here's the transcript (courtesy of The Michigan Daily):
Michigan coach Brady Hoke joined the Dan Patrick Show and guest host Jason Whitlock on Friday morning and touched on a variety of topics during the 10-minute session, including the Penn State scandal and his father's passing in March.
Hoke and Whitlock, a columnist with FOX Sports, have a well-documented history stretching back to Hoke’s early coaching days at Ball State. Whitlock was driving the bandwagon clamoring to bring Hoke to Ann Arbor to fill the coaching vacancy in 2011 after former coach Rich Rodriguez’s dismissal.
Given the close ties between the two men, both sides of the conversation are of interest.
Here's a transcript of the interview:
Jason Whitlock: "We're joined by the greatest coach in college football. Arguably, the greatest coach in all of football, Brady Hoke. Brady, welcome to the Dan Patrick Show."
Brady Hoke: "Thanks Jason, I tell ya, with you introducing me like that, it's humbling."
JW: "Brady, you know what? I miss the days ... Years ago we used to talk football and now you're all grown up and you don't need me anymore."
BH: (laughs) "Oh gosh, I tell you what, just two loyal Ball State guys, that's all it is."
JW: "Brady, again, I appreciate you taking the time and I don't want to dwell on the Joe Paterno/Penn State issue, but if you did have any thoughts about Coach Paterno and perhaps how we should remember him or any thoughts about the tragedy at all, I would be irresponsible if I didn't ask."
BH: "It's so sad and unfortunate, everything — the victims and Paterno and family, all of them. I think, Jason, it's one of those things were I know there's a lot of emotion on all sides of it and there's a lot still probably to be found out and all those thing. It's just sad and unfortunate on all levels and it's something that takes you back a little bit."
JW: "Brady, one of the reasons I wanted to have you on today is to talk about leadership. There obviously has been a failure in leadership at Penn State, but before we get there, we haven't had a chance to talk that much in the past couple months and I know that your dad played such a big role in you and your brothers' success as human beings but as coaches, as well. He was such a big part of your football experience at Ball State, at San Diego State and now at Michigan. How have you been doing since your dad passed away? I'm a little concerned because I just know how big it was to have him around you during the football season."
BH: "Well, he was obviously a guy who loved the game, loved talking the game, loved going to games. He was a football guy, played for Coach (Woody) Hayes at Miami (Ohio). He was an important part of my brother Jon coaching with the (Chicago) Bears, myself being in the coaching profession. We were a football family.
"He right now is watching every move we make, making sure we've got guys doing the right things in the workouts and that we're providing the leadership and commitment and everything we need to do for them to go get those great degrees from the University of Michigan and play their best football. We're always held in check by somebody, and he just is on a bigger scheme holding us in check."
JW: "Brady, when I visited you last August, one of your biggest concerns was finding a place to tailgate postgame at Michigan. Did you figure out how to do that?"
BH: (laughs) "No, I don't think there's a place around there to be able to do that. But, you know what, our families all have a great time and get together and that's the best part about it. But, you know, it's such a great stadium and a great place and a great environment and atmosphere for college football at the Big House and around the Big House. It's a lot of fun."
JW: "For people who don't know, Brady is so real ... that back in his Ball State coaching days, one of the best reasons to go to the game was if you stayed for the entire game and went to the parking lot after the game, you'd find Brady and the entire coaching staff eating and drinking right in the parking lot with all the fans. It was one of the greatest experiences. I so miss our six years at Ball State."
BH: "Well, they're a great six years, I can tell ya. I owe an awful lot to Ball State."
JW: "Brady, again, I brought you on to talk leadership. You and (strength and conditioning coach) Aaron Wellman developed a leadership program at Ball State, refined it at San Diego State and now I think have it down to a science. I think a lot of coaches talk about leadership with their players, but you guys actually teach it. Tell us about that."
BH: "I think it all started — and I have to give Aaron Wellman a lot of credit here. We always ask our men to lead. At Ball State we asked a young man named Dan Gerberry to be a leader, he was voted a captain by our football team. He came into my office when he was voted captain, right afterwards, and asked, 'How do you lead? I don't know how to lead.'
