Michigan Football: Analyzing Brady Hoke's Comments on Recruiting

Brady Hoke is getting after it on the recruiting trail, and he has a group of kids committed to his program that are shaping up to be one of the better classes in the nation.

The Michigan head coach spoke with reporters about the entire recruiting circus recently, and while the publicity he is getting for beating down the doors in recruiting is nice, he could do without it. As reported by AnnArbor.com: 

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"You can take all these stars and the way all these guys are rated and all that, and that's great for the fan base and the public," Hoke told reporters last week. "But we've had some pretty good players here that probably would have been two-star guys"

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This was obviously followed by the obligatory Tom Brady comment about how players are made on the field. Hoke is right, he really is. Fans and media are driving the star ratings system, and that is quite alright. When Hoke first started, in the old days before the Internet explosion and the multi-billion dollar industry, fans just assumed their coach was doing his job and kept it moving. 

Now, in the information age, fans have a hunger and a thirst for knowledge. They are not just taking their coaches word for it; they want to see the progress and take a look at the kids themselves. Fans like being able to brag about their commitment list to their rivals and being able to point to a coach's shortcomings and losses on the trail as proof he is not getting the job done for them.

Once fans get access and an expectation of information, it is nearly impossible to wrestle it away. While coaches can pine for the days of old, this is the tank they are swimming in now and it is not going to get any better.

The second, more interesting thing to take away here is a coach commenting on the services in general. Hoke reminds us that, while the stars are meaningful and make things tangible to fans, he and his staff are just out there getting recruits that they want in the boat.

Even as he credits the information with doing a public service, he reminds fans that football coaches are the ones making these decisions, not Rivals, Scout or ESPN.

Put another way, if your head coach is letting recruiting services do the job for him, then your program is already a step behind. Coaches are the ones out in the streets building relationships with their high school counterparts, talking to players and watching film. If they need a recruiting service to turn them on to a kid, then they might not be that good at their job.

Brady Hoke is knocking it out of the park both on and off the field thus far, and he keeps proving this point. Fans love the coverage of recruiting and the progress updates where a class is concerned, but it helps to be reminded that coaches; guys like Hoke, Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin are the ones who are evaluating their targets. Not scouting services.