Michigan Football: A program that’s lost its way
Somewhere along the way Michigan Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke lost his way.
I’ve never been one to make much out of Hoke not wearing a headset on the sideline. He has the ability to jump on one in a timely fashion if he ever feels its needed. It always seemed like it was a media generated story more than something that was an actual negative.
“You have to communicate. You have to be crystal clear on the communication. We’re not a very gray-area program.“
-January 12th, 2011 Brady Hoke at his University of Michigan introductory press conference
There’s no way around Hoke not wearing a headset on the sideline currently symbolizes how he’s lost complete control of HIS program. College football coaches have full and total control — they’re basically the general manager and the coach. Everything that happens on the field and off the field is their responsibility.
Being in charge of 100-something 18-22 year olds is an extremely difficult job for a variety of reasons. Just a regular group of students that age would be a pain, but with football teams we’re talking an entire other animal. For any of us that went to a college with a big time football program we saw the things going on, its not some big secret.
Hoke’s career at Michigan got off to a surprising start with an 11-2 record concluding with a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. They also went 2-1 against Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State.
Since then Michigan is 17-14 overall and 2-5 against their three rivals. Hoke’s teams were mediocre on the field in 2012 and 2013 and now in 2014 the wheels have completely come off.
The Shane Morris incident from Michigan’s loss to Minnesota on Saturday rises from a pattern of incompetency under Hoke. A pattern of playing kids suffering in-game injuries, a pattern of a lack of urgency and a pattern of living in the past.
Brady Hoke allowed center David Molk to play through a severed tendon in his right foot during the 2012 Sugar Bowl.
Of note, “they figured he could hurt it more by playing.” Hoke allowed a student to risk his future because Molk wanted to play. Unacceptable decision.
This was a pretty sweet game:
Devin Gardner threw for 451 yards and four touchdown passes. He played almost the entire second half with a broken foot and the injury was serious enough it kept him out of the team’s bowl game against Kansas State. The decision to play Gardner was mainly overlooked because of his incredible performance. It’s completely unacceptable that a college quarterback was allowed to continue to play in a game with a BROKEN FOOT.
Against Notre Dame this season wide receiver Devin Funchess suffered a right ankle injury in the fourth quarter when the game outcome was already decided. For some asinine reason he was put back in the game the next series before having to leave the field again. Funchess missed the next week’s game against Miami of Ohio before returning for the Utah contest.
What Hoke did with Shane Morris this past Saturday is nothing different than what he has done in the past so I apologize if I don’t buy the entire Michigan sideline was completely oblivious to what was going on the field. Then again, with how Michigan has performed as a team is it a really shocking the head coach would be clueless to what’s going on?
The Wolverines struggle with the simple task of getting to the line and snapping a play with more than 10 seconds left on the play clock.
Either option is a terrible look for Hoke, but oblivious and clueless is a lot less demeaning than intentionally harmful. There’s a climate surrounding head injuries and overall political correctness when it comes to football that permeates strongly at the NFL and college level. This is something you have to be 100% aware of and butchering a situation with this climate is going to bring a shit storm your way.
Michigan’s problems on the field and with the Morris situation have brought upon a “gray-area” Hoke promised wouldn’t exist at his introductory press conference. Everything about the Wolverines right now is gray.
Hoke’s Monday press conference and the contradictory statement athletic director Dave Brandon released at 1:00 a.m. the next morning — GRAY.
-Why did the two contradict each other?
-Was Hoke left out to dry by Brandon or was he apart of a plan to lie about Shane’s concussion that fell apart?
The rambling non-sense Brandon put in that statement — GRAY.
–Maizenbrew.com did a nice job ripping that to shreds here.
Did Brady Hoke decide to fire Al Borges or was it forced upon on him by Brandon — GRAY.
Brady Hoke’s refusal to honestly discuss injuries at press conferences for “competitive reasons” — GRAY.
Why has Brady Hoke not been able to develop the highly rated recruiting classes he has put together at Michigan — GRAY.
Brandon once said about Hoke: “Brady understands Michigan and what football means here, he’s lived it as a coach and knows what it takes to be successful.”
Hoke can put on a good show at a press conference giving reporters the catchy saying helping win over fans obsessed with a connection to the past. Leaving out the State when talking about the Buckeyes or showing anger that a series with Notre Dame is coming to an end is in reality surface level non-sense.
At the core college football is all about winning and saying anything else is blatant lies. Part of winning is earning the trust of your players and creating a perception attractive to recruits to build a sustainable means to victories. With Hoke and Brandon in charge after the ugliness of what happened this past week it’s hard to imagine an ability to re-create the necessary image for success going forward.
Michigan’s performance on the field was going to get Hoke fired after the season concluded. What transpired with the Morris’ “probable, mid concussion” (more GRAY) should expedite that process. The sliminess throughout the situation with the behavior of Brandon needs to lead to his dismissal also.
It’s time for change at Michigan and the sooner it happens the better.
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