Unverified Voracity Buzz Buzz Buzz Comment Count

Brian

large[1]

Decent turnout in Indy [Mike Spath]

All the Harbaugh. We haven't had any, you know, games yet but so far the Harbaugh era has absolutely lived up to its promise.

As Ace has documented in cripplingly long recruiting roundups, the Summer Swarm tour is piquing the interest of dozens of high level recruits in this class and the next three. Michigan's nailed down a number of commitments already; there's a wave of guys naming Michigan their leader and/or plugged in gents making Crystal Ball predictions for Michigan.

While it's been a lot of under the radar types to date, 1) Harbaugh's first two recruiting classes at Stanford were generic three stars and Andrew Luck and 2) the wave of guys Michigan is thought to lead for has a lot of big timers in it.

Doesn't that mean… yes, it does. Michigan currently has 14 or 15 spots in its recruiting class. There are a few guys who will have fifth year options but don't project to be contributors; that still leaves Michigan at around 18 spots for a class that it feels like will hit 25. There is going to be some attrition before February.

If a couple of these medical hardships that are poorly kept secrets finally get announced in the near future that number looks pretty reasonable; I don't think we're ever going to see the near zero attrition Michigan had under Brady Hoke. Harbaugh drives people too hard for that.

Headlines. The Montgomery Advertiser:

image

That's today, three days after Michigan's Alabama stop. The last time I took a screenshot of a media organization days after something happened it was Sports Illustrated bombing Michigan dang near a week after the Shane Morris incident. Harbaugh has changed the script a little bit here.

See also Gregg Doyel, who spent the weekend following Harbaugh into Indianapolis bathrooms and firing off hot takes in Michigan's favor:

Eliminating satellite camps? That makes a recruit's life harder. It would make a kid like Jovan Swann, a big-time defensive tackle recruit from Center Grove High, drive almost 300 miles to attend the Michigan football camp in Ann Arbor. Swann, whose brother Mario is a defensive back at Indiana, is interested in the Wolverines. He has a scholarship offer from Michigan State (and Indiana and Iowa and more), but not from Michigan.

"As a parent, I decided I'm going to take (Jovan) to any school that he has an interest in," said his father, Mario Swann Sr. "I would have taken him to Michigan this summer, but now I don't have to."

And this is wrong? This is not wrong.

The spectacle of millionaires complaining about their vacation days is not winning over hearts and minds here. Harbaugh, shirtless, weird Jim Harbaugh, is.

That charity camp BTW. Details:

Harbaugh said he found somebody to follow on Sunday.

"I got a new one. I got Lauren Loose now. I'm going to follow her," Harbaugh said. "I'm going to follow her example. Fighter, courageous, happy, spiritual. She's got what I'm looking for. I'm going to follow her. Find somebody. Find somebody every day. You know who's doing right. Go be a good follower. Learn how to do that."

Loose is the daughter of former Lafayette defensive coordinator and current Army defensive coach John Loose. She is a pediatric brain tumor survivor and the one who the football camp is named for. The event raises funds for brain tumor research and cancer services through the Lauren's First and Goal Foundation.

Sunday's event raised $101,800 and the total for the year is $132,787.

Michigan is keeping this on the up-and-up—they're travelling with a compliance person to make sure they don't rack up minor violations—and they're doing a lot of good for the kids who come out, the causes they're helping out, and themselves. You'd have to be a sociopath to be against such a thing, but we are talking about football coaches.

Also. Detroit will get an extended version of the satellite camps:

Harbaugh, his Michigan coaching staff and the team's sophomore football players will work with the United States Marine Corps to "teach life skills, football, language arts and STEM-based curriculum" to 100 Detroit-area boys from grades 6-8 from July 6-18.

Former NFL player Riki Ellison founded the program nine years ago, and runs similar efforts at Stanford, Northwestern and West Point. He'll assist Michigan with its own version of the program.

People were concerned when Michigan canceled its fantasy camps. They've more than made up for that karmic loss.

There will be no apology. You know me: I approve of anything short of a stabbing that makes a college football game spicier. Harbaugh is amping up damn near everybody, whether it's Saban in Alabama or a bit closer to home:

image

OSU's WR coach took this about as well as perpetually aggrieved DJ Byrnes takes a harmless tweet from a teenager, throwing a twitter shit fit that has since been deleted. Michigan has not scheduled a contrite press conference in the aftermath. Hail Hackett.

Speaking of the man. Random old This Is Sportscenter commercial featuring Harbs:

"This Is Sportscenter" has been around forever.

Just a rando with a story. Take it with a grain of salt:

This is probably not a good move if you would like to continue your employment no matter how accurate it may be. Again, just some rando with SOURCES on twitter.

UNC details. Local paper with some excerpts from internal UNC emails:

“Occasionally when we have a number of people with special issues we can put them together in a special section but we never ever put an athlete into a special section alone – just too many red flags and we have a little bit of academic credibility to try to uphold,” Crowder wrote back. “All of that being said, talk to me and we’ll see if there are any creative options.”

