Unverified Voracity Soothes Rubber Chickens Comment Count

Brian

Old school. Wolverine Historian's putting out a bunch of old Michigan Replay episodes. Here's 1989 Illinois:

The music was not yet in place, unfortunately.

Dolla dolla bill ya'll. Greg Mattison's compensation package isn't public yet but Brandon pops up in an article about pro assistants moving back to college and he's quoted thusly:

Michigan AD Dave Brandon says he's "reasonably sure" Mattison's deal "will surpass anything we've done in the past" for a football assistant.

Step one in Pay That Man His Money has been accomplished, with Beyonce or equivalent hopefully on deck.

Remain calm. Do not be alarmed. Mike DeBord has moved to the Bears, where he is the TE coach, and this guy from the local Tribune made ominous noises on twitter a few days ago:

League source told me #Bears TE coach Mike DeBord's name had been linked to Michigan, where he coached in 2 separate stints.

There's a long way from being "linked" to Michigan and actually employed there, especially when Michigan has assembled its full complement of offensive assistants and still needs two guys on defense. DeBord's never coached anything but OL and TE and Michigan's already got those spots filled.

File under Hoke positives. Hoke's making the rounds on the high school coach rubber chicken circuit and picking up quotes like this:

"Having been here at this conference before, and seeing the previous coaches, you can definitely feel there's a leadership vibe there (with Hoke) that will relate to the hard-working people of Michigan, and I think that message of wanting the Michigan kid is a big thing for the coaches."

Hoke apparently returned his M-issue Blackberry and asked for a phone with one big button on it. People are eating this up. Also:

I thought Rodriguez was a very good coach, an offensive genius. I think it will be different where Brady will recruit Michigan harder and not just go to Florida and California (like Rodriguez), so I think he and Dantonio will have a good battle for a lot of our good kids in Michigan.

Except Our Helmets Have Wings points out that Rodriguez's classes were more Midwest-oriented than his predecessor's. A slight downgrade in numbers from Michigan (due in large part to "it hurts my heart" guy at Renaissance, now fired, and "guy who lives with Gholston" guy at Southeastern, now employed at Michigan State) was offset by Michigan hitting Ohio hard. That probably wasn't a positive—Michigan was not going head to head with OSU for many of those guys. Under Carr their national net brought in better classes than Rodriguez's boatload of okay Ohio recruits.

But it doesn't matter. What matters is what high school coaches think, and they think Brady Hoke is the bee's knees. Michigan had already established a lead for three of the top five players in the state (Royce Jenkins-Stone and Terry Richardson of Cass and James Ross of OLSM), seems to be in the top two with Dan O'Brien, and should acquire Chris Wormley out of Toledo. Bring those in and that meme is established in the same way Rodriguez Ignores Michigan got started. This is fierce pragmatist talk here: by throwing Rodriguez overboard now the next guy gets a PR boon.

Let the reassurance wash over you. Here's an interview with Mattison:

If you are saying "oh thank God" after watching that you are not alone.

Quarterback future indicated. Rutgers QB Tom Savage is transferring, but the school isn't allowing him to be released to… um… anywhere he wants to go:

…former high school All-American quarterback Tom Savage, who is transferring from Rutgers, has been denied permission to speak to Miami and is appealing the decision, his father said Sunday.

Savage Sr. said his son learned Saturday that Rutgers will not allow him to speak with UM, UF, FSU or Michigan. Rutgers did not give him a reason.

There's no reason to bar him from talking to any of those schools since none of them are future Rutgers opponents*. When PSU did the same thing to Robert Bolden they managed to patch up their differences, but Savage's dad is looking for a lawyer. That's not a marriage that can be saved, so refusing to allow Savage to talk to other schools just seems spiteful.

It's likely moot given Michigan's QB situation—Savage isn't likely to transfer into a spot where he won't start in two years and has to fight with Devin Gardner after that. But it does provide an indication of where QB recruiting is going. Savage is a prototypical pocket statue. They're going after a "dual threat" sort out of Texas, but a dual threat sort who has 400 yards rushing and is currently committed to Purdue. I hope we get him solely for the irony.

