Apparently Justin Joyner (the new assistant coach Dusty May hired from St. Mary’s) recruited Mahaney and has known him since he was in middle school. That relationship certainly can’t hurt. Here’s hoping Mahaney follows him here!
It seems beyond debate that there are structural problems that hamper the current staff’s performance … but I also think it is clear that they shouldn’t be hampering it THIS much. We still have a vastly more talented roster than McNeese State or Long Beach State (both of whom beat us this year), as well as many other schools who will make the tournament. The same was true last year. The structural problems are there, no doubt. But the bulk of this unbelievable clusterfuck is due to poor coaching. The roster is poorly constructed and the players are apathetic. Howard is openly blaming the players (as if he didn’t recruit and train them), and he generally seems to be flailing. The program appears to be in a tailspin and many, many coaches could do much, much better.
I think Saban would have gone back to the NFL if he could have figured a way to get 15 first round draft picks every year (the rough equivalent to the advantage he had at Bama).
I’m a lifelong Lions fan but, when it doesn’t conflict with that rooting interest, I root for teams with Michigan connections. The Chargers are now my top non-Lions team. I also like the Ravens, and I used to like the Pats & Bucs bc of Brady.
What else is he supposed to say? Blaming the players for not caring enough is the opposite of what he’s supposed to say. He brought these players here, and it’s his job to motivate them. If they truly don’t care (which I highly doubt is true) then that’s on him. And of course the players probably *do* care very much, they are just poorly coached and playing in a system where the culture stinks.
He did this a couple weeks back too. He said a coach can’t instill heart in players. Throwing the players under the bus is a massive red flag. If only there was someone whose job it was to recruit players who care and to motivate them …
The time to hire Crean would have been before Harbaugh took the Chargers job, as an incentive to get him to stay. Now that he is gone I see no reason to bring Tom Crean here. But I would’ve gladly welcomed him as the basketball coach if it helped us keep Harbaugh.
Exactly! Most of us remember when you could get a free football ticket with the purchase of two 20 ounce Cokes in the Student Union. Tickets are a hell of a lot more expensive now, and the Athletic Department is swimming in revenue, because the football team is great. That’s how the AD will make the most money: by having a great football team. Allowing some of that money to flow to NIL is an investment in the AD’s big revenue generator. Incredibly short sighted to think those dollars are lost or wasted if they go to NIL. You’ll quintuple that money on the back end. It just requires a little more forethought and a little less selfishness and gluttony.
Every indication points to Wards holding up the NIL process with bureaucratic inertia, and possibly out of a desire to make sure that NIL collectives aren’t competing against the athletic department for booster/donor dollars. This seems antiquated and foolish.
I am typically among the last to call for coaches or ADs to be fired. But I can’t help but notice that Warde inherited the best football, basketball, and baseball coaches Michigan has had in our lifetimes and all three left under his watch. It’s like Warde was born on third base but he’s intent on getting thrown out trying to steal home. He is the turd in the swimming pool, and someone needs to fish him out.
It might be good if he’s coming in as linebackers coach. Supposedly he was a good recruiter when he was a college position coach a decade ago, and he’s coached linebackers before. But his short time as a defensive coordinator in the NFL does not seem to have gone well. Moore could probably have his pick of candidates who would love to coordinate this defense, and this would seem like an uninspired choice.
Importantly, we will also probably keep Ben Herbert. I’m certainly no expert, but it seems likely that he would stay at Michigan rather than follow Harbaugh to the NFL. That is important to the future of the team.
I feel sorry for you. This has been the best 3 year run of Michigan football in any of our lifetimes, culminating in a perfect season and a national championship for one of the most likable teams ever, and you’re wringing your hands over the possibility that our legendary coach might go pursue another dream of his? That’s a shame man. I hope you find some perspective.
Woodson’s interception against MSU, Desmond’s Heisman pose, Roman’s catch on the tipped pass Saturday, or Blake flashing the 6-5 after his touchdown against Ohio right after Zinter got hurt. These are in no particular order, I love them all.
I will confess to being someone who complained about the LaPorta pick - not that I didn’t think he’d be good, but I thought they could’ve taken someone else and still gotten LaPorta with a later pick. I’m happy to admit that I was very wrong!
It makes sense that *Catapult* isn’t under investigation by the NCAA. Catapult probably isn't an NCAA member institution & thus not subject to any sort of direct regulation by the NCAA. Rather the NCAA would investigate a school that may have broken rules by improperly/illegally accessing someone else’s practice footage. Law enforcement would also be investigating the illegal activity allegedly committed by agents of a school (totally not Ohio State). So this is totally accurate semantics from Catapult.
