Engin77

November 4th, 2009 at 11:53 AM ^

I was sure he was going to be a star in Maize and Blue; but he went Blue and White, instead. Henne/Manningham got the better of him in 2005; but he led a resurgence of PSU recruiting which carried them to rhe Rose Bowl last year and continues with their current class.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 5791

mbivens

November 4th, 2009 at 11:58 AM ^

I can remember being really excited because Matt Guttierez (sp?) was slated to start after Navarre left. I couldn't believe my eyes but it appeared that he was capable of at least jogging at a crisp pace, which was strange to me at the time but I wanted to know more. Insert shoulder injury and freshman Chad Henne....so I guess that turned out ok eventually, but I love talking about theh way things used to be now. Lets do this the rest of the day.

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 13

mbivens

November 4th, 2009 at 12:04 PM ^

I remember this one time, when we got off to a terrible start, and then we got defending national champion Florida with their heisman winner jim nemo in the capital one bowl, and then Lloyd let Chad henne do whatever he wanted for the whole game, and then we won, and then that was one of the happiest days ever, and then everything turned out ok

Joined: 09/06/2008

MGoPoints: 13

Tater

November 4th, 2009 at 12:24 PM ^

..but your comment reminds me of the rather sad story of Antoine Joubert. He had the sweetest shot I have ever seen but it was from two steps over center-court. Bill Frieder tried to make him play "the right way" and ruined him. In his final home game against Purdue, Frieder apparently gave him the green light. He dumped in over forty, which is about how much they won by, most of them from his "sweet spot." I was happy for Joubert but wanted to throw things at the TV thinking about how Frieder had ruined his career and probably cost UM a lot of games with his mismanagement of personnel. As someone who watched Joubert play about seven times in HS, most of them playoff games, and never saw him score below 40, I am still pissed off at Frieder whenever I think about Joubert.

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584

MGoObes

November 4th, 2009 at 1:02 PM ^

i tend to dislike about some coaches. they can take the most talented player and just stifle them. for example, michael jordan at UNC. the guy could've averaged 40 pts a game for them but dean smith wouldn't run his offense through him. so many more games they could've won. and it costs everyone on the team when the coach does that

Joined: 07/05/2008

MGoPoints: 1122

blueheron

November 4th, 2009 at 1:06 PM ^

I'm basing my opinion entirely on second-hand information, since I never saw him play, but... * Could be that he was just a man among boys in the PSL (a la Kevin Grady at EGR)? In pictures he appears to be a shade under 6'4" (shy of his listed 6'5") and not particularly cut (for what that's worth). * His post-UM career was spent entirely overseas. I'd think that any NBA-level ability would eventually surface even if the UM environment was dysfunctional or poorly matched to his game. * I don't associate Frieder with "the right way." Rather, he appears to be the start of a long run of coaches who threw the guys out there and let them play (with all the ups and downs that involves). Old-timers have told me that they haven't seen a coach as disciplined as Beilein since Johnny Orr.

Joined: 03/26/2009

MGoPoints: 30844

fatbastard

November 4th, 2009 at 1:32 PM ^

to Beilein is appropriate. As far Antoine goes, the guy was slow and something of a head case, and may have had some other issues not mentioned above. He would have been a decent small forward, but was too short. There's a reason, or two, he played in Mexico for years.

Joined: 01/03/2009

MGoPoints: 792

Robbie Moore

November 4th, 2009 at 7:39 PM ^

That was my era. He was a polarizing figure. There were tons of "Fire Orr" signs and banners all over campus. I thought he was OK but that's about all. He had a few good teams and one great one but decamped for Iowa State (hunh?) leaving the cupboard bare. Beilein is the best basketball coach I've seen at Michigan.

Joined: 12/01/2008

MGoPoints: 46060

HermosaBlue

November 4th, 2009 at 2:53 PM ^

Maybe Frieder was just too distracted by Roy Tarpley's coke-fueled slap fights with Gary Grant to clamp down on Joubert that day, or maybe Joubert had incriminating pix of Frieder getting busy in The Judge's purple Cadillac. I loved M basketball in the mid-80s (last Big Ten titles for UM were in 1985 and 1986), but Frieder wasn't running a squeaky clean operation, to say the least.

Joined: 08/05/2008

MGoPoints: 5679

MWW6T7

November 4th, 2009 at 12:20 PM ^

I remember when we didn't have to relflect on good times because at that time everything was good. Now I must leave again and project my thoughts back to the future where all is good once more.

Joined: 09/15/2009

MGoPoints: 1671

SFBlue

November 4th, 2009 at 3:17 PM ^

We'll probably never know the truth about the circumstances surrounding the Les Miles (non?)offer, and Carr's role (if any) in how things transpired, but bad blood between Miles and Carr got worse over Jai Eugene. It may be that things would have never worked out with Les Miles anyway, and that we are better off with Rodriguez in the long run anyway. But then again, maybe not. Jai Eugene will always have a place in the Michigan football anxiety closet.

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 15699

Wahlberg

November 5th, 2009 at 2:13 PM ^

No he's talking about the supposed negative recruiting Les did with Jai. It was rumored that Les was saying that Lloyd might not be around for too much longer b/c of health issues (parkinsons). The Bo issue was that after Jai's decision Bo called Les and chewed him out. Bo said "Damnit Les, that's not how it's done!" and hung up on him. In regards to Jai's kid, his son was already 2 years old when he choose LSU. I recall his "stated" reasoning for choosing LSU was that his son had a birthday party the weekend before signing day and he just couldn't imagine being that far away from him. Whether it was being away from his son or Les' recruiting tactics, I'm not sure. Maybe it was a little of both? Source for the age of the kid: http://michigan.scout.com/2/486455.html

Joined: 08/08/2009

MGoPoints: 216

M-Wolverine

November 5th, 2009 at 2:18 PM ^

Well, beyond Walberg's post, the link you have has as many payoff posts as kid threads. Yes, the kid was a touchy-feely last minute story. And as I tried to make very obvious by putting it in my subject line, I don't know that Les Miles encouraged, told someone to, or pulled any money out of his pocket. I would tend to doubt it. I wasn't accusing Les of anything. (Though as in the Fab Five era, the coach knows if it's going on, even if he's not encouraging it, he's tacitly endorsing it). But I know enough in the recruitment of the kid (and the way they keep kids in LA)...there was some dough involved.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 42190