As the sun set Saturday on the Michigan–Minnesota game, the sun set may have set on Brady Hoke’s career.
The Gophers who were just stomped by TCU a week earlier, stomped the Wolverines 30-14. This is the first time in over 100 years that Michigan has lost three games in the month of September.
When Brady Hoke was brought into Ann Arbor it was mainly because he was a Michigan man.
Well, this Michigan man is in deep trouble. When Hoke was brought in as head coach he was suppose to be everything that former head coach Rich Rodriguez wasn’t. He was supposed to be a better recruiter, knew the program and knew how to win.
Since going 11-2 his first year as head coach, Hoke has gone from hero to goat. His record since then: 8-5, 7-6, and right now 2-3.
What has happened to Michigan football? Well first of all poor coaching. Many around the program say that Hoke has no idea what he is doing, although surprisedly he has many supporters, one being former Wolverine Dhani Jones who said this about Hoke in recent article.
“Michigan has had down times and down games, but that happens. Any institution of higher learning or football is going to have times when they’re down. It’s about what they do when they’re down and out and how quickly they recover.”
Wonder how he feels after Saturday loss?
Another former Wolverine and ESPN analyst, Desmond Howard is on the opposite end. He feels like not enough players want to give their best to the program.
“I can go to a practice and point somebody out — that guy right there, he wants to be great — I think the only guy who I saw (at Michigan) who had that kind of swagger about him, may have been Jabrill Peppers,” Howard said.
You can easily make the argument that Hoke won with Rich Rod’s players his first two years and with his own players they have struggled badly. What probably makes it worse for Michigan fans is the success of Rich Rod at Arizona.
He is winning with the same offense they say would never work in Ann Arbor works in the desert in a tougher conference.
Michigan is not on probation and limited with scholarships like an Alabama was few years ago and even then, they stay competitive.
Michigan is like the rest of the Big Ten struggling. You can point to lack of great players. Although, it doesn’t seem to hurt Michigan State or Ohio State until they face the 
SEC.
But a lot of the best players in the country are heading to the South. That could be one reason.
Offenses are changing as well. Three yards and a cloud of dust doesn’t work in today’s college football. Michigan on offense looks like a dump truck in reverse compared to other teams.
Which could turn off some recruits; maybe that’s what Howard is talking about. It would be hard to attract good players when the one’s they have look as if they don’t want to be there.
Recruiting, lackluster performances and bad play calling all leads back to coaching and if Brady Hoke doesn’t figure it out soon, he won’t get a chance to turn around this program.
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