CC: Sam and Ira Saying "Balance" Could Keep UM From Landing Harbaugh
So Sam and Ira were discussing ad nauseam Schlissel's comments abount the "Evolution" and "balancing Academics and Athletics" and what that means for UM Football. Being as connected to UM as Sam is, is there reason to believe that the "balance" will keep UM from paying a football coach like Harbaugh "Saban-like" money to come here? Is Sam saying-without-actually-saying that Harbaugh won't happen?
Other things said by Sam and Ira (paraphrased):
- Bringing a big-money coach doesn't show that you are balancing academics and athletics.
- We can succeed with coaches that won't cost as much.
- AD choice may take a year or two.
- Nuss could be interim coach, or if Hoke wins-out he stays.
- We could go after a Pat Fitzgerald-type coach for less pay and he will balance academics with football.
- Maybe UM is no longer interested in being a top-notch football school that annually competes for the B1G.
I personally think that a school like UM can pay a coach a lot of money and still be regarded as a top-notch university. Why not show balance by being the best at both?
Thoughts?
November 3rd, 2014 at 3:43 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 3:33 PM ^
When I say fuck Sam & Ira ...thats to the point of them saying we wont get Harbaugh.
No offense if they are good Mich peeps. Just got me a little wound. Want Harbaugh alot right now ...
November 3rd, 2014 at 3:33 PM ^
Why would it take a year or two to hire an AD?? That's ridiculous. That can't be right.
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 7:03 PM ^
In response to your post yesterday - no, Brady was never a reserve. Started 25 out of 25 games those two years.
November 3rd, 2014 at 3:39 PM ^
If it takes a year or two to hire an AD then there is no hope for Michigan.
November 3rd, 2014 at 3:45 PM ^
is neglible compared to the university's endowment, and i don't even think the money comes from the same place, so that argument seems moot.
also, if we want alumni to keep giving money back to the school, then we better keep riding the football gravy train, or else donations will definitely take a hit.
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:33 PM ^
...the only way Sam's take makes sense is if Schlissel believes the emphasis on sports is an affront to academics in some symbolic way.
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^
You could read exactly the opposite conclusion into Schlissel's remarks. He mentioned that "excellence" is the standard for athletics program, and noted that football brings together members of the Michigan community. You could reasonably conclude that Michigan will commit the resources to ensure they find the best available coaching candidate.
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^
By all means we should go all in on Harbaugh, but if he doesn't come here we shouldn't all jump off a building. But we really do need to hire a good coach with an excellent track record. I would be only slightly less happy with Patterson (another hard get), Miles (if only for the press conferences), Mullen, etc. or even a guy like Craig Bohl (although this board would melt down and the more muggly muggles would consume themselves as he isn't a "name").
November 3rd, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
+1 for muggly muggles
November 3rd, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
If we do get Jim Harbaugh, I've thought about running down my street wearing my 'M' flag as a cape, while screaming the fight song. This has actually gone through my mind.
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:32 PM ^
well maybe im just stupid, but who the hell are sam and ira?
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
Radio guys I liked until today...geez.
November 3rd, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^
oh ok. im an out of state fan. lol
i thought it had something to do with the J Ira, Nicki Harris people who sponsor the Head Coaching title.
i thought they were giving their input as if they were calling the shots lol
November 3rd, 2014 at 7:56 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
I'm not sure what he meant by "balance" but let's hope he didn't mean minimizing the importance of football at the university, a la Northwestern, and by this I mean accepting a lower standard of performance. They love football at Northwestern but not enough to overthrow an athletic director. Let's hope his thinking is coming from watching Jim Harbaugh talk about Stanford's academic excellence among football players. Let's hope he wants to emulate that by bringing in the man himself.
November 3rd, 2014 at 8:32 PM ^
I'm a little surprised to hear this coming from you. I didn't get that sense from anything Dr. Schlissel has said. He did say "excellence" was Michigan's expectation in all things, academic and athletic, and my vote is to take him at his word until we see some evidence to the contrary. So far, I have seen none.
