The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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as it had been in previous seasons, when RichRod took over. There were some guys in that offensive line room that just didn't cut it. The numbers were down, and the offensive line- men Rich brought in, there weren't enough of them to be top-performing players. "Offensively, it became a struggle. They just couldn't get the machine going fast enough." The offensive line cupboard would be far more barren during the next coaching handoff. But the Rodriguez regime clearly wasn't going to make it and got a nice shove toward the cliff from a major media source. "The NCAA stuff, the sharks were circling, and when he was named head coach, you had people on a mis- sion to do whatever they could to hurt him and make sure he wasn't the head coach," Skene said. "We saw that from the Detroit Free Press. "The witch hunt began, and you cannot succeed in big-time college athletics, unless everybody is on the same page, from the president, to the AD, to the head football coach, all the way down to the equipment manager and the student trainers. If you've got different agendas pull- ing and pushing against each other, you're never going to get to the level you want to be. "That's what was going on when Rich was there. There were too many people pulling in the wrong direc- tion." And there were far too many teams pulling away by embarrassing mar- gins, like Mississippi State in the 2010 Gator Bowl, 52-14. That marked the end of Michigan's brief and ill-fated move to the spread offense. "Mississippi State just absolutely trounced us," Skene said. "It looked like a team that had kind of packed its tents by halftime. That was Coach Rodriguez's final nail." HITTING THE RESET BUTTON Hoke returned to Ann Arbor fol- lowing Brandon's highly scrutinized coaching search. Some, looking for him to make a splash, pined for names such as Miles and Jim Har- baugh. Instead, Brandon went with Hoke, who coached Michigan's defensive line from 1995-2002, including the national championship season in 1997. While some looked skeptically upon his 47-50 head coaching record upon his arrival as head coach, oth- ers pointed out the difficulty he'd faced in reviving programs at Ball State and San Diego State. West Coast observers raved about what he'd achieved at SDSU, some Dave Brandon: No Instant Gratification Here All eyes have been on Michigan athletics director David Brandon this fall, and not always in a welcome way. He's dealt with the controversy over sophomore quarterback Shane Morris' concussion, student unrest regarding seating and other issues, and the Wolverines falling short of expectations on the football field.