Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich was fired on Tuesday night, which makes it very likely that defensive coordinator Brady Hoke – Michigan’s head coach from 2011-2014 – will not return. The Ducks are in an interesting position where they lost Chip Kelly a few years ago, kept his assistant on to carry the torch, and now fired that successor. So do they go back to the well and hire someone like UCF’s Scott Frost, another former assistant? Or do they hire from outside the family? Some names I’ve seen linked to the search: Western Michigan HC P.J. Fleck, Frost, Boise State HC Bryan Harsin, West Virginia HC Dana Holgorsen, Florida HC Jim McElwain, and Ohio State DC Greg Schiano.
Here’s a look at who might be available for cherry-picking:
2017 commits with Michigan offers: Oregon DT Popo Aumuvae, Oregon OT Alex Forsyth, California CB Jaylon Redd, Florida TE Tre McKitty, California LB Sampson Niu, Tennessee DT Rutger Reitmaier, Utah DE Langi Tuifua
2018 commits with Michigan offers: None
Scoop: Michigan probably has the best chance with Reitmaier, who already took an official visit to Michigan, and the Wolverines were right in the thick of flipping him, anyway. Forsyth was at one time thought to be close to committing to the Wolverines until the home-state Ducks won out; with Michigan’s current offensive line situation, they may not push for Forsyth. Tuifua was a heavy target for a while, but the Wolverines are pretty fully at defensive end. A couple intriguing players are Aumuvae – who plays a position of need but is unlikely to flip, in my opinion – and McKitty, who just reported an offer yesterday. McKitty’s interesting because the Wolverines were thought to be passing on a tight end this year after Carter Dunaway decommitted, so they’ve either changed their minds or there might be impending news of a tight end leaving the program.
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Let’s say Hoke is released. Let’s say Greg Mattison decides to retire. Let’s say you’re Jim Harbaugh. Do you try to get Hoke to be DL coach?
(a) Is he a good enough DL coach to make that worth while?
(b) Is it worth the drama of having a former HC back with the program?
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a) I do think he’s a good enough defensive line coach to make that worthwhile. He’s also a good recruiter and a good overall presence.
b) I don’t think it’s worth the drama, though. Unless you’re really struggling to find a quality replacement for Mattison, I don’t think there’s a need to bring him back just yet. You can find better guys who won’t bring “baggage.” If that were going to happen, I also think you should wait until all of Hoke’s players have graduated and moved on. So maybe in 2020 or so that would become a little more realistic.
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You think being the head coach previously would be baggage? Fickell took his demotion with class and it worked for OSU. I wonder if a similar situation could play out here.
*Don’t think it’s likely but I wouldn’t rule it out either.
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That’s a totally different situation. Fickell took over in an interim situation when the head coach he was working for was fired for breaking rules. Under suspensions and sanctions, he took the team to a 6-6 record (IIRC). Fickell was an assistant who stepped up late in the off-season and did his best.
Hoke was flat-out fired because the team was headed south, and some of his players are still on the team. Yes, I consider that “baggage.” Not the worst kind of baggage (like being sanctioned, physically attacking a player, etc.), but baggage nonetheless.
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Aware of the differences but the bottom line is that the former Head Coach is now an assistant under an undeniably elite current Head Coach.
I don’t think it’s a problem unless Hoke makes it one. He left under good terms with the program and most of the fanbase appreciates his personality and fit.
Mattison took a demotion too and nobody thought he had ‘baggage’ or would somehow undermine Durkin or Brown despite being more qualified than either.
If anybody was aligned with Hoke over Harbaugh they probably aren’t around anymore.
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It’s rare/unprecedented that a head coach is brought back as a position coach under his successor. There are reasons for that. I’m not going to sit here and argue. If it happens, it’s way outside the norm.
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It’s also rare to have a coach as passionate about his employer as Hoke was and presumably still is. He’s “part of the family” and Harbaugh went out of his way to be gracious and thankful for his contributions, as most fans were.
I don’t think there’s any tangible ‘baggage’ here unless Hoke brings it with him.
I agree it’s unlikely but if Don’s hypothetical were to occur I’d be glad to see it just as I was glad to see Fred Jackson stick around under Rodriguez and Greg Mattison stick around under Harbaugh.
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Yeah you don’t want to create any sort of confusion for the guys that Hoke recruited by bringing him back as a Dline coach. I would welcome him back as a Dline coach but only after his last recruit has moved on. Otherwise it could create a bit of a confusion as to whom is the boss. Hoke is a stand up guy and an excellent recruiter as well as a very experienced Dline coach. He would be a great guy to have back, but not just yet.
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I don’t think anyone is going to be confused about who is boss when Harbaugh is in charge.
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Harbaugh doesn’t coach the Dline or the defense.
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True if Hoke is the DL coach or not.
Anyway the number of DL who were DL under Hoke is pretty minimal. Mone, Hurst, and Marshall. If they are confused they can ask a freshman.
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Hoke would never take that job and I dont think he is a good coach or schemer at all. Hoke’s defense was good because Mattison was good. The end.
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I agree that Oregon is in a very interesting position. IMO they need to retain their identify of flashy high-powered offense or risk going back to irrelevance. Frost and Holgersen make sense. Schiano, Miles, Fleck would be disasters.
Oregon fans believe they have a ton of talent and youth. Helfrich seemed to recruit very well but his decisions in running the program (e.g., hiring Hoke) left something to be desired and he may have been in over his head.
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I dunno… Schiano might make some sense, because the defense needs to be fixed. He does have a year at Ohio State under his belt, so maybe if he brought in a similar offense to maintain continuity, he could work out. He’s more of a defensive guy, so his past offensive philosophy might be a little more malleable.
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Couldn’t disagree more. Don’t dispute the D needs fixing but the program isn’t going to change it’s identify to hard-nosed defense at the expense of offense (and what Schiano ran in the pros and at Rutgers would kill Oregon’s identity). Fitting him with a spread OC would be awkward too.
But arguably the bigger issue would be his personality. Flat out not a fit in Eugene in so many ways.
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Your first paragraph is basically all opinion. You can play hard-nosed defense without sparing offense. Just look at Ohio State, where Schiano has spent this season.
I get that the personality thing might be an issue. I don’t think he’ll get hired, partly for that reason. But I think he could make it work if he came in with a plan to make some adjustments to his previous regime.
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PJ Fleck.
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As an aside, has anybody here checked out Corey Davis? He’s really good/fun. I think he’s an honest to goodness high first round kid.
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Yes these are all opinions.
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I’d take Aumuvae with the caveat that Solomon and Tufele have first dibs.
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I watched his vid again, uninterrupted
I’d take Aumuvae for either line. He’s a pretty nice combination of size speed and nasty.
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