Unverified Voracity Spends 30 Seconds Grunting Comment Count

Brian

Bill[1]

Things pass. Passing NCAA legislation is like hiring assistant coaches: things are done, and then they're done again, and then they're done, and finally they're officially done. These may or may not be officially officially done because NCAA, but it sounds like it is done-done:

  • full cost of attendance scholarships,
  • mandatory four-year guaranteed scholarships,
  • allowing athletes to borrow against future earnings for one purpose: loss of value insurance
  • and new concussion management protocols.

One ACC team voted against the first proposal—I'd love to figure out who that is and if it's Clemson worrying that their bagmen will have to shell out more to make a difference. The SEC (surprise!) and Big 12 voted against the second, with the former using athletes in attendance as cover. This doesn't even make sense:

The SEC's athlete representatives took issue with a clause that would prevent schools from taking away scholarships, or in the case of sports with partial scholarships, reducing the amount of aid, from athletes for athletic underperformance.

"The student-athletes said, 'Don't do that,'" Jacobs said. "They said, 'Give them four years if you want, but … you can pull it away if the players aren't performing.'"

"Give them four years, as long as you can revoke it for any reason." That athlete and his nonsense is headed for Congress. No doubt.

As a result, the second proposal barely squeezed by.

I still have my doubts about how effective the mandatory four year scholarships are going to be. If a guy gets kicked off the team he gets to stay on scholarship, but does the team get to replace him? How difficult is it going to be for coaches to boot guys for unspecified violations of team rules? (Not difficult.) I still think the real solution here is to go from an overall cap to a yearly one. That moves the system from one in which retention comes with an opportunity cost to one in which it doesn't.

Anyway.

The third bullet point sounds seismic until you get to the colon, whereupon it is revealed as a logical change to give athletes some security even if they don't have up-front capital. The fourth may as well be termed the Brady Hoke Derp rule.

Hockey aside. I've mentioned it before: it'll be interesting to see what happens with college hockey after these reforms take hold. Smaller schools have the option to follow the Power 5, but it's doubtful they can do so for just their glamor sport since Title IX looms over all these discussions… unless they're one of the D-II or D-III teams grandfathered in.

Does Miami (NTM) have the dough to keep pace with the Big Ten? Probably not. Would Denver? Maybe—Denver only has one D-I sport. Would the NCHC create an unbalanced playing field within their own conference to help the resource-rich teams compete? I have no idea.

One thing that is definitely good here is that the value of a scholarship went up significantly. That'll help schools compete against the OHL.

You may have screwed up. The San Francisco 49ers fired one of the winningest coaches in NFL history to hire a career position coach who'd never so much as coordinated a defense. This seems unwise, especially when the guy doing the deciding here is Pete Campbell with puffy cheeks.

usa-today-8331299.0[1]

NOT GREAT JIM

Maybe he's got great interpersonal skills?

Maybe he's going to surround himself with great coaches?

Kiffin front-runner to be 49ers' OC

Maybe he's going to keep the excellent defensive staff intact?

Source: 49ers have fired Fangio, Donatell and Leavitt

At least you didn't have to pay a buyout to fire your previous coach. So you've got that going for you.

Otherwise, the parallels between this and Brady Hoke's coaching career are eerie.

Hello Texas. Random article from Cleveland on Harbaugh recruiting Andrew Luck notes Harbaugh's excellent success in that talent-rich state:

Luck was one of three Texas players in Stanford's 2008 recruiting class. Harbaugh signed four each in 2009 and 2010 before leaving for the NFL. He moved around the state, getting players from Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

And Brady Hoke… uh… not doing that.

The Wolverines have actually offered a surprising number of Texas players in the last four years according to 247Sports:

• 15 offers in 2015

• 9 offers in 2014

• 13 offers in 2013

• 11 offers in 2012

None of those players signed with Michigan, but that could start changing with Harbaugh.

