Michigan Football Preview 2013

2013 Michigan Football Preview

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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Mattison and Hoke first worked together, and became close friends, at Western Michigan under Jack Harbaugh, and they also previously worked together at U-M in the mid-1990s. B rady Hoke repeats the coaching fact of life, over and over again: "In this profession, right, wrong or indifferent, you spend more time with other people's children than you do your own." Such a dynamic obviously isn't for everyone. It requires a level of understanding on all sides, and a family commitment to making it work. Hoke selects his coaches carefully, like head coaches across the country do. But for the man in Michigan's big office, the choices go well beyond X's and O's. They go to the heart of what he's all about in his chosen profession. The leader of the University of Michigan's highest-profile aggregation of athletes knows exactly what he wants in a crew he leads, and he won't settle for less. "Number one, you want to know the character of the guy, and the integrity," Hoke stressed. "You want to know who has his back. You want to know his family. You want to know his wife. "And why are you coaching? If they don't tell me they're coaching because they want photo by lon horwedel working Parts Brady Hoke's Coaching Staff Is A Product Of Careful Selection to help develop young men, I'm not going to hire them. That's where it starts." That's obviously not where it ends. A good-guy group is fine, but if it doesn't get the job done with regularity against Big Ten opponents — and a couple of them in particular — that happy honeymoon goes away pretty quickly. Hoke seeks out coaches who know what the job entails and show themselves particularly effective at doing it, in any number of permutations. "There are all kinds of other variables that go into it, from work ethic to knowledge of 42  ■  The Wolverine 2013 Football Preview the game, knowledge of the specific position, knowledge of the whole thing, from the coordinator's standpoint … "Where that guy is, how he teaches, how he communicates — those things are vitally important," Hoke explained. "His clarity with the kids. Having coached with guys has always helped." Hoke interacted with most of his coaches for many years, in one way or another. Several worked with him at Ball State, or San Diego State, or even Michigan in the case of Greg Mattison and Roy Manning. In those instances in which he's going

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