It's quite a sports day in San Diego when two football teams lose important coaches and they aren't the top stories of the day.
That honor goes to Trevor Hoffman, the former Padre fan favorite, who recognized the end of his effectiveness and announced his retirement to mlb.com. He will speak to other reporters at Petco Park on Wednesday. Hoffman has 601 career saves, 42 more than Mariano Rivera of the Yankees on the all-time list.
Two interesting points in the article:
1. He will join the Padres in a front-office role.
2. He apparently still carries some animosity toward the club for how they parted ways two years ago. He said time heals wounds, and that he likes how the Padres -- with many new faces in the executive ranks -- have reached out to him. But he turned down a chance to sign with the Padres for a day to retire as a friar. I think that last part is something he will regret as he gets older.
The obvious question now is whether he should be a Hall of Famer. I think so, though only one career reliever is enshrined in Cooperstown, Bruce Sutter. I'm just not sure about voters elsewhere in baseball who only saw him humbled in his All-Star appearances. As in everything, it depends who else is eligible in a given year, but he should get in at some point.
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The drama involved in whether Brady Hoke would remain the head football coach at San Diego State in 2011 was such that when we went to bed Monday night, it seemed all but certain that he would stay. When we woke up Tuesday, we learned that LSU's Les Miles decided to stay in Baton Rouge rather than take the head job at Michigan.
That left Michigan AD Dave Brandon left with a choice between a drawn-out national search during the height of recruiting season, or picking the guy who has been raising his hand and crying out "Me! Me! Me!" over the past month. The choice, gulp, became obvious, and now Hoke is set to be introduced Wednesday as the Wolverines new head coach.
I have no problem with Hoke leaving for his dream job. Good for him. I appreciate how he came to a rotten situation at SDSU, turned around the sinking ship and refloated it. Some people saw Hoke as a job-shopper, but not me. He said early on Michigan was the place he would leave for, and it was simply unfortunate that the job in Ann Arbor opened when it did. With defensive coordinator Rocky Long set to succeed him on Wednesday, the Aztecs could come out of this not much worse for wear.
The big danger is a loss of continuity with assistant coaches following Hoke. Their number will almost certainly include strength and conditioning coach Aaron Wellman -- as responsible as anyone for turning around the program -- and running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Jeff Hecklinski, my choice to stay as head coach. The list could expand to include offensive coordinator Al Borges.
Now that Long appears to be the choice, I think it is important to promote QB coach Brian Sipe to offensive coordinator, so senior QB Ryan Lindley won't have to face his third system in four years. Plus, there a lot of young receivers to break in this year. Changing things radically won't be good at this point.
We're about to find out what AD Jim Sterk is made of...Ironic that SDSU travels to the Big House in September, and could have a legit chance to beat the former coach...While Hoke is replaceable, the timing could hardly have been worse for SDSU, making me wonder if there are grounds for seeking extra compensation from Michigan...I'd trade Hoke to Michigan for basketball coach Steve Fisher any day.
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If all that is not enough, the Chargers will be greatly hurt by the loss of defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, the new head man at Carolina. The Chargers didn't blow this past season because of defense. Various names are being floated as a replacement, so we'll see how it works out.
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