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…
-
-
You Love Chucky
In 2007 as the search to replace Lloyd Carr commenced, I set up 24 candidates in a silly bracket . After the votes were tallied there was one man remaining: Jon Gruden. Three years later, two dozen more candidates squared off late last week and over the weekend. Once again look who’s the people’s choice: I understand the appeal (I guess) but still I’m a bit amazed this keeps happening. You love this man. Marry him. Full bracket: More on Death March Madness II here. Thanks to the thousands who voted. Thanks again to Christian Sack, (icefins26 on mgoblog, or guy who rocks the Zack Morris/AC Slater avatar) who drew up the seedings and prepared a quick summary of each candidate.
-
Accepting Les
Would this work for you? If you missed it, Michigan met with Les Miles last night and Brandon flew home, the athletic department is offering two seats at the new coach press conference, the players have a meeting today at 4pm, and on the way home from Baton Rouge, Dave Brandon wrapped his luxurious plane around Ohio so as not to enter Buckeye airspace. So why no word yet on whether Miles is the guy? Tough to say because we don’t know what happened in the meeting. Perhaps they are sleeping on it, perhaps they wanted to wait until Miles delivers his speech today at the coaches convention, perhaps Miles is listening to LSU’s counter-offer, perhaps the two sides agreed to move on, perhaps Brandon wanted to give Moe’s time to order oversized M hats. Related: The Finals: Hat vs Visor, Miles vs. Gruden (vote) Inside The Hat – Bayou Perspective on Miles (guest post) Welcome To F5 Day – mgoblog
-
The Finals: Hat vs Visor, Miles vs. Gruden
Based on his recent blog post I think Dave Brandon is waiting for this thing to finish before making a decision so—welcome to the finals of 2011 Death March Madness. Thousands upon tens of votes cast have brought this final pair of competitors together. As promised, anyone who has participated is probably worse off for it. Perhaps I should have just put Jon Gruden straight into the final. You love him. He won this same event in 2007 and despite being years from the coaching sidelines he’s now back into the finals after nipping TCU’s Gary Patterson in the Final Four. His opponent is Les Miles who had an easier time with Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops. This isn’t the first time these two have faced off in Death March. Yes, in 2007 the pair met in the Yost division regional finals and Chucky took Les down to China Town with 53% of the vote. Who’s Michigan next coach? Dave Brandon is waiting (hint: he doesn’t like the idea of two coaches so pick one): [poll id=58] Here’s the full bracket: More on Death March Madness II here. Thanks again to Christian Sack, (icefins26 on mgoblog, or guy who rocks the Zack Morris/AC Slater avatar) who drew up the seedings and prepared a quick summary of each candidate.
-
Cure for the “Discontented and Hostile” Michigan Factions
[Ed. A fascinating guest post from John Kryk, author of Natural Enemies. Check it out and thanks John. Don’t forget to look for Kryk’s upcoming book on Yost and his point-a-minute teams.] ——————————————————————- Guest post by John Kryk As I have found myself saying more and more in recent years, as I dig ever deeper into Michigan’s rich football past — it has all happened before. To wit. Except for one year, Michigan hadn’t been all that good on the football field for six painful seasons. Students, alumni, fans — everyone had had it. The latest heralded coach had come and gone too quickly and, if anything, made things worse despite having some impressive talent at some positions. By the end of the most recent season, everything had fallen apart. The athletic department then conducted an unprecedented, deliberate post-mortem. What were the causes of Michigan’s embarrassing fall from pre-eminence in football? It was found, first and foremost, that to a "disgraceful extent" the Michigan football family was "separated into discontented and hostile" factions. And once a Michigan football supporter "becomes a member of one of these warring factions, he places the success of the members of his clique, faction or society above the University good. The unsuccessful factions are then consumed with a burning hatred of those in authority, which…
-
Michigan Coaching Rumors – “Clever Coach” on his way
Best news I’ve heard all week: If you’re a Michigan or college sports history buff, you’ve got to read this. Author John Kryk found this 110-year old piece describing the epidemic in the divided Michigan fan base, check it out.
-
Death March Madness – Final Four!
Update: it’s down to the finals: [poll id=58] It’s time for the Final Four of Death March Madness. Thousands upon hundreds of votes cast have brought this quad of competitors together. Upsets? A few, including the man you love – Jon Gruden, the man who won this same event in 2007 – took down #1 seed Brady Hoke in the Crisler division. You can view the results of the first 3 rounds and have a look at the 2011 bracket here. More on Death March Madness II here. Thanks again to Christian Sack, (icefins26 on mgoblog, or guy who rocks the Zack Morris/AC Slater avatar) who drew up the seedings and prepared a quick summary of each candidate.
-
Death March Crisler Region – Round 2 (Vote Now)
Coaching search? That means the return of Death March Madness, which won’t help matters (it might actually hurt) but it’ll keep you busy while you watch your Twitter feed like a freak. The first round is over, here’s a look at the 2011 bracket and the results. Crisler Region Round 2: 1. Brady Hoke (San Diego St.) – Hotly discussed candidate that was rumored to have interviewed for the job back in 2007. He coached under Lloyd Carr and has tremendous support from former players and coaches. He has had some success in turning programs around at Ball State and now San Diego State. Players seem to really like him and he seems to recruit very well. The big knock on Hoke is that is not a big name coach and does not coach in a major BCS conference. Solid work on his Letterman Top 10. vs. 6. Tim Beckman (Toledo) — Could be a potential hot-named coach in the next few years. Ohio roots along with roots in the south — he has connections with many successful college coaches including Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. [poll id=48] Crisler Region Round 2: 2. Chris Petersen (Boise St.) — Proven winner and has won some big games — runs the spread and is able to put up points. He however, inherited…