The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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of what has been great from a values standpoint, that this place does not need to cut corners to win," he as- sured. "You've got a lot of pride in the fact that if you come here, you know you're signing up to be the best in the world without any kind of shenani- gans going on." Almost immediately, attention and rumors raged like wildfire, many hoping former U-M quarterback and present San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh would jump from the NFL back to college to lead the turnaround. Failing that, a host of luminous names jumped out, from the New Orleans Saints' Sean Payton, to Oklahoma's Bob Stoops to Geor- gia's Mark Richt and beyond. Hackett, though, wasn't about to tip his hand in any way. He simply promised a search both thorough and efficient as possible, while tak- ing the time to laud Hoke as some- one who stands for everything hon- orable in football. "Everywhere I go, there is zero question about Brady's values," Hackett noted. "Brady's peers, both active and retired coaches, really re- spect him. His players love playing for him. He's done a great job of molding these young men and fo- cusing them on success in the class- room and in the community. "He's really earned the respect of all as being a value-centered coach. We need more men like him in sport today." Hackett harkened back to the Ohio State game, when Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett fractured his What They're Saying Bob Wojnowsk i, The D etroit News: "It really is unfortunate it didn't work out with Hoke. This was his dream job, and on that hopeful day four years ago, he declared he would've walked all the way from San Diego to be Michigan's coach. When he went 11-2 his first season, the divisive days seemed over, al- though talent development issues were lurking. "The regression from 11-2 to 8-5 to 7-6 to 5-7 wasn't acceptable, even with a young team and a quarter- back with passing limitations. Devin Gardner, in some ways, represented Hoke's regime — classy and occa- sionally flashy, with minimal im- provement. "Hoke's classic opening line, 'This is Michigan, for God's sakes,' morphed into something different — 'What is Michigan, for God's sakes?' It's a fair question now, a decade since Michigan won a Big Ten title. Hoke became a symbol of what Michigan once was — he was an assistant on the 1997 national championship team — and what it has become." Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press: "Let's talk about Hoke, a Michigan Man in every sense. He had to go. He knew it. You can't win two out of eight games to your archrivals and expect to stick around. The 2014 team was particularly disorganized, bad at execution and mistake prone. At times, Michigan was truly painful to watch.