Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said that he will wait until the end of the season before he will make a decision on the status of their coaches. This would have to mean that coach Brady Hoke still has the end of the season to prove his position.

Brandon said "We feel strongly at the University of Michigan athletic department that coaches deserve every opportunity to compete through the season that they have prepared for and that their student-athletes are committed to, and then we evaluate coaches at the end of the season. We do that with every one of our 31 coaches. It's no different for football."

Both Hoke and Brandon received ample criticism after their mishandling of injured quarterback Shane Morris in last weekend's loss to Minnesota.

But aside from that predicament, Michigan is 2-3 and showing little progress in Hoke's fourth season as coach. Attendance at Michigan Stadium has dipped and there was even a student protest this week calling for Brandon to be fired.

With regards to their response for not immediately sitting Morris for the rest of the game, Brandon said that it was a miscommunication.

He said "When Brady went out at whatever time it was on Monday, we were still gathering facts and trying to create a clear depiction of the sequence of events that took place on that bench on Saturday."

To address the issue, Brandon had hired more staff to look in to his players during games and watch for those who are injured.

"Coaches are supposed to coach, and medical staffs are supposed to go over and tell the coach at any given time, 'There's a player on the field that shouldn't be out there. Get him off.' Or, 'We've just examined a player and they are not able to participate any more. We've taken away their helmet."

"And that's all coaches need to hear, and that's their only responsibility in these cases."

Brandon calls Hoke a terrific coach and hopes that the fans won't give up on the team. "Brady and his staff are clearly disappointed, as we all are, that after five games this season, we're not where we want to be or where we expected to be. But what we need to do, those of us who care a lot about Michigan football - and we're passionate about it - is we need to support our players, support our coaches and recognize that we have seven and hopefully eight more games to play, before this season is over. And until this season is over, these coaches and these players have great opportunities ahead of them."