Tag: Brady Hoke (Page 3 of 4)

      Looking forward to new coaches in the upcoming NCAA football season

      June 30, 2011 /

      Pre-order NCAA Football 12 now and get “Five-Star Quarterback” Free – Only at Best Buy®

      This has been a very controversial offseason in college football, with the scandal at Ohio State and potential scandals at Oregon, Auburn and many other schools. At Ohio State, Jim Tressel is gone, so a new era is beginning. There are also new coaches at other big schools, so there will be some interesting storylines in the upcoming season.

      1. Luke Fickell – Ohio State

      Everyone is predicting that Fickell will be at Ohio State for only one year. Right now they’ve only named him as the “Interim” head coach. But Fickell has deep roots at Ohio State, and despite the Terrelle Pryor fiasco and the early suspensions for some key players, Ohio State is still loaded. Freshman quarterback Braxton Miller is a real talent, with mobility and a very accurate arm. If he takes the job and grows as a quarterback, Ohio State might be at the top of the Big Ten again, and Fickell might be able to lock down this job.

      2. Brady Hoke – Michigan

      The Wolverines have been taking a beating for years from Ohio State during the Jim Tressel era. It was so bad that they got desperate and hired Rich Rodriguez, who made things even worse. RichRod changed up everything at Michigan, going to lighter lines on both sides of the ball along with him gimmicky offense. The results were disastrous, as Michigan got pushed around by teams like Ohio State and Wisconsin. Brady Hoke was hired to bring back Michigan-style football, and he has started to recruit real lineman. It remains to be seen, however, how quickly he can turn things around, as he’ll have to deal with RichRod’s recruits for a while.

      3. Will Muschamp – Florida

      This guy has huge shoes to fill with the departure of Urban Meyer. Florida became a football powerhouse under Meyer, though last year everything fell apart, as the new players couldn’t excel with Meyer’s offensive schemes. Muschamp will surely make changes on offense, so we’ll see if he adapts to his players, or tries to install his own system.

      4. Al Golden – Miami

      Miami used to be a powerhouse, but now they get slapped around by the elite schools. Can Golden change things? He’s supposed to be a great recruiter, so over time he can make a huge impact in South Florida. But, he doesn’t have much experience at elite programs. He’ll need some time to build things, and in the meantime he’ll need to show he can handle the pressure.

      I think both Fickell and Hoke will do fine, and we might enter a new phase of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry where it’s more evenly matched after Ohio State dominated for 10 years after Michigan had it’s own run. As for Florida and Miami, they usually get the players down in Florida, so we’ll see if these guys can actually coach.

      College Football

      Michigan suspends WR Darryl Stonum

      May 10, 2011 /

      The University of Michigan football program has suspended wide receiver Darryl Stonum indefinitely following his arrest last Friday for suspicion of drunken driving.

      The details of his suspension weren’t readily available when the team announced the decision over the weekend. Head coach Brady Hoke told the media on Saturday that Stonum made a “poor decision” and was being punished, but didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t until Sunday that the media found out that the wideout was arrested around 2:25AM on Friday on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence.

      The senior started 12 games as a junior last season for the now departed Rich Rodriguez. He ranked second on the team in receptions and receiving yards, and now has 76 career receptions to go along with 1,008 yards and six touchdowns.

      Stonum has certainly put his new head coach in a tough spot. Hoke doesn’t want to come off as soft when it comes to Stonum’s punishment, but if he overacts to the situation then he may be criticized for that as well. Either way, he has to send a message to the rest of his players that this kind of behavior won’t be tolerated if the Wolverines are going to right the ship. Stonum decided to put himself in front of the team and now Hoke needs to correct that. He also needs his second-leading receiver, so it’s a tricky situation.

      So far, Hoke has handled the situation correctly. He didn’t make Stonum’s arrest public knowledge and only gave the media what it needed to know: that he was suspended and the matter was being handled internally. Now he must decide how many games Stonum will miss in 2011, or even if the young man will have a roster spot when August rolls around.

