Via media relations:
Hoke Named Michigan Football Coach
ANN ARBOR – University of Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon announced today (Tuesday, Jan. 11) the hiring of Brady Hoke as the 19th coach in the 131-year history of Michigan football. Hoke arrives in Ann Arbor after spending the past eight seasons as a head coach at Ball State (2003-08) and San Diego State (2009-10).
“We are pleased to announce the hiring of Brady,” said Brandon. “He is a terrific coach and will be a great ambassador and leader for our football program. We look forward to having him build a championship program on the field and in the classroom.”
Hoke spent eight seasons in Ann Arbor before embarking on his head coaching career. He mentored the Wolverines defensive line all eight seasons, a group that helped Michigan rank annually among the nation’s best in rushing and total defense. Hoke coached three linemen to All-America honors during his tenure – William Carr (1996), Glen Steele (1997) and Rob Renes (1999) – and had five players earn first-team All-Big Ten accolades.
A member of Michigan’s national championship staff in 1997, Hoke helped the defense lead the nation in rushing defense at 89 yards per game and 2.7 yards per carry. Michigan’s team posted a 5-3 record against Michigan State, Ohio State and in bowl games during Hoke’s tenure on the staff.
Hoke was named the 2010 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Aztecs to a 9-4 overall record and 5-3 conference mark. He led SDSU to its first bowl game in 12 years, a 35-14 victory over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl. Six of his players earned first-team All-MWC honors in 2010, including running back Ronnie Hamilton, the league’s freshman of the year. In his first season at San Diego State, Hoke had five players named to All-MWC teams, while 11 players were MWC All-Academic selections.
Hoke took the leadership position at his alma mater, Ball State, in 2003 and built it into a championship program before departing after six seasons for the West Coast. He mentored players to 35 All-MAC selections in six years en route to a pair of bowl game appearances in 2007 and ’08. The 2008 season marked the best season in program history, tallying a school-record 12 wins and completing an undefeated Mid-American Conference regular season campaign. His team won the west division championship in 2008 and shared the division crown in 2007.
Hoke has 28 years of collegiate experience, with assistant coaching stints at Grand Valley State (1983), Western Michigan (1984-86), Toledo (1987-88), Oregon State (1989-94) and Michigan (1995-2002).
A 1982 graduate of Ball State University, Hoke earned four letters (1977-80) with the Cardinals. He was part of the only two teams in school history to post undefeated conference seasons: as a player in 1978, and as head coach in 2008. Hoke led BSU to the 1978 MAC championship, and as a team captain in 1980 earned All-MAC second team honors.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, Hoke graduated from Fairmont East High School in 1977. Hoke and his wife, the former Laura Homberger, have one daughter, Kelly.
Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon will hold a press conference to introduce Coach Hoke on Wednesday (Jan. 12) at 1 p.m. EST. The media opportunity will be held at the Junge Family Champions Center located between the Michigan Stadium and Crisler Arena tunnels. The press conference is not open to the public. Both Brandon and Hoke will be unavailable for media interviews until tomorrow’s press conference.
— M —
15 Comments
robie-joe
Love Brandon……but I feel this pick is #6 or 7 on his wish list.
gobluehtown
Hearing anything on coaches? Need Loeffler as OC. Any words on DC? Bedford maybe?
jmblue
I actually think this pick is very high on Brandon's wish list. It's the fans' wish lists where it ranks lower. Well, let's hope for the best.
umtailgate
Spot on regarding mgoblog. Cook is embarrassing himself. He started his anti-Hoke rant 3 years ago and now it's like he's afraid to let it go.
Greg from MVictors
It'll come up tomorrow for sure
zyxwvut
If mgoblog is going to be the carbon sink of Hoke hate, well, maybe that will serve some useful function. It would be a shame in a way. I started reading over there not long after he launched it; he's an entertaining and perceptive writer and he's educated himself about football fairly well. But the site often feels like it's as much about its affectations — kittens, Smiths references, aping DFW, and lately a creeping sycophantism — as U-M sports, and the board has definitely become a rather vicious and increasingly juvenile place. Maybe it's just the natural lifecycle of something good that gets popular.
wolverron
in an interesting parallel to this coaching search, i remember a certain QB not getting a lot of love from michigan fans because he wasn't drew henson. i think his name was tom brady or something. i'll be honest, this hire doesn't necessarily excite me, but hoke is good at rebuilding bad programs. and right now we're not a very good program. as fans let's not make the same mistake a lot of people did with rich rod by not supporting him.
MGoBlue7
Brandon was hoping that the new coach will be able to bring the fan base back together, I think it is going to have the opposite affect. It is going to keep us divided. I for one am upset at this hiring, after Brandon said it was going to be a national search and that paying our coach in the middle of the pack was unacceptable I really thought we were going to bring in a big name coach. Not a coach with a career losing record between the MAC and the MWC. David Brandon has done a lot of good things for athletics but this may be by far his worst decision so far.
Teddy
Maybe we can get Braylon's dad to call him out like he did on WTKA.
Not a huge Hoke fan but hopefully this hire brings back great defense's and we can move on from the "basketball on grass" system that had us lead the Big 10 in turnovers.
Teddy
It is amazing how some so called fans of the program continue to bash Lloyd Carr who was 122-40 with a NC and 5 Big Ten championships and did it with class and honor. I suppose that crying because their guy RR got canned after being the worst coach in Michigan history has something to do with it. Time to move on and support our new coach or you can just follow RR and support Clemson next year.
zyxwvut
A few more thoughts on Brady Hoke:
If Hoke was the coach Brandon wanted from the start, I'm glad he had the guts to go through with it. This is DB's call, and his stewardship of the AD will be judged nearly entirely on how this works out.
I think we've acquired a lot of fans in recent years who want U-M to be members of the sexy flavor of the month club. Lloyd was not good enough for them. I don't know if they even remember Bo. But it's worth noting that Bo had his detractors, too. Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust was not intended as a compliment.
A lot of our fans are ripping this hire big time. I wonder how many have seen the game from inside a helmet. Outside the fanbase, the hire is generally, even widely, getting tagged as an astute one. Football people in particular think it was a smart move.
There are folks out there saying that he's an excellent recruiter. Apparently, it was Hoke who got The Other Brady to come to AA.
It's also worth noting that while Hoke has had just three winning seasons in eight as a head coach, all three have come in the last four years. He came to his first HC gig not as a coordinator but as a unit/position coach. Maybe, in addition to getting his first HC shot at school that had little real winning tradition and little for him to work with right off the bat, he had a little steeper learning curve to climb.
Certainly, they did not want him to go at Ball State, and they really didn't want him to leave at SDSU.
I'm liking this hire more all the time.
jmblue
I don't care if Hoke gets an average salary – if his assistants are paid market value. No more skimping on coordinators.
Steve Holt
Actually, the powers that be did sort of push Brady Hoke away at Ball St. (his alma mater actually). It looks incredibly shortsighted now as his successor (& fellow former Wolves assistant) Stan Parrish was a resounding failure, but Hoke wasn't exactly itching to leave after 2008.
umtailgate
Sad, but true. I remember when I was one of five comments a posts of his would get. Now, it's not my type of community. You're right, it happens.
The guy can turn a phrase, he's a great writer. I buy the HTTV book every year. But the site requires too much sifting through vitriol and cliquishness.
umtailgate
Al Borges will be OC. Rivals.com OC of the Year in 2005 with Auburn, and finalist for the Frank Boyles Assistant Coach of the Year. Unfortunately he's mainly WCO. We'll see how he adapts.