Is This It for Brady Hoke With the Michigan Wolverines?

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It seems like a decade ago when Brady Hoke took his first Michigan Wolverines squad to an 11-2 record and a Sugar Bowl victory, but that was only in 2011.

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Now, less than three years later, Hoke is firmly on the hot seat and under immense pressure to reverse the course of the program after following that inaugural season up with an 8-5 record and then a 7-6 record. The odd part in all of this is that while Hoke’s first season was with Rich Rodriguez’s players, his 2012 and 2013 classes were better than anything Rodriguez put together. And as the classes got better, the teams got worse.

The pressure on Hoke has now reached recruits, with the 2014 class ranked No. 31 on Rivals after two straight Top 10 classes and next year’s class so far ranked at No. 29. So it’s now crucial for Hoke to succeed in order to help recruiting in the future as well.

Luckily, those two Top 10 classes he recruited should finally have some experience this year. And last year’s team had four close losses,

Nov 30, 2013; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke after the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

including to Ohio State, who was undefeated at the time.

If you think about it, Hoke’s last two years haven’t been terrible. He’s had to deal with a mix of the players he wants and Rodriguez’s recruits, which in a way can be trickier than just dealing with Rodriguez’s type of players as he did in 2011, and as he began to develop his team he got hit with issues at quarterback.

This year, Hoke has lots of returning talent to be able to turn the team around, but there are still some major questions he will have to answer, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, at quarterback and on the offensive line. If he can’t, then this could be another long year.

And then Michigan will probably looking for a new head coach.