I don’t get it though … Cryin’ Day told us how tough they are! He even screamed at an 86 year old to prove it! But somehow they didn’t look all that tough tonight. Strange times we live in.
Yeah they quote Pete Finebaum, but they also quote Paul Campos (huge M fan, law professor +law blogger + writer). It stinks that it’s paywalled, but the article is actually pretty good. It focuses on how successful Harbaugh has been & how he’s calling for positive change in the NCAA to benefit players, and how the NCAA has gone well outside its usual norms & protocols to go after him. Legit good article.
Exactly, and what for? So the NCAA will treat us fairly? Bama has been getting away with murder (sometimes literally) for ages, and the NCAA comes after Michigan with guns blazing over penny ante nonsense. It’s frustrating that Michigan seems to get the worst of both worlds: won’t play dirty, but gets treated worse than those that do.
There is no better defensive backs coach and evaluator in the history of college football than Nick Saban. If he was a take for Bama, he was good enough to be a take for us as well. I have no doubt that we wanted him, but we won’t compete with Bama in terms of bag size.
Even calling it pseudo-science is charitable. I once had a conversation with an officer whose job included administering polygraphs for the state police where I lived. He flat out told me that he could administer the test in a way that gets whatever result he wants, and that he reads the file, decides if the test subject is guilty or not, then administers the test accordingly.
I am in favor of giving Coach Howard time to right the ship. I’m pretty much always among the last to turn on a coach. I’m rooting for him to succeed.
But it’s absurd to imply that criticism of him can only be due to racism. He hit an opposing coach in the face during a game, went after another coach, and now this. There are reasons to be concerned about his anger management and professionalism, as well as the culture of the team. He inherited an amazing situation and it seems to be getting worse each year. He should get more time to figure things out and get things trending back to how they looked when JB handed him the keys to a Ferrari, but man I hope he does that soon.
This is Smith’s first assistant hire who has any significant experience recruiting the Midwest. I suppose it’s a good move from that standpoint alone - the entire rest of the staff has virtually zero experience recruiting East of the Mississippi.
Washington. I like their team, and I like Kalen DeBoer, and I’d love a Big Ten vs. Pac 12 championship game. I was hoping for Michigan vs. Washington in the Rose Bowl in the semi, but it’s still my preferred matchup in the final.
But they won the SEC and that just means more! You seem to be overlooking how much more that means. Seriously guys, I cannot stress enough the moreness of the meaning. /s
Definitely MSU. Just an absolute beatdown while pulling starters to avoid running up the score. The atmosphere was great - MSU fans mostly left early and by the fourth quarter probably 90% of the remaining crowd was Michigan fans.
Yes, he has a banged up leg from the Penn State game. Various insiders predicted that he might be listed as questionable. He was not ultimately listed as questionable, but he had a limp in some pregame videos. Tuttle also took snaps with Nugent in the pregame warmup.
Here’s hoping he’s fully healed for next week! Go Blue!
Generally everyone should want a decision maker to have all the facts and argument before deciding (are you listening Tony Pettiti?), but in this case the time crunch was caused by Pettiti’s sleazy decision to wait until the 11th hour when courts were closed and the team was in the air before handing down the suspension. The timing should have been held against the Big Ten and made it more likely for the court to enter a TRO. Unfortunately the court went the opposite direction and effectively held the Big Ten’s gamesmanship against Michigan & Harbaugh.
That is for when a state sues another state. Here we do not have that. We have the state of Michigan (the University/Regents) and a citizen of Michigan (Harbaugh) suing a citizen of another state (the Big Ten). So there is no basis for invoking the exclusive original jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court. That could only happen if, for example, the state of Michigan sued the state of Illinois or something.
There are two plaintiffs here: the University/Regents and Jim Harbaugh. The University of Michigan is a state government entity. State governments are not citizens of any state, they *are* the state. So there is no diversity of citizenship here because the University is a non-diverse party. Therefore the Big Ten cannot remove the case (or, rather, it would be remanded if they do).
Without diversity of citizenship, the only possible basis for removal would be federal question jurisdiction. But the complaint raises exclusively state law claims, so there is no federal question. Therefore removal is unlikely or, if it occurs, would likely result in remand to state court.
It’s fitting that Drew Sharp was willing to put his name on a poorly-sourced article when no one else was. Nothing against the man personally, and RIP, but professionally he was more or less a troll. I still chuckle thinking about the time he FINALLY predicted the Pistons would win the 2005 NBA championship (after being very negative about them during the great 2004-2005 run), and Joe Dumars accused him of jinxing them because, and I quote, “You’re always wrong!”
