Mike Hart wants to be Michigan's football coach one day
Quote:
Mike Hart wants to be Michigan's football coach one day
JOHN NIYO
The Detroit News
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- Mike Hart isn't lobbying for Rich Rodriguez's job as Michigan football's head coach. Not yet, at least.
But the Wolverines' all-time leading rusher, now a reserve running back with the AFC champion Indianapolis Colts, wasn't hiding his future ambitions Tuesday at Super Bowl XLIV media day.
Hart has been through a lot in his first two NFL seasons, from a torn ACL as a rookie last year to being waived and re-signed by the Colts twice this season. And he admits he contemplated calling it a career last fall and getting started on "my real life."
And just what might that be?
"I want to coach," Hart said. "And hopefully I'll be the head coach at Michigan one day. That's my goal."
Head coach?
"No joke," Hart said, smiling. "That's ultimately what I want to do. I love Michigan. That's a big part of me."
Hart credits his former coaches, Lloyd Carr, and U-M running backs coach Fred Jackson with helping him pull through a tough 2009.
Said Hart: "When I called (Lloyd), he said, 'Listen, Mike, you're gonna be a head coach. You're a great kid. You're gonna be the head coach of Michigan one day, there's no question in my mind. But you can't always play football. So give it another year or two years and see what happens before you decide to get on that coaching (track.)'"
Hart, a sixth-round pick by the Colts in 2008, said he knows it'll take some ladder-climbing to reach his goal. He noted Tuesday that ex-Wolverine tailback Tyrone Wheatley coached high school football and then served as "an assistant's assistant assistant" at Michigan before landing his current job as Eastern Michigan's running backs coach.
But he says he's willing -- as soon as he's ready.
"I love football, first and foremost," said Hart, whose role is as a special-teams player and occasional short-yardage back for the Colts. "And I've always seen myself as a coach. I love helping people out. I'm kind of a student of the game. I love learning it, I love watching it, I love studying it. And it's one of those things where I've always been a part of football, so I always see myself not doing anything but being a part of football.
"Lloyd's a big role model for me. He's like another dad to me. I see what he does and the kind of guy he is, and I just want to be part of that and the Michigan tradition. And I think I can do it."
Hart on Rodriguez
Hart went out to dinner Monday night in Miami with some of his fellow Michigan alums in the NFL: Jake Long, Shawn Crable and Prescott Burgess.
All four players finished their college careers in 2007 and 2008 at the end of Lloyd Carr's tenure in Ann Arbor.
And as you'd expect, among the topics discussed was the current state of Michigan's football program, coming off consecutive losing seasons for the first time in nearly a half-century.
"It's tough," Hart said. "I'd never say anything bad about Rich Rod, never say anything bad about the Michigan program. But at the end of the day, you have to win games. As long as they win this year, he'll be fine.
"But no one wanted to see Lloyd lose games, no one wanted to see Bo lose games. If you're at Michigan, not making a bowl game, you're not gonna last. And I'm not saying anything he doesn't know. He knows he has to win games."
Added Hart: "No one wants to see Michigan lose. We don't care who the head coach is. Say what you want about Rich Rod -- I like him as a guy. I think he's a good coach. ... Ultimately, if he wins, he's gonna be fine. No matter who it is, you have to win games."
