jim hackett don't play

I don't get it. I mean, I get it: when Seth said he wanted to do a post about what Adidas inflicted on us I was like YES THAT. A combination of incompetent Germans and a weak or nuts AD was literally not a pretty sight over the past few years. I don't get the WOO NIKE half of that:

"We certainly heard it from fans a fair amount, 'when's Nike coming back?' " says Scott Hirth, co-owner of the M Den, Michigan's official athletic retailer. "There's no two ways around it, and there's no way to sugar coat it. Adidas and football success didn't go hand in hand, and we can't dispute that.

"I think for a lot of fans, it's a feeling of 'Michigan's the best, Nike's the best, Michigan should be with Nike.' "

A shirt's a shirt to me. A jersey is a jersey until it becomes two halves of a jersey flopping in the wind. Nike is no stranger to fashion disasters itself. A lot of people are super happy about this because they owe brand loyalty* to a company that probably makes much of its stuff in literally the same buildings other apparel companies do. So it's a bit weird.

*[I reserve brand loyalties for places they really matter: tortillas. Mission forever. If you bring Azteca into my home I will bludgeon you with them and then kick you out.]

But whatever man, I'm happy you're happy. For athletes it's a different story, of course: the gear is important, especially shoes. And Nike seems to have reputation there that is worth something.

If it makes them happy and a bunch of other people happy, that is a good thing to do even if it does not grow the bottom line as much as possible. The athletic department isn't a profit-driven enterprise, so what should it drive to? Making its stakeholders happy. This appears to do that.

And it might not even leave money on the table. I wonder what metrics Hackett is using when he says this:

Jim Hackett has no problem saying that Michigan's new apparel deal is the largest in the country, topping any other collegiate apparel contract.

Hackett, speaking with a handful of reporters on campus Tuesday, said Michigan would have netted the country's largest apparel deal from Nike, Under Armour or Adidas, but ultimately opted to return to the swoosh.

I wonder because of that reportedly bonkers Under Armour offer to Texas, and reports that Nike was coming in under the other two companies. If other company X is willing to offer more to Michigan they will probably offer more to someone else as well. Not because they're worth more than Michigan. Because it's worth more to company X to have something approximating Michigan.

We'll find out soon enough, and I bet he's right in some way or another since they're going to release numbers next week. I mean, you'd think so. It's common sense. I am going to apply that now.

He's got an average of being excellent. Last April a mailbag post contained a rundown of the various negotiations Michigan executed during the Brandon era. The results there were not pretty:

• Brady Hoke was hired and then paid top ten numbers,
• Michigan was stuck in a different division than OSU (with a crossover game),
• Michigan got an unpleasant home/road split in the 14-team league,
• Notre Dame punked Michigan when they ended the contract,
• Mitch McGary did not have his suspension reduced despite the NCAA changing their rules about pot tests
• Al Borges was offered a 300k raise.

Since Hackett has arrived he has hired Jim Harbaugh for far less than he would get from an NFL team and locked down a Nike contract that can be plausibly called the biggest in the country. What do you think about THAT, Bastian Schweinsteiger?

I agree: not bad at all.

Maize. Maize is not blinding yellow. It is not regular yellow. It is an orangey yellow. It is like the image that leads this post. If Michigan actually starts wearing maize that would be nice.

A jumping man. Nike's Jordan thingy is part of their deal with Michigan. I made an offhanded comment about it in the news post about the deal and got several "NO, SERIOUSLY" replies in the comments and on twitter about it. More detail is available at MLive:

According to a Nike spokesperson, Michigan basketball will become the fifth program outfitted by Jordan Brand. The Jordan Brand currently outfits North Carolina, Georgetown, California and Marquette in men's basketball and North Carolina and Georgetown in women's basketball.

That is a weird—but exclusive!—grouping of teams to join. It includes a team that just locked down Jaylen Brown, who repeatedly said he'd play at an Adidas school. Good job, good effort, Adidas.

Anyway. If any logo on a thing can get recruits to sign up for something it appears to be this logo. I think cold, hard cash works better, though.

GAMBLING! ESTABLISHMENT! AND SO FORTH! Ole Miss is being investigated for hijinks in the recruitment of Laremy Tunsil, a five-star OL who walked right into their starting OL. Tunsil was just arrested for domestic assault against his stepfather, who apparently took whatever cash was on offer from TMZ for photos.

