By Mark Wilson
December 5, 2014

It’s official. I lead the league in eye rolls when it comes to this silly nonsense about the “irony” over the Brady Hoke’s firing on the same day Rich Rodriguez is named Pac 12 Coach of the Year.

Stop it already. You look foolish.

Revisionist history is beautiful, isn’t it?

Pretty much most of this talk centers on 2011.

It was Hoke’s first season as Michigan football coach following his less-than-stellar rides at Ball State and San Diego State. He was 47-and-50 as a head man in those two ventures.

47-and-50.

Sorry, but that’s not good in anyone’s book.

When Rich Rod “climbed” to 7-and-6 his fateful final third season in Ann Arbor, which included losses to MSU, OSU and the blowout by Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl, there was NO clamoring for his return.

Rodriguez nabbed victory in ONE big game.

The Wolverines won at Notre Dame 28-24 when the Irish were ranked 22nd in the nation and it was the second week of the season.

The heat of summer was still on in the Midwest when Rich Rod took care of biz in South Bend.

His other six victories came against U-Conn, Massachusetts, Bowling Green, Indiana, Purdue and that ridiculous 67-65 three overtime slopfest against Illinois.

7-6. Big freakin deal.

Another eye roll.

Drums beating for Rodriguez’s ouster were so loud; you needed noise-canceling headphones.

I repeat, NO ONE thought Rich Rod should return to Schembechler Hall for a fourth season.

NO… ONE.

At least, no one I knew or talked too or heard from or texted or emailed or facebooked or twittered.

Zero football peeps.

There were some who even offered to drive Rodriguez and his family to the Michigan/Ohio border and pay their tolls on the 80/90 to motor back to West Virginia or any place they chose.

Anywhere but a return engagement in A-squared.

He was 15-and-22 overall and an absolutely BRUTAL 6-and-18 in the Big Ten.

6… and… 18!

“I don’t think Rich has had a peaceful night sleep since he arrived in Ann Arbor,” said then-AD David Brandon on the firing day in January of 2011.

Of course he didn’t because Rodriguez never embraced the “Michigan Man” thing that current interim AD Jim Hackett slammed on the day HE fired Hoke.

Neither side played it very well during the three tumultuous years Rich Rod wore a maize and blue shirt.

Let’s not even mention the NCAA sanctions Rodriguez was hit with over his practice routines.

It was a disaster.

Following on the heels of the Schembechler/Moeller/Carr legacy, R.R. was the absolute wrong choice.

Yes, he had success at West Virginia but this is Michigan and the Big Ten.
I know everyone likes to think the B1G sucks as a football conference and rips it to shreds but it’s no coincidence that Rodriguez had success BEFORE and now AFTER his time with the big boys.

No coincidence!

The Big Ten is better than you think.

I am a B1G slappy; I admit that. I abhor the way the conference is talked about in relation to the SEC, ACC and others. I know that it comes from the lack of national championships SOLEY. Only TWO conference schools have won a national title since Ohio State in 1968.

One IS Ohio State and the other is Michigan in 1997.

Got it. The Big Ten lacks national titles. Sold.

Let’s move past that.

Rodriguez was 60-and-26 at WVA and now 26-and-12, with the Pac-12 title game this weekend versus Oregon, in his three seasons at Arizona.

In between… he sucked!

Again, NO coincidence.

Did he forget how to recruit or coach in Ann Arbor?

He was fresh off three straight campaigns of 10 or more victories with the Mountaineers. It’s what earned him the gig at Michigan.

Rodriguez knew it was a step up which is why he left his precious West Virginia.

His cohort John Beilein did the exact same thing.

Michigan is a more attractive place to coach than Morgantown with more riches attached. It is why BOTH of West Virginia’s main coaches decided to book for the possibilities with the Wolverines.

There are no two ways about it.

The jobs also come with more pressure.

Beilein has thrived as Michigan basketball coach. Rodriguez did not thrive as Michigan football coach. It’s as simple as that.

Beilein EMBRACED the university. Rich Rod… did not.

Rodriguez played it too cool.

Rich Rod thought what worked in Morgantown would fly in Ann Arbor.

Wrong!

Coaching Big East football is NOT the same as the B1G.

So, when Brandon laid the hammer on the Rodriguez era, the alum let out a big, “Hallelujah!”

Praise Bo!

This despite the fact that technically, his record improved from year to year.

3-and-9 to 5-and-7 to 7-and-6.

