Ya just gotta Love Brady Hoke!

How has level of physicality been now that you’re practicing in pads? Is it to your liking?

“Yes, no question about it. We will be as physical as we can possibly be.”

Effin A!!!

Been waiting a few years for that.

That bears out a point I've been fixing to make for some time, Joe. While for us bluebloods there's virtually NOTHING NOT TO LOVE about coach Hoke, one item in particular has stood out for me---esp. now during the offseason. (Though in the offseason, as we all know, coaches will correctly assert, "The next season is being made or broken RIGHT NOW").

My point: I am really, really turned on by the fact Brady seems to prefer the LINE PLAY to any other aspect of the game, as head coach. It shows in his interviews. It shows in his recruiting tendencies. And yes,
where it most matters: on the field.

That is most definitely NOT to say he IGNORES any facet of his team/program; he wouldn't have had the light-year-long foresight to hire Matty were that the case. (Nor of course would he be nearly as successful).

As FishGB once (rightly) said when discussing U-M and his Steelers, as well as our departed great comrade Nonnair, anybody who can tell a football from a chickasaurus egg can tell you: YOU WIN UP FRONT. Bottom "line". NO team was ever great, or even very good, without consistently controlling the lines of scrimmage; their "skill-position" players' levels be damned. And everything Brady's done and said point to his emphasis on that aspect of his club.

Comments?

Agree with everything you said, mike.

Wiscy is the perfect example. Always a mediocre team since Alvarez took over. But they finally got over the hump and in the elite class of the conference once they started recruiting the O-Lines they've had. No one in the conference has been able to stop that running game for, what, 3-4 years now?

And as for Brady, you're right. He doesn't 'ignore' the other facets of the game...he's hired quality coaches that focus on those for him. He's a DL coach through and through, and that's where he wants to coach. Fine by me. I like having our head man staring down our big uglies all day in practice. Makes them better in my opinion. You always bust your arse just a little harder when the HC is watching.

I love Hoke. Mostly love that he GETS IT in AA. Don't get me wrong, the guy still needs to know how to coach, but a guy who knows both? Priceless.

I seriously envision Hoke being here for a very, very long time. Bo tenure-esque.

I hope he is here for a long long time.

Well fish, he's been unreal so far

But so was my first wife when we dated.

Ok, that's pretty mean but I'll wait and see but I love what I've seen so far.

Admin wrote:

. Makes them better in my opinion. You always bust your arse just a little harder when the HC is watching.

Now you're REALLY talkin', Admin. Ain't THAT the truth? And hardly only for athletes on a team. Do you feel more, ahem, "scrutinized", and motivated to look the part of a much-needed, worth-his-pay employee when
your (immediate) boss is near, or when his BOSS'S BOSS'S BOSS is???

And as an interesting aside, my theory on the REASON: if you fuck up/off (Mom's not over the shoulder, is she?) in said situation, there will be TWO poeple coming down hard on you: the bigwig, and your own boss (for, even if he/she wasn't there to see, when the bigwig was, he/she will certainly LEARN of it!).

I didn't think of it the way you say, but excellent add-on. All the MORE reason I'm glad for Brady's heartfelt "preference", because nothing IMO matters more to a football team's success than
the optimally-maximized excellence of its lines. (As I've already stated a.i.,a.n.)

Exactly right, mike. Always turn it up an extra notch when the bigwig is around, regardless of what the situation is.

THEstjoemfan wrote:

But so was my first wife when we dated.

...and then you put the ring on her finger which caused the BJ's to stop.