I miss the old Michigan. I miss what it stood for. I miss Lloyd Carr’s banal press conferences. I miss Bo’s iron fist.

Mostly, I miss Michigan’s class, its sense of aristocratic self that some interpreted as arrogance. All of it was part of the college football landscape. Michigan football used to mean something. It had an identity, an attitude. It had a promise.

You come here, you’re going to compete for championships in the largest stadium, in the most awe-inspiring setting in the game.

You watch Michigan this week and the coach is hip deep in a controversy regarding his (seemingly) knocked-silly quarterback.

You watch Michigan lately and it is losing without much fight, arrogance or promise.

Ohio State is better. Even worse for Blue-bloods, so is Michigan State. Brady Hoke maintained Saturday that his team "can still win the [Big Ten] championship." They have to be chuckling all the way to Rutgers, which will play host to Michigan on Saturday.

Michigan used to define a conference and influence national football thought. These days it sells a lot of merchandise. Michigan football is now more a brand than a program. Cold, corporate, calculating. They tried to lure fans last week with the promise of free tickets if they bought enough Coca-Cola.

Last year, the marketing department pulled off quite a coup. Beyonce appeared on a video board at halftime of the Notre Dame game chirping, "Go Blue."

Since that time the actual players on the field have cobbled together a 7-9 record. These days, the marketing department needs a football team it can be proud of.

Hoke might not make it through October. The offense is punchless. Defensive coordinator Greg Mattison has a top-10 unit. Ask Will Muschamp how that imbalance feels.

But that's almost less an issue than where Michigan goes from here. Marketing departments don't know much about plugging the A gap. That's part of the calamity. Michigan has the best of everything except the excellence on the field.

The energy and attendance are down at the Big House as foes leave with wins. (Getty)

In an era of growth and expansion off the field, someone forgot to get the football right. Michigan just finished its worst six-year run (41 combined wins) in almost 50 years. From 2008-2013 two different administrations hired two different coaches with two different philosophies from two different backgrounds.

Both coaches were successful before they arrived in Ann Arbor. Now it looks like neither Rich Rodriguez nor Brady Hoke will have worked.

What, exactly, is the plan going forward? Students are staying away in droves. Saturday's announced attendance of 102,926 was about 100 more than the Sept. 13 game against Miami (Ohio). That was the least-attended game at Michigan in 19 years and 6,000 short of capacity.

"It doesn’t even feel like game day," students told mlive.com.

"A hundred thousand [fans]," Minnesota's Cameron Botticelli said Saturday after winning 30-14, "and not one peep in the entire stadium."

Apathy, more than anything, will get the coach and AD fired. Remember, it's still early. Michigan has lost three games in September for the first time ever.

The solution is out there somewhere. This isn't just a Hoke problem. It's a vision problem. It's an administration problem. That's two ADs -- Bill Martin and Dave Brandon -- who have whiffed. That's unthinkable at Michigan.

Rich Rod wasn't a Michigan man, didn't play enough defense. Fine. Hoke is a Michigan man whose offense has regressed. Neither guy quite put it all together. The last time Michigan was worse over a full six-year span was 1962-67 under Bump Elliott, who won only 29 games.

About the only thing Michigan does well at the moment is sell Michigan. There's nothing wrong with being a brand. Alabama is a brand. Florida State is a brand. USC is a brand. The difference is those programs know what they are, where they're going.

Michigan? Not so much at the moment. Hoke-bashing is all the rage. But first you have to know what you're bashing.

Brandon is a heck of a businessman. He can raise money, get things built, get through to Beyonce's agent. But the job also takes nuance, savvy, instincts.

Michigan can't afford to be just ... OK.

Ask Alabama. After the program wandered in the desert for years, the school and its AD Mal Moore finally settled on Nick Saban. Saban would come only if the school waited until after the Dolphins' season was over. That cut into recruiting. In that moment, Moore and Bama either agreed that Saban was the man or he wasn't.

You don't have to be reminded of the result.

Same for FSU. Jimbo Fisher was settled upon as Bobby Bowden's coach-in-waiting seven years ago. What's your vision, Michigan?

Ravens coach John Harbaugh already has declared himself out of the running. His brother Jim is another hot, rumored candidate. Sure, maybe. If Brandon wants him, he should gauge his interest right now.

Instead, the program seems to be in the business of making it through this week. The Morris issue is now a full-blown controversy. How does not one person on the sideline or press box notice the starting quarterback is wobbling after a blow to the head?

Hoke is an easy target. He's the coach whose winning percentage has decreased in each of his four seasons. Michigan just got beat at home by Minnesota less than a year after beating the Gophers by 29.

Hoke was and is a Michigan man who knows the culture, knows the history. He didn't need no stinking headset -- or sleeves.

Michigan as we knew it, by God, was back.

Now, in some historic revisions Hoke won 11 games and the Sugar Bowl that first year with Rich Rod's players. An 8-5 season in 2012, slumped to 7-6 in 2013, which begat the current 2-3 record.

Hoke looks like another short-timer in one of the most pressure-filled jobs in the sport. The next quest shouldn't just be for a head coach. It should be to find out what Michigan football wants to be.

The program should be a coaching destination, a place to retire. At the moment it doesn't have a foundation, a philosophy ... an attitude. Give me that sense of aristocracy bordering on arrogance.

Give me Lloyd's clichés. Give me Bo's intensity. Give me the Big House in all its grandeur.

I miss the old Michigan.