College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

[J.D.]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

They finally did something right in Ann Arbor. They changed their name to the University of MissedAgain.

Care to explain?

It's Brady Hoke.

I'm less than enthused, but there was the same "Why can't we have a national search?" when Michigan hired Lloyd Carr rather than throwing truckloads of money at Rick Neuheisel, and that seemed to work out.

Just curious, who were you hoping for?

[blockski]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Care to explain?



Just curious, who were you hoping for?

I would have been hoping for Harbaugh.

Harbaugh was the only reason to drag this out until January. If Dave Brandon really wanted Hoke, he could have hired him a month ago, given him time to assemble a staff and hit the recruiting trail.

My assumption was that they were trying to avoid the botched 2007 search where the open job and a lack of communication basically put Les Miles (who was set to coach in the MNC game) into an untenable position - ergo, facing a similar situation with Harbaugh and Stanford this year, that they'd string it out long enough to grab Harbaugh after he had the chance to coach his kids in the Orange Bowl.

[J.D.]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

I would have been hoping for Harbaugh.

Harbaugh was the only reason to drag this out until January. If Dave Brandon really wanted Hoke, he could have hired him a month ago, given him time to assemble a staff and hit the recruiting trail.

Well ya, I think Harbaugh was the obvious top choice. They waited until January due to the buyout factor and because Harbaugh was coaching his team in a BCS game. They were screwed in the short term no matter what. I just hope they got the right guy.

[MaizeRage]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Just curious, who were you hoping for?

I wasn't that interested in anyone after Harbaugh. Prior to the bowl game, I would have said Rodriguez was my second choice to be coach next year, but after the bowl game fiasco, there was no way that was feasible.

[Priceless]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Care to explain?

Jim Harbaugh...no
Les Miles....no

[Biddco]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Are Michigan fans never going to accept him because he is from Ohio? At least he was a coach for Michigan. I hope fans give him a chance. Michigan is going to be bad for a couple years.

I wonder if Denard will stay.

[J.D.]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Jim Harbaugh...no
Les Miles....no

Ha

They never offered Miles, but fair enough on Harbaugh. That was obviously the guy...

[alfablue]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Care to explain?

shh- if his fun posts help the haters buy officially licenced Michigan stuff to burn in effigy, that's not really a bad thing.

As for the hire, the only thing I'm really bummed about is that all the 3 choices seemed obvious- and that we didn't uncover a hidden gem from a small school. Hoke is about as close as we will get on that, much like Kelly was when he was at CMU, but since he moved on from Ball St... Some great B10 coaches came from small mid-west programs- two of them made a pretty nice rivalry between them.

But that's a pretty minor gripe.

[alfablue]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Are Michigan fans never going to accept him because he is from Ohio? At least he was a coach for Michigan. I hope fans give him a chance. Michigan is going to be bad for a couple years.

I wonder if Denard will stay.

Uh- Bo was from Ohio. His first wife played organ at my parents wedding. And we have had some pretty good players from Ohio. That's really not a problems.

As for Denard- listening to what Hoke has said, and what the pundits say about him- Robinson will stay. My biggest of big pet peves about RR was that it was all about his "system" and if the team was bad, it was the players, and not the system- this idea came pretty evident when you saw the mass exodus from the Michigan program (I never bought into the hype that Lloyd left him NOTHING- maybe it was limited, but not as bad as RR's first season turned out). OTOH, one of Hoke's apparent pluses is that he evolves his plans and scheme around his players- which is pretty important when you consider how short of stay he had at both Ball State and San Diego. The question is really- will Denard be a quarterback.

If this new coaching staff is better at teaching than this past one (which doesn't seem to hard, based on game play evolution), he will be a better passer, which then makes him a much more dangerous player. Denard seems like a great player, and I hope that his passing improvement over two seasons isn't representative of his abilities.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

Watching Michigan flail around like this twice in three years is hilarious.

I wonder. Maybe there's less flailing than people think. The following is just speculation from the sidelines. But put yourself in Brandon's shoes, and consider this scenario:

You're no dummy, and you realize that Harbaugh tops the wish list, with Miles a strong second choice. During the fall, you conclude you're in the market for a FB coach, so you send out informal feelers to both men. The answer you get back is that they're both flattered, but both not coming. Simple enough, but the fanbase will be in an uproar if the perception is that either of the favorites slipped away due to AD bungling.

At the same time, Minnesota appears to be on the verge of hiring Brady Hoke. Hoke would be a good catch for either school, and you don't want to lose him by waiting. So you send out another feeler. This time the answer is yes. The public isn't told why, but Hoke suddenly drops off Minnesota's radar screen.

Now let's sell it to the fanbase. Many want a coach hired in December, and their reasons are solid. But there are complications. Harbaugh and Miles are willing help you out on the PR front, but not if it disrupts the bowl season. Hoke would just as soon coach through his bowl game, other things being equal. And waiting until January saves you a nice piece of change on the Rodriguez buyout.

The bowl season comes and goes, and now you spring into action. Within a matter of days, everyone is content that nothing could be done to land Harbaugh or Miles. One day after that, you've got your guy. Conveniently enough, there's a home hoops game against OSU coming up. Perfect opportunity to introduce the new coach. How "lucky" that we finished up our hiring process just in time!

Again, there's lots of tea leaf reading in above account. Just pure speculation on my part. But frankly I find it more plausible than the out-of-control flailing scenario.

[J.D.]

Re: College Football IV: The Hand over Fist Cash Grab Time, or Bowl Season for short.

(I never bought into the hype that Lloyd left him NOTHING- maybe it was limited, but not as bad as RR's first season turned out).

Me neither. They went 11-2 in his 2nd to last year and even 9-4 in the disappointing season to end it. With Ryan Mallett set to step in for Henne, there's no reason to believe Michigan wouldn't have won 9+ games going forward. Now, being able to win big games against Ohio State/Rose Bowl, etc....different story.