Michigan Football: Comparing Brady Hoke's First Year to Other Great UM Coaches

The Michigan Wolverines appear to be back in the national spotlight and can thank head coach Brady Hoke because of it. After all, he is the guy who led the Wolverines to their first double-digit winning season since 2006 and first bowl victory since 2007.

His 11-2 record in his first year is outstanding, and it is a great sign that the Michigan program will be competing for national championships in no time.

But this program does have a rich history of great teams and fantastic coaches. So where exactly does his first year as a head coach rank among other great Wolverines coaches?

Let's find out.

4. Lloyd Carr

If this was the best Michigan coaches of all-time, Carr would be a little higher on this list.

He did win five Big Ten championships and a national championship, and he was the first coach in this program's history to win four consecutive bowl games.

But his first year at Michigan was very inconsistent, as he finished the year with a 9-4 record.

He did manage to knock off a No. 2-ranked Ohio State, but he lost to Penn State, Northwestern and an unranked Michigan State team. He also lost to Texas A&M in the bowl game.

Carr was a great coach for the 13 years he was with Michigan, but there were better debuts in this program's history.

3. Bo Schembechler

Schembechler may have lost his bowl game to a very talented USC team back in 1969, but he did knock off a solid Purdue team and gave Ohio State their only loss of the year.

In fact, he beat the Buckeyes by 12 points, and the 24 points scored was the most Ohio State had allowed all season long.

Bo has won the most games in the history of Michigan football with 194 and is an icon for the university and college football as a whole.

He ended up winning 13 Big Ten championships and won the Big Ten Coach of the Year award a total of six times.

2. Brady Hoke

And here we have current head coach Brady Hoke with his 11-2 record and a BCS bowl victory his first season.

It was a marvelous year, especially when they finished 7-6 in 2010 under Rich Rodriguez.

Michigan fans knew their team was talented and had a quarterback capable of leading them to success, but it's fair to say Hoke surpassed expectations in his first season.

The fact that he was able to win the bowl game against a talented and veteran team such as Virginia Tech earns him high praise and the No. 2 spot for best debut as a Michigan head coach.

1. Fielding Yost

Fielding Yost is not only the greatest coach in Michigan history, he also has the best debut season of any Wolverines coach.

It can't possibly get much better than starting your first year off with an 11-0 record and winning the Rose Bowl by a score of 49-0.

In fact, Yost started his first four seasons with a combined 43-0-1 record. His overall record at Michigan is 165-29-10, and he won six national championships and 10 Big Ten titles.

He is also a member of the college football Hall of Fame and will be remembered as the greatest coach to ever coach the Wolverines. 

Michigan fans hope Hoke can be half as great as this guy was for their program.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].