ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A person with knowledge of the situation says embattled Michigan football coach Brady Hoke and interim athletic director Jim Hackett are set to meet on Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the school has not made any announcement about the meeting.
ESPN reports that the the school has relieved Hoke of his duties.
Hoke’s status has been in question since Michigan’s poor start to this season, and the Wolverines ended up going 5-7. This was his fourth year at the helm of one of college football’s most storied programs.
Hackett took over as the athletic director when Dave Brandon resigned at the end of October.
Since going 11-2 in Hoke’s first season as Michigan’s coach, the Wolverines have slipped each year. Over the last three seasons, Michigan is 20-18.
The Wolverines have missed the postseason three times in the last seven years under Hoke and Rich Rodriguez, a run of mediocrity that once seemed unthinkable at one of the sport’s most storied programs.
This season has been particularly tumultuous in Ann Arbor. Hoke and Brandon both received criticism when quarterback Shane Morris briefly played on after taking a violent hit in a game against Minnesota in September. Morris was eventually diagnosed with a probable concussion.
The fallout from the underperforming Wolverines hit on Oct. 31 as Brandon resigned after four years as athletic director. University President Mark Schlissel said at the time that the athletic department was in great financial condition, but the results at the Big House have not measured up. Brandon, a former CEO of Domino’s Pizza Inc. and a player under Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, was less than a year on the job when he made the decision to fire Rodriguez after three seasons.
Hoke was hired then, and although he took Michigan to the Sugar Bowl in his initial season, the team has not come close to those heights since.
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