I'm not sure how many of those offers were seriously pursued and how many were fired off hoping to induce a visit, but going 0-fer in Texas is some kind of problem. Which Michigan coach was assigned to one of the richest talent-producing states in the country?

I don't know. No, seriously, I don't know.

RALPH. Jim Harbaugh had a personal Ohio State back in the day:

A nine-year-old playing tackle football for the first time, Harbaugh stood at No. 7 in the tackling line, and immediately looked at the group of runners across from him to see who his No. 7 counterpart was.

He counted back, and saw the player he'd be forced to tackle.

"Ralph," Harbaugh recalled Friday afternoon during his speech to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Convention in Lansing. "So I said a prayer. I said 'dear lord, I know I'm only nine-years-old and I haven't asked you for a lot up until now. But please, dear lord, when I'm done with this, please do not let Ralph be No. 7.'

"Ralph was still there."

Landing spots. Roy Manning snags the OLB job at Washington State, making him the third former Hoke coach to find a Power 5 job. (Greg Mattison, who was retained, and Doug Nussmeier are the others.) Darrell Funk latched on at Akron, Dan Ferrigno at San Jose State, and nobody else is employed as of now. Al Borges was rumored to be getting the SJSU offensive coordinator job, but that was 1) contingent on Jimmie Dougherty getting a job at Michigan, which didn't happen and 2) reported only by Football Scoop.

I am reading lots about the coaching profession's opinion of Hoke's staff into this.

Redshirt. Not that it's a surprise, but don't expect to see DJ Wilson the rest of the year:

"We'd have to have a couple of major injuries," Beilein explained. "The only way that I'd play him right now is if I could look him in the eye and say, 'Listen, I think you'll play 15-20 minutes per game. That's what's fair to him right now."

Next year's "recruiting class" currently consists of Wilson and Williams transfer Duncan Robinson.

Gardner at WR. He's been impressive:

Michigan WR Devin Gardner: Gardner (6-4, 216) famously is making the switch from quarterback to wide receiver. He played wide receiver for half the 2012 season and didn't start focusing on the position again until early December, right after the Wolverines' season ended. "He got better and better each day," Jeremiah said. Gardner has good, not great, speed but can be elusive and has good hands, especially for a guy who has been a receiver for only about seven weeks. His size also is a big plus. He should become more acclimated to the position, and his pre-draft workouts could be quite interesting.

I didn't think much of his ability to find balls downfield when he was playing WR, but that's something time can fix. Also, for a 6'4" dude his speed is likely a plus.

Hooray. Michigan passes a law that may be directly aimed at Michigan's notoriously horrible FOIA department:

…will not be allowed to charge more than 10 cents per page for copies of public records; they can face increased fines for delaying responses, and people seeking the records now can sue if they consider the fees to be exorbitant. …

Another change in the law requires governments to provide the records electronically instead of on paper if the requester seeks them in that format.

Damages have gone up significantly as well. This doesn't do anything about Michigan's retention policy being "we don't have one," unfortunately, but it's a step in the right direction.

Etc.: LeVert's injury looked harmless. Hockey podcasting with Mike Spath. Zach Hyman is tearing it up. On something meaning something. We're relevant enough to be an offseason theme. Playcalling duties are yet to be determined between Drevno and Harbaugh.

Comments

sadeto

January 19th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^

Boston College was the ACC team that voted against cost of attendance, they even released a statement explaining why they did so. 

_____

Edit: 

the school "is concerned with continuing to pass legislation that increases expenses when the vast majority of schools are already institutionally subsidized. The consequence of such legislation could ultimately hurt student-athletes if/when programs are cut. This legislation further segregates student-athletes from the general student population by increasing aid without need-based consideration. Legislation already exists for student-athletes in need through Pell grants and the student-assistance fund."

MH20

January 19th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^

Brian, can you change that Tomsula embed to a link?  It autoplays as soon as the page loads and is fronted by an ad for some horrible Lifetime show.

