Requested Stories From Hello: Runyan Jr Thread *Length Warning*

Please forgive if this is not ok but many requested I tell details within the Board "Hello: Runyan Jr" thread. Here are a few with detail of how I heard them. Forgive length, any errors in grammar and decency. MODS, if not ok, please delete or move. I said I wouldn't write it yesterday because it was too much to type by phone so any posters with issues of length may want to just skip. Enjoy?

 

 I'm a big fan of context so expect detail in how I heard these. The story starts at an old job about 5 years ago when we had a new woman join the company. She was roughly upper-30's but looked younger, kind of petite, caucasian and had dirty blonde hair. For the first few days she just sat at her desk not really saying anything to anyone but basic introductions to those she was around. I did not work near her so I never had a chance to meet her but that would soon change and start these stories.

  One day I'm going lunch with a few guys who did work near her and they happened to also know how big of a UM Football fan I was. So, as we are walking out they mention that "the new girl" claimed she was nice, very open, from Florida and moved up to the North (Ann Arbor) when her boyfriend moved up from Florida to play football for Michigan. The other guys were not insane Michigan fans like myself so when I asked who the boyfriend was they claimed to not remember the name but that she claimed it was in the 90's and "you probably wouldn't know him as he didn't play much". The job had areas of casual and non-casual dress but in both there would be a few people a day that worse some UM gear, be it a tie or shirt or button, etc. This made me immediately think she was just trying to make friends or the like by claiming she had connection to UM Football and was lying. Yet, being a psycho fan at the time I start to rattle off names and they laughingly repeat that even if I said the name they didn't recognize it then or would now. So, my interest was peaked to say the least. (let it be known that I used to be an INSANE fan. Not so much now but for a few years....THOSE YEARS.....I cared WAY too much about recruiting, etc)

  Well, a day or two goes by and we end up working near each other in the main office and we introduce ourselves. She was nice, modest and generally what everyone said but I refused to bring up the Michigan talk at that point out of general respect and wanting to feel her general personality out. I fully came away with the notion that she was an honest and decent person. Another day or two goes by and I know her a bit more and we end up taking lunch together and with others. I finally ask her if I can ask a personal question as we developed a slight but quick rapport by then. She laughingly replies that I could and I mention to her what my co-workers mentioned to me about her having a BF that played for Michigan. I mention that I am a HUGE Michigan fan and was just curious as to who it was, etc. I told her she didn't have to answer if she didn't want to but she was more than happy to oblige. I genuinely expected her to skate the topic now that she is talking to a self professed "Michigan fantic" but she doesn't. She very quickly and happily tells her story.

  She goes on to say that she was born and raised in Florida with her (at the time BF) who was recruited to play "lineman" for Michigan. She expects me to not know who the player was given my age (I Was about 26-27 at the time) but she was wrong. When she said the BF was Noah Parker I immediately remembered him and said as much. She laughed and kind of questioned me as she went on to say that he barely ever played (lol) but I assured her that I distinctly remember him even though I was a kid and recalled a starter getting hurt in mop-up duty and he getting time in a few games. In fact, the games I mentioned convinced her that I knew who he was as she was there for them. Given his limited play she obviously remembered when he did so now she is kind of happy that I knew who the BF was. She was now even more than happy to recall what she claimed were some of the best and worst times of her life while admitting that she knows next to nothing about football. Here are some stories of players, coaches, etc. (All names brought up by her without me mentioning or leading to them when asked who she knew)

1. Les Miles

  During our conversation I am becoming happily amused by the fact that she wasn't bullshitting me. So, I ask her how everything happened in general and she automatically responds with the recruiting process first. I had thought Les was gone by then but she mentions that the first time she even heard of "The Michigan Wolverines" was when she first met "the guy that contacted my BF from Michigan the first time". Again, assuming Les was already gone by then (93-ish) I not only didn't expect her to know the name of the coach but it be Les Miles. So, I just haphazardly ask if she recalled who the recruiter was and she said there were two but mainly a man named "Coach Miles" and she also said this as if I wouldn't know who he was and that she had ZERO idea that he had not only left Michigan but was now considered a top coach in CFB. So, when she mentions his name I almost shit a brick and chuckle while asking "Les Miles?". She replies "Yeah, does he still coach there?" and I tell her that he doesn't when she immediately says "I'm going to guess he was fired or something, huh?". Now, I'm extremely curious and generally giddy to hear why she obviously does not like the man. I tell her I will fill her in on "Coach Miles" but I HAVE TO hear what he was like during the time he recruited her BF. She tells me this story:

