Brady Hoke? Seriously?

I hate Michgian football. I mean, I really despise them. Losing to them eats away at my soul for the next 12 months.

That being said, college football is undeniably better when Michigan has a good team. It's good for the sport to have good teams in the Midwest, especially since the northeast has more or less stopped playing football, and 90% of the focus during the season is on teams from the SEC and PAC-10.

As far as I'm concerned, Michigan going 11-1 every year would be a great thing for everyone involved.

Rich Rodriguez was never going to work out. Never, ever hire someone who leaves their employer in the way he did to come work for you. Although he probably didn't expect to be named the Michigan coach while he was renegotiating his contract with WVU, the fact that he had just signed a contract means he should have passed. If that's how he treated his alma mater, what did you expect him to do to your program?

Michigan's AD, David Brandon, however, seems to have botched this one pretty good. First, it was obvious to everyone that, regardless of what Rich Rod did in the bowl game, the chances of him surviving until the following season were about zilch. Brandon should have done a lot more groundwork early on with Harbaugh or Miles (if those are the guys he was interested in). As it was, it looked like the search didn't get underway until the first week of January. And, of course, those two candidates ended up passing on the job. This was sloppy work by the folks at Ann Arbor -- just plain sloppy.

Second, enough of this "Michigan Man" nonsense. Heck, the guy who coined the phrase, the legendary Bo Schembechler, was himself not a Michigan Man. (He played and coached at Miami of Ohio before coming to Ann Arbor.) If you can get the right person for the job who also happens to be an alum, fantastic. But just because you are from the same place doesn't mean you are going to be a success (see: Charlie Weis). It is more important to get the right person than the right pedigree.

So that raises the question: why Brady Hoke? Near as I can tell, his leading qualification is that he was an assistant coach in Ann Arbor for several years. Other than, there is little to recommend him.

His greatest achievement was almost winning something at Ball State. In 2008, he took his team to 12-0 and a #12 ranking...before getting absolutely used and abused against Buffalo in the MAC Championship (42-24) and then suffering an even worse defeat against Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl (45-13).

Almost winning something is no reason to hire or extend a coach. (See: Charlie Weis)

His next best year was this year, taking a San Diego State team to 9-4 and a victory in the Poinsetta Bowl. It was a pretty good season to be sure, and it could have been even better: their 4 losses all came by 5 points or less. Still, we have no idea if that was simply a fluke or if he really did turn around SDSU.

His short-term accomplishments, therefore, are somewhat suspect. And his long-term record -- 47-50 -- is nothing to brag about. Plus, he has never been subject to the kind of intense pressure and scrutiny that comes with the Michigan job, both on and off the field.

Hiring Hoke seems like a complete leap of faith by a program that was so desperate to get a Michigan Man that they really limited who they considered. By the time things didn't work out with Harbaugh and Miles, they had to offer the job to Hoke.


I hope Hoke succeeds, I really do. But if I were a Michigan fan, I would be very leary of this hire...

~Go Irish