Brady Hoke has good and bad qualities as a head coach. Many in Ann Arbor feel the good out weighs the bad and they could be right. He has had a bit of a roller coaster ride since becoming the head coach at Michigan. He started with a bang and a Sugar Bowl win but his teams have gotten worse as his 3rd year comes to a end. If year one was the outlier, this program needs some major changes.
One of Brady's good qualities as a head coach is that he is a players coach. Kids play hard for him and truly see him as a good guy. The effort on Saturday night reminded me of Rich Rod's last game as Michigan's head coach at the Gator Bowl. Everyone knew he was getting fired and that game was just the final nail in the coffin. I don't think Brady will be getting his walking papers anytime soon, but these comments are very troubling:
Frank Clark: "I think a lot of guys lost the will to play as a family," Clark said after Michigan's season-ending 31-14 loss to Kansas State on Saturday in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. "That's one thing you can't do in football. In football, you've got to stick in there and stay together as a family.
"You have to be able to play as a family, this is football, this is an 11-man team that's going to be on the field at one time," Clark said. "Those 11 guys have to be able to play together at all times. Everyone has a job on the field. If one person doesn't do their job, it (hurts) the whole team. When you've got a bunch of guys who buy into that and buy-in to the family atmosphere, then you'll have a great team.
James Ross: "It was our mindset from the jump, we weren't totally into it I would say," sophomore linebacker James Ross III said. "We didn't come out with a lot of energy. "We have to be better than that."
If Hoke is losing the locker room and can't motivate the players to play in a Bowl Game, that is an issue. His two top qualities as a head coach are being a great recruiter and a players coach. If kids aren't playing hard for him and checked out, we might have a major issue on our hands.
I don't want to keep kicking the guy but the facts are what they are:
- He is completely hands off on the offense and lets Big Al run the entire thing. That side of the ball has been a complete failure in 3 years. (similar situation to RR and the defense)
- Hoke's preferred style of play on offense: "ground and pound" seems to be borderline obsolete at this point.
- Michigan's trade mark running game was one of the worst in the country this year.
- He is a defensive line coach by trade and that unit was terrible this year.
- He has a losing record to OSU, MSU and in bowl games.
- He has a losing record in games away from the Big House.
To be fair he has done some good things as well:
- Done a fantastic job at recruiting top talent (good kids and good students)
- Hired one of the best DC's and recruiters in the country in Greg Mattison
- Has a winning record against ND
- Has only lost 2 games in the Big House
Is this enough? Can Michigan develop talent? Can Michigan compete against Urban Meyer and Mark Dantonio every year? Does Michigan have an elite coach to win Big Ten Championships and get into the playoffs moving forward?
Those are the questions facing David Brandon right now. I'm sure he would say, Yes, like he did in his rambling "vote of confidence", but are you sold at this point? Look at some of the names being courted by the NFL and Texas right now:
- Bill O'Brien
- Brian Kelly
- David Shaw
- James Franklin
- Art Briles
- Jimbo Fisher
Places like Vandy and Baylor have "perceived" top head coaches in the country. Does Michigan have one? Why aren't other programs coming for Michigan coordinators like they are at places like Ohio State and ND?
Most of us really supported Brady Hoke after he was hired because he wasn't Rich Rod and knew about Michigan tradition. He pounded his fist at his first press conference and said, "he would have walked to Michigan!". Sold! We ate it up!
Many of us are having buyers remorse today after the complete failure of 2013. This will now be a great test of Hoke's leadership if he is willing to make changes to his staff to improve things at Schembechler Hall.
If you have a crystal ball, look ahead to 2014 and see how well the offensive line is going to do after two NFL tackles are gone. Scary isn't it.
He better find an offensive coordinator that isn't running an offense scheme from 1980, a QB coach, and an offensive line coach that can develop talent. Or we can just get used to not being an elite program anymore.
Brady can swallow his pride and make changes to his staff (on both sides of the ball! The defense may have just as many challenges as the offense does now) to better the program or he can stick with his staff and go down with the ship. It's his choice.
6 comments:
Al Borges is no OC. He lives in the past. Can't believe Brady has kept him on the staff this long.