      College Football, External Sports

      Rich Rodriguez admits leaving West Virginia for Michigan was a mistake

      April 24, 2011 /
      Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez watches his team during their NCAA college football game against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, November 27, 2010. REUTERS/Matt Sullivan (UNITED STATESSPORT – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Rich Rodriguez told CBSSports.com that in hindsight, leaving West Virginia for the head-coaching job in Michigan was a mistake.

      From ESPN.com:

      “I think it’s easy to go back now and say, ‘Gee, made a mistake.’ And you can say that now because of hindsight,” Rodriguez told CBSSports.com. “But at the time, some of the things I was looking to do and the opportunity that was there, you kind of make the move.”

      “Hindsight is always easier to look back and say, ‘It was a mistake,’ ” Rodriguez said. “Because we did have a good thing going at West Virginia, and we really enjoyed it. As you look back at it, wasn’t the best move. Easy to say now.”

      I think the mistake was on Michigan’s part for hiring him in the first place. He wasn’t a fit for the program, or the Big Ten, and his record in Ann Arbor speaks for itself.

      There are many Wolverine fans that believe RichRod would have eventually gotten the program pointed in the right direction. And maybe he would have. But the fact of the matter is that under his watch, the defense was historically bad, the special teams were an utter joke, and the Wolverines went a combined 0-6 against Ohio State and Michigan State. That’s the ultimate sin for any Michigan coach, nevertheless one that was hyped as being someone who could potentially bring a national championship to Ann Arbor in 3-4 years.

      Brady Hoke might not wind up being the answer either, but at least he knows what the Michigan program is all about. He knows that he has to beat Ohio State regularly. He knows he has to beat Michigan State yearly. And he knows he has to win some Big Ten championships or he’ll eventually be replaced by someone who will. He certainly has his work cut out for himself, especially with Nebraska set to join the conference this year. But at least the program should have some direction under his supervision.

      College Football, External Sports

      Under Brady Hoke, the focus is now clear again in Ann Arbor: Beat Ohio State.

      March 18, 2011 /

      Whether you’re a Michigan fan that despised what Rich Rodriguez did to the program or one of the few who thought he would eventually right the ship, you have to at least appreciate what new head coach Brady Hoke is trying to do in Ann Arbor.

      He’s trying to find a kicker? Well, yeah. He’s trying to find a kicker. He’s also trying to make it as seamless a transition as possible for quarterback Denard Robinson, who is currently learning Al Borges’ pro-style offense after running RichRod’s spread option for the past couple of years. Hoke needs to fix the mess that Rodriguez left him on defense as well.

      But above all that, Hoke’s focus is simple: Beat Ohio State.

      The Buckeyes are currently in a hell of their own making. Unlike their rivals in Ann Arbor, they have the players on both sides of the ball to win Big Ten championships. It’s just that some of those players decided it was a okay to trade memorabilia for free tattoos and, along with their head coach Jim Tressel, will be suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season.

      But Hoke’s message has nothing to do with kicking an enemy while it’s down. Despite the hatred, the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry has always been about mutual respect. (The latest example of that was in Friday’s Detroit Free Press when Hoke referred to Tressel as “a good man.”) Hoke doesn’t want to just take advantage of the Buckeyes’ predicament: he wants to beat Ohio State because that’s what Michigan coaches have to do. It should be priority No. 1 and if that happens, then everything else should fall into place.

      Among other things, that’s something Rodriguez never fully grasped. He never beat Ohio State or Michigan State, which is unacceptable in the eyes of Wolverine fans. You’re not going to beat OSU every year, but you damn better well make it a focus regardless.

      While reading this NBC Sports article, I found it interesting that Hoke has two clocks near his office at Schembechler Hall. One of the clocks is ticking down the time until Michigan plays Michigan State again. The other clock ticks down the time until the Wolverines face the Buckeyes. In between the two clocks is a red number that goes up every day. That number represents the days it has been since Michigan last beat Ohio State, which is now more than 2,600 and counting.

      It’s going to take some time for Hoke to turn things around in Ann Arbor but at least the man has his priorities straight.

      College Football, External Sports

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