His stepfather says the incident happened because "Tunsil exploded on him for voicing his displeasure about the college star hanging out with sports agents," a story so implausible Michigan could have come up with it in the immediate aftermath of the Shane Morris incident. Dollars to donuts the stepfather has flipped on the kid after gently guiding his recruitment.

Minnesota, 1988. Via Wolverine Historian:

The weather was un-good.

Well, when you lay it out like that… MLive has a slideshow of Brady Hoke's old coaches and where they ended up. I'm sure we've addressed it before, but yikes man:

• OKAY: Greg Mattison stuck in Ann Arbor as the DL coach. Roy Manning is at Washington State. Doug Nussmeier is Florida's OC.
• IS THAT A REAL PLACE? Dan Ferrigno is at San Jose State with Al Borges. Darrell Funk is at Akron. Jeff Hecklinski is at Colorado State-Pueblo. Doug Mallory is at Wyoming. Mark Smith is at Florida Tech. Fred Jackson hasn't landed yet, if he's going to stay in coaching.

Hoke's coaching tree is comparable to Lloyd Carr's minus Brady Hoke. Woof.

I am in favor of this. Former Oregon State AD Bob De Carolis retired a year ago and has been brought in as a "senior adviser" at Michigan. We are just Joe Parker and Bruce Madej away from The Expendables: Athletic Department Edition.

De Carolis brought in Hutch and was well-loved at Oregon State, FWIW.

Another guy. Former UConn OC TJ Weist has been hired at Michigan as an "analyst," which probably means he'll break down tape and help with gameplanning:

Weist is not a Michigan assistant, which means he's not an active recruiter and his coaching duties will be limited by NCAA rules.

"T.J. has a wealth of coaching experience and will be an excellent addition to our staff," Harbaugh said in a statement. "He has shown the ability to develop countless NFL caliber wide receivers over his career and has immense knowledge of the collegiate game. He will be a great asset to our program."

Weist is a former Jack Harbaugh guy and Michigan native, so this is an obvious fit. Michigan appears to be spending its money on having a good football program instead of… not that. This will help happiness, and help make more money.

Etc.: MI/WV SF Miles Bridges says he wants to visit Michigan again. Kentucky though. More decals with Sap. OSU LB talks trash on Twitter. "Split zone" from James Light. Also this is a really cool and sneaky coverage in which a corner plays man press for about ten yards before bailing on his WR in an effort to trap the QB into a bad throw.

I DON'T WANNA WAIT FOR OUR LIVES TO BE OVER
I WANT TO KNOW RIGHT NOW WHAT WILL IT BE

wow never thought I'd be quoting Paula Cole on this blog
okay that's a lie
at least I can admit it, unlike NFL reporters

PRETTY MUCH. Clint Brewster talked to two guys($), one of whom said it's a "total ploy," no chance, lol GTFO. The other said it was a done deal. This coaching search in a nutshell.

ON THE LEAK. I've seen a lot of commenters and some respected media folk speculate about whether the numbers and existence of a hard offer becoming known to the public is good or bad for Michigan. I don't know; I do know that assertions that the agent is flogging it publicly in order to set Harbaugh's market price are not the whole story even if they are accurate.

The approximate number was out there in the Michigan paysite sphere for a week or two, and the first example of it breaking into the wild was a local news guy in Arizona who again got it from the Michigan side of things.

At that point Michigan makes a bonafide offer to Harbaugh. By bonafide I mean it is a you-can-sign-this-now contract Michigan had drawn up Sunday and Monday—I am certain of that information. NFL reporters start banging on his agent to find out what's going on, asking if the Joe Pequeno tweet had the right numbers. Agent says yes, things go to plaid. The "leak" was out there for any NFL reporter to see well before this happened, but if they don't hear it from an agent it can't be true.

Michigan didn't put it out there on purpose, but it was out there already. It is too hard to keep that under wraps when you need to gather the donors to make the big-ass offer happen and ping the regents to make sure your big-ass offer is okay by them. People talk.

Then once it's out there, it's a lot harder to flat-out lie to a guy you have to have a working relationship with when he has a specific number instead of a vague idea. I'm not bothered by the numbers getting out. Once they were on paper it was bound to happen.

ALSO. Emailer notes that this is a very mergers and acquisitions move from Hackett, a "bear hug" offer that is difficult to escape from. As a bonus it uses the window in which only Michigan can act with authority. NFL teams can whisper into his agent's ear about giving him the world; Michigan has put its meat on the table, so to speak. Look at all of it.

