The good news of the day....MAAR signs LOI

But a candle in a black hole during a solar eclipse. 

know he has that much confidence in himself.  Hopefully another Bielien diamond in the rough.

We've won more B1G games than anybody over the last three seasons and over the last two no team in the country has won more NCAA tourney games (only Louisville has as many, with 8 wins).

We're there.  Now we're just trying to stay put, and getting MAAR (and Dawkins/Huff) to round out the bench looks like it will help us do that.

On 17 November 2006, Michigan was 11-0 on the eve of the game with 11-0 Ohio State, the teams being ranked #2 & #1 respectively.  Also on that day, Bo schembechler died.  Despite having a perfect "win one for Bo" emotional back-drop, the Wolverines couldn't cash in, losing 41-38 in a classic.  The game was so thrilling, there was talk of a rematch in the NC game, but the BCS chose to pit 11-1 SEC Champion Florida instead of 11-1 B1G runner-up Michigan against OSU.  Michigan went to the Rose Bowl (BTW, the last time Michigan has been to the Rose Bowl, as a "consolation prize" for not making the NC game).  Both Michigan and OSU laid big, fat eggs before national audiences, USC torching Michigan 32-18 (and it wasn't even as close as the lop-sided score suggested), and Florida running the Buckeyes of the field 41-14.  The era of the ESS-EEE-SEE idolatry commenced, and believe it or not, this would be the head and shoulders best football season Michigan would experience for the next eight years (and counting).

In the fall of 2007, "the Horror" (the Appalachia State upset, which set off rejoicing in every Midwestern community outside of Ann Arbor) followed by a substantially lack-luster loss to Oregon, at home, started off the season.  Lloyd Carr announced his retirement at the end of the season.  Although the rest of the season went pretty well, Michigan lost to OSU, again (as Brent Mushmouth loved to point out, that meant in the last five seasons, Lloyd was 0-5 against Ohio State and 0-4 in Bowl games).  The Wolverines did score a very satisfying win over the Urban Meyer/Tim Tebow led Florida team (slumming with Michigan in between two National Championship seasons) to send Carr off with ONE FLIPPIN' WIN in the last 10 tries against OSU or in a Bowl game.  Believe it or not, that was arguably the best win in football Michigan would have for the next 7 years (and counting).

The next three seasons, Rich Rodriguez happened.  I won't delve into the details, let me just summarize with this thought.  RichRod was a highly regarded coach who had done great things with West Virginia.  However, at Michigan he was epically, inexeplicably awful at everything.  Michigan had losing records and failed to go to a Bowl game two out of three of his seasons, and he was the only coach in Michigan football history who coached for more than one season and had a career losing record.  Also, he landed Michigan football on probation with the NCAA for the only time in its history, and attrition of his players was so bad that in his last season, Michigan was also on probation for a low graduation rate.  Oh yeah, 0-3 vs Michigan State, 0-3 vs. Ohio State, and 0-1 in Bowl games (and an unsightly butt-kicking at the hands of that SEC juggernaugh, Mississippi State).

Meanwhile, the basketball team was a dumpster fire, going on ten seasons of futility after the payola scandal involving the Fab Five and the only two teams following them who showed any sign of a pulse.

Why do we fans feel so betrayed by the regression shown under Brady Hoke?  Because his first season was such a tonic to all the trauma that had gone before.  For the first time in literally over a decade, Michigan beat OSU and won a Bowl game to end the season.  (And for only the second time in over a decade, Michigan won a Bowl game at all).  His second season wasn't as good, but we were OK with that because at least we were competitive (2-2 in games vs. MSU and OSU), and big gets in recruiting suggested better times were coming.

Meanwhile in basketball, we had the improbably fun run to the NC game.  Following this, we lost 3 of the starting 5 players (two to early entry to the NBA, one to back injury), and after the next season we lost the other 2 to early entry to the NBA (and the dude who was injured for the whole season.  Even worse, the NCAA forced him out for a trangression that to our biased eyes seems far less serious than the actual payment of benefits to Ohio State and Miami players, who did not get even half as long of a suspension), and the inexplicable transfer of a fifth-year senior big man who was in line for large chunks of playing time under any forseeable circumstances.

Then (CURSE YOU RED BARRON!) the second half of 2013 happened.  Embarassed by OSU, MSU and in the Bowl game; other embarassing lossing to inferior teams.  Epic number of defections of committed players, or players who were thought to be all but committed, to SEC schools, who we suspected of offering major payola to these defecting players, but they have never been caught (and we suspect would draw Miami level punishment if they were).

If everyone on this site is freaking out, it's because we have POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER FROM THE LAST FLIPPIN' DECADE!  A simple year of slightly below average luck would feel like paradise to us.  Regression to the mean is the biggest friend we have going forward.