Looks like it’s going to be a long football season. Hopefully our basketball team won’t be as dissapointing.
The only thing I have to say is “Ugh”. Agree with your sentiment on basketball for sure.
Hoke is simply inadequate as a head coach, plain and simple. When it gets to the point when we can’t score a single point against a mediocre defense that is down multiple starters things need to change and heads need to roll. No more excuses in terms of playing with previous adminstration’s players - we have a roster full of 4 and 5 star players, no more excuses. Hoke is simply not a good coach. Dave Brandon should be let go in my view as well considering his alienation of the fan base in favor of “branding”, especially when the on field product isn’t even competitive
Unfortunately the Big Ten is so bad that even this UM squad will end up with 8 wins, ensuring that Brandon will stick another year with Brady. As sad as it is, I kinda wish we’d just collapse and turn the page on the Hoke era already. It was BRUTAL sitting in those stands yesterday with ND alum relatives, BRUTAL. Will someone remind me again why Mattison is SUPPOSEDLY considered a defensive mastermind? Golson was not touched yesterday at all! We have now lost 6 of our last 8 games ( miracle NU win and Appy State ) and have looked increasingly disorganized and physically overwhelmed. Can’t wait for hoops though.
Reality is that both Hoke and Gmatt are stuck in the 90s in terms of their philosophical approaches to the game. They want to simply lineup and blow you off the ball without any sort of misdirection or change of pace. You can do that if you have elite recruiting (as opposed to good - which is what we have) or 4th or 5th year men as opposed to 2nd year boys. Bama and USC can do that because their rosters are filled with 5 star talent/elite athletes across the board on each side of the ball so the need for experience isn’t as mandatory. Other than that, teams have to be innovative and disguise alignments/blitzes etc. to create numerical and talent advantages. You see what misdirection and being innovative can do to a very good defense - see Oregon vs MSU yesterday. I never thought I would say this, but in retrospect I think we should’ve stayed the course with RR and hired a new D coordinator. At least RR was headed in the right direction, whereas Hoke did provide one really good year, albeit with RR’s players(which is telling), and has seemingly regressed since that point every year. I think the fanbase as a whole has finally accepted the fact that the myth of the so called “Michigan Man” as a prerequisite for our football coach is more symbolic than functional. We need a young, innovative coach that understands contemporary football and favors results over affinity for playing “manball”
I think we can win playing “manball,” we just need the right HC. Brady Hoke is nothing more than a figure head/cheerleader. He is a nice guy, but nothing about him eminates excellence. He is average, maybe even mediocre. We need a HC that will demand the best from his players or he will chew them out. Being an asshole does pay off to an extent (look at Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, etc.). Whenever a UM player messed up, Brady Hoke just claps. It’s good to keep motivation high, but I think it is sending the wrong message when you are essentially telling a player that their screw ups are ok by me.
You can certainly win playing “manball”, but in most cases it requires starting all juniors and seniors on the Oline simultaneously or having 5star athletic freaks, neither of which we’ve had the luxury of experiencing in the last 7 years. This leads me to believe that if it hasn’t happened in 7 years, it probably isn’t likely in the next 7, so why not attempt to go a different direction?
Things could get very interesting if an under rated Utah squad comes away with a win. The away game at Rutgers would be a very dangerous game for a continuing Hoke tenure.
Im honestly expecting a loss at Rutgers after what we were subjected to yesterday
How bizarre would it be if we lost to Rutgers and Maryland in their first year?
I’ve watched bits and pieces of Rutgers’ games the first 2 weeks and I must say that is probably the most underrated team in the country relative to preseason expectation
I know the guy is a polarizing figure, but can anyone honestly say Les Miles wouldn’t have done a MUCH better job than Hoke thus far? Brandon let pride taint his better judgment and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see DB on the unemployment line in the near future. The football donors are none too happy with his obsession with branding at the expense of a diehard fanbase
Re: Les Miles, yes I would have loved him to be Michigan’s coach.
To spin this back to basketball, that’s what makes Beilein such a fantastic coach. He has adopted his schemes to the modern day and he’s generally considered an offensive genius. Beilein can always hang his hat on his ability to create an offense.
Hoke can’t really hang his hat as being an expert in any aspect of coaching. Like you said, he’s still stuck in a prior time which just isn’t working.
People won’t want to hear it but Richrod was similar in that he is an offensive mastermind as well. He was just so bad at all of the other aspects that he had to go.
