Any one hear Michael Taylor's interview on 105.1?
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
Just made me more confused as to the factions at UM and what people support what faction. Was he a RR fan? Is he a Hoke fan? Honestly he just came across bitter about everything in life. Why wasn't he asked about throwing INT's in practice on purpose because he was whining about playing time.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
I know he said he doesn't want a firing in mid season, which I agree with. He did like RR, but he really blasted the AD/University more than Hoke.
Also, he wasn't critical of Gardner (but I know that's his guy)
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
Here's a LINK to an MLive article summarizing Taylor's comments (Nick Baumgardner). I'm posting it up here so people will see it, but maybe the OP wants to put the link in the original post too.
It's a thorough summary of Taylor's comments. The question to me is whether this is just one disgruntled alumnus, or if there is widespread discontent of this degree among the former players. (I understand that virtually none of the former players are happy with the situation - except for maybe the Borens.)
September 23rd, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^
they made the players buy tix in order to be honored
September 23rd, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
Or, come up with two cans of Coke.
September 23rd, 2014 at 3:48 PM ^
to be taken seriously. He's quite up front about his grievances, and lucid about them, too. That he lodges some of his complaints on behalf of other players makes it feel a lot more credible to me. (It's also pretty even-handed, and contains a lot more than just griping.)
One of the most fascinating things is that he says he, too, was steered away from his planned course of study, had been accepted by the school of engineering but was pushed toward business, buttressing Harbaugh's complaint. In retrospect, this is a pretty big deal--I too would find it pretty painful to have been pushed away from my chosen career path, to look back and wonder what if.
There is a racial component to his critique, which I find him both plain-spoken and pretty persuasive about. Others will have their own take, and. . . sensitive area. But I'll say one thing--there is a continuing undercurrent about this leading right to the present day. It could just be a certain blindness to this stuff on the part of a largely white admin and staff, even forgivable. But Michigan of all places--with its historically strong reputation in the black community--needs to nip this shit in the bud or start to lose credibility. If black players started to avoid this school. . . death.
EDIT: I will proudly take negs from any a**hole bigot--just hide under the cover of internet anonymity; don't feel obliged to explain yourself. On the other hand, conversation and airing of some of this stuff can be healthy. The racial component almost completely got away from Brady at the end of last year, let us not forget. . . another uneasy element of his tenure here.
September 23rd, 2014 at 6:03 PM ^
Negged you for assuming that anyone who dared to disagree with you must be a bigot.
September 23rd, 2014 at 4:26 PM ^
.... .... disgruntled - would be my take - not sure the cryptic nuances of mistreatment he is speaking about. Read the article below with Mike Martin's take - a player who was there with Hoke and RR and see his take.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/09/mike_martin_says_brad…
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
These factions are a farce. He's a fucking Michigan fan. And it'd be impossible, as a Michigan fan, not to be outraged at the trajectory of the program.
September 23rd, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
When he says he is sad about the state of the ENTIRE program he is coming as a fan.
I did not disagree with a single one of his comments.
OSU and MSU fans are not "sad" about the state of the Michigan program...
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
I love the public call-out on how former players are now expected to pay their way into the stadium. No loyalty from this AD towards anything but the dollar.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
a confusing topic at every school.
Pretty sure the NCAA limits the number of free passes a school can hand out to FIVE. I remember some alums, Braylon maybe?, complaining about this policy under Carr
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
Didn't know that..thanks
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
Braylon complaining? No way.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
How many can Coke hand out for $3?
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
Jay-Z buys the tickets?
Or maybe they just pick them up on stubhub. It's not like there aren't plenty of empty seats--Miami tickets for this weekend are priced at $7. Costs more to park than to get into the game.
September 23rd, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
I don't hate DB like this board does, but they should at least get discounts (or maybe one free game). I'm with him on that one.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
I had to Google his name.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
Yup. So did I.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
no arm. Like none at all. He ran the wishbone.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
He only attempted 273 career passes and started 19 games.
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
He also used shoulder pads and a helmet.
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
Those were also Bo's last two teams. Injuries kept him from finishing the 1988 season though.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
Wow...talk about a blast from the past.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
Not listening but follow Nick B on twitter, so I'm seeing tons of quotes. Unbelievable. I think Mr. Taylor needs to take a page from the Andy Mignery book of how to be a former player who criticizes the games without getting personal or sounding like a bitter DB. Taylor played for Bo. People say Bo is rolling over in his grave right now because of what Coach Hoke and Dave Brandon have done to UM football. I'm sure he's rolling over, hearing his own former players trash the program in such a classless way.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
He made many references to race issues from the past that are still happening now according to him. I HOPE that's not the truth.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
Hey, Michael Taylor may not have been a star, but he was the QB on some of Bo's absolutely best teams. He got the job done.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
Michael Taylor succeeded with Demetrius Brown.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:17 AM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
This guy is notorious for blowing up on Michigan on the sports radio.
I remember him trashing Hoke & staff in 2011 for hiring Curt Mallory over Corwin Brown.
That was the last time he was on WTKA.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^
I missed when he made fun of Michigan State on WTKA....missed those days
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
He may have some legitimate gripes, but it's hard to take him seriously, because he's always unhappy.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
Goddammit I thought having to listen to former players snipe at the program was done when we got rid of Rodriguez. I'm sick we have to deal with this crap again. Way to kick the program when it's down.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
"I hate how RR was treated so I'm going to make sure I do the same for Hoke"
What kind of fucking sense does that make?
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
Rodriguez got fired. Hoke is still here. One guy never got to show what a team of his players could do. The other is getting that shot and, so far, failing miserably.
Literally no one would have supported Rodriguez's continued employment if he had come back and gotten smoked by ND and Utah. You could maybe argue year 5 should be looked at too for any coach, but the time is now and things are going awfully shitty.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about former players airing dirty laundry publicly to actively sabotage the guy in charge. He says he wants the rest of the season to play out, then why hamstring Hoke by shitting on him publicly? I've already made my peace with Hoke getting canned if things don't turn around. Like you said, with ND and Utah, that's inevitable. But there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
If he's just straight talking shit, and only doing so now that Hoke seems vulnerable, then yes I agree with you (didn't hear/read Taylor's comments). If he's simply saying it is time for a change, then I have no problem with that at this point in Hoke's tenure.
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
because that's what happened to Rodriquez. In other words he's in step with a vocal clique here on MGOBLUE.
September 23rd, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
Rodriguez was never fired midseason. Hoke will likely get fired at the end of this season. If so, Hoke would have been given exactly one more year than Rodriguez while having posted a better overall record in 3 years than Rodriguez. I know Rodriguez was your guy and I thought he got a raw deal from the start but come on man...
September 24th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
Hoke's had 43 games, Rodriguez had 37. Though two of the extra Hoke games were bowl games.
So I'm not sure he's had that much more time to prove what he can do with his own players.
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
What do you mean? It is always the somebody else's fault. That's the American Way!
September 23rd, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
There's going to be a lot more piling on and people coming out of the woodwork from people we haven't heard from since 2010. People love to feel like the smartest person in the room, the only thing we can hope for is that it all reaches a positive conclusion at some point.