Michigan Football: What if Brady Hoke Wasn’t Fired?

Michigan football fired Brady Hoke after the 2014 season and hired Jim Harbaugh, a move for which we’re eternally grateful. But what if that didn’t happen?

The direction of Michigan football was altered for the better on Dec. 2, 2014 when interim athletic director Jim Hackett made the decision to fire Brady Hoke as the head coach.

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Then things really got wild when Hackett—already extremely popular for letting go of Hoke—did the previously unthinkable and hired San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh to come back to Ann Arbor and coach the Wolverines.

In Harbaugh’s first season we saw a dramatic change in the on-field product with basically the same pieces Hoke had the previous year. Michigan finished the season 10-3 and looked like a powerhouse in its infancy along the way. The Wolverines shut out three straight opponents (two of which were ranked) and defeated No. 19 Florida, 41-7, in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.

In the news just about every other day, Harbaugh has brought a lot of attention to Michigan, and his team is primed to be one of college football’s best this season. But if Hackett decided to give Hoke another run at it?

Here’s where we might be right now.

Harbaugh is again a distant hope

Harbaugh’s name wasn’t an uncommon one at Michigan when the Wolverines were in need of a change, but former athletic director Dave Brandon couldn’t land him. Had we been let down one more time, Harbaugh would have gone back to being a hope that’s just not attainable.

It’s very likely that Harbaugh would have been coaching a new team either way because of the turmoil in San Francisco, but perhaps it’s the Bears he’s coaching. Or any other NFL team. Bottom line: Harbaugh remains a distant figure in the ranks of the NFL.

We get at least one more year of clapping!

Michigan maybe sneaks into a bowl game last season

The craziest part about what Harbaugh was able to bring out of last year’s team is that Hoke was working with almost the exact same pieces. He was just getting—or extracting—a whole lot less.

Here was Hoke’s wins regression from 2011-2014:

• 2011 — 11
• 2012 — 8
• 2013 — 7
• 2014 — 5

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What reason was there to believe Michigan would have been a bowl team in 2015 under Hoke’s leadership?

Top recruits go elsewhere

Let’s not get out of hand here; Hoke was a good recruiter, but he wasn’t seen as a coach who could make a large impression nationally. The regional talent was there, but players like David Long (Los Angeles), Devin Asiasi (Concord, California) and Dylan Crawford (Rancho Santa Margarita, California) probably aren’t going to Michigan with Hoke in command.

One of the best things Harbaugh has done since arriving at Michigan is give the program a revamped national presence. Hoke would have drawn in another decent-to-good recruiting class, but Harbaugh is that next level.

Michigan is still putting 10 guys on the field

It happened against Utah…

And Rugers…

The NCAA probably doesn’t ban satellite camps

Harbaugh didn’t invent the satellite camp, but he’s certainly the one who pushed the conversation on them. SEC and ACC coaches and officials didn’t like how well Harbaugh was utilizing this extra exposure and made an effort to cut him off. The NCAA, adhering to its overlords, banned satellite camps.

If Harbaugh stays in the NFL and Hoke keeps doing his thing at Michigan, we’re probably still having conversations about satellite camps, but there’s no way the NCAA steps in and bans them.

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So tell us: What else is true if Hackett hadn’t fired Hoke?