But as previously explained, that 7-and-6 was fool’s gold. (If 7-and-6 can EVER be linked with the word “gold”)

At Michigan, it wasn’t nearly good enough to entitle a fourth go-round.

The real IRONY is that Hoke had the exact same 7-and-6 in HIS third year with the exact same losses to the exact same big teams. In Hoke’s case, it bought him the magical fourth year.

THAT is the true definition of IRONY.

And yes, there were still more Michigan folks who believed Hoke had earned a fourth season even with a DROP in his record over the three seasons.

11-and-2 to 8-and-5 to 7-and-6.

Now, the TRUTH about that 11-and-2 in 2011.

It was phony baloney.

Brady, like Rich, didn’t get much time to set a recruiting class in February of that year. Only a couple of guys have become standouts from that class. Blake Countess, the now-gone Frank Clark and Desmond Morgan can be seen as big time players.

If you want, I’ll throw in kicker Matt Wile as well.

There ya go.

Hoke went to battle with Rodriguez’s recruits and even some of Lloyd Carr’s senior and fifth year leftovers.

No other players magically showed up in Hoke’s first rodeo.

They began 2011 with a HUGE win over Western Michigan.

Oh goody.

Then, they struggled but hung on to knock off an UNRANKED Notre Dame unit under the lights at the Big House.

I’m not dissing the win over Brian Kelly in his second year coaching the Irish but it is… what it is. Notre Dame was unranked.

On September 17th, they blasted Eastern Michigan.

Oh goody part deux.

Staying at home for a fourth week in a row, the Wolverines took care of Hoke’s former employer San Diego State to the tune of 28-7.

Staying at home for a FIFTH week in a row, Michigan shutout Minnesota 58-0.

Jerry Kill was also in HIS first season as head man. The Gophers weren’t any good and primed to get shellacked on the road in front of 110,000.

Maybe more REAL IRONY is that Kill, who once coached Saginaw Valley State, won the Big Ten Coach of the Year award a day before Hoke was fired.

He’s done a fantastic job at Minnesota.

On October 8th, Hoke finally had to pack a bag.

Michigan first road game in the Hoke era came at Northwestern.

The Wildcats were enjoying another crapola start and Michigan rolled out of Ryan Field with a 42-24 victory.

While Pat Fitzgerald picked up the ball from the late Randy Walker who replaced Gary Barnett who really got Northwestern back on track competitively, MOST Wildcat seasons aren’t very good.

It was a win over one of the conference’s also-rans.

Oh goody part three.

After the short trip to Evanston, Illinois, Michigan was back in the state the following week where they promptly lost to a standout Michigan State team, 28-14.

MSU was the first ranked team that Hoke faced and he lost the game.

Another home tilt followed the defeat to the Spartans and that was against those mighty Purdue Boilermakers.

Another eye roll.

I get that it seems like I am dismissing the Big Ten but in reality I am just making a point about this vaunted 2011 that everyone in A.A. hangs onto; that somehow Rodriguez should have been the guy to coach that squad.

Purdue actually wasn’t that bad in ’11 but no match for ANY Michigan team at the corner of Hoover and State.
36-14 was the final in that one.

Back on the road, the Wolverines went to Iowa City and… promptly lost.

Ranked 13th in the country, Michigan couldn’t hang with Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes at Nile Kinnick. 24-16, Iowa dumped Michigan.

Three road games to this point… two losses.

On November 12, they made their way to Illinois.

Ron Zook was two weeks away from his own firing and the Illini sealed that fate by losing to the Wolverines, 31-14.

The final two games of 2011 were at the Big House and Michigan won both.

Probably the best game they played ALL season came in the 45-17 scorch they put on Nebraska.

IRONY! Bo Pelini got fired this year just like Hoke did!

In ’11, the Huskers were ranked 17th when they were drilled by Denard Robinson and the Maize and Blue.

Future Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was on the ABC broadcast crew that fairly mild November 19th afternoon.

Irony? Sure, why not.

Urban was watching carefully as Michigan wrapped up the regular season by beating Meyer’s soon-to-be Buckeye team, 40-34.

Courtney Avery picked off a Braxton Miller pass to avoid an upset extrordinaire.

It would have been an upset because OSU was awful.

Luke Fickell had replaced Jim Tressel who was forced out due to all the NCAA sanctions and wrong doing and suspensions that had the Buckeyes in a terrible hole.

