Leadership

[deathroh]

This was a common talking point as the 2013 went down the toilet, looks like Hoke is addressing it for 2014...

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/04/brady_hoke_regrets_not_fixing.html

 

[Michchamp]

yeah many people commented on how it seemed like there was just something "off" about the team last year. I'm firmly of the belief that even if we don't have the best athletes in a unit, there's no way the University of Michigan should ever have so little talent on either DL or OL to get into problems with Akron or UConn... when those things happen, there's something else wrong somewhere.

It's easy to point the finger at those who are no longer with the program, but in this case... yeah... Lewan was obviously not a saint... and Gibbons was beyond question. And Borges, of course. It doesn't take much to cause problems, especially when the guy causing them is bigger than everyone else.

in 2013 I think Hoke made some mistakes that he has (hopefully) learned from... and once those mistakes were made, fixing them was easier said than done. I don't know what he could've done mid-season; making drastic changes to the roster or the staff is disruptive, and I can't blame him for hoping for improvement on its own, given how little time they probably have to deal with recruiting, practice, and game planning during the week. then again, making drastic changes when necessary is part of the job.

The lack of improvement over the season was the first time I really questioned whether Hoke has what it takes for this.

 

[Monster]

It's hard to fix leadership and chemistry issues. Most of that falls on the players. He can demand all he wants, but this is a player issue.

 

[Michchamp]

It's hard to fix leadership and chemistry issues. Most of that falls on the players. He can demand all he wants, but this is a player issue.

I think his regret is probably that in 2013 his actions contributed to the problems, or maybe lack of actions, as the case may be.

 

[TheVictors]

I am glad to read about Hoke's willingness to amend the "Michigan Tradition" of honoring the Seniors. Leadership comes in many different forms and simply having been in the program the longest or being older doesn't make you a leader. I don't know that Devin Gardner is as much a leader as Denard or Shane, but all "play Quarterback for the University of Michigan" and are expected to be. Brian Griese wasn't a leader, but Charles Woodson was ...I think to be honest, the "Senior" class last year was thin to begin with and had some real jerks in Lewan and Gibbons. Leadership develops over time and it never seems to work to anoint someone a "captain" if they are not going to be voted so by the team or group they are supposed to lead.

The younger classes with Shane Morris and Jabril Peppers come in with class leaders already in place and know nothing of the Rich Rod era teams. I hope this "Team 134" and "Team 135" narrative is genuine because if it is, I think the program is probably finally past the transition phase between coaches and philosophies. And while the Alumni/fanbase is more than willing to eat up the "Michigan Man" rhetoric from Hoke, not every policy under Bo for that era is going to work today.

Now, I guess the test is not how well the head coach intervenes in team issues and helps provide leadership because that is what apparently happened in 2013. Now, this season, he may have to show he can coach football too.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Leadership can't be taught to just anyone, but it can be nurtured or inhibited. You have to establish a chain of command that includes players; group penalties and rewards can lead to players taking responsibility for the actions of other players. Some anecdotes are described in Bo's Lasting Lessons, but obviously there's a lot more to it than you can put in a book. Looking to military groups really isn't a bad idea.

I think we're hoping that Lewan was a special kind of rotten apple and it isn't just that Hoke can't manage it. Also hoping that recruiting plays a role and Hoke knows what he's doing there so we won't see this again.

 

[dubbsco]

I truly hope this doesn't become the major excuse as to why Michigan underperformed in 2013. Yeah, there were leadership issues, but the team just wasn't very good. You could have had everyone be best friends and get along, but that won't explain an absolute embarrassment to MSU, or games they should have lost to Akron, UCONN. Borges was calling horrible games, running backs weren't doing anything, offensive line was swiss cheese, Gardner was a turnover machine because he tried to do too much. Chemistry was just one part of the whole pie.

 

[deathroh]

Definitely put up or shut up time for Hoke. I'm all for a coach that has strong coordinators and empowers them to lead their units, but if that's your style you better be sure you have the right people in place and do what you can to take care of the intagibles like leadership.

He gets pass #1 for addressing the OC situation quickly and pass #2 for seemingly addressing leadership....I don't see him getting any more unless the team starts producing.

