Posted on Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 7:02 a.m.
Mitch Albom sees Michigan football coach Brady Hoke as a stickler for details, unlike Rich Rodriguez; U-M kicker commit switches to Miami and more
By Kaleb Roedel
When Brady Hoke graduated from Ball State, his goal was to get into the secret service, he told Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press.
A college football coach instead, Hoke, the newly hired Michigan football coach, has made many things clear, feels Albom.
"He wants to be here," Albom writes. "He'll throw himself into it. He'll chew out any
kid who doesn't share that passion. He'll be a stickler for details
(something [Rich]Rodriguez was not). And a tight ship? Heck. When Hoke
graduated from Ball State, he became an intern for the federal
probation and parole department."
MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
- AnnArbor.com: Top 5 thoughts on Brady Hoke's first week as U-M's coach
- AnnArbor.com: Former U-M assistant Rod Smith reflects on his time in Ann Arbor
- AnnArbor.com: U-M fans rush to bid on clothing, memorabilia donated by RichRod
- Detroit Free Press: Michigan offered Les Miles more than his LSU salary
- Detroit Free Press: Michigan kicker commit switches to Miami
- Detroit Free Press: Traverse City West's Jacob Fisher decommits from Wolverines
- Detroit News: Two Spartans, one Wolverine will play in Senior Bowl
- Grand Rapids Press: Michigan Man means more than just being Wolverines' coach
- Detroit News: Michigan State is in line for a repeat performance next year
- Yahoo! Sports: Indiana coach moving on after Pease stays at Boise State
- Rivals.com: Whose coaching seat with be the hottest in 2011?
- SI.com: We want a playoff; those involved do not, writes Joe Posnanski
- SI.com: Stewart Mandel's top college football stories of 2010
MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
- AnnArbor.com: Michigan enters unknown territory after four losses in a row
- Grand Rapids Press: Spartans seek 'confidence' as shooting struggles continue
Comments
bossfan23
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 7:23 p.m.
I frequently find myself agreeing with Murrow's Ghost and his most recent post is no exception. His point is that "coaching and developing" the player is more important than their "rank" coming out of high school. Today offered an excellent example. Though we live in West Michigan, there's a young man from a local high school that was an outstanding football player three years ago, but didn't even get a sniff from M. Somehow, Jim Harbaugh knew about him though and this young man ended up at Stanford. In the Orange Bowl, he started at LB, as a red-shirt Sophomore, and recorded five tackles including a sack. By the way, this young man's dad, who is a friend of mine, told me today that they all knew from the start that Harbaugh would never leave for Michigan. He had told all of his players and their parents that he would never leave for another college job but would entertain an offer from the pro's. This is what DB knew when he talked to Harbaugh, thus no offer. DB probably got the same vibe from Les Miles, again no offer. Therefore, Hoke wasn't the third choice, as so many would like to believe, but may have indeed been the first choice all along. That is the way that I would like to believe that it happened. I believe that DB was just flying around asking some guys that had coached with, against, or recruited against Hoke, what they thought of him.
PortageLkBlu
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 6:47 p.m.
Ya it's a significant problem made obvious by some of these posters trying to dismiss it. Every recruiting class is important especially at this particular moment in Mich. football. To try and rationalize it away as, no big deal as many are doing signifies just how much it really does have fans worried. Will the world end because of this, no. Will Mich. football be adversely affected in the near future, of course it will. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Dusty
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 6:41 p.m.
I don't think we should be lumping the punter in with the kickers when we talk about needing to fix the special teams. The punter wasn't really that bad. The team's punting average (39.4, 87th in the nation) was skewed by the pooch punting of Tate and Denard. Will Hagerup actually had a 43.6 average, which would rank 24th in the country.
81wolverine
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 2:52 p.m.
Unfortunately, this is going to be Michigan's worse recruiting class in quite a few years and there isn't a terrible lot Hoke can do at this point. Hopefully, he can salvage the situation and bring a few of our recruits back into the fold IF he can finish hiring his staff in the next few days. Losing the kicker is a big one as there are not many (if any) good uncommitted ones left. Also, Fisher is very important being an offensive tackle - a position Michigan badly needs a recruit in. The problem is not next year, as it is several years from now when most of the current O-line will be gone. That's when a poor recruiting class this year will rear its ugly head. And if we lose some players in the offseason due to transfers (very likely) it will make the next two recruiting classes critical for Michigan. Finally, assuming we aren't able to find a QB this year (and with the uncertainty with Tate) next year's class will be hugely critical to find several QB's.
Keith
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 1:49 p.m.
We had 2 kickers last year? The game experience will carry over, The mew coach is a plus. We will have better results in the kicking game next year.
GoblueinNE_PA
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 8:03 a.m.
Hoke needs to go on the offensive. He needs to go after some of these kids, like Zettel, that seemed like sure bets and get them to change their minds. At this point, it's a bit of all or nothing. He needs to push all his chips in and go for it.
rensational
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 7:57 a.m.
That "Michigan Man" article was lame.
Blu-n-Tpa
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 7:40 a.m.
I love being the first post. "It smells like victory" The loss of the kicker is problematic at worst, a non-issue at best. The Traverse City O-lineman starting to look around again is significant and should be a priorty for the staff to focus on. The bad news is these are 18-19 year olds and not being contacted for a couple of weeks, even during the dead period for recruiting, can cause the "out of sight, out of mind" reaction. The good news is these are 18-19 year olds who have a new "suitor" interested which means some of them can still be convinced that Michigan will be coming back, and in a big way, and there will never be a better time to join in the resurgence. I think the next Michigan DC is still busy with his current team and that may take a week or so to work it's way out. Can Coach Hoke afford to wait? Yes! Time isn't really a factor when looking over the long haul. Get the best guy available for DC and find a true Special Teams coach so he can work with our kickers/punters on a daily basis. ST means field position and that helps the "D" and the "O". Go get us some players and coaches. Go Blue!