ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Brady Hoke has a few things in common with the late Bo Schembechler.
He is from Ohio, he didn’t attend Michigan, he’s climbing the coaching ladder, and he’s about to take over the football program that Schembechler built into a national power.
Michigan hired Hoke away from San Diego State, with Athletic Director Dave Brandon announcing the move Tuesday at a previously scheduled team meeting not long after LSU said Les Miles was staying in the bayou instead of going to coach at the Big House.
“We thought it was going to be a meeting about classes and the weight room,” tight end Kevin Koger said. “Mr. Brandon came in and dropped the news on us.”
Brandon insisted Hoke was always Plan A, not Miles or Jim Harbaugh, who left Stanford for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
“The job was never offered to them,” Brandon said. “We did have different discussions with them that were helpful and positive.”
College football’s winningest team got a Michigan man, just not the one most of their fans were clamoring for after Brandon fired Rich Rodriguez a week ago.
Harbaugh was the popular pick when Brandon bought out the last three seasons of Rodriguez’s three-year contract. When he dropped out of the picture, Miles appeared to be a logical choice.
Instead, it will be Hoke, who knows his way around Ann Arbor, too.
After coaching Michigan’s defensive line during the 1997 national championship season, he went on to turn around Ball State as a head coach from 2003-2008 and pulled off another feat the past two seasons at San Diego State.
“Brady Hoke understands Michigan, and he wanted this job because it has been his dream job,” Brandon said. “We won’t have to teach him the words to The Victors, and I believe our players will respond to him because I got 100 percent positive feedback from anybody who played for him here or since he left Michigan.”
Hoke replaces Rodriguez, who was fired after going 15-22 in three seasons with the Wolverines. That includes an 0-6 mark against Ohio State and Michigan State and a 38-point drubbing two weeks ago by Mississippi State in Michigan’s worst bowl defeat.
Michigan’s players were told to show up for a team meeting at Schembechler Hall and were surprised to find out the school had hired a new coach.
“Dave Brandon was sold, and we are, too,” receiver Darryl Stonum said. “I don’t know too much [about him], but I’ll find out.”
Hoke is scheduled to meet his new team this morning before being introduced at a news conference and perhaps fans at the Ohio State-Michigan basketball game.
He has 28 years of college experience with assistant coaching stints at Grand Valley State (1983), Western Michigan (1984-86), Toledo (1987-88), Oregon State (1989-94) and Michigan (1995-2002). He graduated from Ball State in 1982 and as a coach helped the program to a school-record 12 victories three years ago.
San Diego State gave Hoke a five-year contract worth $3,525,000 in December 2008 to replace the fired Chuck Long. He went 4-8 his first year, but last season led the Aztecs to their first winning season (9-4) and bowl berth since 1998.
Hoke had been courted recently by Minnesota, which ultimately hired Northern Illinois Coach Jerry Kill. Last month, Hoke signed a two year extension through 2015 that came with a raise and a $1.5 million buyout.
SAN DIEGO STATE
Long to replace Hoke
San Diego State has promoted defensive coordinator Rocky Long to head coach after Brady Hoke was hired away by Michigan, sources at San Diego State told the Association Press. The school has scheduled a news conference for today. Long was head coach at New Mexico State from 1998 until resigning after the 2008 season. He joined Hoke’s staff in December 2008.
Sports, Pages 24 on 01/12/2011