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Brady Hoke, Michigan coaching staff join 'ChuckStrong' movement

Michigan football coach Brady Hoke and his staff will be wearing their brand new ChuckStrong shirts before Saturday's game against Illinois.

Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

In an effort to honor his friend Chuck Pagano, who is battling leukemia, Michigan football coach Brady Hoke reportedly ordered 50 ChuckStrong T-shirts for his coaching staff to wear this weekend, according to JMV of 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis.

Created by the Indianapolis Colts, the shirts made to honor their head coach raised $90,000 in sales over the weekend alone, with the proceeds all going to Indiana University's Simon Cancer Center. Along with a handful of minor ties across the entire Wolverines staff, Michigan coordinator Greg Mattison holds an extremely strong bond with Pagano from their time working with the Baltimore Ravens. After Mattison was eventually lured away by Hoke and the Wolverines two years ago, it was Pagano who ascended into Mattison's vacated defensive coordinator role to help kickstart his career.

Although Michigan coaches will not wear the shirts during Saturday's game with Illinois, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, Hoke and company are fully planning to show their support throughout the day and possibly in pre-game warmups. Michigan's coaching staff will be among the many fans, coaches and players in the football world eager to support the ChuckStrong movement this weekend.