Brady Hoke should understand that Doug Collins had a solid roster in Chicago, but the Bulls and Michael Jordan didn’t get over the hump until Phil Jackson arrived. The same goes for the Cubs and Joe Madden.
Sometimes it’s the guy driving, and not necessarily the person who built the car, that allows it to move so well. Former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke buckled under the weight of huge expectations, getting fired after an ugly ending in Ann Arbor.
Hoke opened up about a lot of what went on during a Q&A with SI’s Campus Rush, and he had a lot to say. At certain points it appeared Hoke tried to troll Jim Harbaugh a bit.
When asked about Harbaugh’s immediate success at Michigan, Hoke pointed to the job he and his staff did recruiting and building from the ground up.
"When you look at it, one of the things is that I may have to wear a headset again. I’m getting used to it being on the radio. Now it’s become a habit. I think in ways that you grow and you mature as a coach. Believe me, I thought we did a nice job of putting a program in place. With the success that Michigan is having right now, it reassures you we had a plan. That validates you. Jimmy (Harbaugh) is a good coach. His staff is doing a good job. I think we did a nice job. It’s never going to be a quick fix. I don’t believe that. We walked into a program in 2011 with 15 fifth-year seniors. We had a special young man in Denard Robinson. Even in 2012, we were 11 seconds from beating an 11-win South Carolina team to get nine wins. Those two years, we felt good about. We were recruiting for 2015 as much as anything. From the bottom up, we wanted long-term success and a great foundation established. From an academic standpoint, we graduated all 68 seniors who came through the program. The ARP rate is 1000. I feel like we did what we said we were going to do."
Hoke said his ultimate goal now is to get another head coaching job in a Power 5 conference.
By Glenn Erby