 

[Gulo Blue]

I truly hope this doesn't become the major excuse as to why Michigan underperformed in 2013. Yeah, there were leadership issues, but the team just wasn't very good. You could have had everyone be best friends and get along, but that won't explain an absolute embarrassment to MSU, or games they should have lost to Akron, UCONN. Borges was calling horrible games, running backs weren't doing anything, offensive line was swiss cheese, Gardner was a turnover machine because he tried to do too much. Chemistry was just one part of the whole pie.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by what you hope isn't the excuse. I would say that I'm hoping the main reasons are things that are gone now. Borges is the obvious big thing that is gone, but since the o-line was so bad, Lewan may have played a surprisingly big role. Since his personal performance was good, I'm left hoping that he had a negative impact on others. There have been claims that that was the case, but for all I know, it's just speculation by people that have the same hopes I do.

 

[dubbsco]

What I mean is that there are more issues than just chemistry. Yes, it's nice that these issues are being addressed, but there were major personnel issues to explain why the team underperformed. I don't think Gardner is a good quarterback, the wide receivers are below average, offensive line was awful, etc... That's not something that's correctable with better chemistry.

 

[deathroh]

I'd love you see what an above average WR corps looks like if last year was below average.

 

[Michchamp]

I truly hope this doesn't become the major excuse as to why Michigan underperformed in 2013. ...

We've addressed the difference between a "reason" and an "excuse" before, though expecting you to remember that, or even understand it is probably an exercise in futility.

Definitely put up or shut up time for Hoke. I'm all for a coach that has strong coordinators and empowers them to lead their units, but if that's your style you better be sure you have the right people in place and do what you can to take care of the intagibles like leadership.

He gets pass #1 for addressing the OC situation quickly and pass #2 for seemingly addressing leadership....I don't see him getting any more unless the team starts producing.

I'm still concerned that he put as much faith in Borges as he did, I guess, so I'm not sure you can give him a pass for that. In his defense, it did seem like our offensive struggles in '11 - '12 were due to having to keep Denard as QB, and from the way 2012 ended, it looked like things would return to normal in 2013... I guess having things completely fall apart under Borges last year was unexpected.

It makes me wonder now how much better we could've been in 2012 with a better OC... maybe we could've beaten ND and ohio. The Bellomy-Nebraska debacle may not have happened either.

in terms of pt #2 - ASSUMING the chemistry issues were due to Lewan-Gibbons... I don't fault him as much for that situation, because I think that would've been a hard issue to resolve for any coach for a couple reasons: their personalities would've been muted by the older guys leading the team prior to 2013, and Hoke wasn't around in 2009 to deal with Gibbons. how often do you have a situation blow up in an offseason 4 years later with a guy like Douglas spamming the story all over the message boards and going to Regents' meetings? not saying it wasn't handled poorly by the University at the time, and again in 2013, but it's not the sort of thing coaches have a lot of experience dealing with.

 

[deathroh]

I'm still concerned that he put as much faith in Borges as he did, I guess.

ASSUMING the chemistry issues were due to Lewan-Gibbons... I don't fault him as much for that situation, because I think that would've been a hard issue to resolve for any coach for a couple reasons: their personalities would've been muted by the older guys leading the team prior to 2013, and Hoke wasn't around in 2009 to deal with Gibbons, and how often do you have a situation blow up in an offseason 4 years later with a guy like Douglas spamming the story all over the message boards and going to Regents' meetings? not saying it wasn't handled poorly by the University at the time, and again in 2013, but it's not the sort of thing coaches have a lot of experience dealing with.

Well, they were pretty successful together in San Diego St. Plus Borges had varying degrees of success on a large stage before, so it's not like Hoke should have anticipated what was to come. Some might make the argument that he could have been fired after 2012, but that seems like a stretch. In the end he made a bad hire, but at least he had the balls to make a change (get a life msu slappy, we know what you're going to say).

I do agree that Hoke doesn't shoulder the blame for the Gibbons situation, but I don't think that's the type of thing that would result in poor onfield play. It can't help of course, but I would look more at the leaders not setting a good example in the weight room, film room, on the practice field, during the offseason. Getting high/drunk, disrespecting authority in general. I would have liked to see Hoke address and be able to improve a situation like this before the results were so damaging. Easier said than done, and who's to say he didn't step in and keep things from getting even worse...it's just not a good look for a CEO type head coach.

 

[deathroh]

I hit reply before your edit.

 

[Michchamp]

I hit reply before your edit.

fine. screw you then, hippie.