Barb McQuade tweets on the TRO

I feel the same way, but it would also be rational to say, "Hey, we're probably going to lose in court on Friday, and what matters most is that every waking minute of Coach Harbaugh's time be dedicated in the most efficient manner possible to beating Maryland and OSU."  

She said it perfectly - the lawsuit was about the lack of due process not about the underlying facts. Nothing we could've said would've done anything as far as the allegations. It would've been 1) Big Ten violated bylaws; and 2) we've suffered irreparable harm. The underlying conduct wasn't at issue and doubt the judge would've let much in edgewise.

MGrow, I think there's a #3 possibility.  That would be that someone-Harbaugh, the Regents, whoever-wanted absolute certainty that this team would be able to play in the Big Ten Championship Game and also the CFP.  If they kept pushing and Pettiti got angry about it, there was a non-zero chance he could ban them from one or both of these things.  Whether he had the right to is another question-but then we're back in court, on a strict timetable.  

I wanted us to blaze away and take our best shot as well-but all that satisfaction would have turned to ashes if OSU was the end of our season.  I hate it, but I'm not wasting any more energy thinking about it.  Beat Maryland, Beat OSU, then on to Indy with Coach Harbaugh taking us the rest of the way.

I think the other option is that they just thought they were going to lose.  Or would not win in a timeframe that would have mattered.  If it's about due process they could still bring some sort of litigation down the road and seek some monetary damages from the conference.  And I hope they do!  But a TRO is first temporary.  And if a TRO was granted, you still have to have a full hearing.  So UM gets a TRO, Harbaugh gets to coach Maryland and OSU, then UM loses at the full hearing?  Then Harbaugh has to sit the conference champ game (if they beat OSU) and a playoff game?  Maybe they just decided to get it overwith and if they come out the OSU game with a win, then this is over and UM is in a better place.  But yeah, I hope this isn't the end with the due process thing.  They can still persue other litigation concerning that later.

Absolute only conclusion you can draw from it. If its either of those the biggest questions it raises is will Harbaugh stay because of that? There is a lot of things even the insiders don't know is my summation of entire thing. 

One thing I've been thinking about is how the narrative now includes the regents stepping in. Whether true or not, it made me think of a bigger picture: the university of Michigan operates with an $18 BILLION dollar endowment. That is an enormous economy. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some cold-ass calculation about how a major media lawsuit would affect that, even 1% is $180 million dollars. 

or 3... people like her were advising decision-makers at UM who decided to make a level-headed call that will be viewed in a much better light when we are free-and-clear and playing for a national championship.

Losing the TRO is not irrelevant.  Our predicament would end in the same situation, and we would NOT be free-and-clear of the BIG.  I'm guessing this action will also help when the NCAA decides on punishments.

The TRO hearing was not going to be our soapbox. The lawyers would have argued about the legal requirements for a TRO and most of it would have been legal gibberish to a lay audience. And we were likely to lose. If we had gone through with it, all the public would have seen was us making technical legal arguments and getting shot down by alum judge who played on the football team. That is not how you win a war of public opinion. If the reports about the Big Ten agreeing to close its own investigation with no more penalties are accurate, then this was the right call.

Yeah I mean I think the fact that a staff member of the school did indeed violate NCAA rules is getting lost in the weeds of the whole fighting for due process thing.

It is entirely possible that there is more bad stuff out there, that other coaches knew, and that the eventual NCAA penalty is something more than the slap on the wrist we've all been assuming it will be. At the end of the day, the university wasting resources to win a PR battle is silly when we've already lost in the court of public opinion and likely would've lost in court too. It doesn't actually make us look smart or tough, it makes us look worse

She's right, and that's why neither of your "two things" needs to be true.  This was a good deal under very bad circumstances (I'm referring to Petitti's vendetta, not anything in the underlying facts). 

Or, as these tweets point out, we did not have as strong of a legal case as we all thought.

I recently had a scam contractor charge us double of what was quoted for a bathroom remodel, he took 4 times as long as he estimated and did some shotty finishigs. We had all of his work hours documented (1-3 hours a day), expenses documented, receipts, the official quote that we never signed to make it binding (half of the final invoice), documented all the inconveniences this guy caused our family, I mean my wife and I had this guy dead to rights. We refused to pay, tried to negotiate out of court to no avail, he placed a lien on our property so I said "BET!". Called up a lawyer and they said that my wife and I definitely had a case and would probably win but consider lawyer fees, time in court, time getting documents in order, the possibility of losing on a technicality and being out more money, ruining our summer plans to be in court, ect. ect...

After one week of saying "BET", I'm going to battle with this guy, my cooler head prevailed. We took our hit, learned our lesson, and enjoyed our summer stress free with a B+ new bathroom.

That's my analogy, albeit a crappy one. I bet the regents looked at this fiscally, or cooler heads prevailed after the competitive juices wore off.

I've kind of come around. Particularly if we can beat OSU without Harbaugh, the TRO might have been a pyrrhic victory.  We might have gotten this punishment lifted as lacking due process only to get a much worse one next year once the B1G got all its ducks in a row.

I don't like it, but if that's the case, I don't want to harm the team's long term prospects just to make a point.

I have to believe the team and university wanted to change the narrative and make it about the players, not defending the BIGs lack of due process. 
 

maybe this wasn’t a consideration at all but some times you have to move forward and not dwell on the past. Michigan wins the BIG, the outside noise is turned down, and the spotlight is on the players, as it should be. 
 

Go Blue- win the game ! 

MGrowOld, there is more bad stuff.

This is coming from a VERY connected major donor (someone who has personal relationships at all levels of the football and basketball teams...and the entire AD) to the athletic department.  (not me, a friend of mine)

EDIT:  Well, based on the Partridge news, looks like my source was accurate.  

It could mean that the Board of Regents simply don't want UM (or any employee) going to court over, in the end, football. UM does still have their educational institution reputation to protect (it can be argued whether this does that, or not). I think the proof will still be in a contract offer, or lack thereof. Perhaps they came to a deal that everything would be dropped in return for a contract to be signed in the next couple weeks (November 24?). I think, Harbaugh himself, would rather not drag the team (which they will be, in essence) through the court. If he knows he's coming out the other end, he's always been willing to take the slings and arrows coming UM's way. The chances seem pretty low that the Board would simply tell their President, AD, and celebrated and excoriated head coach to just go pound sand after taking it this far. It makes far more sense that they've been doing an internal investigation over the last week to make sure those who are clean, stay and working out the final details of the contract, with an out for any future NCAA action. I am fairly certain that the Board understand this was about the rest of the conference coming after their head coach. They just didn't want their defense to be played out in court (public). . 

Michigan's real problem is the newly discovered cracks in its relationship with the B1G, not Harbaugh's absurd suspension. 

Spot on. We need to leave the Big Ten last week.