Dave Brandon and Brady Hoke in happier times during Hoke’s introductory press conference in 2011. (Getty)
The Michigan football program has long been one of the proudest and most successful in the country. The Wolverines play in an iconic stadium, in an iconic league, and have produced some of the best players and the best teams in the country for decades.
So you know things are not going well when the university offers free tickets to a game at the famed Big House when you buy two bottles of Coke at a local convenience store.
And that was before the school was criticized by everyone from the student newspaper to Good Morning America for mishandling a possible concussion by its starting quarterback.
All that is the backdrop for speculation about the job statuses of coach Brady Hoke and the man who hired Hoke in 2011: Athletic director Dave Brandon.
Read on for more about the trouble in Ann Arbor:
1. Brandon Was Hired in 2010 & Hired Hoke the Next Year
(Getty)
Brandon, the former chairman and CEO of Domino’s Pizza, was appointed to a five-year term as athletic director in January 2010, when he succeeded Bill Martin.
A year later, he fired football coach Rich Rodriguez after three disastrous years during which the Wolverines went 15-22 overall and 6-18 in the Big Ten and the NCAA launched an investigation into whether Rodriguez violated rules on how often and for how long the Wolverines practiced.
Brandon then turned the program over to Hoke, a former assistant who had been serving as the head coach at San Diego State following a head-coaching stint at Ball State.
Hoke’s tenure got off to a good start with an 11-2 season in 2011, but things went downhill after that. The Wolverines went 8-5 in 2012 and 7-6 last year, putting Hoke on somewhat shaky ground heading into this season.
2. This Season Has Been a Disaster on the Field
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The Wolverines’ lackluster performances of the past two years look like national-title-caliber seasons compared to the showing Michigan has put on this year.
After a season-opening rout of Appalachian State, the Wolverines were slaughtered 31-0 by long-time rival Notre Dame. After beating lightweight Miami of Ohio September 13, they’ve lost by double digits in the last two weeks to Utah (26-10) and Minnesota (30-14).
Minnesota’s win gave the Gophers the Little Brown Jug (pictured above) for the first time in nine years.
3. You Could Get Free Tickets to the Minnesota Game by Buying 2 Bottles of Coke
How bad have things gotten for Michigan football? This bad… http://t.co/hLXUwyTWYz pic.twitter.com/y1hrnt8uSF
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 23, 2014
In the eyes of many Michigan season-ticket holders, the low point in the program’s history may have come earlier this month, when the university was so desperate to sell sell tickets to the Michigan-Minnesota game that the school offered free tickets to the game along with Coke products bought at local convenience stores.
The move came off as both a tacky sign of desperation and an insult to season-ticket holders who have paid a small fortune to get into the Big House.
In a scathing column for ThePostGame.com, John U. Bacon writes about a Michigan athletic department that has lost its way under Brandon, jacking up ticket prices, replacing diminishing the role of the university’s world-renowned marching band in favor of loud rock music, and, yes, giving away tickets for buying a couple bottles of coke.
From Bacon:
The department has resorted to desperate measures to keep the streak going, selling deeply discounted tickets on Groupon, Livingsocial and Amazon, and dumping thousands of free tickets on local schools, churches, camps, the ushers, Michigan golf club members and the student-athletes — and yes, through Coca-Cola giveaways — urging them all to come to the games. It’s good that people who couldn’t afford to pay full price, especially kids, are visiting the Big House for the first time — but that’s not why the department is doing it.
So far, the department has been blessed with gorgeous weather for all three home tailgates, and has managed to draw enough fans each game to claim with a straight face that the attendance streak is still going. Sure, they’re covering the foundation’s cracks with wallpaper — but that’s load-bearing wallpaper. It’s best not to pull on it.
4. Hoke Kept QB Shane Morris in the Game Despite an Obvious Head Injury
Hoke is facing widespread calls for his firing after his dumbfounding handling of a vicious head injury suffered Saturday by quarterback Shane Morris.
Hoke left Morris in the game after Morris suffered a vicious blow to the head on a helmet-to-helmet hit and could barely stand up following the play.
Watch the video of the series in which the play took place above. The helmet-to-helmet hit comes at around the 2:15 mark. Morris had already been limping around after aggravating a leg injury, and ESPN’s Ed Cunningham called for Hoke to replace Morris with Devin Gardner before he was even hit in the head.
Video shows Morris struggled to stand up and needing the help of two teammates just to remain upright. Yet shockingly, Hoke left him in the game for one more play before taking him out. Perhaps even more shockingly, Hoke actually put Morris back in the game three plays later rather than putting in third-stringer Russell Bellomy when Gardner had his helmet knocked off and had to come out of the game by rule.
Hoke’s explanation in his postgame press conference was that if Morris really was too hurt to play, he would have gone to the sideline or “stayed down.”
Well, I don’t know if he might have had a concussion or not. I don’t know that. Shane’s a pretty competitive tough kid. Shane wanted to be the quarterback. So believe me, if he didn’t want to be, he would have come to the sideline or stayed down.
5. Hoke’s Mishandling of the Morris Situation Is Reflecting Really Badly on Brandon, Too
Even before Hoke’s dumbfounding reaction to Morris’ injury, his job was widely viewed as being on shaky ground because of the team’s performance. But his handling of the Morris situation was so egregious that it prompted two storylines to emerge: That Hoke should be fired over his apparent lack of concern for Morris’ safety, and that because he failed to offer a public rebuke of Hoke or an apology, Brandon should go, too.
From SB Nation’s Jon Morse:
And now, the Michigan administration seems intent on backing up their coach, which only serves to shine a spotlight on the real problem in Ann Arbor: the administration itself. Given all we’ve learned about concussions in recent years, the tone-deaf nature of Michigan’s overall response to yesterday’s criticism is nothing short of appalling. Say what you will about the stereotypical Michigan Man, but Wolverine fans are outraged, which along with their reaction during the game Saturday goes to their credit as human beings. They understand reality. They want to win games, but you don’t win at all costs, especially when that cost is the safety of the young men wearing your uniform.
