Just a thought on Hoke's situation.

[bamf_16]

Sorry, I can't be happy with keeping him. If we can't get Harbaugh this year, we won't next year either. We need a guy and if JHarbaugh isn't it, there have to be better ones than Hoke.

I'm leaning more towards this as well. Like I keep typing, IMO M. Stoops, Butch Jones, Greg Schiano, and Jim McElwain are better head football coaches than Brady Hoke. Chuck Martin may be. If UM can't get Jim or John Harbaugh or Les Miles this year, they aren't coming next year!

In the defense though of those who disagree, the premise has been UM wins out til OSU and either wins that game or is competitive, then wins the bowl in order to discuss Hoke having a 5th year.

Again, I'm not sure how the AD watching film leads to all this BS and inability to win, but who knows, maybe without Brandon UM wins out. Funnier things have happened.

But I'm not banking on Brady Hoke coaching at Michigan in 2015.

 

[TheVictors]

Here's what will happen and I agree with many posts by many folks in part ....

"Resigning" DB takes a huge weight off the immediate atmosphere but is the first step. Hoke won't be the coach next year unless the team runs the table and I don't see that happening. With an interim AD in place, the University can then hire it's big name HC without it being that AD's "guy" and a permanent AD can be named later.

This way, the new HC - whether Jim, John, Les or other - precedes the AD and the AD assumes the rightful place of running the AD and leaving football to the head coach.

By giving the interim AD the ability to fire Hoke, you're giving him the power of Fiat to hire one. No doubt the have been "conversations" with multiple parties already for everything to have played out this way so far.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

I'm leaning more towards this as well. Like I keep typing, IMO M. Stoops, Butch Jones, Greg Schiano, and Jim McElwain are better head football coaches than Brady Hoke. Chuck Martin may be. If UM can't get Jim or John Harbaugh or Les Miles this year, they aren't coming next year!

In the defense though of those who disagree, the premise has been UM wins out til OSU and either wins that game or is competitive, then wins the bowl in order to discuss Hoke having a 5th year.

Again, I'm not sure how the AD watching film leads to all this BS and inability to win, but who knows, maybe without Brandon UM wins out. Funnier things have happened.

But I'm not banking on Brady Hoke coaching at Michigan in 2015.

If Jim, John, or Les don't take the job next year are they ever going to? If they fire Hoke and bring in someone else other than one of these guys, don't they have to give the new guy (assuming it is not Jim, John, or Les) at least three years? If Les doesn't take the job in January, then I think he will be too old and close to retirement to take the job in 3 years. So, that would knock him out of consideration. In this situation, assuming Jim or John will not take the job in January, do you stick with Hoke for another year and work to get one of the Harbaughs the following year?

I can see the scenario where Jim, John, or Les said they would take the job if Brandon were gone, and Brandon said okay in the best interest of Michigan and the football program he would resign.

 

[zyxt9]

I don't think thise 3 will come to UM with an interim AD. They will want to be hired by new AD, meaning they will want to know who their boss will be. Don't blame them for that, not many would willingly take a job knowing they will have a new boss.

Unless of course they are given ability to veto any perspective AD.

 

[TheVictors]

Really dude?

Any prospective AD, hired on a permanent basis, would be hired after a new Football Head Coach is hired unless you think the interim AD is here to babysit Hoke until a new permanent AD is in place first.

Hoke can now be let go by a guy not named Dave Brandon and some transitional phase (amicable) put in place.

Unless Brandon surprised the Administration by resigning, this is just the first step in a larger process to bring better football coaches who wouldn't work for Brandon.

 

[zyxt9]

Not arguing that Hoke is arround a 95% goner, just saying Les, Jim, and to lesser extent John will want veto power at a minimum. They don't want to come to UM unless the AD is someone who will stay out of their way. If they come in and UM hires a micromanaging AD, that will not be a good situation. So either hire someone who knows they can get one of thise guys or give them veto power over hiring.

Not sure why that doesn't make sense. Anybody outside those 3, no veto power required. We can't get the big dogs though and then chain them to the doghouse, they need to run free. Granted there are risks with a college coach being left alone as they might violate NCAA rules, but I'd be more concerned about that with Les than the harbaughs.

 

[Michlady]

Agree with monster

Hoke is gone
There are other coaches than Jim

 

[zyxt9]

Anyone else concerned about Nuss being a potential candidate to replace Hoke? Lol

 

[rumseyhouse77]

Agree with monster

Hoke is gone
There are other coaches than Jim

I don't think Hoke leaving is a done deal. If he wins out or beats either NW or MD and ohio* to make a bowl he will get another year. I think upsetting ohio* in the cesspool they call Columbus will go a long way to redeeming him. I am not optimistic they will be able to do it though. I think taking an "anyone but Hoke" approach out of frustration will just lead to more losing and frustration.

 

[thewolverines24]

I'm of the opinion that we could replace Hoke with a shoe and there wouldn't be any discernible difference in how the team plays. No way he is the coach next year. We've already been embarrassed in three rivalry games this year. Winning out and beating OSU, which there is a .00000000001% chance of that happening, should not save Hoke's job.

