Rich Eisen is pretty much giving Brady Hoke an old fashioned across the airwaves in this interview, if you haven't heard it (interview starts at about 28:34):
NFL Championship Podcast
Rich Eisen, as a Meech alum, has apparently not been shy over the last few years in expressing his lack of support for Rich Rodriguez. Is he an asshole? It's guaranteed Stefan probably hates him, as Eisen is both Jewish and alive, but at least the dude wasn't guarded in his opinion. Though he represents the sizeable chunk of the fanbase that has constantly assailed the direction of the program that they should unconditionally support, this begs the question: should you unconditionally support the team and the head coach, especially if you vehemently disagree?
This past season (as well as the two before it, but especially this one) have been a struggle for me as a Michigan fan. Turk and I lay at opposite ends of the spectrum on this one, not surprisingly. Whereas Turk managed to maintain, in the face of pure awfulness, that RR deserves more of a chance and that he has gotten a raw deal, I was hollering for him to be fired by the end of the season. Despite a few waverings and blowups, I was publicly an RR supporter right up until the meltdown at the hands of PSU on Halloween this season. After that, I finally switched camps and embraced my anti-RR leanings that I had tried to bottle up knowing that unwavering support of the program was the right thing to do.
My article on OTE talked about the Hoke hiring as essentially reuniting this exasperated Eisen-esque contingent of the Michigan "fanbase" by re-emphasizing the so-called values of the elusive "Michigan Man".
I say bravo, Rich Eisen, for unabashedly expressing what so many fans were feeling but didn't think it right to say (I don't include myself in that, as I was truly a supporter for most of RR's tenure). Yes, it amounted to the essential hari-kari of our program, as the Meech fanbase devoured, debased and undermined itself. But if Hoke wins and restores the program to it's hallowed ranks among the elite, was Eisen right all along?
Hey! I hate Rich Eisen because he's a pretentious douche...not because he's alive.
ReplyDeleteWell-said, Jaffe...you use more GRE words in this article than I could ever imagine using in my writing.
ReplyDeleteI come from Turc's school of thought here. I was on-board with RR until the bitter end because were people saw our 110th ranked defense, I saw our 6th ranked offense...I saw evolution of a program rather than the demise. The defense was awful and RR did need to take some of the heat for that...but our D coordinator was poop and look at our recruiting class coming in next year for D.
I think the bottom line here is RR didn't stand a chance in Ann Arbor for the sole reason of the ever-elusive "Michigan Man"...
and don't get me wrong, I love the idea of bringing someone in who understands tradition but this whole idea of "Michigan Man" makes me sick because EVERYONE is now using this term...
Turc and I discussed this issue in depth the the other day...Supporters of Hoke will say he turned around SDSU and Ball State (in 6 years and RR only got 3 in a much tougher conference)...but how do you explain the turn around of Miami of Ohio in just 1 year? To that, I say, it is the nature of the MAC...turning a program in 6 years in the MAC should not be thought of as a major accomplishment...
All of this being said, tip of the cap goes to Hoke for bringing in Mattison...I believe it is a wonderful first step and the first move in trying to silence the naysayers and haters
We will see. This is Brandon Don Canham moment. Canham hit it out of the park with Bo. Only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteYou guys saw the Greg Mattison DC hire, right? Hot stuff.
ReplyDeleteyes...very hot stuff!
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