Diaries

Toledo Blade article - http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/SPORTS11/807300433

MAC NOTEBOOK

Hoke thinks UT can hang with Michigan

By MAUREEN FULTON and RYAN AUTULLO
BLADE SPORTS WRITERS

UTAH: Announced ABC Regional Coverage 330

MIAMI OH: Announced ESPN or ESPN 2 National Coverage Noon

@Notre Dame: Annoucned NBC National Coverage 330

@Wisconsin : Estimate ABC Regional coverage 330; No 330 game for the Big -10 has been announced. However Illinois at PSU is at 8. So the othre options for ABC are MSU @ IND and Minny @ OSU. So we probably get the regional nod here

Illinois: Announced ABC 330 Regional Coverage

Toledo: Estimate National Coverage Big Ten Network Noon: ABC will probably go with Purdue at OSU for the 330 Regional Coverage. While PSU @ Wisco is a night game. So we're relegated to the BTN or ESPN2

@Penn State: Annoucned ESPN or ESPN2 430 National Coverage

MSU : Estimate 330 ABC Regional Coveage. All other Big 10 games have been annoucned with no 330 game. So by process of elimination. Things could change if MSU and Umich are combined 0-12

Purdue: Estimate NOOn ESPN National coverage; This is the hardest to estimate. There's no OSU game. So the other options for ABC are Wisco @ MSU, and Iowa @ Illinois. Depending on Purdue's record and assuming they aren't undefeated I think they go with Iowa @ Illinois. Leaving us on ESPN or ESPN2.

@MINNESOTA: Estimate Noon or One BTN Natiional Coverage. Minnesota will be horrible. However the Central Time zone problem as well as that this is probably the least marketable Big Ten game of the week. This also might be one of those ESPN Classic games

Northwestern: Estimate Noon I'm geussing ESPN2 Or the BTN. No way this gets ABC coverage I'm thinking this is 3rd or 4th choice. So The deuce or BTN.

OSU: Estimate ABC National Coverage. Pretty easy. Only question is whether its a 330 or Noon game. I'll assume we have a couple losses and make it a Noon. Allowing ABC to make it a doubleheader with MSU @ PSU

There are a lot of stories this morning about an article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed about the trend of soaring recruiting budgets throughout all of college sports. I figured some of you might be interested in reading it and examining the data yourselves.

[quote]

Nearly half of the nation's largest athletics programs have doubled or tripled their recruitment spending over the past decade, as their pursuit of elite athletes intensifies and becomes more national in scope.

Forty-eight percent of NCAA Division I athletics departments at least doubled their recruiting budgets from 1997 to 2007, according to a Chronicle analysis of financial data reported to the U.S. Department of Education. Of the 300 Division I institutions for which data were available, 21 each spent more than $1-million chasing talented players in the 2007 academic year.

On the whole, the 65 biggest spenders shelled out a total of more than $61-million in 2007, an 86-percent increase from 10 years before. That amount does not include salaries for recruiting coordinators or construction and operating costs of the gleaming multimillion-dollar facilities that help lure prospects.

Rising travel costs account for much of the increase. But the budget growth also reflects a widespread shift in how and where coaches recruit, compared with a decade ago.

Driven by geographic constraints or a desire to bolster the competitiveness of their teams — or both — many more coaches now look far beyond homegrown talent, sometimes even crossing continents to court top prospects. For now, the increased price of recruiting is one that many administrators say they can tolerate. But the high-stakes chase for elite athletes can test even the most generous budgets.[/quote]

Budget-wise, Notre Dame comes in at #2 for the 2006-2007 season in terms of overall recruiting budget for their entire athletic department. Ohio State comes in at #10. Unsurprisingly, SEC recruiting budgets far outpace the rest of I-A.

With their recent verbal commit of the massive 6' 8" OT from Iowa, MSU and dantonio are putting together one hell of a recruiting class.  With some research, MSU has (according to Rivals):

• (3) four star OT's
• (2) four star RB's
• (1) four star QB
• (1) four star WR
• (1) four star OLB

Yes, ratings this early really don't mean much, but come-on, "Little Brother" is going through puberty and looking to take a couple of swings at ol' "Big Brother" for pushing him around for the past few years.

 This rivarly is really going to start to get interesting ......finally.

I've already posted on this subject on the mgoboard, so I apologize in advance for the redundancy since I’ve already posted on this subject on the mgoboard.

Anyhoo, The Wolverine folks over on rivals.com are claiming to have access to every other upcoming summer practice. Of the hundred or so changes in regime we’ve all been anticipating as positive, the increased media access (to assistant coaches, practices, etc.) is among those I’ve looked forward to the most. Eff the sketchy "whispers". Bring on a 48 hour news cycle of legitimate observations and analysis.

Oh how the time between 8/4 and 8/30 would fly if we could get practice reports every other day. Since Brian was able to muscle his way into the Big 10 meetings, I was curious if he had any designs on summer practice as well. Turns out, there may be an invitation.

Question is, should he take it? IMO this is a no-brainer. Of course he should. But what if they put some conditions on this access, such as... I don’t even know what.

Who here thinks it’s still a good idea? What sort of restrictions can you envision that they would request which you could live with?