 

[TheVictors]

You don't "resign" a meddling ego maniac to relieve the pressure off the whole Dept., go hire a new coach that doesn't (or wouldn't) have to report to said egomaniac.

You don't then go and hire another egomaniac AD after hiring the coach.

There is a process to doing business that requires operating in reality. No new coach was going to come to MICHIGAN under DB and it would have been reckless to leave him in place to hire Hoke's successor.

None of us are privy to the closed door conversations, but they're happening and whether Miles or either Harbaugh ...or Summlin or Mullen or freaking Jon Gruden, you know some form of exploratory contact has been made.

I posted here that KU (and hoops coach Bill Self) contacted Jim Harbaugh at the time they canned Weis. They wanted to see "what it would take" with no limits ....

No way Michigan hasn't at least made contact with the folks representing the coaches whose names are making the circuit these days.

 

[byco42]

Hoke thinks that Brandon is a "Michigan Man." I vote to ban that phrase from the lexicon.

 

[Michchamp]

Hoke thinks that Brandon is a "Michigan Man." I vote to ban that phrase from the lexicon.

seconded.

Issues between the AD & a coach are nothing new, though in most cases it seems like AD's last longer than coaches.

it seems crazy to me that hiring a football coach could be such a zero sum game for the athletic director, but in our cases, I think it's clear both BM and DB did a lot of things wrong, in additiona to hiring unsuccessful coaches.

and if the team does get better, and the IU game result wasn't just a matter of IU being that bad, there's something to those rumors that DB really was bad for the football program

 

[lostleader]

I don't think Hoke leaving is a done deal. If he wins out or beats either NW or MD and ohio* to make a bowl he will get another year. I think upsetting ohio* in the cesspool they call Columbus will go a long way to redeeming him. I am not optimistic they will be able to do it though. I think taking an "anyone but Hoke" approach out of frustration will just lead to more losing and frustration.

This goes along with my point.

Its got to be, Jim, John, Les, or another big name proven coach. If not, I would rather UM do some research and find a D2 coach that has a proven record. UM will bring in decent recruits, because we are UM. But someone has to be hired that isn't bigger than the Team.

DB was bigger than the team, Hoke imo isn't bigger than the program. I think DB had more influence in the program that anyone will ever know. Hoke is way to loyal to go run his mouth after he's been canned. Maybe the wheels keep falling off and firing Hoke is easier than RR, but Hoke loves UM and "would have walked to Ann Arbor" if needed. Worst case, I hope the keep him on and let him answer Tinsels calls.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Hoke thinks that Brandon is a "Michigan Man." I vote to ban that phrase from the lexicon.

I don't want to see the phrase lost forever, but a hiatus would be good if it helped flush out all the misuse of the term.

 

[Michchamp]

an outsider's take on the new/interim AD's biggest task (i.e. landing Harbaugh): link.

I think #'s 1 & 2 are a little exaggerated...

#1 unless the new AD is someone who had past issues with Harbaugh, then no, there would not be some pride that needed to be swallowed. I think people way over-estimate Harbaugh's personal ego and prima donna act... if he could get along with Bo & be a team leader here, he can't be as bad as a lot of writers make him out to be.

and #2, if Harbaugh is even entertaining a move to Ann Arbor, money is obviously not his biggest priority (or else he'd stay in teh NFL).

but maybe I'm being naive, thinking there is something special about Michigan Football, still, after all the mud it's been trucked through over the last 6+ years. It wouldn't be the first time.

 

[tinselwolverine]

an outsider's take on the new/interim AD's biggest task (i.e. landing Harbaugh): link.

Harbaugh will be the AD?s boss, not the only way around. (from the link...)

If it happens...exactly.

Which is as it should be.

 

[TheVictors]

Harbaugh will be the AD?s boss, not the only way around. (from the link...)

If it happens...exactly.

Which is as it should be.

yes, exactly. Let the AD raise money and build aquatic centers and let the football coach run the football program.

 

[zyxt9]

Jim was able to get along under Bo because there used to be an understanding in football that the coach is to be respected and listened to, and Bo would just flat out overpower any who tried to exceed their rightful place.

Jim has long been out of Bo's shadow and has been allowed to have his persona reach a level where it is beyond what even Bo had attained. Prima donna is a mild interpretation from my view.

Now, would that be a good thing for UM? An argument can be made either way. Still, I'd prefer John out of the big 3, for he seems to have a more level head than the others. Not to mention he's the only one with a Super Bowl ring, which in today's recruiting game being able to flash that around, and even say something like "Saban doesn't have one of these, I will make you even better than he could." That just speaks volumes to today's recruits who only dream of getting to the NFL and win Super Bowls and earn MVP honors in the process.

Plus John has won with strong D whereas Jim and Les rely more heavily on their O, IMO. In the B1G, D is what will win championships and D is what will win NCs. The last time UM won a NC, it was with exactly the type of team John would put on the field.

 

[tinselwolverine]

I'd prefer John out of the big 3, for he seems to have a more level head than the others.

But I don't think my BFF from Ann Arbor Pioneer High, John Harbaugh, is going to be available when the time comes to make the change.

But Jim will be (he went to Pioneer, but graduated from Palo Alto or somewhere...I think Jim was a 9th grader at Tappan Jr. High my senior year at Pioneer...)