Adios Rich Rodriguez

[Roy Tucker]

Brady Hoke may turn out OK. Like others have said, when Jim Tressel was hired, it was greeted with a collective yawn. Hoke is a midwest guy I think and "gets" what matters at UM.

But I still do remember when Tressel spoke at the half of an OSU basketball game not long after he was hired. He gave the days and the hours till the next Michigan game and beating them and there was no doubt about where his priorities were. He completely won over the OSU fan base that day and a new era of OSU football started.

[Sea Ray]

OTOH, apparently guys like Charles Woodson and Tom Brady who played at Michigan while he was on staff there rave about him.

Who's "him"?

[Sea Ray]

Again, I don't know much about Brady Hoke but here's what a cousin of mine wrote me about the hire. This relative is a UM alum and follows this sort of thing very closely:

Hoke is not a great hire.

This pretty much ruins Michigan for the next 5 years.

We are better next year then the decline begins.

Much is couched on who stays.

Recruiting couldn't have taken a worse hit.

I was much more in favor of KC Keeler at this point.

This kills the spread. Basically fires the S&C coach. Alienates one
of the top QBs ever at Michigan. After running off Mallet with RR.

If he is a typical UM alum then Hoke is starting at a bad point. He's got a lot of work to do

[pedro]

Who's "him"?

Hoke

[Sea Ray]

Nope, just an assumption. It's probably no coincidence that Hoke was announced pretty much as soon as Miles announced he was staying at LSU. I also don't see why the Michigan folks would fly down to Baton Rouge to meet with him just to not offer him the job. My guess is he said no.

The facts as we know them show that the job was never offered to Miles

Hoke? Despite successful head coaching stints at San Diego State and Ball State, the former Michigan assistant might get a lukewarm reception, too, after fans clamored to bring Jim Harbaugh or Les Miles back to their alma mater.

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon picked Hoke as his new football coach Tuesday, insisting he was Plan A and not a backup option after Harbaugh left Stanford for the San Francisco 49ers and Miles stayed at LSU.

"The job was never offered to them," Brandon said in an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday after informing the team of his decision. "We did have different discussions with them that were helpful and positive."

So don't be too hard on Les if things don't go well for him at LSU. He didn't have a choice

[Sea Ray]

Hoke

What exactly did Woodson and Brady say? The only thing I heard was typical raw, raw stuff like this from Woodson:

"I'm excited for Brady Hoke and even more excited for Michigan," Woodson, who won the Heisman Trophy and 1997 national championship at Michigan, wrote in a text message. "I'm glad this process is over and we can begin to restore the tradition and respect that was once Michigan."

That seems like a canned response from a UM alum who is a public figure

[Hoosier Red]

@SeaRay, who is the quarterback that is being alienated? Robinson?

When IU hired its coach alot of people though Hoke would be the guy they should go after. A friend of mine pointed out that while his record was impressive, (47-50 is pretty good considering the waste lands he inherited at both jobs,) but he didn't exactly beat anyone he shouldn't have beaten. At Ball State he beat up on a bunch of MAC teams, but his two biggest wins in the 2008 season were Indiana and Navy. So it's not like he figured out a way to beat teams with better talent.

At Michigan that won't be as much of a problem eventually. Michigan just being Michigan can recruit well enough that he'll be able to get them back to respectability. But as far as being in the class of Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, or Ohio State, that may be a while.

[WVRed]

@SeaRay, who is the quarterback that is being alienated? Robinson?

When IU hired its coach alot of people though Hoke would be the guy they should go after. A friend of mine pointed out that while his record was impressive, (47-50 is pretty good considering the waste lands he inherited at both jobs,) but he didn't exactly beat anyone he shouldn't have beaten. At Ball State he beat up on a bunch of MAC teams, but his two biggest wins in the 2008 season were Indiana and Navy. So it's not like he figured out a way to beat teams with better talent.

At Michigan that won't be as much of a problem eventually. Michigan just being Michigan can recruit well enough that he'll be able to get them back to respectability. But as far as being in the class of Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, or Ohio State, that may be a while.

That's going to be a problem, as you left out the one team that has passed Michigan for relevancy alone in their own state, and that is Sparty.

Michigan State has passed Michigan in that regard, and Dantonio is holding an edge right now in recruiting those players, the same way Tom Izzo does in basketball. I have a feeling that Michigan may be going the way of Notre Dame when it comes to national relevance.

Between Les Miles and Brady Hoke, Miles would have had the better chance of winning sooner at Michigan. He can adapt his offense to use spread players and has won with different style QB's (JaMarcus Russell or Matt Flynn). Hoke is going to be more of a traditional pro offense coach and its going to be a major overhaul to get Michigan back to where they can play at that level.

Which leads to my next point, how patient are Michigan fans going to be? I always say a coach deserves three years to get a program turned around but with trying to re-establish a pro offense it could be longer.

[MWM]

The facts as we know them show that the job was never offered to Miles

So don't be too hard on Les if things don't go well for him at LSU. He didn't have a choice

That may be what truly happened, or it could be that the conversation went in a direction that the Michigan folks saw that Les would want things they weren't willing to give. Or, it could be that Hoke was their guy all along. But I don't think him not "officialy" being offered the job means that they didn't prefer him over Hoke. If they could have gotten Miles and went for Hoke instead, I think that's a big mistake.

[westofyou]

Miles wanted to bring his assistants with him, 2 make between 600K and 800K, that was part of the reason UM might have wavered, I read that they likely offered him a low ball contract in hopes of saving some face for both sides. Let's also not forget that Brandon and Miles played on UM teams together, they have a history, and from what I've heard it's not really chummy.

[Hoosier Red]

Those are all good points WVRed. I keep reading where Hoke is a hard and fast pro-style offense guy, but my perception of Ball State was they played a sort of spread with 3 WR's, an undersized TE in in Hill, and a running back who could take advantage of the smaller fronts caused by the passing attack. It wasn't the RichRod spread, but it wasn't exactly line everyone up in an I formation and ram it down their throats either.

I think it's a big leap to assume that he won't find a way to be successful with Robinson and/or Forcier.

[Sea Ray]

@SeaRay, who is the quarterback that is being alienated? Robinson?

Yes.

[Sea Ray]

That may be what truly happened, or it could be that the conversation went in a direction that the Michigan folks saw that Les would want things they weren't willing to give.

All indications are that Les wanted the job.

[Sea Ray]

I think it's a big leap to assume that he won't find a way to be successful with Robinson and/or Forcier.

Sure but that's the thing. Can he keep Robinson and Forcier? These spread type players may start to bail

[bucksfan2]

Which leads to my next point, how patient are Michigan fans going to be? I always say a coach deserves three years to get a program turned around but with trying to re-establish a pro offense it could be longer.

If he embraces tradition he will be fine. Rich Rod did himself no favor in irritating the fan base right away. He said that OSU (and MSU?) were just another game on the schedule. He gave #1 away to some third string CB until Braylon Edwards stepped in and nixed that. Apparently he didn't realize that #1 went to a good/great UM WR and that Edwards had a scholarship fund that enabled him to have veto power over who wore #1.