the University of Michigan. He started coaching defensive ends and then moved up to coaching the entire defensive. In his time at Michigan the team gave up an average of 17.8 pts/gm. The most was 20.6 pts/gm and the least was 9.5pts/gm for the 1997 National Championship team. He coached at Michigan until 2002 when he accepted his first head coaching job at Ball State, where he played his college football.

Hoke took over a Ball State program that hadn’t had a winning record in over 10 years. It took 4 years, but eventually Hoke led Ball State to its first winning season in almost 2 decades with a 7-5 record. The 7-5 season was followed by the 2008 season in which the Cardinals went 12-0 and were ranked in the top 25 for the first time in school history. This amazing season at Ball State started to get him some run nationally, and Hoke received a big raise to become the new head coach at San Diego State. In his first year at San Diego State, Hoke’s team only managed to go 4-8. However in year two, the Aztecs went 9-4 with two of those losses coming to Top 12 teams TCU and Missouri by a total of 8pts. So needless to say, Hoke has a history of going into programs that are perennial doormats and turning them around.

So what does that all mean? First and foremost what it means is that whether you put much stock in it or not, we have a Michigan Man as a head coach. Hoke has the trust and full backing of the AD and a laundry list of some of the best players in school history such as Charles Woodson and Tom Brady. Because of this, the amount of internal drama that we saw the last 3 years will be all but gone. This will allow Hoke to concentrate solely on coaching football without any roadblocks. (A luxury RR, was unfortunately never afforded) In addition we have a coach who has first hand experience in the Big 10 and was part of some pretty amazing defenses. He knows exactly what it takes to win in this league.

But what about wins? HOW MANY WINS!?!?! Patience, after I get through my catch-up series of blogs, I will make bold predictions and will philosophize on the future of Michigan Football. Stay tuned!

Coming Soon!
"The Transition & Staff"
"The Recruits"
"The Future"

Image courtesy of TheFlintSkinny.com

I Love Jägerbombs

2010-09-08T14:44:00.000-04:00

UBU will be back for the grand re-opening soon!

2010-08-23T19:49:00.004-04:00

Check back soon. The long awaited return of UBU is on the way. And hopefully it won't just be a re-hash of stuff you can get at MGoBlog, MVictors, etc.

U.B.U.

Let's talk some Michigan Football!

I Love Jägerbombs

UBU will be back for the grand re-opening soon!