A new era--or more accurately an old era starting over--is about to commence in Ann Arbor.  Michigan has abandoned its ill-fated attempt to compete with Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten via the spread offense and brought in new head coach Brady Hoke to return the program to relevance. It was after the 2007 season that Michigan had gotten tired of only winning 8-10 games a year while losing to Ohio State, so they hired Rich Rodriguez to straighten the problem out. Which he did--Michigan immediately started losing to everyone, not just Ohio State and a 38-point loss to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl was the final straw. Hoke, a man with Michigan roots and a track record of success at Ball State and San Diego State will lead Michigan into the Big Ten's new superconference era.

There's a lot of offensive talent on hand, although the big question is going to be how well Denard Robinson can adapt to Hoke's pro-style system. Robinson, a shifty little runner with a nice arm was perfect for Rodriguez's spread, but in a classic system he may be too small to get good vision downfield and his speed would not be utilized. He was viritually a one-man team a year ago, which obviously can't sustain itself, but there will be growing pains with the transition.  If Robinson can get settled in, he has a very good group of receivers to target led by Roy Roundtree, his top pass-catcher a year ago.

Hoke will change the defense from a 3-3-5 setup, a  scheme that can work in the Big East, where Rodriguez came from, but ill-conceived in the physical Big Ten. This defense has been terrible for years now, pre-dating Rodriguez's arrival. Hoke is determined to infuse toughness back into the defense and he has a pretty good line to do it with, anchored by tackle Mike Martin and three senior linebackers. The secondary is still very young and as a result opposing offense will still be able to put up points.

Michigan made a good hire in Hoke, a man in the mold of Lloyd Carr, the coach they foolishly fired after 2007. Hoke will have a winning season right away, make the Wolverines competitive against good teams and have this program in the hunt for the conference title in two years at the latest.

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