8A Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Brandon sheds light on
coaching search, decision

0I

01

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Quarterback Tate Forcier backed up Denard Robinson during his sophomore year.
Forcier not
enrolled
Forcier will meet Forcier was sent home from
with officials to Jacksonville, Fla. once it was
determined he wouldn't be able
seek reinstatement to play against Mississippi State.
Former Michigan coach Rich
By TIM ROHAN Rodriguez talked about Forcier's
Daily Sports Editor future in a press conference the
Friday before the bowl game.
Sophomore quarterback Tate "(Forcier's) status with the
Forcier is not enrolled in class- school as a student is first and
es for the foremost and that is undeter-
Winter 2011 First seen on mined to this point," Rodriguez
semester at said.
the Univer- -the game The team met Tuesday at 4 p.m.
sity of Michi- to hear Brandon announce that
gan, according to a representative Hoke would be the Wolverines'
in the University's office of the next head football coach.
Registrar. Forcier's former roommate,
Forcier, a sport management running back Mike Cox, said
major in the School of Kinesiol- Forcier was not at the meeting.
ogy, was academically ineligible "I haven't really seen Tate,"
to play in the Gator Bowl in Jack- junior wide receiver Darryl Sto-
sonville, Fla. on Jan. 1. num said. "I don't know where he
In an interview this morning is, but I don't know his status or
with The Michigan Daily, a repre- his situation.
sentative in the registrar's office "Me personally, I haven't seen
said Robert Patrick Forcier was him."
not enrolled in any classes at the The add-drop deadline for Uni-
University as of Jan. 12. versity students to enroll in class-
At Wednesday's news confer- es is Jan 25.
ence introducing new football Because Foricer is not enrolled
coach Brady Hoke, Michigan Ath- at the University, he cannot be a
letic Director Dave Brandon said, member of the Michigan football
"Tate is not with the program." team.

By NICOLE AUERBACH
Daily Sports Writer '
Michigan Athletic Director
Dave Brandon can be deft when
trying to avoid questions he doesn't
want to answer.
First, he spent weeks not
answering questions about former
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's
job security.
And now, he's not answer-
ing questions about the coaching
search he conducted the past week
- at least not specifics. Brandon
said that's because he wants to
respect the confidentiality of con-
versations he has had with various
people.
Though members of the media
spent days tracking flights and
calling sources to try to fig-
ure out where Brandon was and
who he was interviewing, Bran-
don wouldn't fill in any blanks at
Wednesday's news conference that
introduced Brady Hoke as Michi-
gan's next football coach.
"It ain't going to happen," Bran-
don said. "I'm going to fulfill my
promise to those people. We're not
going to blab about what we talk-
ed about or who we talked to and
when we talked to them:'
Brandon said he visited five cit-
ies in six days and had multiple
phone conversations with potential
coaching candidates.
On Tuesday, Brandon told The
Associated Press that he never
offered the job to either Jim Har-
baugh or Les Miles - two coaches
at the center of Michigan's coach-
ing rumors. And on Wednesday, he
also refuted rumors that Univer-
sity President Mary Sue Coleman
vetoed any coaching candidates.
"I am extremely pleased for
our student-athletes and fans to
welcome Brady Hoke back to the
University of Michigan to lead our
football program," Coleman said.
"His impressive credentials and
his previous experience with U-M

Michigan Athletic Director David Brandon intoduced Brady Hoke as Michigan's next football coach yester

tell me he is a leader both on and off
the field. I look forward to the 2011
season and the excitement that is
Michigan football."
Brandon said he called and
offered the job to Hoke early Tues-
day morning. Hoke accepted it
immediately, without talking about
his salary. Hoke has agreed to a six-
year contract with Michigan.
"We never talked about what
he was going to be paid," Brandon
said. "The only guy I've ever heard
of who took a job without know-
ing what it paid was named (Bo)
Schembechler."
The Schembechler reference
was just one of the many allusions
to Michigan history and the sto-
ried football program on Wednes-
day. It's no secret that hiring a
coach with ties to Michigan - and
therefore a coach who understood
the uniqueness of the job - was a
goal of Brandon's throughout the
search.