There are hundreds of these emails, many of them heavily redacted. It's clear that the athletic department specialized in keeping kids eligible with non-classes. If anything will rouse the sleeping bear that is NCAA enforcement, this is it.

I suppose. A dozen people sent this to me and more yelled at me on twitter about it, so yes there was an embarrassing fluff piece on Dave Brandon in the Detroit News. It reads more like a People profile of Eva Longoria—"the couple intends to experience daily life in the Big Apple", etc—than something written by a person with self-respect. It thus says everything you need to know about its author, Daniel Howes, without me chipping in.

Just one thing:

Brandon sounds like a man pleased to be back on the familiar ground of corporate America. There he'll be tackling marketing and operational challenges, building (or repairing) a brand buffeted by changing technology and changing consumer tastes. (All of which, by the way, applied at Michigan, as much as the die-hards refuse to acknowledge it.)

Brandon's most important single act as athletic director was hiring Brady Hoke, a man whose main qualification was having been an assistant at Michigan during the 90s. Hoke was dead set against the changing technology of college football; his hire was anything but "innovating the space." All other gestures towards modernity are frippery around a fusty core.

Anyone who still believes Brandon is some sort of visionary after years of ham-handed missteps followed by lies probably contributed to the $607 United Passions brought in at the box office this weekend. But someone's got to believe the Emperor's new clothes are amazing.

Etc.: Michigan MLB draft primer from user Raoul. Summer Swarm tweet recap. Northwestern's "#funbad" game of the year is so obvious you don't need to click through. "#funbad" is such a Northwestern concept, and I mean that affectionately.

Comments

WWTSD

June 8th, 2015 at 3:27 PM ^

I haven't seen a similar flyer from other schools.  This is one of the first that seems to actually match OSU's production quality so I give it some props there, but still......

I'm curious...... this place was all up in arms on percieved news of Urbans negative recruiting but loves this.  I'm sure some of you will say it was highlighting your guys perceived acheivements, but that was slam and nothing else.

That flyer could have said the exact same thing and it's effectiveness (questionable to all but the red meat crowd) could have been just as strong by leaving off Smiths name and just going with Fisch's.  I get rivalries and I like the subtle digs back and forth but this seems douche-y to go after a position coach who hadn't said a thing.

Surveillance Doe

June 8th, 2015 at 4:04 PM ^

I think it is a little douchey, and I agree that several here would be up in arms about it if the roles were reversed. But I think that's exactly why people like it. We just went through four years of a coaching staff that was publicly spineless when it came to confrontation with our rivals. I think people find it refreshing to have a coaching staff that will engage and not apologize.

WWTSD

June 8th, 2015 at 5:34 PM ^

It is one thing to be spineless (Hoke apologizing for the flag, axe, whatever it was planting at Sparty) and another to be douche-y while willing to show a backbone.

And I think your "several would be up in arms" in all reality equates to a MGoMeltdown.  Imagine if Urban released this same thing but in reverse before he ever ( or hell, at anytime) coached a game. 

 

Wolverine In Exile

June 8th, 2015 at 2:12 PM ^

 

I've read Howes for years and usually he's spot-on on business analysis, so this may be a case of a fluff interview for ratings sake. Usually though he's very skeptical of the CEO without a results history or metrics to point to-- see his series of op-eds on Cerberus's management of Chrysler, Rick Wagner's tenure at GM, or his accurate portrayal of Mullaly's time at Ford. His take on Brandon while skipping over the Michigan debacle just doesn't seem right. He's a better writer than this usually, and by Brian's ripping him, it make it obvious Brian hasn't read Howes's previous work either. Confused on both parts.

cutter

June 8th, 2015 at 2:57 PM ^

Brian's default reactions to most anything involving David Brandon was (a) to not mention anything that DB did well or (b) to spin it in a negative manner or (c) to be downright dismissive of things that were a clear success.

Something from category (a), for instance, was his virtual non mention of last summer's soccer match at Michigan Stadium.  Brandon was responsible for getting that deal together and the UM AD was responsible for much of the logistical support.  Yeah, sure, 100,000 plus people showed up and a worldwide audience got to see Michigan Stadium fill to the rafters, but Brian just shrugged his shoulders in mock indifference because the game was a friendly, and therefore "meaningless".

A Category B item would be the growth and revenue and donations within the athletic department.  If I recall correctly, Brian took the Ross Perot "a monkey could give you 1% growth" schtick when looking at the UM AD's revenue growth.  Of course, he never talked about how Brandon reorganized the AD outreach branch nor did he mention the successes it had during his tenure.  Getting private donors to pony up the $160M plus for the new non-revenue sports facilities would be impressive in most people's books--except when it came to Brian's ledger on Brandon.  Of course, Brian remains mute on Hackett's failures not only to get the new golf course club house approved by the Regents, but in getting another soccer game at Michigan Stadium.  After all, the most important thing an AD does is hire the head football coach.

