Zack Novak tweet after the game
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another one!!! Big Ten Champs. Go Blue! <a href="https://t.co/m6UBigBKhc">https://t.co/m6UBigBKhc</a></p>— Zack Novak (@novak3159) <a href="https://twitter.com/novak3159/status/1367657763526955010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If this doesn't embed properly he said: "Another one!!! Big Ten Champs. Go Blue!"
Novak is my favorite player ever. I was just getting into Michigan basketball when him, Deshawn Sims, Stu Douglass, Many Harris, and Anthony Wright were all playing together. It's great to see he's still closely following the team.
https://mobile.twitter.com/novak3159/status/1367657763526955010
Hell, yes!! Novak's crew started the good times rolling with the first B1G title in this century, so nice to see his reaction.
Novak led the resurgence and success of Michigan Basketball.
Ace posted on twitter the reaction video of Selection Sunday 2009 when a packed Crisler lost their minds over just getting in to the tourney as a 10 seed. A couple years before that I remember getting excited watching those Amaker teams make NIT runs lol. To see where this program has come since, man.
I was there. We were all so pumped just to be in the NCAA tournament. Michigan has come a long way since then and we now expect NCAA tourney appearance with a deep run. John Beilein has elevated the program from an afterthought to an elite program. Juwan picked up where Beilein has left off. Michigan is so lucky to have a great run of success. Growing up in the 90s and early 00s where I couldn't imagine rooting for a program with that kind of success.
Add Amaker to this list. No, he's not on the same list of coaching talent as either Beilein or Howard, but he is certainly part of the line that resurrected Michigan basketball from the dead. He pulled Crisler out of the grave pit that Steve Fisher pushed it into, and that Tom Goss (because he hired Brian Ellerbe) shoveled dirt on. Amaker pulled the program out of that pit and gave it some it some life, even if it was still wobbling around in the morgue. Beilein took it from there...
Sorry, not sorry. Amaker deserves the recognition he earned next to Beilein and Howard for the resurrection of Michgan basketball after the scandal.
Tommy Amaker's a really good guy and I'm happy for him that he's had success at Harvard. That said, his main achievement at Michigan was to stop recruiting players who got in trouble with the law/NCAA. To go six years here without a tourney appearance is pretty bad. This is a program that has made the national championship game seven times since 1965, and at least once in each decade since then, except for the 2000s.
He was still in his 30s when we hired him, and maybe he wasn't ready to run a major program. But in any event, his tenure ended up being a significant disappointment.
As disappointing as it was I preferred Amaker to going down the Pitino, Calipari et al path. He made the program respectable and didn't leave any baggage for Beilein
Sure, but there is middle ground between "nice guy who can't win" and "sleazy guy who wins."
Having integrity is a basic expectation, not an accomplishment.
They hired what appeared at the time to be an up and coming, quality coach. It didn't work out.
I just posted that in the Beilein thread. Amaker brought integrity and respectability back to the Michigan basketball program. Beilein kept those and added winning basketball.
Double empty script.
What? You can't see that?
Zack Novak deserves to have his jersey retired, especially as the creator of The Aneurysm of Leadership.
When he was a player, I always thought Novak would be a good coaching candidate one day, I wonder if he's interested in that?
Thanks for being a Michigan Wolverine Zack!
He is coaching youngsters in the Chicago area. Check out Go Blue with Stu on YouTube.
If you are a fan of Novak's, you need to check out the Stu Douglass podcast where he had Novak on as a guest. His story about leaving Europe in the middle of his season to come to the Final Four is priceless. Novak is an all timer.
See link to it above.