Brady Hoke has been at the helm of the Michigan football program for less than one week, but he’s already accomplished his most important task of the offseason.

Yes, his 2011 recruiting class may not be a Michigan-caliber class; decommitments from Dee Hart, Dallas Crawford, Jake Fisher and Matt Goudis will definitely hurt.

And yes, he won’t use the spread offense — the second time there’s been a offensive change in the last three years.

But in that first week, he did what Rich Rodriguez couldn’t do in his first offseason: he kept the Wolverines’ best player in Ann Arbor.

You can’t really blame Rodriguez for losing quarterback Ryan Mallett to Arkansas after replacing Lloyd Carr at Michigan. After all, playing Mallett in Rodriguez’s offense would’ve been like fitting a square peg in a round hole; the guy just isn’t a spread quarterback. But watching Mallett tear up the SEC this year and most likely earn himself a whole lot of money in April’s NFL Draft, it definitely stung knowing that he could’ve been tearing up the same secondaries in the Big Ten.

With a new coaching change, however, came a new chance at retribution. And when it came to keeping Denard Robinson in the maize and blue, Hoke handily delivered — a huge success for a fledgling coaching staff.

Robinson — it goes without saying now — is an otherworldly talent. His first half of 2010 set incredible records that no one ever would have imagined could be broken this season. And his second half, though not on par with the first, was still an admirable performance against Big Ten defenses that were eager to be the first to stop the Amazing Denard Robinson.

So when Athletic Director Dave Brandon said in the press conference announcing Rodriguez’s firing that the search wasn’t “about one particular kid on the football team,” I thought it was a poor choice of words on Brandon’s part.

This isn’t peewee football. There’s no need to worry about player’s feelings. Last season, Denard Robinson was the Michigan football team, and his teammates acknowledged it on many occasions. Brandon would’ve been stupid not to think of Robinson when he was looking for Michigan’s next coach.

But where Brandon may have fallen into a path of political correctness, Hoke understood almost immediately how important Robinson was to his livelihood.

Robinson loves Michigan, but he’s not stupid. If he didn’t believe he could succeed in the pro-style offense, he would’ve left to play somewhere like UCF or even Florida where they could tailor the offense to his strengths and he could be close to home. But Hoke and Borges made it their first goal to convince Robinson to stay. Hoke met with him privately on his first full day in Ann Arbor, and he clearly impressed Robinson with his explanations.

I’ve spent some time observing Robinson, his family and his former coaches, and it’s pretty clear that all he needed from Hoke is to be able to trust him. Rodriguez, along with bringing a perfect offensive scheme, was someone who Robinson and his family could trust to be genuine in his plans for Denard. Robinson loved Rodriguez and his other coaches, and it’s safe to say that the sophomore quarterback was hurt when Rodriguez was axed in Ann Arbor.

Robinson absolutely considered a transfer. There’s no doubting that now. But after a superb meeting with Hoke and Borges, it’s clear that he’s convinced that he’ll be the same Denard next season. And after his improvement from 2009 to 2010, fans can surely expect a whole lot more of Denard Robinson The Passer next season.

With Hoke at the helm and one success already under his belt, I’m growing increasingly sure that whatever offense Michigan runs next year should be a whole lot of fun to watch.