  Of the two coaches that recruited her BF, Miles was the main guy. He was the one who contacted the BF the most and came down to Florida the most so he must have been assigned to Noah. She claimed that Noah really liked Miles but she found him to be VERY creepy and not very good at keeping personal boundaries. She tells me that she found it strange that when Noah was not available Miles would literally take her out to eat and they would always go to a Subway like restaurant. Basically, I gathered that Miles was recruiting HER to recruit him as she stated she really didn't want to move away from Florida. When I asked she claims that Miles ALWAYS paid for the meal (violation?) and added that he was very personal in a creepy way. Supposedly, during the drive to the restaurant one day they were at a red light and a woman walked by their car. Miles then went on a couple minute overly sexual rant about the woman that walked by and women in Florida in general. She said she found that VERY creepy but Miles never directly hit on her. He would just sit very close, talk very close and was very "touchy" in that he would often put his hand on her shoulder when talking to her, etc. She found it very odd that she spent more time with Miles than Noah did when Noah was the one they wanted. She essentially didn't put 2+2 together.
  The thing I found most odd and offensive from a program/ethics standpoint was that she was a serious dancer and claimed Miles promised to get her into Michigan if Noah came. Basically, she claimed that Miles suggested that she would be admitted into Michigan (through some sort of art program, I assume) if Noah came and Miles clearly made it obvious that he wanted her to help "seal the deal" with Noah. Offering perks to significant others has to be a violation so I sat there in awe as she told me this basically having no clue of what the consequences were of what she was claiming. She said it in a tone clearly having NO IDEA of what she was claiming and this is why I refuse to believe that even the most "clean" programs are as clean as they appear. I kind of hope that his behavior (wife rumors aside) is why he is so disliked by much of the Bo lineage at Michigan. What she said he did and offered are (IIRC) clear NCAA violations.
  Finally, to put everyone to rest, she then claimed that with or without her Noah was set on Michigan. I then asked if HE received anything from any coaches, Michigan or not, and she said "No" with very strong conviction and even joked that at the time it would have been cool if any school did. Also, when Noah (and her) moved to Ann Arbor she was not given any perks or admittance into the school for dancing or anything else. Basically, Miles said what he had to say to land the kid and when he did he basically forgot about them. She claimed to also never see or hear from Miles again after a phone call right before they moved up to Ann Arbor. She then repeated that she absolutely loathed that man but felt an obligation to Noah to be nice to him/put up with him. I then went on to tell her that he was now the Head Coach of a major CFB team and he made "about 3-4 Million a year" and did, in fact, leave Michigan on bad rumored terms. The success news literally left her a mix of shocked, angry and incredulous.


2. General Player Stories

  She said they arrived in 93-94 and even though her and Noah broke up in 96 she remained friends with some of the players but mainly their GFs and general friends of the players. Even after Noah was done playing she stayed in Ann Arbor and actually partied with players/friends up until around 99 when she finally realized that everyone she knew was basically gone and she started to feel like she was outstaying her welcome as those she did know met new girls, people graduated, etc. So, she has stories of players from around 94-99. Here are some that are nothing special to funny to kind of shocking:

  Brian Griese - After the Miles talk I began to ask her about players she knew. She rattled off guys that no woman who knew so little about football could possibly know and I am now in full blown believing her 100%. Maybe it was the Miles talk and she may have been a bit miffed about the memory but the first player she brought up was "A guy I know played QB......Brian Something.....a real dick" and I laughingly say that she must be talking about Brian Griese and before I get the "Gr" of his name out she remembers and shouts it out and confirms it. She says he was generally a complete dick and especially when drunk. She tells quick tales of him breaking things just to do it, fighting just to do it but one story stuck out.
  One night a bunch of players are out drinking and they go to a local establishment. Brian is very drunk and being an ass when he notices a girl in the bar that he decides he wants to talk to. Apparently, he goes over to the girl and she turns him away but she didn't hear what she said. All she sees is Brian, red-faced angry, walking back to their group and yelling insults at the woman at the top of his lungs. He is insulting her from across the bar now and adding in things like "F*cking whore doesn't even know who I am", "She should feel lucky I wasted time to talk to her", etc. The woman that turned him down then has had enough and walks over to their group and throws a drink on his shirt before claiming that she knows who he is and that she doesn't give a shit. Brian becomes so angry that a few players have to hold him back from (what she clearly thought) assaulting the girl. Brian later picked a fight with some random guy but he was again pulled away before it became serious. She says she absolutely hated the guy and would often not go out if she knew he would be with them.
  Maybe he has matured since then? It seems he has but as a young adult I think it is safe to say enough has been told to certify him an assclown for at least most of his college life. When I told her he was a broadcaster for football games now she seemed about as shocked as the Miles news.