*[Miami is, but in 2018. Savage will be long gone by then.]

Heads rolled. The rule of thumb is this: if your name appeared in the document dump about Michigan's NCAA violations you are gone:

Michigan director of football operations Scott Draper has resigned. School spokesman Dave Ablauf said Saturday that Draper stepped down to accept another position.

With Brad Labadie and Judy Van Horn already out the door, Ann Vollano is the last one standing. She must feel like she's 80 minutes into a Final Destination movie. Sidenote: if you're wondering which side carries more blame, Van Horn got a similar job at South Carolina. Labadie and presumably Draper won't sniff an athletic department again.

Etc.: Back in Tom Harmon's day the threat of a transfer loomed… a transfer to Tulane. Long profile on Brock Mealer from David Mayo avoids stating any of David Mayo's opinions and is therefore readable.

Comments

Don Keypunch

January 24th, 2011 at 12:26 PM ^

In the GR Press was an excellent read. I had not even noticed that Mayo was the author, likely due to the fact like Brian said that he didnt feel the need to state his own opinion every few sentences.

severs28

January 24th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^

mixture of QB recruits we are going after, I am hoping they will just recruit QB's based on talent and not "style of play" Tressell and Mack Brown in particular have done a great job of recruitng players who are very talented regardless of their style of play.  I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of a change every 4 years depending on the QB we are able to get. 

michgoblue

January 24th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^

Towards the last painful month or so of the RR era, a common argument in favor of terminating RR and moving on was that regardless of how good of a coach RR was, or what direction the program was heading in, the negative perception had eclipsed the reality, such that a change was required.  (Not going to get into whether that was correct or incorrect).

But, with Hoke, we are seeing the exact same effect, but to the positive.  The positive vibes, quotes, feelings and overall media love-fest with Hoke (the perception) is helping to shape a reality that should translate into wins over the next few years.  The perception is helping salvage something of this class and, if it continues (which our VERY easy schedule and low expectations next year should allow), that perception might yield a monster recruiting class next year.

It sucks that RR got the short end of the perception / reality thing, but it is nice to be on the positive end of this.  GO Hoke!

mgoblueaustin

January 24th, 2011 at 12:47 PM ^

I am absolutely sure that I love nothing more than the old-school Michigan Replay intro music.  Michigan Replay was awesome, and if we go back to that song and 10am shows on Sunday I will buy Jim Brandstatter and Brady Hoke puppies for Christmas

kvnryn

January 24th, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^

Man, I just love the way he rattled off a play-by-play e.g. (paraphrasing) "oh yea this was a 28-yard off the right side"  etc. etc. Whether that meant he'd already watched the film four times or whether he just remembered it from the game, either way it's pretty awesome. (And even if - the more likely scenario - he reviewed the plays that he knew were going to be part of the show, he still displayed his skill and savvy for explaining it seamlessly on a TV show.)

Go Blue Eyes

January 24th, 2011 at 12:50 PM ^

I feel like Colonel Nicholson at the end of the Bridge on the River Kwai when he realized how wroing he was in building the railroad bridge for the Japanese.  Brady Hoke is obviously the man.  Call me converted.

As for GMAT saying he would not have come to Michigan unless Brady Hoke is here and doing the asking, that makes Brady Hoke the Godfather.  He made GMAT an offer he couldn't refuse.

 

Twisted Martini

January 24th, 2011 at 12:52 PM ^

I guess he was wondering why someone would want to leave his beloved NFL, but he thought it is weird that GM was looking to go back to the college game from a top 10 NFL defense.  I don't care why he did it, I'm just glad he did. 

81.93

January 24th, 2011 at 1:19 PM ^

I believe Coach Mattison when he talks about Michigan being a special place to him and his family.  The DC of the Ravens can pretty much be DC anywhere he wants to be, and there are no shortage of college and pro teams in transition, so I tend to believe that he gladly and proudly accepts the challenge of turning our defense into a bunch of swarming baddasses who know how to tackle. 

