It wouldn't be fair to call him Mr. Not Les Miles or Mr. Not Jim Harbaugh. But Brady Hoke represents the ultimate reset button in Ann Arbor, whether or not that was the intention of Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon.
Hoke's hiring over Michigan's other two presumed candidates is an admission of how much work must be done after the Wolverines bulldozed everything three seasons ago for a failed reinvention under Rich Rodriguez.
Harbaugh saw more promise in the opportunity to guide a struggling NFL team than returning to his hometown as a hero. OK, he doesn't have to buy a new house, so he's got that going for him.
Meanwhile, Miles has a buyout clause in his LSU contract for Michigan alone but has seen two chances to return to his alma mater come and go. Why on earth would he leave Baton Rouge anyway? He's 62-17 with the Tigers in six seasons, the last five of which have ended with an SEC team winning a national title, including his own in 2007.
In both cases, the options were far more attractive than restoring a program that has lost more than just its competitiveness against Ohio State.
But even if the Wolverines couldn't land a coach of Miles or Harbaugh's stature, they've admitted where they went wrong in the first place with Rodriguez by replacing him with Hoke, a guy who cut his teeth in Ann Arbor and has maize and blue running through his veins. At this point, that's all they can ask for.