GBMWolverine: Coach’s Corner — Michigan Football — Looking Back to the Past Year — Part I

Posted at 6:00am — 12/8/2011

GBMWolverine: Coach’s Corner — Michigan Football — Looking Back to the Past Year — Part I

With a short respite until the bowl season, the present time is the perfect opportunity to look back at the last 11 months of Michigan’s past and look ahead to the future.

Michigan started the year 2011 in poor style with a true butt whipping from SEC mid-pack team Mississippi State. Chaos reigned everywhere, and no more evident was this easily seen epiphany than the way the defense played. Even if the defense had been allowed to play touch football and not tackle, the last several opponents would still have scored plenty.

The team limped home and Director of Athletics David Brandon made a change. The usual carnage of choice and speculation occurred but the process did not last long enough to throw up a total polar charge. From this seat the outcome was never in doubt once Harbaugh received the chance to coach NFL ball in the Bay area.

Then out trudged Brandon to announce Brady Hoke. And some faithful protested and some had a wait and see attitude.

Hoke had several missions that needed immediate attention. First was to assemble a professional staff that had proven competence and skill at teaching. Second, was to convince the recruits already committed to stay, and that mission was accomplished. Third, Hoke had a small window to secure a few recruits of his own. This had some success with some players leaving very early and other lesser-known players doing quite well as true freshmen.

Hoke then had perhaps his toughest task to undertake: restating the Michigan mission and preaching to the skeptics in the hopes of conversion. He said the right things, put forth simple philosophy and goals, and demonstrated control and organization. Things went smoothly, the positive was accentuated, and weekly “All My Wolverines” moments went into hiding. This may have been Coach Hoke’s biggest challenge off the football field. The result is beyond reasonable debate.

After the preliminaries of foundation building, Hoke and the staff aggressively went into attack mode on the recruiting trail, seeking players suited to Midwest football. His greatest invasion was the State of Ohio, where several players deemed not quite good enough for Ohio State gladly pledged Blue and set the early stage for a very strong class that continues to gather quality and quantity.

In the spring game the mode of offensive change was confirmed as the power I set returned to the Big House. The defense, even then, looked improved, albeit, the defense was playing against an offense trying to run the ball with power after being unsuccessful for three years. The outcome of the game was muted and any reasonable prognostication was for improvement but no miracles.

Seven to eight wins was a common expectation with some going as high as ten wins. One elite Einsteinian prognosticator, Lee (Lou) Corso boldly predicted five wins for the Wolverines.
Like every other program, Michigan worked hard during the summer. But more than physical work, the tone may have been one of expectations and toughness over pure work. Simple messages were put forth and some were taken and some were ignored. As a result some players stayed and some left.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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