What would be a Category (c) item?  I think one of my all time favorites was when Brandon was able to get a home-and-home with Oklahoma for a future football game and he said the Sooners weren't a "Notre Dame equivalent" or words of that nature.  Then when the Michigan-Texas series was announced, one of the other writers on his staff praised Brandon for setting it up.  I guess Brian was away that day otherwise it wouldn't have gotten on the blog.

In Brian's world, one team is Notre Dame and the other is not a "Notre Dame equivalent":

I rather expect this won't be the last we'll hear from Brian on David Brandon with the John U. Bacon book coming up later this year.  And, of course, if there are any problems at Toys R Us during Brandon's tenure there, we won't have to read the business pages to get the whole story.  Just come to MGoBlog to get the latest.

TruBluMich

June 8th, 2015 at 4:55 PM ^

For every good thing Brandon did, he always managed to fuck it up with his actions, attitude and attempts to forcefully change tradition.  Won't even go into the "look at me" actions that everyone hated about Brandon. 

History is full of people building things for the wrong reasons.  I'm sure there is someone here who knows what type of complex that is.  Reminds me of all the other "leaders" of the ancient world.  They build magnificent buildings, to give to the peasants.  They didn't build them for any other reason then an attempt to buy admiration. 

Your example is perfect, you admire him for no other reason than he got Ross to donate a large sum of money and he built nice things.  You apparently forgot the guy is an ass hole.

MBandMarch

June 8th, 2015 at 8:44 PM ^

Met the man at an alumni event roughly four years ago today.

Repugnant in his smug arrogance.  I watched the next three and 1/2 years in pain.  So very glad that he showed himself to be not just an ass but REALLY an ass so that we could finally be rid of him.

Met Hoke the same day.  I do wish he had had more fortitude because for every bit of an ass Brandon showed himself to be, Hoke was warm and sincere and you could read his integrity.  Neccesary but unfortunately not sufficient......

Prince Lover

June 8th, 2015 at 2:34 PM ^

But I think his single greatest act as AD was not firing Beilein a while ago when there were more than a few out there that wanted him to do so. But see, you all can still be mad because his greatest moment involved him not doing anything, so it's not like you're really giving him credit for something, just giving him credit for nothing. Go Blue!!

ruthmahner

June 8th, 2015 at 2:33 PM ^

Sometimes I get scared that I'm dreaming, and HARBAUGH can't possibly be as great as I think he is.  And then I pull up mgoblog, and he's gone and done something more epic than I had even imagined.

I trust his recruiting, and I cannot wait for the first game.

kehnonymous

June 8th, 2015 at 8:05 PM ^

While there are certainly some quality writers at 11W and fewer quality posters at the Blog Down South, so very many of their commenter hoi polloi is garden variety trailer trash as befits that state.  Obviously we have way more than our fair share of asshole fans and MGoBoard members many of us wouldn't miss, but this gem of a comment:

Nah, just a buckeye who's a realist. I'm rare breed in these parts I know. Didn't mean to break up the circle jerk. My bad.

You're to being a Buckeye fan what Bruce Jenner is to being a man.  Just admit the truth Catelyn, I can't imagine how much being a scUM fan would suck but its still better than living a lie.

 

Is rated at +7.  Trans-baiting and 7th grade insults are the latest two-for-one special for Big Lots Buckeyes.  That this wasn't downvoted to oblivion like an equivalent post here would be pretty much tells you all you need to know about the median quality of person that posts on 11w vs. here - hell, that even includes most of the OSU and Sparty fans that post on MGo.

NittanyFan

June 8th, 2015 at 10:35 PM ^

I like the idea of the Fisch/Smith poster ........ but they really should have found a way to white-wash "Jacksonville" and the Jaguars logo from the sweatshirt and visor (or found another picture).  That's NFL in name-only.

Mr. Yost

June 8th, 2015 at 10:46 PM ^

Does that men like the grown men and grown women football camp? I know we cancelled those...and I couldn't care less.

However, we still are having or had that Exposure U thing, right? We can't troll the world and back down.

Explain!

michiganfanforlife

June 9th, 2015 at 12:21 AM ^

like that we have Buckeyes lurking and appreciate their perspective. I cannot stand them and don't really understand why they go to Michigan blog sites. Hell, not only do they visit, but they sign up and comment regularly. What a sad and confused life some people lead. I will never relate to or understand their motivation. This has to be the third or fourth site they go to daily. I can't wait to beat their ass this year.

kehnonymous

June 9th, 2015 at 1:09 AM ^

Most of the Buckeye fans on MGo are fine and courteous enough - decent people who have shitty taste in football teams but still want to talk sports and actually have valid points to make.  I'm going to say mean things about their team and school on general principle but I am totally ok with their presence here as long as they're not jagoffs like their cooler pooping bretheren and so should you.

momixifiha

June 10th, 2015 at 6:31 AM ^

   

 
 law makes $62 /hour on the internet . She has been out of work for 7 months but last month her income was $17146 just working on the internet for a few hour----------------------> http://www.netcash5.com