November 3rd, 2014 at 10:49 PM ^
I'll definitely hop on the optimism train with you. I don't doubt him - I just want our version of Urban Meyer. I want the next coach to come in and win every game. And if he can't win every game, I want him to be pissed about it. (Translation: I want Jim Harbaugh)
November 3rd, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
here is his Job Description
http://www.lostlettermen.com/article/michigan-football-athletic-directo…
JUST DO IT!
YOU CAN DO IT!
November 3rd, 2014 at 5:25 PM ^
"Maybe UM is no longer interested in being a top-notch football school that annually competes for the B1G." Yikes, that is a scary thought. We've been a mediocre football team for some time now and the dam is starting to break. A few more tweener seasons and there will be a ton of empty seats in the Big House. Michigan fans have high expectations and that's not changing anytime soon. I just can't ever see Michigan being Northwestern from a football perspective.
November 3rd, 2014 at 6:15 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 6:20 PM ^
they just trrying to get phone calls. this is not going to happen. that would just piss off the fans even more . if they didnt even ask jim if he wants.to coach. here. like i said before if its not one of THE HARBAUGHS OR MILES OR GRUDEN. then the next guy will have one foot out of the door on day one and be gone in 3 or 4 years. fans will not want anybody elce they know this is true so there just trying to get phone callers by getting people mad.
November 3rd, 2014 at 6:29 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
We just bet, what, $226,000,000 (two hundred twenty-six millioin dollars) on the big houes expansion, but now we're not going to put out the best product we can? Puh-leeze.
Huge, wealthy fanbase/alumni network, that mortgage, the infrastructure is already in place, the athletic program is self funded, on and on and on. De-emphasize football and you kill the whole program. He may have said 'balance' but he also said strive for excellence. This thread is so much ado about so much nothig.
November 3rd, 2014 at 7:49 PM ^
Some of these comments about runnng Schlissel out over athletics are...well frightening. Did anyone here come to play school? If he's doing a great job otherwise and he feels that big time sports have become too large such that they are overshadowing the larger mission of the University and need to be de-emphasized...well I can't say I disagree with him.
November 3rd, 2014 at 8:06 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 8:29 PM ^
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November 3rd, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^
These are what Pres. Schlissel pledges to ensure. So, what does he mean? Well . . . as Coach Hoke would say, he's a medical doctor and academic researcher coming from Johns Hopkins and Brown. So, he won't equate excellence with winning. (The man has given his all to save a life and lost.)
November 3rd, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^
This thread got all kinds of crazy y'all......
November 3rd, 2014 at 9:57 PM ^
November 3rd, 2014 at 11:36 PM ^
If he mentioned this in a couple sentences it would make sense, but he spent an entire show on it. Went through around three segments just laying out his argument and it definitely sounded like he put work into how he was going to deliver his points for this idea. Was prepared for the counter arguments that he received from people calling in. It just seemed strange that he would put that much prep work into an argument based on couple of phrases in a press conference.
I don't know. I think that he either knows something that we don't about this or he is pushing an agenda from a source inside the university.
November 3rd, 2014 at 11:59 PM ^
I don't spend hours on my laptop in St. Louis to follow the school's academic recruiting. No, I didn't attend UM for either my undergrad or my law degree and i havn't lived in Mich for over 20 years--so some of you can ignore my opinion as "unworthy". Still, i hang my UM flag on gameday, argue with my Missouri SEC friends to the bitter end, and hang onto every ounce of positive news i can find (extremely hard to do these days) on any of my several UM blogs/sites. This i would not do for an Ivy League level football program. Oh and my family does make a yearly trek to AA for a weekend of taligating, Big House attending, and fine dining in A2...that will not continue if we choose to be Yale...and i'm probably not the only distant fan who would react this way.
November 10th, 2014 at 3:38 AM ^
if the price is right. But he will want to be one of the top 5 highest paid coaches. $8-$10 M per year would do it, an investment that will pay for itself after the first season!