If UM said Brian could attend every other practice so long as for the duration he a) stopped posting content using any of the 7 dirty words, and b) refrained from personally posting or linking to any R-rated material, then I would say "Yes" he should go.

Maybe, just maybe, with the increase in media access across the board, the MSM will rise to the challenge and take the opportunity to provide much more substantive reporting on the on-field product. If this were to happen, Mgoblog could keep the role we’ve all come to know and love. I just don’t have a lot of faith.

So while reading ESPN at work today, the theme of the day seems to be hate. Some really good and interesting stuff. One team that seems to be Number 1 on everyone's hit list is Ohio State. At first, I thought this was kind of funny, but then I got to thinking if that's really fair. Sure, there are some good reasons and all, but as a die hard Michigan fan, I wouldn't put Ohio State at the top of that list. (Just for reference, in the ESPN article, Notre Dame is third, while Michigan is sixth).

One of the funnier quotes was "Michigan fans think Ohio State fans are classless. Ohio State fans think Michigan fans are arrogant," (Technically, this quote is from an article that talks about the biggest rivalries in the Big 10, but I still feel it fits well)

Anyways, I am going to compile a list of teams that I think I hate personally, as a Michigan fan and obviously, this is meant to spark some debate and probably everyone won't agree with me - that's fine. That's what's great about having freedom of speech.

** This is not meant as me spewing hatred and I'm trying to be objective as possible. The key word here, of course, is trying. **

1. Notre Dame: discounting the Ivy League schools, if anyone is more arrogant about their school, it's Notre Dame. The history of this school cannot be undermined, although Charlie Weis is doing a fine job of trying. I still think they are the number one most hated school, period, because of how many people jumped on the "Ha Ha - Look at ND" band wagon last year when they fell so far from grace. It's amazing that Weis can still draw in the talent that he is drawing and still not perform up to expectations. Yes, they are all young, but if there isn't vast improvement this year (let's say .500), Weiss is going to find that seat starting to heat up. Side note: Weis got booed out of Wrigley Field this weekend in Chicago. That's pretty telling, I think.

Side note: why is Jimmy Clausen on the O' Brien Watch List?

2. Michigan State: ah yes, the other school in Michigan. I hate all their "just wait 'til next year talk" and the fact that they try to rile us with "Appalachian" chants. We beat you. At your place. After you had a 10 point lead. Please don't bring up how "classless" Michigan is. Using an example from Brian, Jehuu talks about us being classless and yet it's him planting the Spartan flag at ND. At least, I'm pretty sure that's him.

3. Tennessee: I don't know why, I just dislike Philip Fulmer and Rocky Top. Probably because he "allegedly" voted us fourth in the rankings and caused us to have a split NC with Nebraska instead of having it outright (pardon me if I'm incorrect here, as 1997 was the first year I really started following college football and even then, I was still a kid, so this is all running on memory). Oh well, at least Woodson won the Heisman. Sorry, Peyton. At least you still have your Sprint commercials.

4. USC: I HATE USC's fight song. It's like the only thing they can play - no variations. I know people hate Michigan's fight song, but at least our marching band can play other songs as well. I also hate USC from taking two potential game changing recruits from Michigan - Ronald Johnson and Nick Perry, although from what I heard, Perry hasn't qualified. Ronald Johnson, however, would have been a game changer on either side of the ball. Can you imagine if we had him and Donovan Warren as a cornerback tandem? Absolute studs.

5. Ohio State: should they be this low? Shouldn't they automatically be the first on this list for any "true" Michigan fan? Probably, and in all likelihood, yes. I just don't know why - my gut tells me otherwise. It's weird - I want them to go 11-0 every year and then lose to us - 2006 was THE dream match up with us as the top two teams in the nation. I would take that every year in a heart beat. I can't remember who said it, but someone (a player) said that the Michigan - OSU game is the best game of the year because it's the cleanest game (really?) of the year. Both teams have such a respect and healthy hatred of one another, that they don't want to do anything to tarnish the reputation of this rivalry. Fans, on the other hand, will say differently. Yes, there are some chidings that go both ways and yes, both schools have those fans that cross that boundary, but for the most part, most fans, when you talk to them one on one, you see the love of the game. I'm not trying to paint a pretty picture here - there is mad animosity between the fan bases, but overall, I just don't hate them as much as the four above them.

Yes, I'm probably a hyprocrite. Oh well.

Honorable Mention:

Oregon: First of, I will say this - I LOVE Oregon's jerseys and I'm probably the only person outside of Eugene that will openly admit that. However, we are 0-2 against them and while this past year's thrashing hurt (especially with that Oregon dude who took a sledgehammer to the Michigan logo), the one that pains me more is the one at Autzen after we had demolished ND at home 38-0 the first time. I thought after we returned that blocked FG for a touchdown after Oregon had drove the ball on us that we were good and boy was I wrong. That game was a harbinger of our doom as a not-as-unmobile as you might think Kellen Clemens danced all over our defense and would soon show how much trouble we would have with a mobile quarterback. I think it's awesome that Phil Knight loves Oregon and they get all this crazy cool gear, but I'd really wish we schedule another home and home against them or meet them in the Rose Bowl sometime for some payback.

That's it for now - please comment away. I'd love to hear what people think.