Last week, the Rich Rodriguez era ended at the University of Michigan. For many fans, this era was a dark time. A 15-22 record, 6-21 within the Big Ten, 0-1 in bowl games, and most importantly, 0-3 against Ohio State. The allegations against the program for practice violations cast a dark shadow on Rodriguez and his staff, along with the dismissals of highly touted players like Demar Dorsey and Justin Feagin. Seeing former Michigan players blossom at other schools sickens me, as Ryan Mallett, Steven Threet, and Justin Boren are all excelling at Arkansas, Arizona St, and Ohio St, respectively because they did not want to play for Rich Rod.
However, after attempting to lure Jim Harbaugh and Les Miles to return to their alma maters but coming ouy empty handed, Brady Hoke was hired today. For those of you who don't know about Brady Hoke, below is his coaching resume:
- 1983 - Grand Valley State - Defensive Line
- 1984-1986 - Western Michigan - Defensive Line
- 1987-1989 - Toledo - Linebackers
- 1989-1994 - Oregon State - Defensive Line
- 1995-2002 - Michigan - Defensive Line
- 2003-2008 - Ball St
- 2009-2010 - San Diego St
- 2011 - Michigan
Several things jump out from this list. First, he is part of the Michigan family, as he coached the Defensive Line for eight seasons. Second, he has had some success turning around teams in non-BCS conferences. Ball St went from a perennial loser to a Top-25 team for some of 2008, as Hoke's Cardinals, quarterbacked by Nate Davis, went undefeated until losing to Buffalo in the MAC title game. From Ball St, Hoke went on to San Diego State in the Mountain West, and they went from a 4-8 record in his first season to 9-4 his past year, with all their losses coming to bowl teams in Missouri, BYU, TCU, and Utah. San Diego St only lost to TCU by five points at TCU, an impressive achievement considering how strong a program TCU was this year. Hoke's SDSU Aztecs defeated Navy 35-14 in the Poinsettia Bowl.
These achievements should not go unnoticed, but is Hoke ready to coach a premier football program like the University of Michigan? He has never been a head coach in a BCS conference before and has a losing career record. However, he has turned around two programs that have traditionally been terrible. Also, he will have to adjust the Michigan program to his style of football. This may marginalize the value of players that were integral to the team's success during the Rich Rodriguez era, specifically Denard Robinson. It will be interesting to see how Brady Hoke takes the reins of the Michigan football program, and I hope that he can get the players he needs quickly to run his system and return Michigan to its place as a premier college football program.
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