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This morning, Central Michigan Athletics announced that Dan Enos has resigned from being the football team's head coach to take the offensive coordinating position at Arkansas, just 13 days away from National Signing Day. So now the Chippewas are in a position to try to get somebody immediately.
No inside info at all on this, but Brady Hoke would be an interesting one to look at if you’re CMU.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 22, 2015
Hmm. Brady Hoke to Central Michigan? Let's just think about it for a little bit and spew out some #hot #sports #takes later.
Hoke is an Ohio native, born in Dayton, who played linebacker and graduated from Ball State ('77-'80). He became a defensive coordinator for Yorktown High School in Indiana from 1981-82, then held defensive-position-specific coaching jobs at Grand Valley State, Western Michigan, Toledo, Oregon and Michigan from 1982-2001. In 2002, he was Michgian's associate head coach with Lloyd Carr still running the show while Hoke was still coaching the defensive line.
In 2003, Hoke was hired by Ball State, his alma matter, to be their head coach, signing a 5-year deal for $125,000 per season. The Cardinals did not have a winning season under Hoke until the 2007 season where they went 7-6, taking a 22-point loss to Rutgers in the International Bowl. In 2008, they followed up with a 12-2 season, undefeated in the regular season with their only losses coming in the MAC Championship and in the GMAC Bowl (Hoke did not coach in the bowl game). The Cardinals cracked the AP Top 25 polls that year, reaching as high as no. 12. Hoke also received MAC Coach of the Year honors in 2008.
Hoke took the head coaching position over at San Diego State, where he signed to make a guaranteed ~$3.5 million, taking a 2-10 team from 2008 to go 4-8 in his first season, then went 9-4 in 2010 with a win in the Poinsettia Bowl over Navy, and earned Mountain West Coach of the Year honors.
And then there's Michigan.
In his four years (2011-2014) at Michigan, Hoke went 31-20, including a bowl win in his first season over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl, a pair of bowl losses the next two season, then ended up going 5-7 in an embarrassing fashion in 2014, being fired on December 2. He also earned his third Coach of the Year (for the Big Ten this time, obviously) honors as well as Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year honors in 2011.
In 12 years as a head coach, Hoke's overall record is 78-70, 2-3 in bowl games. He's shown that he can be a good football coach and has at at least brought teams to to bowl games no matter where he's at. With CMU's recruiting class in the balance, the Chippewas are going to have to hurry up their process of finding a new head coach. Brady Hoke is out there. He might not be the guy Central fans want, but it doesn't hurt to discuss the possibilities.