Third choice charm for Michigan?

Michigan has hired its man, but whether he is the man for the Wolverines and whether he was the main man during the search are debatable.

College football's all-time winningest program was thought to be more interested in luring Jim Harbaugh or Les Miles -- each the definition of a Michigan Man -- but handed the job to Brady Hoke on Tuesday. Hoke is a Michigan Man in that he used to be a Wolverines assistant.

On the surface, it looks as if the school came up short, settling on a coach who revived San Diego State's fortunes in just two years but whose name doesn't carry the weight of Harbaugh or Miles.

And Harbaugh would have been the ideal hire, bringing back the former star quarterback who did a tremendous job turning around Stanford. Harbaugh stayed in the San Francisco Bay Area by moving to the 49ers.

But maybe Michigan wasn't interested in Miles, who is better off at Louisiana State, where he returns a team capable of winning next season's national title. The Wolverines, for now, are nowhere close to reaching that level.

Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg wrote that Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon "knew that if he went to Miles and made an offer that Miles would reject, he would take a short-term hit but gain something in the bigger picture."

So Miles could rightly claim he turned down Michigan when, in fact, the Wolverines probably purposely low-balled him to get Hoke.

Though Hoke had agreed to a contract extension with San Diego State, he never signed "a deal we now can't help but believe was a sham to assuage the media and boosters," San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Nick Canepa wrote. "It might as well have been written on an Etch A Sketch."

Hoke, however, doesn't have to worry about his reputation in San Diego. He's now Michigan's man. But so was Rich Rodriguez.

■ MICRO-'MANAGING' -- Todd Hewitt was more than the St. Louis Rams' equipment manager. He and the organization were like family.

His ties to the Rams go back to 1967 when they were in Los Angeles and he was a 10-year-old ball boy. Hewitt became the equipment manager in 1986, succeeding his father.

But after coach Steve Spagnuolo fired Hewitt, the former long-term, committed employee is "praying they lose every game next year."

Hewitt told The Riverfront Times, a weekly St. Louis newspaper, that nothing was good enough for Spagnuolo, who was critical of everything from how socks were distributed to how the plane was loaded. "He made life miserable," Hewitt said.

Spagnuolo, whose Rams went 7-9 this season, should be worried about more important matters, or he might get a dose of what he dealt to Hewitt.

■ WHISTLES WHILE HE WORKS -- The Minnesota Timberwolves received an astounding five technical fouls in 10 seconds Tuesday, and they were delivered by someone who usually should be welcome in the Twin Cities.

NBA referee Ken Mauer is from St. Paul, Minn., and his cousin is Twins icon Joe Mauer.

The next family get-together could be interesting.

COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL