Unverified Voracity Cooks, Then Chills Comment Count

Brian

Historian! Haven't had a new one in a while from the great archivist of the internets. 1981 Minnesota; check it out if only for the totally sweet introduction:

Assorted Kiffybits. Have received some heat in the comments for my blanket assertion yesterday that Lane Kiffin was in some way responsible for the MASSIVE INSTUTUTION-WIDE CHEATFEST that USC undertook through the aughts, but I can't really understand why. In a time of major NCAA trouble you fire everyone and let the rest of D-I sort 'em out. Permanently cutting ties with anyone in a position to have observed or participated in NCAA violations is a bare minimum standard when you get hit with major sanctions. And USC isn't just bringing back any old assistant coach, they're bringing in a guy currently under investigation. It's indefensible.

The Michigan equivalent would be putting Perry Watson on Tommy Amaker's staff, or hiring Magee after firing Rodriguez because the NCAA came back with a major infraction from the practice stuff. Either move would be totally beyond the pale.

Anyway, the most important thing in all of this: Orson won his cheese bet. (I was skeptical, FWIW.)

Side note: I don't really blame Kiffin for leaving, and think Tennessee's reaction has been hilarious. Kiffin didn't have any control over when the USC job opened up. Meanwhile, the chaotic scene in Knoxville when he left was testament to the college football fan's ability to delude himself about the guy in charge*. If I was a Volunteer fan this would be the happiest day in 14 months. Tennessee got off easy, and can now hire someone with a resume stronger than "hot wife, reptile brain."

This week in witch trials. Meanwhile, Kiffin's departure for his dream job has caused no end of hysterical reactions in the media. Sally Jenkins's painful "Chucky" comparison is the most tortured column—hiring Kiffin is easier than "hiring someone less illustrious"—I've come across, but there are many others. Here's old friend Jemele Hill "bringing the real"—seriously those were the words on the screen—about the situation:

Since college football fans are paying top dollar to attend these games and boosters are signing blank checks to bolster their athletic teams, they need reassurance they are supporting not only a winning program, but also a brand.

That's why college football programs have gladly backed up the Brink's truck for Bobby Petrino, Rich Rodriguez, Brian Kelly and Nick Saban -- all top-notch coaches whose combined lies could outweigh an ocean liner.

Leaving aside Rich Rodriguez, who has had all of two jobs in a decade, why does poor Brian Kelly get lumped in here? Kelly spent most of the last month of the season going out of his way to provide rambling non-answers to questions about Notre Dame just so he wouldn't get stuck having said something untrue. When the time came his public statement about it was "I am listening to Notre Dame." Even Rodriguez—less of a job-hopper than anyone on that list—issued a quote about being around West Virginia for a long time after his Alabama flirtation. Kelly walked around with a sign that said "Please Hire Me Notre Dame" for two months and still can't win.

Meanwhile, Jemele Hill jumped at the opportunity to bring the real at ESPN instead of hanging out at the Free Press. Physicians, heal thyselves.

*(Over/under on Ohio State blogs that repost this sentence for lol: 4.)

Correct. Michigan's former players are always asked about Michigan's current coach and most of them have the same answer. It acknowledges the difficulty in transition and expresses frustration at the current state of the program. Depending on how the phrase it, this can come off as attack or support. They're all basically saying the same thing—let's win this year plsthx—but they seem different. Victor Hobson shades towards the support side of things:

As a Michigan fan, it’s easy for me to sit back and say he is not taking the program in the right direction.  As a football player, though, it’s easy for me to see that Rich has a different approach to winning than Lloyd Carr, which requires different personnel.  Patience is the key to allowing the program to blossom once again.  The dilemma is that Michigan is an extremely prideful university that isn’t used to losing, so I don’t know if that patience is going to happen.

Word.

South Florida. It's not quite official yet, but the word from a couple days ago that Skip Holtz was likely to be the guy at ECU is nearing it by the minute:

Holtz was contacted by USF athletic director Doug Woolard about the job Sunday and interviewed with USF officials Tuesday in Orlando.

A source close to East Carolina told the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer on Wednesday night that a deal between Holtz and USF was close but not done yet. "But they're moving in that direction,'' the source said.

A deal could come as early as today; it sounds like this is all but inevitable. This leaves Calvin Magee at Michigan. Magee did talk to USF, but I don't think he interviewed formally.

They're back. Some of them. Michigan State's PREWB appears to be resolved by a number of additional departures from the team. RB Ashton Leggett, DE Jamiihr Williams, LB Brynden Trawick, and DT Ishmyl Johnson are out. All the receivers are back, as are a couple guys you've never heard of. The end result here is fairly satisfying: six guys out the door, including a couple probable starters next year, is a stiff price to pay. The other guys are "reinstated" and "on the team right now," though there remains the distant possibility that legal action will cause some of the other guys to pick up further suspensions (lasting, of course, until next year's Michigan game).

Meanwhile, State is getting Greg Jones back for his senior year—bad NFL draft grade?—so they've got that going for them.

Crater omission. Doctor Saturday ran down the top five "sharpest turning moments" of 2009 and touched on Notre Dame taking out Charlie Weis and Ohio State picking it up after Purdue. This guy was genuinely surprised to not see "Roy Roundtree tackled at one yard line." That's 90% blinkered homerism, but it certainly seemed that few teams took as radical a U-turn as Michigan did on that fateful goal line stand. They went from a team making totally satisfactory progress to a smoking crater hosting a civil war in the course of one replay review.

Amazing. This.

puddin-sampler

Yes, that is needlework. (What? This. Via War Blog Eagle.)

Etc.: Apparently the ridiculous Rodriguez-to-Tennessee rumors were serious enough for Angelique to debunk them with the help of RR's agent. RR talks to Andrea Adelson about 2010—bowl promised! Bacon runs down the top sports moments of the decade. UMHoops runs down a bunch of stuff; most interesting is that the Big Ten is the least free-throw happy of the BCS conferences. Also for God's sake don't look at the scatterplot.

Comments

chitownblue2

January 14th, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^

The Michigan equivalent would be putting Perry Watson on Tommy Amaker's staff, or hiring Magee after firing Rodriguez because the NCAA came back with a major infraction from the practice stuff. Either move would be totally beyond the pale.

Or...hiring Brian Ellerbe from Fisher's staff?

Look - Watson was part of a proven major NCAA violation. Until we know what they're going to say about USC, it's not the same thing. And isn't that point? You can't proactively punish people for things that haven't yet been established.

msoccer10

January 14th, 2010 at 1:08 PM ^

Dude, you are way off on the Ellerbe comparison. Ellerbe was hired May 29th, 1997, after the investigation was under way. Fisher was fired on Oct. 4th 1997 and Ellerbe was elevated to head coach because he was the only one associated with the basketball team that had no ties to the allegations.

Big Boutros

January 14th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

Well, I've left a comment here, and I didn't really want to. I don't have much to say about any of this. I've got a bag of turkey pepperoni sitting beside me and I have to say it's quite delicious.

Don

January 14th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^

"The exact variety shall be left up to relevant experts, though really if Joel wants us to eat limburger so ripe it can hold up liquor stores at knifepoint after hotwiring a car, that’s what we’ll eat, even if we end up vomiting up a spleen over it."

That's just comedy gold right there.

blueloosh

January 14th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^

Brian, your analysis is correct, but I have to say that dissecting and criticizing a Jemele Hill column is a bit like being a youth basketball coach and playing tough defense against a special needs kid who enters the game for the other team.

The right thing to do is just smile and warmly congratulate her parents.

Bray

January 14th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^

That was by far the biggest play or plays of the season, on Roundtree not getting in the end zone. I was at the Illinois game and Michigan could have put the game away with a touchdown that would have made it 20-7 and the Illinois fans were all over their team. That would have put Illinois away, but that one play gave them life. I am not saying Michigan wins the game but the goal line stand from the one and then the long TD run by Illinois gave them the lead 14-13. and then there is the Purdue game, but let's not get started on that one.

Wolverine96

January 14th, 2010 at 1:21 PM ^

...due to talk radio. This morning while driving to work I was listening to two of the more level headed guys on talk radio in Detroit (Baligan and Kowlowski on WDFN)go on for nearly an hour about the Orlando newspaper interview and how Coach Rodriguez doesn't get it because he uses words such as "hopefully" and "should." Below is the quote they spent the most time on.

"Q: How far away are you from fixing the defense?"

"A: Hopefully a year. I don’t know. I know if you simplify things, you get guys playing at a high level and don’t overwhelm them you’ve got a chance. Our offense should be better. It was better this year. I’ve got a good defensive staff and they know what we’ve got to do."

This is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy and causes me to have health problems, drink heavily and kick my dog. For the love of Yost and all that is holy they were raking him over the coals for an interview with a Florida paper where he was somewhat matter of fact in his tone. Don't these people know that this is how he tends to speak to the media. He is not fire and brimstone, "my shovel is sharp and my will is strong," all the time, especially when he talks to the media during the off season.

AAAAAAARGH!!!!!

Please let Michigan basketball win tonight to lower the blood pressure. Please, please, please.

Don

January 14th, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^

Yesterday I made the mistake of tuning in that complete and utter fucking tool Jeff Defran on WTKA while driving, and he referenced the Orlando Sentinel interview. RR said in the interview (paraphrasing) that he was very happy with the support he's received from UM and the fans.

Defran's response? RR said he was happy with the support because he's surrounded by "yes-men."

M-Wolverine

January 14th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^

I heard Terry Foster yesterday railing on the same thing, because "that's a lie he has heard mostly support, Michigan is divided", and shouldn't have said that (because his finger is on the pulse of Michigan). That's when I shut it off. And beyond just being positive coach speak, and the point that Defran obviously missed too is that yes, there are people upset, but how many of them that are contact or are in contact with the Coach? I imagine a whole lot of "Fire Rich Rod grumble grumble grumble" people are very "Oh, gosh, how great to meet you, great job Coach" in his presence. That's not yes-men; that's cowards.