Reality is that both Hoke and Gmatt are stuck in the 90s in terms of their philosophical approaches to the game. They want to simply lineup and blow you off the ball without any sort of misdirection or change of pace. You can do that if you have elite recruiting (as opposed to good - which is what we have) or 4th or 5th year men as opposed to 2nd year boys. Bama and USC can do that because their rosters are filled with 5 star talent/elite athletes across the board on each side of the ball so the need for experience isn't as mandatory. Other than that, teams have to be innovative and disguise alignments/blitzes etc. to create numerical and talent advantages. You see what misdirection and being innovative can do to a very good defense - see Oregon vs MSU yesterday. I never thought I would say this, but in retrospect I think we should've stayed the course with RR and hired a new D coordinator. At least RR was headed in the right direction, whereas Hoke did provide one really good year, albeit with RR's players(which is telling), and has seemingly regressed since that point every year. I think the fanbase as a whole has finally accepted the fact that the myth of the so called "Michigan Man" as a prerequisite for our football coach is more symbolic than functional. We need a young, innovative coach that understands contemporary football and favors results over affinity for playing "manball"
Reality is that both Hoke and Gmatt are stuck in the 90s in terms of their philosophical approaches to the game. They want to simply lineup and blow you off the ball without any sort of misdirection or change of pace. You can do that if you have elite recruiting (as opposed to good - which is what we have) or 4th or 5th year men as opposed to 2nd year boys. Bama and USC can do that because their rosters are filled with 5 star talent/elite athletes across the board on each side of the ball so the need for experience isn't as mandatory. Other than that, teams have to be innovative and disguise alignments/blitzes etc. to create numerical and talent advantages. You see what misdirection and being innovative can do to a very good defense - see Oregon vs MSU yesterday. I never thought I would say this, but in retrospect I think we should've stayed the course with RR and hired a new D coordinator. At least RR was headed in the right direction, whereas Hoke did provide one really good year, albeit with RR's players(which is telling), and has seemingly regressed since that point every year. I think the fanbase as a whole has finally accepted the fact that the myth of the so called "Michigan Man" as a prerequisite for our football coach is more symbolic than functional. We need a young, innovative coach that understands contemporary football and favors results over affinity for playing "manball"
First of all, I wanted to say I am not at all satisfied with Hoke. But games like the other day were basically happening every week with RR.
I liked the hire at the time, but RR’s recruiting went to shit. He was never going to work here. He manhandled the MSU coach while he was at WV, and then looked like a total amateur while he was here. The motto of the defense was to make plays and players had no clue what they were doing. I remember a 3rd and 20, the play call was a basic screen and the defense was so horribly position that the other team gained something like 30 yards. It was basically a throw away down to get to 4th down to punt and RR’s team allowed the conversion. It was comical to watch.
I think RR could have worked as a offense coordinator here, but nothing other than that.
One of the earliest poor decisions he made was getting rid of all our previous coaches except Jackson. There should have been someone from Day 1 guiding him through what he was entering. It would have eased things. I don’t know that RR would have listened though. He wanted to do his own thing too often, got everyone to hate him almost instantly (both parties to blame) and it was all over before it started.
He went about recruiting all wrong (took too many chances on guys that weren’t even qualifying. Look I get he wanted to do things his own way, but I think he lacked a lot of the common sense and subtleties it takes to coach at a big time program.
Just my opinion.
You can certainly win playing "manball", but in most cases it requires starting all juniors and seniors on the Oline simultaneously or having 5star athletic freaks, neither of which we've had the luxury of experiencing in the last 7 years. This leads me to believe that if it hasn't happened in 7 years, it probably isn't likely in the next 7, so why not attempt to go a different direction?
Why hasn’t it happened in the last 7 years? Coaching changes, and switching to a different offensive scheme philosophy twice, in particular.
So your fix is to change coaches again?
I’m actually not interested in stepping into the debate about Hoke…just saying your logic doesn’t hold here. If you think getting 4th and 5th year guys on the line is the key, then just wait a year or two and we’ll be there. Another coach can’t make that happen faster, especially with another scheme change back to spread or similar.
Issue is that we’ve been saying wait another year for the last 2 years…at what pont do you say enough is enough? In Hoke’s system all of our lineman have to be 4th and 5th year guys, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to spread type systems because it is based on lineman holding ground rather than moving the opposition back (ie lateral movement rather than pure strength)…so in a nutshell that translates to this…my logic does apply on the basis that another coach/system can make our lineman better on a more expedited basis in relation to Hoke (again not saying much). Bottom line is that Hoke simply isn’t winning…and our teams our not competitive, I mean, what else is there to say? No way our team should be this poor given the recruiting.
Issue is that we've been saying wait another year for the last 2 years............at what pont do you say enough is enough? In Hoke's system all of our lineman have to be 4th and 5th year guys, but that doesn't necessarily apply to spread type systems because it is based on lineman holding ground rather than moving the opposition back (ie lateral movement rather than pure strength)..............so in a nutshell that translates to this........my logic does apply on the basis that another coach/system can make our lineman better on a more expedited basis in relation to Hoke (again not saying much). Bottom line is that Hoke simply isn't winning..........and our teams our not competitive, I mean, what else is there to say? No way our team should be this poor given the recruiting.
I agree. The whole waiting around until these offensive lineman are older is not a valid excuse anymore.
Hoke has yet to win a game where it shows he has turned the corner. He had the chance in 2012 versus Nebraska and just stood there while Bellomy imploded. Back to back BCS games in his first two years and a likely Rose Bowl bid was vanishing before our eyes and Hoke just watched Bellomy throw away our season.
Then a week later he puts in Gardner and Gardner guides us well to end that season.
To me, Hoke is walking around like he has a lifetime contract with some of the decisions he is making. I will really never understand how he could allow the season to just rot before his eyes like he did that day.
His complacent, stubborn, and hands off approach is not getting it done. He better change, and change fast.