Now that we're getting a new head coach can we get fully behind the program again?
In 2014 fans talked about boycotting games and refused to donate because of grudges with Brandon and Hoke. Now that both of them are gone can we finally get behind the team and fill the Big House with 113K fans instead of the 102K shit we had this year. Can we finally let the RR debate go because it's no longer relevant. Who cares if we'd have given him a 4th year? Maybe we go 11-2 and maybe we go 7-5 again. It doesn't matter. That was four years ago. Brady Hoke got one thing right when he said that "this is Michigan fergodsakes" because we are Michigan and we better have 60,000 fans at the Spring Game to show the new coach, recruits, and nation that we are college football's greatest fanbase.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:46 PM ^
As soon as Jim Harbaugh flies into Ann Arbor.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:47 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2014 at 5:46 PM ^
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December 2nd, 2014 at 5:58 PM ^
Dave Brandon did much more to erode the fan experience than Brady Hoke did. It was his policies, his micromanagement and his bumbling that alienated the fanbase the most. I think most people here have been behind the program all along. They were just pissed off at the person running the program.
I think it's important for everyone to support the coach, even those who don't see Michigan hire the coach they wanted. If Hackett cleans house and hires an outsider, we don't need another cabal sabotaging the new coach. Hackett was right about retiring the "Michigan Man" meme. It was subverted and turned into "code" for the opposite of what Michigan athletics has long represented.
I want a spread guy and don't want Miles, but I will be supportive of whoever they hire until he proves that it isn't going to work, as Hoke finally did this year.
Most of all, I hope those in a position to influence the program don't act like petty, vindictive assholes if they don't get who they want this time. It isn't going to work unless everyone pulls together and decides that the University of Michigan is more important than their own agenda or opinion.
December 2nd, 2014 at 9:31 PM ^
and not a spread guy, but I'll support a spread guy if that's who we choose
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:47 PM ^
all the points to you sir!
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
As soon as Jim or Les sign on the dotted line.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
Yes.
To answer your question more explicitly, a lot of us feel that we have always been fully behind the program. But yeah, hopefully Brandon's welcome dismissal and Hoke's unfortunate (but necessary) demise help to reunite the fanbase.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
I'M IN!!!!!*
*Unless Schiano. Then no.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
start swiping those cc's and writing those checks, team! michigan is going to need a big pile of cash to get the coaches we want.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:52 PM ^
I don't know how everyone else feels but I'm going to have an extremely hard time getting behind a Plan C candidate, especially if I feel like the administration converged on that candidate without an exhaustive search or they went after tha Plan A candidates with half-assed, bargain basement offers.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:58 PM ^
I don't think we really know who Plan A is. The fans certainly have ideas, but I doubt we really know how interested somebody really is. For all we know Fuente or Fleck could be Plan C and McElwain is Plan A.
December 2nd, 2014 at 6:12 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 7:27 PM ^
It's plainly obvious who "Plan A" is. Especially when Hackett started mentioning that stuff about different timelines and how we might have to be a little patient. I mean, he basically all but admitted Harbaugh or Miles was Plan A.
December 2nd, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^
that its something to be excited about. I can't take this shit anymore.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
1) Who the coach is
2) More importantly, can he win football games?
If it's not Harbaugh, there will still be some portion of the fanbase that's pissed off and proclaiming we're going to hit another 3-4 year rough patch. In that case, the only thing that'll shut people up is winning.
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December 2nd, 2014 at 5:47 PM ^
even if it is Harbaugh, there will be people who are not behind the program. And yet, they will continue to call themselves Michigan fans.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
There's an awful lot of self-congratulations and back slapping going on right now after we observe the interim AD do what he and everyone else no taking laudanum already knew he had to do several weeks ago.
Michigan's hiring track record for football coaches since World War 2 has been:
- former Michigan assistant (Osterbaan)
- former Michigan assistant (Elliott)
- WTF out-of-no-where former Ohio State assistant (Schembechler)
- former Michigan assistant (Moeller)
- former Michigan assistant (Carr)
- WTF former West Virginia HC (Rodriguez)
- former Michigan assistant (Hoke)
I love Michigan football as much as the next fan, but there's just no evidence to suggest that the UofM athletic dept is going to nail this next hire.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:09 PM ^
I think you mean "WTF out-of-nowhere former Miami (NTM) head coach." That was Bo's job before coming to Michigan. And I assume No. 5 is supposed to say "(Carr)". Edit: You already fixed Carr between my reading and posting.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:11 PM ^
compare past hires to Hackett, since Hackett is new and an outsider.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^
he played, he is a UofM employee.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:19 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:11 PM ^
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The people who made the past hiring decisions are long gone.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:24 PM ^
8. Former Michigan Quarterback (Harbaugh)
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:42 PM ^
9. Former Michigan QB (Brady)
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:33 PM ^
Let's have some clarity on how good these guys were:
1. Oosterbaan won a national championship his first year, and 3 big ten championships in 10 years. He was also a great player at Michigan. So that was a damn fine hire.
