The end of 2014 brings with it many things: a pause to remember the year that has passed, a sense of excitement for what is to come, and perhaps a temperature-related angst unique to that moment you realize your car door is frozen shut and no matter how hard you pull it, it just won’t open.
For Michigan football fans, it brought also a long-fated departure, a much-hyped arrival, and a poignant reminder of what truly is important in college sports. With the pain of going bowl-less yet again only made worse by our two biggest rivals excelling annually on the national stage, changes had to be made and, reversing a trend of seemingly everything related to Michigan football going awry, they actually were.
For all the concerns that interim AD Jim Hackett bore a resume too similar to that of epic failure Dave Brandon, what with the "Michigan Man” credentials and Fortune 500 CEO credibility, his two month stint has already bore more substance than the pizza peddler could muster in four years. In a perfect world, you wouldn’t necessarily even know the athletic director’s name, let alone know the details of his C.V. Not so in this era of big-time college football. Still, he has one crucial job, before he slinks back to the shadows to fundraise and balance budgets, and that, at least at Michigan, is to hire a winning football coach.
Brady Hoke has many positive attributes, as a man and as a football coach, but tallies in the W column proved to not be one of them. Eventually, that’s the only thing that matters, and ultimately what spelled the end for both Brandon and Hoke.
But hark! Behold a new era, one of headsets and reasonable ticket prices and players that improve game to game and year to year. Jim Harbaugh returning to Ann Arbor, resplendent in his khakis and cocky grin, is a Christmas and New Year’s present rolled into one, and he brings with him long-awaited tidings of great football. For a fan-base in need of something to smile about after too long being force-fed the football equivalent of Domino’s Pizza, the excitement and anticipation could not be higher.
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| Maybe the Harbaugh-mania is getting a bit out of control. |
Before the hype and eagerness for next season dominates every conversation Michigan fans have between now and Labor Day weekend, special mention and consideration must be given to Devin Gardner, the oft-criticized quarterback whose career is collateral damage of the administrative and coaching turmoil in the last five year. Recruited by Rich Rod, inherited by Hoke, switched to wide receiver then back to quarterback after an injury to Denard Robinson in 2012, Devin survived multiple position coaches, a sieve-like offensive line, and inconsistent running support throughout his career. After entering Michigan as the number one rated dual-threat quarterback recruit in the nation, he will leave with a legacy of inconsistency, flashes of brilliance followed by maddening mistakes, and an inescapable sense of what-might-have-been. Knock him if you must for the miscues, giveaways, and inopportune gaffes, but remember that this wasn’t the style of offense he signed up for, and a lesser man may have (and probably should have) up and quit football in the first place after taking so much unceasing punishment, in the dark days of the 2013 season in particular.
The lasting image of Gardner, however, won’t be his stellar performance under the lights against Notre Dame in 2013, or his interceptions and fumbles versus Michigan State this past October. No, he will hopefully be remembered for his leadership and class in times good and bad throughout his career, exemplified most succinctly by his consoling of JT Barrett after the Ohio State quarterback's season was ended with a broken ankle.
Now that is a Michigan Man of whom we can all be proud.
In his own words: "I played and won in front of the largest crowd to ever witness a football game in the 145-year history of the sport, gotten a shoutout from the President of the United State of America and (had the chance) to be an inspiration to patients at Mott Children's Hospital, who are fighting fights much greater than football games. This experience here will be tough to top, and I'm sad that it has to end. I'm a believer in the saying coined by the great Bo Schembechler. 'Those who stay will be champions.' I stayed, and I will live the rest of my life as a champion."
It even inspired the praise of those Buckeye heathens*.
*Go Oregon next Monday.