GoBlueScott

January 14th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^

She first "brought the real" when she left the Free Press for Raleigh-Durham News & Observer before "bringing the real" over to the Orlando Sentinel before "the real has already been broughten" over to ESPN. She didn't just go from the Freep to ESPN.

In the matter of full disclosure, Jemele and I have a close friend in common and I have met her several times. She is a very sweet, very nice person ... who just aches to be the female Rob Parker.

M-Wolverine

January 14th, 2010 at 2:45 PM ^

...but she's disingenuous as all hell. I had a lengthy email interaction with her after Clockgate, and she turns to ad hominem attacks quick. She blew up the whole situation worse by defending it in her columns, and then when I tore up her arguments, she went to how she was being racistly attacked, and that she had threats and all. And when I pointed out that "I" had said nothing of the sort, she was kinda yeah, well you didn't, but these other people have, and it's been really stressful on me blah blah blah... I suggested she tone her writing down to a level where it's not just meant to incite people and get their blood pressure up. Advice she obviously never took. I mean Shannon Shelton is just as big a Sparty homer as Jemele (Anyone remember the "It's Je-Mele" bit on the radio?), but at least Shannon isn't just trying to annoy people.

Ohiowild

January 14th, 2010 at 2:09 PM ^

by citing injuries, lack of depth and youth.

Certainly that team had more depth on D than we did in '09.

I assume Michigan fans were all over him for making excuses, quoting Yost about how the expectation is for the position, not the player...

markusr2007

January 14th, 2010 at 2:19 PM ^

got crap loads of playing time due to injury and the team still wound up 9-3 overall (losses to Notre Stain, Iowa and Art Schlichter University).

And my God, did they ever mow the grass of Memorial Stadium?

Bennie

January 14th, 2010 at 2:55 PM ^

Man, I loved that guy.

What really stood out to me, is his comments regarding the players. That team lost players before the season started. After the season started he was asked about the 5 or 6 starters he lost after the season started. I think the comment was "you lost 5 or 6 starters on defense". The response ... "we are without probably 5 staters in this game - maybe 6 - we have one who may no be able to start - and if that is the case we are playing a lot of young people. But I don't feel bad about that. They are enthustiastic and WE may make some mistakes and things like that but we will get after them."

He didn't say he didn't have the talent, or that the cubbord was bare. (I know, I know, different situation, but the point is, no matter what caused the problem, he didn't whine about it. He did not blame anyone else. He didn't insult the players he did have.) He was positive and enthustiastic, even when he wasn't talking to his players. I have to believe that rubbed off on the players.

It is too bad that I have to say this, but I am not anti RR. I want him to win. I want him for our coach for the next 25 years. I am simply making a comment about styles, and how I think those styles affect the guys that have to go out on the field and perform.

Marshmallow

January 14th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^

From Brian's post: "And USC isn't just bringing back any old assistant coach, they're bringing in a guy currently under investigation. It's indefensible."

Key words: "currently under investigation." We don't know what level of sanctions, if any, SC's football program is going to be hit with. If it is a secondary violation, like Michigan is expected to face, then why is Kiffin's hire indefensible? It wouldn't be indefensible to retain RR if Michigan receives a secondary violation. I am only saying two things: 1. USC probably knows more about what they are getting from the NCAA than the general population and 2. the presumption should be innocence rather than guilt. While most expect big time sanctions, Rivals expects that anything short of major sanctions isn't going to be anything more than a spitball off the side of the trojan battleship. I don't know who is right. But neither does anyone else, so it isn't fair to just assume that USC is going down and by the way they are stupid too for hiring Kiffin. I don't know what's going to happen. But I could easily see USC coming out clean and then dismantling every team in its path for the next several years. I'm just sayin...

Marshmallow

January 14th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^

Yes, although he does evaluate talent well and he is putting together an incredible staff. Look, I don't like Kiffin any more than the next guy. I just think the media is blowing the entire situation out of proportion, which I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at all about, and no one really knows for certain how good or bad anything is going to be until SC plays next season. If SC wins a championship, then Mike Garrett is going to look like a genious. If SC underwhelms or falls apart, then I think it is safe to say that this was an enormous error. Time will tell.

witless chum

January 15th, 2010 at 9:32 AM ^

Jones had said all along he wouldn't leave if he got anything less than a first round grade. With all the talk about the NFL CBA, it seems like being drafted in 2nd (where Jones is generally graded by draft sites of unknown veracity) this year could be as good as being drafted in the late first round next year. Plus, he'd get his signing bonus before any possible lockout.

I think he'll be helped as a player by staying for another year and work on his pass drops (if we've got anyone who can teach him pass defense, arghh) and getting bigger, but I don't know that his bank account will be helped that much, even if he has another excellent season. To say nothing of the injury risk.

He's talked about promising his mom he'd get a degree and all the sacrifices his parents made, working multiple jobs when he was growing up. He also seems a bit different of a guy than what you think of as the average football player, saying he wanted to be a music teacher, and just being sort of quiet.

I gotta say I appreciate him making choices that seem to privilege my amusement over his financial interests.