Yesterday, interim AD Jim Hackett met with local reporters and announced that he would be the one making the decision regarding Brady Hoke's future as head football coach at Michigan.
Umm, what's that?
Yes, Jim Hackett, who when announced as the interim AD stated that he would not be a candidate for the post on a permanent basis, just said that he would be the one making the decision on Brady Hoke's future. In fact, when introducing him, Michigan President Mark Schlissel said, "I am confident Jim will immediately begin the process of moving the department forward including working closely with me to develop a plan to identify and recruit Michigan's next permanent athletic director." The plan was not for Hackett to be in this position long-term.
Well, that has changed folks. Per source, Michigan's board of regents met recently and Hackett told the board that he has not found a person or persons that he would recommend the board consider for the permanent athletic director post. Accordingly, he advised the Regents that he would be the one making the decision on Hoke's future following the season. The Regents per source, recognizing the potential issue this could present when trying to hire a new head coach, asked Hackett if this meant he was prepared to stay on "at least two years" in order to provide stability when, potentially, attempting to hire a new face of Michigan football. Hackett told the Regents he was prepared to do so.
Wow, how about that? Michigan gets rid of the business type CEO to purportedly bring in a "professional athletics director" type...only to once again have a business type CEO running athletics again. Maybe Hackett will bring rational thinking and stability to Michigan athletics. Hopefully he will. By all accounts he is a wonderful and very smart guy. Hopefully it all works out. Just seems like an odd turn of events from all that was said when Hackett was hired just three weeks ago.
So, what does this mean for all of the coaches out there? Well, Hackett will be the one making the decision on Brady Hoke's future with Michigan football. If Hackett decides to make a change, Hackett will be your new boss, likely for the first two years and maybe more. While this is different than what the coaching community had been hearing prior to yesterday, honestly, this isn't a bad thing if Michigan needs to hire a new head coach. Uncertainty at the top in a coaching search is recipe for disaster. Hackett took that uncertainty off the table yesterday and effectively said "I will be accountable for this decision". I like that part.
As always, we'll keep you posted on The Scoop as things progress.