Brady needs to be a HEAD Coach get away from trying to help the D-line and start seeing the whole team as we all do. Then he might see where changes need to be made. I don't think Brady is long for the Michigan job. He's tooooo nice...look at the other great coaches...they get mad, on the sidelines. You can see they realy care and get upset when things go wrong and the TEAM isn't proforming as they should. Brady just pats them on their behinds...like oh well...maybe next time...He needs to watch the great coaches and see how it's done. Someone messes up...the head coach goes crazy...That's a coach that cares. Oh, well I think our AD is lame too. He can't seem to make good choices yet either!
Without a doubt, there needs to be some fire on the sidelines....
That's why baseball managers get thrown out of games, hockey enforcers start fights, etc...
Reminds me of a conversation I had with a counselor about raising children... It's good for your children, especially boys, to have a little fear of their father.
That doesn't mean fear of physical harm, but enough respect to fear disappointment. Not disappointment in not succeeding, but disappointment in not giving it 100%.
I does seem as though Brady doesn't have that... as evidence in the performance against U Conn after Akron, or the bowl disaster.
Excellent! Excellent article Bob. A nice summation of what many of us feel at the moment. Many of us aren’t football coaches but we can see when things are breaking down on the field, and because we’re Michigan graduates we have enough intelligence to know that when problems persist that “someone” is at fault. If you’re in charge, then find the fault and fix it… be it a player, coach or coordinator.
We understand that a new coach needs time to get his players in and win, but the reality is that you’re called to win with what you have, and you’ve got to win NOW! Ask any of the six former head coaches in the NFL that can attest to that fact. When you’re team is digressing instead of improving, that tells us that there is a problem that needs to be fixed…NOW!
We understand that Hoke like some coaches are loyal and they’ve brought their staff halfway across the country with them, but the truth is in the coaching business you won’t last very long if you’re not winning. Moreover, when you consider the so called elite schools like Michigan, Texas, and USC, et al, it’s not enough to have a five hundred winning percentage, you’re expected to win championships, ask Mack Brown.
Michigan is currently recruiting great kids because they believe that Michigan is returning to its former glory, however, if Michigan is not winning and is not in those championship conversations then they will lose the elite recruits to other major football powers, ask Deshawn Hand.
So my point is this, even if Dave Brandon did tell Jabrill Peppers that “Hoke will be here as long as I’m here,” keep in mind that finding a new athletic director is easier than finding a new head coach. Moreover, no matter whose decision it is to make the necessary changes, be it athletic directors, head coaches and position coaches, history shows when it’s all said and done those positions will be retained or let go based upon the effectiveness of their decisions and performances. I once heard Coach Bo Schembechler say years ago when he got to Michigan that his greatest challenge was to find just the right coaches to coach the talent that he already has. Needless to say, that challenge remains the same for every AD and Head Coach, and if your results prove that there needs to be a change, then gets it right. IMHO
I think you keep giving Mattison a free pass. He is in his third year of building a great defense and we are still very very average. I haven't seen a great deal of improvement on that side of the ball in the last two years. He has had some really crappy games in my opinion. He can't keep living on the improvement he made in 2011. We had to improve, the defense he inherited was the worst in the nation but where are we today moving forward? I have very little opt ism at this point they they will ever be a really good defense like Sparty. Our defense makes every quarterback look like a Heisman candidate even if it's a first year freshman(see Penn State). I don't want to hear about youth. Coach them up. The guys on the field against K-State played all year in his system and many cases have played 2 or 3 years under his direction and they were completely lost, fundamentally unsound and quite honestly unmotivated. Matti son needs to step it up too.
Hoke needs to be more than a spectator. A good start would be wearing a headset during the game to monitor the play calling. He needs to put his players in the best position to maximize their ability, make sure his coordinators keep to his game plan, and making proper adjustments in game. There needs to be accountability.
Borges should be fired, but I am not going to hold my breath for this to happen. His game plans need to be more than the same strategy against every opponent. He needs to start game planning to the weaknesses of the opponent, and in the rare case they play an elite defense like Alabama, they need to keep the play calling balance and single out a player or two that they will focus on attacking i.e. the weak link(s).
GMatt shouldn’t get a pass. He has been play calling to not lose…he needs to get more aggressive.
How can you say he's a players' coach and that kids play hard for him when in many games the kids didn't even show up to play?
The fact of the matter is, Hoke has little else to do but motivate his team to play hard and focused, yet repeatedly fails to get that performance on game day.
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