2B - October 27, 2014

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

What Michigan needs in its new coach

If Michigan football coach
Brady Hoke was going
to keep his job after this
season, he needed to beat Ohio
State and Michigan State.
Now that his last chance is
no longer a reality, you can use
any number of possible clichs
to say this: Brady Hoke will not
have a job at Michigan next
season.
So who will?
The short answer: probably
not the person you want.
There are NFL leaders,
former players, big-school
coaches or rising coordinators
out there, all capable of
leadinga storied program into
something great once again.
But if you want the
Wolverines to succeed, they
may not be in your best interest.
Because what Michigan
needs, more than a name or
talent, is someone who can
take a crumbling program and
build it back up from the very
beginnings.
Michigan needs someone
who could outcoach one of
the Big Ten's best in Mark
Dantonio, instead of leading
a team that looked as if it was
unprepared once again. It
needs someone who can not
only recruit and motivate, but
someone who can put on the
hat, grab the whistle and put
players in the best position to
succeed.
And there are plenty of
candidates capable of doing
that.
But that person doesn't
need to be the big, prodigal
name spurning one prominent
program for another.
It doesn't need to be Jim
Harbaugh - a disciple of Bo
Schembechler. He carries too
much baggage, too much clout
with him. When Schembechler
was hired, he wasn't a

someone who can coach, even if
you haven't heard of the name
and even if that person's biggest
gig is at a MAC school
It needs a guy like Marshall's 6
John Holliday or East
Carolina's Ruffin McNeill, guys
who have taken unknowns and
made them better than when
they entered. It could use a
coach like current Wyoming
coach Craig Bohl, who won
tlhe last three FCS National
Championships with North
Dakota State.
Those aren't big names. But
they are great coaches. They
developedsuccessful programs
at schools when they had nothing
to work with - they recruited
talent, motivated the players and
coached them to be great.
Hoke came from a small
school, but he hadn't found
consistent success like these
candidates have.
The reality Michigan faces
is one in which it has only
its name to lure candidates.
Naturally, coaches like these
haven't faced the pressureof a
job inAnn Arbor, or the boos of
100,000 fans. They just need to
be able to do their job: coach.
If the expectations are for
a big-name savior, it's time to
temper those.
Michigan isn't a great
program suffering through
a slump. It's an average team
with a pair of good years in
the past decade. It could get an
experienced name, or it could
get a popular coordinator if it
really wanted.
But if Michigan is going to
rebuild its program, it needs
someone who can do what the
previous guy didn't: beat Ohio
State and Michigan State.
Garno can be reached
at ggarno@umich.edu and
on Twitter: @G.Garno.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Brady Hoke won't last much longer as Michigan's football coach. Garno explores what the University's athletic director should look for ina replacement.

household name, so the Daily
wrote stories to explain his
background to readers.
It doesn't need to be Les
Miles, LSU's coach, who,
despite years offinishingshort
of an SEC championship, still
has the base for a team to reload
every year. Did you see the
scene in Baton Rouge on TV
during Saturday's game, when
fans roared and rushed the field
as his team won?
Michigan can't offer that to
coaches like Miles, not now at
least. So names like Dan Mullen
or Mike Gundy, who already
have programs they've worked
to build, are unlikely to want to
start all over.

The replacement for Brady coordinator Pat Narduzzi
Hoke doesn't need to be - not after this weekend,
coordinator from a big-name anyway - or Alabama defensive
school. A coordinator
coordinator Kirby Smart.
can coach on . isn't Coaches
one side of the M ichigan isn't a such as those
ball, but that haven't had
doesn't ensure great program to face the
he's a good suff ngquestions
motivator r g about injuries
or a strong through a slump or abouta
recruiter. . plantings
All three - stake in the
coaching, ground. They
recruiting and don't have to
motivating - are essential to inspire 3-4 teams for one of the
the job. biggest games of the season.
So that's not going to be a guy Michigan's coach doesn't
like Michigan State defensive need to be a "Michigan man"

who goes back with Bo or Lloyd
Carrlike Stanford's David
Shaw. Nor does it need someone
who has ties to the state like
the Baltimore Ravens' John
Harbaugh and Tennessee's
Butch Jones.
You know Hoke was a
Michigan man, and you know
how that worked out.
The Wolverines don't need
to be limited in their decision
because of ties to the school;
they just need someone who
can coach better than the guy
across the field. They need
someone who can bring a
fresh idea and a new idea to a
program so attached to its past.
No, what Michigan needs is

DonBALL
MlM Donor purchases shirts

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calling to fire Brandon.

White T-shirts
will be distributed
to students on
Thursday night
By ALEJANDRO ZUNIGA
ManagingSports Editor .
Last month, Public Policy
senior Craig Kaplan stood on
the steps of University President
Mark Schlissel's house with a
megaphone to help lead a protest
to fire University Athletic
Director Dave Brandon.
Now, he's bringing his
discontent to the Big House this
Saturday, and he wants other
students to join him.
With the help of a "very
giving" donor, he hopes to
distribute 2,000 custom-made
white T-shirts that read, "We
support the team, the team, the
team. #FireDaveBrandon" to
interested student organizations
by Thursday evening.
The goal, Kaplan said, is for
enough of the student section
to wear the T-shirts to the
Michigan football team's game
against Indiana that the message
will be noticeable on TV.
"We support the team. That's

the crucial part," Kapl
"We want to see the 1
them. Dave Brandon is
best for them. That's ther
we're trying to get across
Though the donor
to remain anonymous,
said the alum was onec
to contact him after th
30 rally to fire Brand
donor was the most
about continuing the st
momentum against the.
Director, according to KE
"The
Athletic
Department «
routinely Da
deflects
responsibility. ma
You see that
with the te
Shane Morris lor
case, you see
that with
the Brendan
Gibbons case,"
Kaplan said. "(Brando
his priorities completely
wall.
"I think everyone d
the ability to have a
chance. Unfortunately,
his fifth or sixth."
Since the September
Brandon has made a co
effort to improve r

an said. between himself and students.
best for The biggest move came last
not the Thursday, when he announced
message the Athletic Department would
." lower student-ticket prices
prefers by 37.5 percent to $175 for the
Kaplan upcoming football season.
of many But Kaplan said he echoed the
he Sept. donor's opinion that the move
on. The came too little, too late, and
vocal that Brandon had made several
tudents' prior decisions that "ostracized"
Athletic students.
aplan. "Dave Brandon is making a
short-term
gain for a
long-term
Lve Brandon is loss," Kaplan 6
said. "If the
king a short- students are
ostracized
rm gain for a now, once
ig-term loss." you get out of
college, what
do you think 6
is going to
happen?"
n) has Part of the inspiration behind
off the Saturday's planned protest is
to encourage Schlissel to fire
leserves Brandon "before he has the
second ability to hire the next coach."
he's on "Leaving him in power to
appoint the next coach will only
protest, continue the toxic environment
)ncerted that currently stands," Kaplan
elations said.
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