With Tuesday's firing of Tyrone Willingham as Notre Dame's head football coach, a surprising move to many, Ball State fans and students might wonder how hot the seat the Cardinals' Brady Hoke is sitting on after the Cardinals just completed a disappointing 2-9 season.
After all, Hoke's record after two seasons here is just 6-17, and that's considering a 4-4 start. A perfect season in 2005 would still leave him four wins shy of how many Willingham compiled in three seasons at Notre Dame.
Several schools around the country with records similar to Ball State will also have new head coaches next fall. In the Mid-American Conference alone, Ohio fired Brian Knorr after four losing seasons and Western Michigan axed Gary Darnell, who won division titles in 1999 and 2000 but slid all the way to a 1-10 mark this season.
One could also point out that Hoke replaced Bill Lynch, who recovered enough from an 0-21 stretch to go 5-6, 5-6 and 6-6 in his last three years.
This may not be the time to call for Hoke's firing or resignation, though. It's true that Hoke inherited a program short on overall talent in the upper classes and thin along the offensive and defensive lines. Due to injuries and lack of depth, he was forced to play more freshman and sophomores than he probably wanted to.
It's safe to say, too, that Willingham faced infinitely more pressure in South Bend than Hoke has in Muncie.
However, Monday's announcement of the All-MAC team, with four Ball State players on First Team, shows that there was enough talent to win at least match last season's win total (four). With a play here and there, the Cardinals could well have pulled out wins over Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois and maybe even Boston College. In 2005 they need to make some of those plays and win some of those games.
Many of Hoke's recruits played important roles in 2004, including Adell Givens at running back, Cole Stinson at quarterback, Wendell Brown at linebacker and Ryan Patrick at cornerback. That will be the case even more in 2005.
The Cardinals must play better defense, have a consistent quarterback emerge and simply win more games than it did in 2004. Another 2-9 record, while somewhat understandable this season, would be near inexcusable in 2005, especially with more than $12 million in stadium improvements planned for the following summer.
If Hoke and his program do not show solid improvement in the MAC next season, it could be time to consider another change at the top.
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