EDIT: No more autoplay!  Thanks!

BluByYou

January 19th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^

does a great Cliff Clavin.  In his press conference, he said "It takes a village" to have a successful football team.

Village idiot.  We are so lucky.

The Barwis Effect

January 19th, 2015 at 11:40 AM ^

Regarding next year's recruiting class, it looks as if some of the initial fears of Beilein's recruiting prowess are beginning to manifest themselves. Nobody is better at unearthing diamonds in the rough than Beilein, but his inability to land a stud is disconcerting given U-M's combination of recent successes, facilities upgrades, and academic standing.




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

dougbrown8

January 19th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^

Did a FOI request two years ago at Michigan. They said Dave Brandon and Mary Sue Coleman had neither sent nor received an email about Chris Webber or the Fab Five. Made the request not long after news about Chris Webber's book and disassociation issues.

In reply to by HAIL2VICTORZ

Rabbit21

January 19th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^

Hey if it highlights the previous staff's somewhat inexplicable recruiting decision(passing on Devin lucien, no QB in 2012, passing on Montae Nicholson, passing on Chuma Edoga, etc.) making even more I sat go for it!

Unsalted

January 19th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

FWIW - All of the Univerisity of Denver athletic teams are D-1. They have a limited number of sports, but are good at ice hockey, lacross, gymnastics and skiing. Colorado College on the other hand is all D-III with the exception of ice hockey and women's soccer, which are both D-1.

Neither school has football. DU dropped it decades ago, and CC dropped football in 2008.

gwkrlghl

January 19th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^

They play in the Summit League primarily, but the point stands. North Dakota can keep pace with the spending of the big schools. The smaller D1 schools that are powers (Miami, Maine, BU, etc) will be interesting to see. It might almost be beneficial to be the grandfathered clubs like a CC, Duluth, etc. because you can focus spending more on your premier sport

Mr. Basketball13

January 19th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^

With Caris being out that opens up around 38 minutes. I could see us burning DJs redshirt to give him experience and potentially a spark off of the bench. MAAR, Dawkins and Chatman will grab most of Caris's minutes but if we just are not getting it done we may need to turn to try DJ.

umumum

January 19th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^

if Wilson was an impact player, but he's not.  I like Wilson's upside, but  they aren't going to blow a redshirt for just another body.  Besides, Levert's absence is really about guard minutes.  As it stands, Walton, Albrecht and Rahkman will have to fill 80 minutes.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

January 19th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^

"Give them four years, as long as you can revoke it for any reason."

That doesn't make me think "He's going to be great in congress." That makes me think he's going to be great in Kansas, where citizens have a celebrated history of voting against their own interests.

/Thomas Frank'd

Yostbound and Down

January 19th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^

The way they vote on it now is stupid. Basically "who didn't get basically any penalty minutes" when it's a sportsmanship AND gentlemanly conduct award...you can still take a penalty and be a good player, as long as you're not going around Matt Cookeing people. If you don't take a penalty every once in a while thats more an indication you shy away from the tough stuff.

That Lidstrom never won the award is a travesty because in his whole tenure in the league, no defenseman was more skilled yet gentlemanly in how he played, and he was going up regularly in the corners against power forwards...never saw him throw a dirty elbow or slewfoot someone.

umumum

January 19th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^

God knows that Hoke was under-qualified to be Michigan's head coach, but to compare him to Tomsula is unfair.  At least Brady had been a head coach before.

LJ

January 19th, 2015 at 12:36 PM ^

I've never quite understood why players who are booted for disciplinary reasons, go on medical scholarship, or transfer should cease to count against the scholarship total.  If you bring in lots of questionable guys that are going to break laws and get kicked off the team, tough nuggets, that's the risk you take.  Medicals are less the coach's fault, but presumably that would affect all teams equally.

