I was one of several Michigan alumni who had the opportunity to speak with Coach Beilein and Senior Associate Athletic Director Joe Parker before the Michigan v. UCONN game in Storrs on Saturday. The alumni association tried very hard to make the experience enjoyable for alumni on the East Coast. We basically took over the only hotel on campus and owned the hotel bar for pre and post game activities. The hotel gave Michigan a conference room to gather, and treated us fairly well. I got there very early and got to meet the coach in the lobby at around noon. I was fairly psyched. Here are a few items which came up, (some in the forum - some in the Bar) and general impressions: • Parker, got hit with many tough questions and was honestly a class-act in his answers - both in the hotel forum and in the bar. • Parker was asked about the scheduling of Delaware State and was fairly frank in his answer, stating that each home game is 4 million in revenue and DSU only needed to be paid aprox. $300,000 to come to the big house. One alumni kept hitting him on this issue, (props) but Parker intimated that in the BCS era Michigan was not looking to schedule a 1-and-1 with someone who had a small stadium, and that he felt Notre dame was a quality non conference opponent. • Parker noted two future football plans. A plan “in the works” to get an east coast game at a large neutral site run by Michigan in the next five years, which would generate revenue similar to a home game, and a current initiative by the big ten to explore adding an additional big ten game. • The president of the Mass area alumni chapter spilled a drink on Parker as Beline entered the room. • Beilein noted that Michigan did not have much time to prepare for UCONN because he gave the team Friday off, which led to only one practice coming in. • Beilein would not comment on recruiting. • In response to a fan question, Beilein discussed players going pro and how he handles the situation. His response was rather rehearsed, except he noted that he discourages players from “testing the water” stating that his advice is to make the decision to leave and stay with it. • I think Beilein is good coach. That said, Beilein was not overly optimistic before the game, and while I thought he was well spoken, I left the conference room wishing he had not said his goal was to prevent it “getting out of hand early.” • The alumni made an attempt to do a victors walk to the bus for the players, but the players came down the elevator in groups of three and, it was not very successful. • I expected more from the UCONN student section given they have the #1 Team. The MAIZE RAGE is far more spirited