Prayers, Training, and Vitamins

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Before I get rolling here, I just want to send out get well wishes for one of our regular tailgaters, Craig, who is in a battle that we all pray he can win. We're thinking about you buddy...get well soon.
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At some point (and that point is usually in the off-season when there is 8 months to go before anything really happens) reality doesn't matter anymore. Perception rules. I just watched the first 15 minutes of the half-hour long College Football Live on ESPN, and every one of those minutes was dedicated to Greg Mattison. We hire a defensive coordinator, and the sports world comes to a screeching halt. Which in short thwarts the cynicism residing in the title of my previous post. Like the 15 year long Notre Dame collapse has shown us, relevance is relative. We are Michigan. Our three year fall from grace was a story, but the story now is Michigan (pardon the ND speak) returning to glory. And even though we've shown absolutely no sign of improvement anywhere other than the press conference room, they are lining up to be the first to tell you Michigan is back. I heard the host of College Football Live actually mention the top 25.

Yep, it was all positives today. Bob Davie spoke on behalf of Mattison, and used a term I've heard 3 or 4 times regarding this hire, "home run." Jesse Palmer called him a master recruiter. Jesse said that if a defensive recruit is trying to decide between Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State...Michigan will send in Mattison...he's the closer. ESPN went to Angelique on the phone, where she said the hire legitimized Brady's staff, especially in the eyes of the current players, who have been a bit uneasy about the parade of Ball State and San Diego State coaches that Hoke had brought in thus far.

And all of that...it's good. Even if it's not actually good, it's still good. Because they're saying it's good. So recruits see that and believe that it's good. And the momentum builds. And good things start to happen for real. Got all that?

So why am I not all giddy? I dunno. I guess it still feels "old guard" to me. A lot of people point to Mattison's '95 and '96 Michigan defenses, which dominated the Big Ten and dismantled the Buckeyes in two of the most glorious upset victories outside of November 22, 1969. Perhaps more importantly those defenses were a building block for the 1997 defense, which was, um, the 1997 defense...stuff of lore. And that's great, don't get me wrong. But that was 15 years ago. Not that he's been sitting on a couch somewhere since then...his resume speaks for itself. I just need to know...2 or 3 years from now, when some new guys are in place and this defense has a little talent, are we going to be able to stop a mobile quarterback?

Ugh. I'm not where I want to be. I'm so bipolar with this whole thing. Time. Need more time.

All of that being said, we do have some things getting done around here. The bulk of the staff is in place, and it seems to be about what we thought it would be...maybe even a little better than we thought given we poached the Raven's defensive coordinator. Denard is staying, and it's tough not to take that as a positive, no matter what his role may be, or how he fits into Borges's pro-style gulf coast (huh?) offense. Fred Jackson has been asked back, so we should be all set with our recruitment of Sam McGuffie. Oh wait, that was a different coaching change. Anyway, there's a recruiting class to be salvaged, so we'll see what Hokemania and Greg "The Closer" Mattison can do in the next couple weeks.

And as always, GO BLUE!

Let's All Hold Hands and Pretend We're Relevant

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It was a knee-jerk reaction when I blurbed yesterday about Brady Hoke.  Not that I am not extremely disappointed in the way the magical national search was conducted...I most certainly am.  But I wrote "unbelievable how the mighty have fallen" and that is far from the truth.  The reality is, we haven't moved much at all.  You can't fall if you fail to ever take a chance or make a stand.  This job was offered to no one but Brady Hoke.  Nobody else was going to get it, and nobody else wanted it.  Because according to Dave this job is about tradition.  It's about making men.  It's about the classroom and future husbands and fathers.  It's about former players stopping by and showing you their Big Ten championship rings, but neglecting to mention what happened when they went to the Rose Bowl.  It's about getting the band back together, believing in a system, and evoking the spirit of Bo...and never being able to catch a mobile quarterback.  It's about getting guys that want to play for Michigan...guys from Michigan...even though all their other offers were from MAC schools.  It's about taking 2-star recruits and molding them into 3-star level talent, so they don't look completely inept when they face a team full of 4 and 5 stars.  

It's about a lot of things, but it certainly isn't about competing on a national stage...for national championships.  And that's what I wanted.  And before most of you pussed-out on RichRod, back when the Lloyd-led Wolverines folded to App State and got manhandled on our home turf by Oregon, that's what you wanted too.

You can't fight the fact that Auburn and Oregon played for the National Championship with teams that were exactly what you were going to have if you could have found a way to support RichRod on any level.  The reaction to the hiring of Hoke and the feedback from the press conference was cult-ish.  There was applause.  Several times...by the press core.  Hoke choked back tears at the presser, but he won't be vilified tomorrow on talk radio like RichRod was when he did the same.  And while part of me couldn't help but be happy that something seemingly positive was flowing out of Schembechler Hall, I was mostly sad at what could have been.

I will never really know what went on in the coaching search, but I think I have an idea.  Hoke was the only guy ever considered.  DB went through the motions to appease the fanbase, dropped hints to the press as needed, then pulled the trigger on his man.  He lied to us in so many ways...on so many levels.  And today he talked down to me...to us.  He forgets that he works for us.  He can get up there and tell me what this is all supposed to be about, and what we need to think about Hoke to be a "real" Michigan fan, but it is I, the actual fan, that has the power here.  I pay his salary on a number of levels, through my fandom...and as a public university through my taxes.  Dave Brandon answers to me...to all of us.

Dissent is the ultimate form of patriotism.

But alas, Michigan Football is a great portion of my life.  I could never take a stand against the team.  It's a sad but true fact that I will follow Brady Hoke into the fire.  Once he hits that field, I will fight for him, I will stand up for him.  In this whole mess of a situation, none of the problems I have are with the man himself.  I hope he turns out to be the second coming of, well, Urban Meyer I guess.  I don't know...I just know that I don't want to go back.  I endured the pain of 3-9, 5-7, and 7-6 so that I could marvel at a few 13-0's, not go back to 8-4.  And that's why I'm disappointed.  If we weren't going to see this thing through, we should have just done what Lloyd wanted and hired one of his guys back when he retired.  We could have at least preserved the bowl legacy, and probably knocked off little bro at least one of those three times.  It would have been a lot less headaches to just stay in our shell the whole time and embrace the mediocrity.

Dammit...I was trying to end this on a high note.  Positivity! Hokemania!  Charles Woodson likes him!  Yeah!

OK.  Go to bed.  75 days until spring practice.