Hubris.  A simple word.  It’s a word that’s taken down empires, multiple Reichs, and thousands of companies.  Hubris is what leads one to believe they are “above it all”, when they are simply on the verge of being a footnote in history.  Why else would the Germans try to go to Russia for a second time?  Why else would Hewlett-Packard think the combination with Compaq was a match made in heaven?  And why else would a team, a school, a coach, and an athletic director think “belief“ is the answer to all their woe?

Hubris is why Rich Rodriguez had to go.  Blind to his own inability to build a defense without his first choice of coordinator and his commitment to a defensive alignment he didn’t understand, his progressive offense couldn’t win the doubters.  And his lack of understanding of what being head coach at Michigan entails – it’s not some place you get to coach football, it’s a CEO position that requires significantly more than Xs and Os – added to his undoing along with his un-Michigan Man-ness.

Seven years later, we’re at the proverbial cross roads - again.  With a team too young to reasonably be considered a legitimate competitor, even in the weakest of the Power 5 conferences, but still loaded with talent that any school in ‘Murica would love to have, our Wolverines appear lost.  When the winds turned against them, the team looked defeated.  In today’s fog, the only moment of offensive clarity seemed to come with Gardner in the game, arriving far too late to make the difference needed.  Over time, the faults of Carr manifested in the Rodriguez era and the faults of Rodriguez have led to an offensive line of freshmen and sophomores.

Hubris is the reason Brandon must go.  Improvements across the rest of the athletic department aside, this department, and it’s brand, is connected to its football program.  In the first athletic season of the year, the fall, football is the only sport that gets attention so nothing else can draw attention away from this unmitigated disaster.  College football is defined by its ritual, its blaring brass instruments, and its on field excitement.  Brandon has seen to it that all of the above are no longer relevant.  From rawk music to de-emphasizing the band to seemingly playing Jerry Jones to Hoke’s [insert Cowboy coach here], the flagship entity is in a tailspin.  He has successfully given us New Coke, when, in fact, the world doesn’t want it, except for the alien universes of Columbus and East Lansing.

Hubris is now the reason Hoke must go.  His “belief” in this team, that they will compete for a conference championship, is clouding his judgment, to the point where he’s putting the health of young men at risk.  Put the state of the program aside – having Shane Morris take ANY snaps after the helmet shot to his chin is borderline negligent.  I’m no doctor, and I don’t know whether Morris was concussed on the play, but the fact he’d already been limping for nearly a quarter suggests a coach desperate to change something or to send a message.  Neither resonated.  He’s disconnected from the realities of his team’s capabilities and its health.  No doubt recruits will take note.  As much as I believe that players love Hoke and would run through walls for him and that he cultivates the greatest of family atmospheres, they will take note.  (And none of us need to pile on.  DO NOT TALK TO HIGH SCHOOLERS)

Regardless, as an executive, I understand that my team’s performance is nobody’s responsibility but mine.  As the chief executive, Hoke owns this.  Whether it’s player and coach one-on-ones, changing the culture through action, or finding a better balance between what he owns vs. delegates, maybe it’s already no longer his, or Brandon’s, to fix.

Side note…Coaching young people is among the toughest things to do, though there are clearly a number of people that can capably do it.  There are the days youngsters think they know more than you, and the days they are ‘uninspired’ (both of which may describe Gardner today prior to entering the game).  The young men on this team have come to us with a passion to be part of a family.  They deserve our support for choosing this family.  And the young men that have chosen to be part of this family in the future deserve to feel that same passion for this family.  And they deserve a cohesive family.

“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing”
― Bo Schembechler

Bo, we’re behind these players.