"It really made sense to me and Coach Wellman that the influence and everything that we talk about with commitment, accountability, respect and trust in each other as a football team and as a unit and the responsibilities we all have from an academic to a social community and to how we prepare and play the game. So Aaron and I put together a manual that he revised and revised and I've done some revisions to it every year. We meet with our seniors nine times during the course of the second semester. This year, we finished with a trip out to San Diego and Los Angeles for leadership purposes with the Navy SEALs."
JW: "Tell us about that. Why the Navy SEALs? And what do your players gain from interacting with them?"
BH: "I think, Jason, when we were in Muncie when we started this then we embedded with the United States Marine Corps out at Camp Atterbury out of Indianapolis. We had some really great guys who wanted to be involved with us. When we went to San Diego, the special warfare center out there in Coronado and being close to the SEALs and a guy named David Goggins who has an unbelievable story, when you look at the story of David through the SEALs. We got close to David and then that grew and kept growing and so we thought that the team and the community and accountability and respect and trust that they have for each other is obviously important and at the end of the day they're talking about lives, at the end of the day we're talking about being a group of guys who are going out to represent each other in a first-class way and to win. But winning is getting that degree and representing the University of Michigan well."
JW: "Brady, you've played in some big games, or you've coached in some big games. I was at a Ball State-Western Michigan game that was the biggest in Ball State football. But, to open the season with Alabama at the Jerry Jones Circus Arena, I would imagine that has to create some excitement for you and your players and some urgency to the off-season. It's probably not hard to get your kids' attention."
BH: "No, it really isn't. It's a great opportunity. I tell ya, we're going to be playing the reigning national championship football team in Alabama. Coach (Nick) Saban's done a great job of coaching, recruiting and everything that they do. As for us, I think it's a great opportunity for us to to really see where we're at as a team, because I think that's something that we're all looking forward to, to see what kind of football team we're going to be. We had some guys who played awfully well, seniors a year ago, some fourth-year and fifth-year guys that we're going to be missing. Now it's time for guys to step up and for guys to really understand about playing in big games like you wanna do. That's why you go to Michigan, that's why you coach at Michigan, to play in those types of football games."
JW: "Brady, I saw a picture of you and Ohio coach Urban Meyer eating barbecue and it looked like you actually liked Urban Meyer, looked like you guys got along. Can we dispel that rumor? You don't actually like Urban Meyer, do you?"
BH: (laughs) "Hey look, look, I tell ya what, the ribs were great, I can tell you that. Maybe I was smiling because of the ribs. No, I've known Urban a long time. This profession, obviously, is competitive, talking about recruiting and talking about playing the game of football, but I can guarantee you that you'd have been right there in the middle of those ribs."
JW: "Yes, for sure. Brady, I really appreciate you taking the time. I think Michigan fans ... I used to work in Ann Arbor, it was one of my first sportswriting jobs, for those of you that don't know, and I tried to tell Michigan fans they're going to love Brady Hoke. And what you and I think Coach Meyer are going to do for the Big Ten is bring back that Bo Schembechler-Woody Hayes-type feeling to the Big Ten. I can't wait to watch it this year. You're the only coach that's undefeated against the Ohio Buckeyes, and I expect that record to remain intact."
BH: "I gotcha. Well, I appreciate it, thanks for having us on."
JW: "Alright, that's Brady Hoke, the greatest coach in all of college football, the only coach to have an undefeated record against the Ohio Buckeyes. And I think that will continue. ... There's no exaggeration when I say Brady Hoke is the best coach in college football. I've watched the man grow from a young, passionate coach to a highly experienced expert in his field. I've seen it with my own eyes. This has been a nine-year process — six years at Ball State, two years at San Diego State, one year at Michigan — I've watched the whole thing blossom and grow, I told people in Ann Arbor that they'd love him. He so fits the mold of Michigan, he's so real. I wish they could find a place for him to tailgate at Michigan."
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