"Brady understands Michigan
and what football means here,"
Brandon said. "He has lived it as a
coach and he knows what it takes
to be successful. He doesn't have
to learn the words to 'The Victors'
- he's sang it many times in the
locker room. He doesn't need amap
to get around Ann Arbor; he was
a member of our conmunity for
eightyears."
Brandon also repeatedly ref-
erenced Hoke's Big Ten Champi-
onship rings and 1997 National
Championship ring from his time
as Michigan's defensive line coach
under then-head coach Lloyd Carr.
Brandon said the players know
Hoke's history of success, and that
reminds them of what they want -
championships.
Brandon said the fact that Hoke
is known as a players' coach was
a significant factor in his decision
to hire him. Brandon evaluated
coaching candidates on 12 different

sets of criteria. During last week's
press conference announcing the
firing of Rich Rodriguez, Bran-
don talked about how he wanted
a defensive coach, a person who
understood Michigan and its chal-
lenges, a person who would be flex-
ible in the scheme they run among
others.
And there was one that Brandon
didn't mention last week: the fact
that Hoke's a players' coach makes
a difference too.
"I think one of the most impor-
tant things in judging a coach is if
players want to play for him," Bran-
don said. "We had a long discussion
about how he approaches his job.
"It became very apparent to me
that this wasn't a guy where 'It's
all about me.' This is a guy who is
all about the team. He's a guy that
players want to play for."
-Daily News Editor Joseph
Lichterman contributed to this report.

Hoke talks rivalries, Martin to stay for senior season

New'M' coach to
finalize staff
within next three
or four days
By JOE STAPELTON
Daily Sports Writer
When new Michigan foot-
ball coach Brady Hoke was asked
"The Ohio State question," as the
reporter put it,
he answered the NOTEBOOK
way Michigan
fans want their coach to answer
the question:
"You want to win (rivalry
games)," Hoke said. "And you want
to prepare to win 'em. And they
have got to be front and center of

what you want for your program."
But he elaborated further, say-
ing not only does Michigan's pride
rest on these games, but Michi-
gan's recruiting does as well -
especially when it comes to playing
Michigan State.
"When you play Michigan State,
obviously your in state rival, obvi-
ously that's an important piece of
what you want to do," Hoke said.
"Because the lifeblood of your
recruiting has to be in the Mid-
west, and it has to be in the state of
Michigan."
This contrasts with former
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's
recruiting philosophy. While
Rodriguez certainly recruited
from the Midwest, there was also
a lot of attention placed on recruit-
ing Florida and other southern
states.

Hoke's comments imply that he
intends to return Michigan's focus
to the Midwest, and that the best
way to get midwestern players to
come to Michigan is by beating
Michigan's three biggest rivals:
Michigan State, Notre Dame and
Ohio State.
Many Michigan fans doubted
that Rodriguez truly "understood"
the magnitude of the Ohio State
rivalry, but Hoke's answers to
questions about The Game reflect-
ed the understanding he had of
the rivalry from his eight years as
Michigan's defensive line coach.
"It's almost personal," Hoke
said.
MIKE MARTIN TO STAY IN
SCHOOL: The Detroit News is
reporting that junior nosetackle
Mike Martin, Michigan's best
defensive player, has committed

to staying at Michigan instead of
jumpingto the NFL draft.
"Yup, I'm staying," Martin told
the News.
There was speculation that
Martin would make an early jump
to the NFL after he put together a
stellar senior season, despite being
hampered severely by an assort-
ment of injuries throughout.
Keeping Martin is integral to
improving the defense, which
ranked among the worst in the
country this season. Martin
anchors a defensive line that loses
senior Greg Banks and Martin's
backup, senior Adam Patterson.
Martin was selected to the All-
Big Ten second team, recording 36
tackles and 2.5 sacks. He also con-
sistently drew double-teams from
opposing offensive lines, freeing
up redshirt junior defensive end

Ryan Van Bergen and sophomore
defensive end Craig Roh to make
plays.
Martin also told the News he
thought sophomore quarterback
Denard Robinson would be back
next year, even after speculation
that Robinson would leave Michi-
gan given the change in offensive
philosophy from Rich Rodriguez
to Brady Hoke.
"I'm sure Denard will come
back," Martin said. "It's important
to keep the family together."
HOKE'S STAFF COMING
TOGETHER: In his press confer-
ence today, Hoke said he had not
finalized his staff but hoped to get
it done in "the next three or four
days."
He's already made progress.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
reported earlier today that Hoke's

offensive coordinator at San Diego
State, Al Borges, will be joining
Hoke at Michigan.
. "This opportunity is such a good
one for me and for Brady," Borges
told the Union-Tribune. "It's diffi-
cult to pass up."
However, it remains unclear
who will fill the defensive coordi-
nator position. Rocky Long, Hoke's
defensive coordinator at San
Diego State, was announced as the
school's new head coach today.
Another position that remains
foggy is strength coach. Mike
Barwis, Michigan's strength
coach under Rodriguez, was not
fired by the University. How-
ever, it's unclear whether Barwis
will return since Hoke appointed
his strength coach from SDSU,
Aaron Wellman, to be Michigan's
strength coach.

*1

I