Wolverine247 Board

He is a head coach that has very good coordinators. He does not do the play calling on either side of the ball. For this reason, I do not have any issue with him not having a headset. He trusts his assistants to handle their business.

Great answers fellas. Not sure why someone gave me a downvote for asking a legitimate question. As a fellow Ball State alum I am a fan of Brady Hoke. Don't approve of his choice of team to coach but he's a good coach no doubt.

Gave ya a couple of upvotes. Hope it washes the down that you got.

I downvoted you for crying about votes. Your on a rivals board, expect downvotes regardless of what you post.

Yeah he spends his time w/ the players... no need to be listening in on coordinators that he trusts.

I don't have a problem with it, as long as he's active on the sidelines, which he is. What I mean by being active on the sidelines is communicating with the other coaches regularly, talking to the players when need be and managing the game.

I'm still stunned that Joe Paterno would literally sit in the box AND not have a headset on - that shows how active he was in what his team was doing at that point. But with Hoke being on the sideline, I don't think it's a big deal.

I dont like it. Its not about calling the plays, its about being more involved with the outcome of the game, and its about immediate communication with what he sees on the field compared to Borges up top. With Mattison its different, hes right next to him on the sideline. If Hoke wants to manage certain aspects of the game in certain scenarios, this needs to be communicated to Borges who can then call plays with what Hoke is trying to accomplish on the field. Also, if Hoke is such a defensive guy, he should be able to diagnose certain opposing defensive schemes that certain offensive plays would exploit, and since he doesnt have a head set constantly, this type of advantage can not be established instantaneously

He is fine without it...he's got Greg Mattison and Al Borges helping him out. I don't think he's really that worried about the playcalling and they go over the gameplan enough over the week. Plus it shows great trust and empowerment to your assistants which goes a long way into keeping them around. I really believe Brady does most of his magic and greatness on the other 6 days of the week.

I am sure you will be whining about the next downvote also.

No, I earned that downvote at least from you but the 1st one I still don't understand. It's all good though because I know every village has their share of idiots and my home board has the same issues. I won't let you or a few other guys spoil what has been a good and civil thread.

It was/is a good and civil thread before you whined about getting downvoted. Who cares about the votes? Discuss the topic, but no point in crying because you were downvoted on a rival board. It happens on all boards. Every board has idiots that care about getting downvoted.

Here was a comment from respected Notre Dame writer Tim Prister today in his review:

It’s funny how perceptions are so heavily influenced by results alone. Brady Hoke was hailed as a genius in Ann Arbor-land for the magic he worked in his first year, turning a 7-6 team in 2010 into an 11-2 team in 2011. A year later, one can’t help but wonder what is going through the man’s head as the NBC cameras keep turning their attention to Hoke and the faraway, what-do-we-do-next, what-is-going-on-here expression on his face. Hoke does not look like a guy that everyone in the organization can turn to and get an answer from. Right or wrong, that’s the pose he strikes.

As for not wearing a headset during a majority of the game, Hoke has explained in the past that he doesn’t want to disturb the train of thought of his coordinators, who have spent more time analyzing film during the week than he has, simply by the nature of each coach’s responsibility.

But how a head coach can accept being in the dark about the play call and the thought process of his coordinators is perplexing. Trust in your coordinators is one thing; removing yourself from the process on game day is another.