Why not just say, "you get to sign 22 guys a year, and that's it.  Those are your guys, and if they leave you don't get new ones to replace them."  Or whatever number per year is reasonable to field a team with some attrition.  It seems like that would incentivize coaches to keep everyone around that they possibly could.

Maybe that's what Brian meant by changing "from an overall cap to a yearly one"? 

mGrowOld

January 19th, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^

You think so?  I thought the only question that was evenly remotely "dickish" was the one where he asked him to refute rumor that he was actively trying to undermine Harbaugh while he was still there.  And all that did was give him a chance to publically refute it as nonsense.  I thought the balance of the interview was pretty damn softball but Tomsula is just either so nervous he couldnt talk or a complete and total dumbass so he couldnt answer the simplest of questions without looking like an idiot.

Or both.

AMazinBlue

January 19th, 2015 at 1:19 PM ^

recruiting advantage goes away and the playing field is evened.  This may be the most sensible thing the NCAA has done in 10 years.  The main reason the SEC has such an advantage is they only do 1-year schollies.  4-year schollies will take that advantage away.   Heck, Saban might retire in a couple years once he sees he can't dominate any more.

robbyt003

January 19th, 2015 at 2:18 PM ^

Isn't Teske in next years recruiting class as well?  You know, the big 6"10" Center ranked in the top 100 in recruiting.  

*edit*  nevermind, he is 2016/17.  Wow he committed at a young age.  

Don

January 19th, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^

info from wikipedia:

 

"Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Jed attended St. Charles Elementary School and Cardinal Mooney High School (Youngstown, Ohio). While in high school he was a baseball team captain and the senior class president. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame earning a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and History.



York began his working days as a financial analyst for Guggenheim Partners at their New York City offices but stayed for approximately a year. After quitting, his parents brought Jed (about 23- 24 years old) into their family owned team, the San Francisco 49ers, as the Director of Strategic Planning and later promoted their son to Vice President of Strategic Planning.



On December 28, 2008 Jed (age 28) was appointed by his father to become president of the 49ers. While Jed is the operating head of the franchise, his mother, Denise is the principal owner and both of his parents, as co-chairmen, are responsible for providing resources and maintain their role of interacting with other owners and NFL executives."



This is classic nepotism. A wealthy family can get lucky if the young heir has inherited the talent/brains of the person who created the family fortune in the beginning, but it's inevitable that sooner or later important titles will be given to family dolts. If it's royalty, the problems are compounded and amplified, and virtually any long-standing royal line is eventually filled with cretins, perverts, incompetents, dullards, and the generally weak-minded.

laxalum

January 19th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^

Since when does Denver have just one D1 sport?  Their two "major" sports (the ones they consider their big-time sports) are hockey and lacrosse.  In fact lacrosse is preseason #1 this season and has made the final four a couple of times in the past few years.  

markusr2007

January 19th, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^

should compare notes.  Seriously.  Tomsula is a Brady Hoke clone

Welp, At least Brandon didn't rebuild Michigan Stadium down in Monroe, MI and call it the new home stadium.

The 49ers are going down under Tomsula. That Levi's stadium is going to be filled with crickets the next 2 to 3 years.

Also, they should just change the name to the San Jose 49ers because come on:

 

 

 

 

michwolv4life

January 19th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^

This is the end of the collge sports. You cannot motivate someone if they have nothing to play for. Those rare exceptions of that kid who just plays cause he loves the game or has a lot of personal pride will show up but not all. You're going to have kids that are just good enough for a major scholarship and then quit working. 

El Jeffe

January 19th, 2015 at 4:28 PM ^

I'm just hoping it's the end of a-holes like Nick Saban and Les Miles who yoink scholarships away from players with almost no warning, leaving them with the choice of either paying for an education and not playing, transferring and losing a year of eligibility, or playing right away at an FCS school. That shit has to end.

And frankly, I think that playing time is what motivates these kids, not the possibility that their scholarship will be yoinked.