  Tom Brady - Very quick and she knew him by name right away as even someone who knows nothing about football knows the name Tom Brady. Supposedly he was just a naive kid for the little time she spent around him. She said she would rarely see him but he was always polite to the extent that he seemed much younger than his age. He seemed very timid. She had one story of them being together and it was in a car after her group had been party hopping. After the last stop they left with a very young and drunk Tom Brady in the back seat. Apparently, even drunk he was very polite and she used the word "silly". Again, like a kid being drunk for the first time but still very nice and polite kid like between laughter. The worst thing he did was laughingly yell something incoherent out of the window, lol.

  The OL as a whole - This is the group she knew the best and is also the people she claimed were the most fun to be around as all were at worst "quiet, shy or just not very personable but not in a bad way". Jon Runyan and Jansen she claimed were the nicest guys on the team that she met. I may have confused the two but one of them she said was a proud and open proponent of staying a virgin until marriage and everyone respected that and he stuck to it. She said the hardest person to gauge was "Steve" (Hutchinson) in that he wasn't overly personable but he wasn't a dick. He just kind of gelled with the group of OL guys like pretty much all of them did. She also said that you would think big guys like that would be wild keg pounding jocks but half of them didn't even drink and all but one or two guys that "weren't around long" never really seriously used their athletic status for gain if out and about or talking to people.
  Obviously, her BF was in this group so she knew them the best but honestly didn't have any wacky or wild stories about any of them other than they would pull pranks on everyone. The only direct story she told me that I'll state here was a story of Jon Jansen, her BF and "another OL that was only there for less than a year" got a bunch of paper of all kinds and saved it up for almost an entire Summer. Newspapers, magazines, etc. Then, when they had an absolute mountain of paper they crumpled it all up, wet some of it down lightly and completely covered another player's bedroom with it. She said it was to the point where you couldn't see anything else in the room there was so much paper and that it came up to her waist it was so deep (she was about 5-7). The hilarious part being that the little bit of paper that they got wet basically turned to paste/goo by the time the player found it. The player had gotten one of the OL earlier and it was their prank payback, haha.
Basically, they were all pretty much good guys and liked to have fun without much drama at all. More stories but too many to type all right now.

  Charles Woodson - Like Brady, she didn't spend much time around him but would see him here or there at gatherings and such. She had no personal stories about him but that he was a funny guy and never noticed him treat anyone rudely. Only thing she said she could call a semi-story about Charles was that they were at a gathering and her BF and she had broken up for a bit at the time. So, she was mainly hanging out with girlfriends and such when Woodson came up to them and spoke to one of the women that was single. Yet, he was just being funny and lightly flirtatious as their group was kind of off by themselves. She said it was almost like he went out of his way to try to make them laugh, etc. Later on she noticed another student that was not a player in a similar situation by himself and he did the same. Basically, he was the kind of guy that was personable and liked to get to know people and make them laugh.


  I have a few others and some with more detail but those are some names I thought you'd like to hear and this is getting very long. As for her, she and Noah broke up after about 3 years in Ann Arbor. After his time at Michigan he supposedly left but she stayed and even when she stopped hanging around friends and such that knew players she remained in Ann Arbor. Again, much more but not sure if people will like this so I'll leave it here and if people want more names/stories I'll write what she told me as it was pretty much all we spoke about when on lunch breaks and near each other. I will say that I really glossed over the Miles stuff. Just the way fer face looked when talking about him convinced me that the guy is slime. I don't know if the famous rumor is true and don't care. A random woman I worked with basically confirmed to me, without any opinion given before hand, that he is a scumbag. Yet, still opinion so there it is.