Following his 10-2 first season, Brady Hoke is being considered for Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.
ANN ARBOR -- They're still excited here in Ann Arbor after that big win over Ohio State two days ago. Coach Hoke even joked at his weekly press conference Monday that his phone hasn't stopped ringing ever since
"It’s an important football game when you’re at Michigan," Hoke said. "There’s a lot of text messages I haven’t even seen yet."
Just a guess, but most of them probably congratulate the first-year coach for finally beating Ohio State after a long seven-year drought. Even if Coach Hoke's focus is elsewhere.
"The most disappointing thing is we didn’t win the Big Ten Championship and at Michigan, that’s an expectation," he said.
That is true, but just look at what Hoke was able to do in one season: win 10 games for the first time in five years - a better record than both Schembechler and Carr had in their first seasons, win all eight games at the Big House for the first time... ever, plus possibly get his team to a BCS Bowl game.
All of that, two years removed from a 5-7 season and great turmoil in the program. Players who were around back then, like the direction this program seems to be heading.
"It’s fun to see where we’ve gone from the beginning of the season until now," Senior Mike Martin said, "just to see how we’ve grown."
Credit Brady Hoke, which is why he's being considered for Big Ten Coach of the year, a decision that is made on Wednesday.
"He deserves it," Senior David Molk said. "I love him. He’s a great coach, a great mentor, a great friend. Every single thing you want a college coach to be, he does it flawlessly."
Hoke’s name is also being considered in national coaching honors, but he said he’s not paying any attention, he simply wants to know if his team will play in a BCS Bowl game. He should know that in a week.