ON MICHIGAN'S SUPPOSED CHEAPNESS. Adam Schefter continued to throw cold water on things today during an appearance on ESPN radio, to the point of implying he did not believe the offer is even real. He does not aid his credibility when he says things like this:

"Michigan has balked at private planes for recruiting, balks at iPads for the players, increasing the size of it's support staff. Now they offer all this money to Jim Harbaugh."

The assertion that Michigan is cheap like that is either outdated or just wrong. They're building everything for everybody, and the opulent basketball PDC renovation gives you a good look into what revenue athletes (and the non-revenue ones, actually) are furnished with:

The new practice court area also features four overhead cameras that allow coaches to record practice. In addition, coaches are equipped with a hand-held remote to track various in-practice moments on film, and monitors inside the facility allow for instant teaching moments during practice.

After practice, players are offered a chance to unwind inside the player's lounge, a recreation area featuring lounge chairs, video game systems and an 84-inch television screen that also has the ability to be split into four separate 42-inch monitors.

The lounge is adjacent to the Michigan locker room, a circular high-technology facility featuring individual iPads for each player. Players have the ability to watch game film and go over other team material from their individual iPads, and coaches have the opportunity to cue up film from a large flat screen monitor inside the locker room itself.

This article just keeps going in this vein. Bathroom-conscious Jim Harbaugh will surely be pleased to note this:

Michigan men's coach John Beilein has the largest office in the wing, complete with a personal restroom and shower facility.

It's kind of gross what all the money goes to but Michigan's spending it just as furiously as everyone else.

I'm not quite sure what Schefter means by "support staff," but many of those positions, even the non-coaching ones, are limited in number by NCAA mandate and Michigan fills all the slots. They have four football analysts, an executive assistant to the head coach, an administrative assistant to the head coach for recruiting, four equipment guys, two video guys above and beyond the analysts, a dedicated counselor, etc etc etc. Recruiting budgets are weird—OSU was amongst the smallest spenders in that category in 2012 and 2013—but even so Michigan is on par with the rest of the league save Nebraska, which has no local recruiting base, and Illinois, which is just desperate.

Consider items about Michigan being cheap to be pulled from the buttock area. It is just about the only charge you can't level at Dave Brandon's AD. Brady Hoke averaged four million a year as Michigan's head coach. QED.

ON TIMELINES. I've heard a lot of different possibilities, with most asserting that this will happen only after the 49ers season is done. There is a wild rumor that a bunch of people have been told to clear their schedules this weekend that I can't confirm at all, and Steve Lorenz relates that Michigan's current commits have been told to expect something before Christmas($).

ON JUCO ADMISSIONS. Colin Cowherd apparently said something about how the offer includes the ability to admit JUCOs. This statement has no validity. Even if Michigan said they'd bend a little bit on that, that wouldn't be in writing or anything Cowherd is privy to. And the chances they did offer that to a guy who made Stanford into a power are minimal. For one, that promise is not one the athletic director can give.

I know I know, Austin Panter. Panter was an exception to the JUCO rule: he was a kid who qualified out of high school and still went to JUCO because he was at a school so small they played 8 man football. Michigan also had Russell Shaw back in the late 90s. It is not impossible; it is unlikely and will remain so.

Private jets, meanwhile… whatever. Michigan's got those coming out their ears.

ON TOPPING MICHIGAN'S OFFER. It can be done, of course. It'll be harder to do for the Raiders than other people, because California. Via Rivals user SevenToEightySix:

$8,000,000 in Michigan is going to end up being about $4.546mil after federal and state taxes.
$10,000,000 in California is going to be $4.89mil after federal and state taxes.

I don't think this is going to come down to money. If it does the Raiders will have to go to 12, at least.

I THINK WE JUST MADE IT PRETTY CLEAR. Reasons to stay in the NFL!

THE LEVEL OF SUPPORT AT MICHIGAN REMAINS UNCLEAR

That is not your best argument today.

STAY TUNED FOR GENERIC DENIAL. Standard weekly Harbaugh presser scheduled for 4:40 Eastern. Hopefully it'll be one sentence…

…but more likely it's I AM RELENTLESSLY FOCUSED ON OUR GAME THIS WEEKEND again.

ETC: Eric Adelson on the offer. I've got your unseemly right here in my pants. I had to miss my WTKA spot this week with family things but I was on the Solid Verbal. About the 20 minute mark. Tim Kawakami could take some twitter pointers from Charles Robinson. I'll revisit this in more detail if we in fact get Harbaugh, but here's Nick Baumgardner talking to an old USD player of his.