Original Focus of NCAA Investigation
Doug Karsch on 97.1 who is close to the UM Athletic Dept. said on air that when the NCAA originally came in to look at the football program, they weren't first looking at practice-gate issues, but instead they were questioning recruiting and recruiting practices. Obviously there was no smoke or fire there, but is that the norm for the NCAA? To go in and look at a possible worst case scenario as well as the original intent?
Karsch made it sound like the NCAA was looking there because of RR's history. Not sure what that even means.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^
It's 97.1 who gives a shit
November 5th, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^
Not what I asked, but thanks.
November 5th, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
I have not listened to the ticket for long but I'm already extremely annoyed by those assholes.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
If there is one person at 97.1 in Detroit whose opinion regarding Michigan Athletics you should listen to it is Doug Karsch. He worked at WTKA for a number of years, is the sideline reporter for Michigan radio broadcasts and is the host of the Insider Michigan TV program which highlights the entire athletic department. He is on our side.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
It means that Rich does a good job of keeping the snake oil hidden under the floorboards.
If they are going to investigate coaches based on recruiting practices and history, the entire SEC, USC & Ohio St would all be shut down.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
November 5th, 2010 at 12:46 PM ^
Maybe even the NCAA thought the whole "extra practice" thing was too minor to waste time and money on, felt compelled because of the story, and tried to find something worthwhile as long as they were there. I don't even know why they would suspect RR is snake oiling guys illegally. It's not like we're pulling in random 5 stars with shady connections like Seantrel Henderson or Bryce Brown.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:50 PM ^
The NCAA isnt like a search warrant that only covers certain things. When they investigate you, whatever they find, they'll use against you. Think back to the Illini/Iowa hoops situation with Jimmy Collins and Bruce Pearl. The NCAA investigated a charge of Illinois giving Marcu Liberty a car or something. They found no evidence of that, but foind other stuff and BOOM punishment. That said, I doubt their focus was recruiting, but had they uncovered something they wouldnt have hestitated to lower any boom
November 5th, 2010 at 1:08 PM ^
but this sounds like uninformed, message-board horsecrap that is designed to do nothing other than smear RR now that he's largely been exonerated by the NCAA. The notion that the NCAA would spend a lot of time sniffing around on recruiting when they had a huge laundry list of stuff to get through that comprised the official charges is laughable to me.
I repeat: this is designed specifically to smear RR now that the NCAA has essentially cleared him of the all the serious charges that the Freep initially brought.
I would love to know who Karsch's "source" is for this.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
It would be in Doug Karsch's best interest to not be the figure-head of an RR smear campaign given that he is the sideline reporter for Michigan games and also on the Inside Michigan Football show. Seems to me if he was found to be doing something like that it would be reason to relieve him of those duties. I doubt he would want that.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
I think he is implying that the smear campaign is being done by Karsch's source, not Karsch himself
November 5th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
I get it now...I blame it on a long week and food coma from lunch not letting me think straight.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:19 PM ^
True. However, I'm extremely surprised that Karsch would go on-air with this, especially considering his duties with Michigan radio. I've been familiar with him since his days back at WTKA ten years ago or so, and he's always been very sensible while not hiding his love for Michigan.
The problem with what he apparently said was that
A) it gives new life to the meme that has been pushed in the media since before RR even coached one game here that he's a "bad guy" but does it without any EVIDENCE whatsoever.
B) It puts Karsch's part-time employer, the University of Michigan, in the position of either ignoring the report, thereby giving it time to grow and feed on itself on the internet and other talk radio outlets, or having to respond immediately and forcefully.
C) If David Brandon does not respond in any way, then it will inevitably give legitimacy to the rumor that the NCAA was investigating recruiting, and since it was allegedly an "unofficial" investigation, the NCAA won't be issuing a report clearing RR's name of any recruiting wrongdoing, which in turn will help the rumor to spread. Karsch is a fool if he doesn't think this rumor will take on a big life of its own; anybody with a brain understands the pernicious effect that the internet and smartphones have on rumor-mongering.
If I were Brandon, I would do one of two things, but do them immediately:
1) Assuming it's all bullshit, immediately issue a press release denouncing Karsch's "report" as having absolutely no substance in fact, and immediately relieve Karsch from any and all duties involving the Michigan football program, permanently.
2) If in fact the rumors are true, immediately issue a press release confirming that the NCAA went on a self-directed wild goose chase that utterly failed to find out anything untoward about any recruiting under RR at Michigan, and immediately relieve Karsch from any and all duties involving the Michigan football program, pending a future review.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
I don't know about the original focus of the investigation by NCAA. But I know the orginal focus of the investigation by Michael Rosenberg was to see if he could get Rich Rod fired.
I have my sources, just like Karsch.
November 5th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^
that the source phone call was traced back to LC's BlackBerry
November 5th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^
He said that once the NCAA is in the door, they can look at anything. They spent a lot of time looking at recruiting, particularly at the time RR took the job, and came up with nothing. I took his point to be that the NCAA thouroughly examined the Michigan football program and came up with less than the original allegations, despite the fact that the NCAA looked into everything else.