ANN ARBOR -- Brady Hoke knows Michigan football. He can name the names and cite the games of college football's winningest program. He knows about the national championships and the Big Ten successes. He has admired it from near and far.
Heck, he even looks and sounds like Michigan football -- burly, tough, and gruff.
And he's now the head coach at UM because there's been nothing particularly tough or gruff about the Wolverines the past few years.
Hoke already is the Michigan Man that Rich Rodriguez never came close to being. RichRod never beat Ohio State, never beat Michigan State, never really beat anybody to speak of. He tried to turn gruff and tough into sleek and shiny and lost 22 games in three seasons. The Wolverines finally won more than they lost a year ago, but even then the opponents scored 34-plus points in nine of 13 games.
Hoke has been on a honeymoon since succeeding Rodriguez last January. He has said all the right things to all the right people, hired a respected coaching staff, and laid rubber on the recruiting trail. Ohio State, as you may have heard, has some issues these days, and Hoke didn't hesitate to take advantage by heading south and getting commitments from five 4-star prospects from the red state.
Michigan fans absolutely love Brady Hoke. They know he truly understands the past, and they are excited about the future.
As for the present, it is mid-August and mere days separate training camp from kickoff in the Big House and, truthfully, Hoke realizes that his Wolverines are still a long way from tough and gruff. It's a work in progress and, he concedes, the process will be neither easy nor quick.
Michigan football always meant smash-mouth offense, but that's hard to replicate with a roster made up of predominantly finesse players, small and quick more than big and bad.
"We have a system we want to run," Hoke said Sunday. "But you can't force square pegs into round holes. Still, at the end of the day we have to block up front, knock people off the line, and run the ball."
Michigan defense is jarring hits, blanket coverage, and dig-deep grit in the red zone.
At least, it used to be. And Hoke insists it will be again.
"So far in practice I don't think we've played to a standard that's going to be acceptable," the one-time Toledo assistant said. "We need to be more physical and to play with more urgency. We have to understand the mentality of how we want to attack the football.
"There's a fanaticism you need to play defense. It's coming. But it's not there."
Michigan's players have been around Hoke for months now and he says there has been considerable improvement. His staff has been teaching, the kids have been learning. He said the Wolverines now come to work understanding the expectations of the program. But it has been country-club stuff compared to what UM's players will face over the next week with a series of two-a-day sessions, all of them at full go, and many of them in full pads.
Now, says Hoke, is when the Wolverines will learn to be meaner than the other guys, resilient enough to be a team that wins games in the fourth quarter, stout enough to win championships on frigid, snowy days in November. Sleek and shiny doesn't work then. Tough and gruff does.
"There will be adversity," Hoke said of the coming week. "We are demanding. There are expectations of how you show up and how you work in this building. It's going to be hard."
It's what Michigan football always was and, Hoke promises, will be again.
Contact Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg at: dhack@theblade.com or 419-724-6398.
First Published August 15, 2011, 4:15 a.m.