Ohio State lost SEVEN games that season; five in the conference.

Michigan was 10-and-2, headed to the BCS Sugar Bowl and Hoke was hailed as a savior.

Truth?

He had EIGHT home games.

He beat ONE team in the AP Top 25.

He ventured more than 241 miles away from Ann Arbor only TWICE; 1-and-1 in those two games.

He beat his biggest rival (Ohio as he likes to say) in the worst year of Buckeye football losing-wise since 1897.

Even the legendary Woody Hayes wasn’t born yet the last, and only, time Ohio State lost SEVEN games in a single season.

Woody was still 16 years away from his birth in 1897.

Oh goody part four.

In essence, the only REAL quality win in 2011 was the rout of Nebraska.

Fine… the B1G was down that year.

Happy now?

The combined record of the teams they beat during the regular season was a meager 67-and-61. Just ONE of those finished with less than FIVE losses and that was Nebraska.

They had four.

Now, to the Sugar Bowl.

Hoke’s reward for such an awesome first season, was a meeting with Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech at the Superdome in New Orleans January 3rd, 2012.

Michigan needed a Brendan Gibbons field goal in overtime to beat the Hokies, 23-20.

This was a VA Tech team that had its OWN strange campaign which included a brutal 38-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.

Clemson was by far the best team the Hokies faced in 2011 and they played them twice.

Twice… they lost to Clemson.

The aggregate score of those two defeats to the Tigers was a robust, 61-13.

Oh goody part five.

11-and-2 doesn’t look so shiny and wonderful once you dissect it.

Whatever Rich Rod has going on in Tucson has nothing to do with his time at Michigan.

Conversely, Hoke had no link to Rodriguez other than he was the guy who replaced him

Coaches replace coaches all the time. There is no indelible correlation to the previous honcho unless there is literally a connection in some fashion.

The mess caused after Carr’s retirement is a broad based administrative failure to identify the right guy to be the head football coach.

No place has benefited greater than Michigan State.

For the first time since Duffy Daugherty patrolled the sidelines in East Lansing during the salad football days of the 1960’s has MSU shined in the face of Michigan’s adversity.

It was because of Duffy’s success as a national power, winning dual NCAA championships, that the Wolverines turned to Don Canham to repair the damage done.

He was the right guy at the right time.

Choosing Schembechler as head coach to replace Bump Elliott also turned out to be the move of the ages.

Michigan owned the state quickly and it lasted a good 40 years.

THAT is how important this upcoming decision is going to be.

Fail? And, Mark Dantonio rules for years to come while Michigan flounders for an identity.

Succeed? And, it won’t be long before Spartan Nation cries foul.

Can both coexist as NATIONAL powers?

Absolutely.

USC and UCLA have done it. So have Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on occasion. Ditto Florida, FSU and Miami. Ole Miss and Miss. State are giving it a shot right now.

There is room for two Michigan-based universities to rock in college football.

We’ve just rarely seen it at the same time.

Beilein has Wolverine hoops nearing the Izzo standard at MSU. Honestly, it has made for some great fun when the two play each other now. Beilein closed the wide gap created when Steve Fisher was axed in favor of Brian Ellerbe and then Tommy Amaker.

Isn’t the state better with Beilein AND Izzo successful?

They may not think so in East Lansing but the answer is yes.

Right now, Ohio State is NOT Michigan’s biggest rival.

Urban Legend has the Buckeyes in a different stratosphere with the 24 game regular season conference winning streak.

Michigan can’t even beat Rutgers or Maryland and… they just got here!

Hackett, new president Mark Schlissel and the board of regents have a real pickle on their hands.

And if Hackett gives way to a different athletic director, then that guy has the pickle.

THIS choice has to be RIGHT.

It’s almost like that season on the older “Dallas” TV show when Pamela realizes she dreamed season nine. The Michigan faithful need to write off the Rich Rod/Hoke reign of error as a dream.

Or… maybe a nightmare.

That includes NOT using 2011 as some sort of weird creepy paradox.

In the middle of all this losing came 2011.

Seven years have come and gone since Carr said adios.

Seven long, odd, lousy football-playing years.

Michigan fans are longing for a winner. It’s the “Seven Year Itch.” No eye roll needed.

If it’s not scratched with this next hire then it could be a lot longer before the Wolverines scratch the surface for football supremacy in the state. MSU could dominate into the next decade just like Daugherty did after Biggie Munn.

THAT could be the most ironic thing of all.