Blake

January 24th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^

I remember seeing an old Michigan Replay from the early 80s on WOLV-tv that used the Across 110th Street intro, but then I believe they went away from it for a number of years before bringing it back sometime into the Carr years.  This has to be a matter of public record.  We really need the Athletic Department to start putting up old Michigan Replay's on mgoblue.com for our viewing pleasure. 

MGoShoe

January 24th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^

...that Michigan Replay did use Across 110th Street throughout the '80s. My guess is the '89 season is when they dropped it since I watched the show religiously when I was a student (Fall '85 to Spring '89) and am sure I would have noticed the change. 

Don

January 24th, 2011 at 6:29 PM ^

Cosign... the theme music was already iconic for Michigan fans by then, and holy hell would have erupted—yes, that was possible before the internet tubes were invented—if it had changed. I wouldn't be surprised if it was continued into Mo's tenure as well.

It should be played during every halftime at home games on the stadium sound system.

Six Zero

January 24th, 2011 at 1:05 PM ^

1.  My signature will be changed as soon as I finish this post.

2.  This fact that this guy wants our defense to become something that other coaches use to teach defense speaks volumes.  Few people can claim that, but coming from the former DC of the Baltimore Ravens it sounds, well, awesome.

3.  Looking at that 90's practice footage, I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see Hoke scrap the away uni's as soon as possible.  Ditch the adidas template, go back to the old basics-- out with the new, in with the old-- or if you prefer, a fresh start, a clean slate.  Single color navy numbers, contrasting Northwestern stripes on the sleeves.  Old school defense... Old school Michigan.

Better wrap this up, I'm working myself into a frenzy again...

MGoShoe

January 24th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^

...adidas vs. Nike, but I absolutely co-sign with the notion that the away jerseys and the practice jerseys are abominations. It does seem that Michigan ought to be dictating to adidas the uni design within the bounds of the licensing agreement and that the adidas template could accommodate a more traditional look.

If DB and his merry band of marketeers wants to create "Brand Michigan", the away football unis would be a good place to start.

Bando Calrissian

January 24th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^

The Music took a hiatus from the early 80's until the early 2000's.  I miss it.  I miss Michigan Replay.   And it's a shame it got the axe.

Can we get it back, DB?  Sundays are for The Music and guarded coachspeak.  kthx.

In reply to by M-Wolverine

Bando Calrissian

January 24th, 2011 at 3:34 PM ^

That, and a new head coach who refused to continue to tape a coaches' show on Saturdays, like it had been done for decades.

His prerogative, of course, but I just miss the Replay.

michiganprof

January 24th, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^

I'm pretty sure Debord did special teams (brought in the year after the Boccher (sp?) - Iowa disaster) and recruiting coordinator when he was brought back by Lloyd. I remember because at the time I was irritated that they didn't bring in someone with demonstrated competence in ST. But once he was around, that put him in a good position to bump Terry Malone the next season that the offence burped. 

Wolv54

January 24th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^

I read an article over the weekend about Draper's "resignation" and it said that Draper was thought to be the source of the leaks that came out on that fateful Tuesday saying RR had been fired by the local TV News.  It was said that Dave Brandon set a trap to see who was the source of the leaks in the department and Draper was caught in the net.  It said that Dave Brandon has done this a couple times to expose people leaking information.  "It's a trap" T-shirts would be very appropriate if this is all true.  This was a legitimate newspaper reporter on an official looking website for whatever that's worth these days.

 

Rasmus

January 24th, 2011 at 4:27 PM ^

Draper was the most problematic, in my view, of the people named in the report -- seemed like he didn't care about getting it right, just about protecting his territory (re: Labadie).

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought the overnight delay after the leak and the meeting with Rich might be about finding the source of the leak... Sweet if it was Draper and they busted him, though we'll probably never know.

Don

January 24th, 2011 at 2:16 PM ^

I saw him on the street in downtown AA last year, and he looked like a sausage that was about to burst its casing. He didn't look comfortable.