2. Elliott won only one B1G championship, but was a former star player and an excellent AD at Iowa, where he hired Hayden Fry who turned that program around. He was also a college football Hall of Famer. He was a great AD, a less great coach.
3. Bo was...well...Bo.
4. Moeller went .758 during his tenure and won/shared 3 conference titles in 5 years. Not a bad run.
5. Carr won a national title and had a .753 win percentage. His teams went to 4 Rose Bowls. How anyone can criticize this hire strikes me as wrongheadedness.
So your point about the Michigan Men being evidence of not "nailing" a hire just doesn't make sense to me. Until RR and Hoke we've had exemplary hires in nearly every way during the post WW2 era.
And Bump was not disliked even though he wasn't a big time winner here.
December 2nd, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^
Oosterbaan was sort of our Larry Coker - he won big in 1948-50 with Fritz Crisler's players and then was very average thereafter.
December 2nd, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:16 PM ^
1. A lot of the attendance stuff is an issue with all of college football.
2. A winning team fixes a lot of fan grievances.
I can't say that everything would be peachy between Brandon and the fans if they were playing in the B1GCG this weekend, but I am pretty sure he would still be AD. The idea of putting this stuff in the past is great and I am all for it. That said, sports fans will always be upset when their team isn't winning and demand change.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:07 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:10 PM ^
If it's ANYBODY BUT The Harbaughs or Miles get ready for 4 more long years. There is certainly going to be a faction of alumni/fans that will be very distressed if it's anyone but Jim Harbaugh. IMO The Harbaughs aren't coming and Miles is not getting offered so be prepared for the infighting to continue.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:49 PM ^
1. In sports, hope springs eternal and a new guy means new hope.
2. Just took a gander at the candidates list by USA Today. Now, yes, I know the national outlets don't follow it as closely as we do. But it says something about the enduring luster of Michigan that the list is full of terrific candidates. The only two guys on it that I'd be skeptical about from the get go are Schiano (please no) and Miles (purely an age thing).
If UM, not able to get Harbaugh, brought in a David Shaw, Gary Patterson, Dan Mullen - how can you not be geeked? If those are the second tier guys on your list, you've got one hell of a list.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^
Jim Hackett is the kind of guy who just made me proud to be a Michigan alum because he represented the University so well in that press conference.
I still think that ultimately we will need an AD with more experience, but this transition couldn't have been handled better, and maybe he's the perfect guy to run the Department until they find someone they can settle in with for the long haul.
In any case, Hackett is clearly a person that everyone can rally around simply by virtue of the way he interacts with the community. I suspect that our next coaching search will at the very least not be bungled.
The press conference definitely raised my confidence level in this university.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
program, and disgusted at those who wished for Michigan losses to support whatever outcome they wanted. Go Blue, always
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:24 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:31 PM ^
There are different ways to "get behind" a program. The only thing the next coach has to do is win. When the program makes poor decisions and the fans are active in their displeasure, it doesn't mean they aren't "behind the program." Yeesh.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:37 PM ^
Miles 5:1, Schiano 8:1, Shaw 10:1, JiH 15:1, JoH 20:1. Schiano and Shaw would be disaster hires.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:41 PM ^
unfortunately this fanbase will remain divided no matter who is the coach (barring Harbaugh)
December 2nd, 2014 at 6:11 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:41 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:48 PM ^
I never left being "fully behind the program".
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:53 PM ^
I support the program regardless of who the coach is or what the won-lost record is. I might not be happy with the way things are going, but I support the program. And by supporting the program, I mean that I don't go out there everyday calling for the coaches or AD's head while the season is still going on.
December 2nd, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 6:11 PM ^
No way Mora is taking the job, but he would be a great hire. West Coast guy very much liked by UCLA and its fans. Mora is very smart and can see the problems with the Michigan job and the masses who will reject anyone not named Harbaugh (whether or not the Harbaughs even have any interest in the job).
December 2nd, 2014 at 8:25 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 6:03 PM ^
four years ago.