Michigan coach Brady Hoke took the high road and dismissed comments made by Ohio State coach Ed Warriner -- who said on Tuesday Hoke was upset about missing playbooks because “he hadn’t finished coloring them.”
Via the Detroit Free Press’ Mark Snyder, Hoke responded on a local radio station Thursday morning: “The one thing around here is we try and always stay in between the lines. That’s important with how you handle your program.”
Now, it’s worth noting Hoke caused a bit of a stir last summer when he said at a fan event Notre Dame was “chickening out” of its series with Michigan.
“The Notre Dame game, that rivalry, which they’re chickening out of -- they’re still going to play Michigan State, they’re going to play Purdue, but they don’t want to play Michigan,” Hoke said. “I don’t know how they made that decision. I really don’t.”
That’s not as direct a jab as the one thrown by Warriner (who, by the way, is a former Notre Dame assistant), and Hoke later clarified that he didn’t hold anything personal against Brian Kelly or any Notre Dame players.
But the first thing that came over Michigan Stadium’s PA system after beating Notre Dame in September was the “Chicken Dance,” so maybe Ohio State fans will bring coloring books to this year’s rivalry game. Or maybe someone else will get ejected and leave the stadium with double freedom rockets again.