So to be clear: morons on the internet think that a complete stranger just put on a CMU hat and sunglasses and stood amongst CMU’s coaches on the sideline all game and no one on CMU’s team or coaching staff bothered to ask him questions such as “Who are you?” or “Why don’t I know you?” As Brian wrote in Signgate The Fifth, we’ve entered the stage where people can say absolutely anything and it will gain traction. This is hilarious.
Edit: Wow, it apparently actually is him. My bad, I stand corrected. I was going off the “debunked” facial recognition tweet that indicated it’s a CMU GA. I guess we’ve reached the stage where the truth is even stranger than what morons on the internet can make up.
Recent Comments
Wingding ballz Marshall to M, you say??
Amazing accomplishment! Go Blue!
I had somehow never seen that before. Very funny, thanks for sharing!
Apparently Justin Joyner (the new assistant coach Dusty May hired from St. Mary’s) recruited Mahaney and has known him since he was in middle school. That relationship certainly can’t hurt. Here’s hoping Mahaney follows him here!
It seems beyond debate that there are structural problems that hamper the current staff’s performance … but I also think it is clear that they shouldn’t be hampering it THIS much. We still have a vastly more talented roster than McNeese State or Long Beach State (both of whom beat us this year), as well as many other schools who will make the tournament. The same was true last year. The structural problems are there, no doubt. But the bulk of this unbelievable clusterfuck is due to poor coaching. The roster is poorly constructed and the players are apathetic. Howard is openly blaming the players (as if he didn’t recruit and train them), and he generally seems to be flailing. The program appears to be in a tailspin and many, many coaches could do much, much better.
I think Saban would have gone back to the NFL if he could have figured a way to get 15 first round draft picks every year (the rough equivalent to the advantage he had at Bama).
I’m a lifelong Lions fan but, when it doesn’t conflict with that rooting interest, I root for teams with Michigan connections. The Chargers are now my top non-Lions team. I also like the Ravens, and I used to like the Pats & Bucs bc of Brady.
What else is he supposed to say? Blaming the players for not caring enough is the opposite of what he’s supposed to say. He brought these players here, and it’s his job to motivate them. If they truly don’t care (which I highly doubt is true) then that’s on him. And of course the players probably *do* care very much, they are just poorly coached and playing in a system where the culture stinks.
He did this a couple weeks back too. He said a coach can’t instill heart in players. Throwing the players under the bus is a massive red flag. If only there was someone whose job it was to recruit players who care and to motivate them …
The time to hire Crean would have been before Harbaugh took the Chargers job, as an incentive to get him to stay. Now that he is gone I see no reason to bring Tom Crean here. But I would’ve gladly welcomed him as the basketball coach if it helped us keep Harbaugh.
Exactly! Most of us remember when you could get a free football ticket with the purchase of two 20 ounce Cokes in the Student Union. Tickets are a hell of a lot more expensive now, and the Athletic Department is swimming in revenue, because the football team is great. That’s how the AD will make the most money: by having a great football team. Allowing some of that money to flow to NIL is an investment in the AD’s big revenue generator. Incredibly short sighted to think those dollars are lost or wasted if they go to NIL. You’ll quintuple that money on the back end. It just requires a little more forethought and a little less selfishness and gluttony.
Every indication points to Wards holding up the NIL process with bureaucratic inertia, and possibly out of a desire to make sure that NIL collectives aren’t competing against the athletic department for booster/donor dollars. This seems antiquated and foolish.
I am typically among the last to call for coaches or ADs to be fired. But I can’t help but notice that Warde inherited the best football, basketball, and baseball coaches Michigan has had in our lifetimes and all three left under his watch. It’s like Warde was born on third base but he’s intent on getting thrown out trying to steal home. He is the turd in the swimming pool, and someone needs to fish him out.
It might be good if he’s coming in as linebackers coach. Supposedly he was a good recruiter when he was a college position coach a decade ago, and he’s coached linebackers before. But his short time as a defensive coordinator in the NFL does not seem to have gone well. Moore could probably have his pick of candidates who would love to coordinate this defense, and this would seem like an uninspired choice.
That’s cool, I also make <$18 million/year
Importantly, we will also probably keep Ben Herbert. I’m certainly no expert, but it seems likely that he would stay at Michigan rather than follow Harbaugh to the NFL. That is important to the future of the team.
I feel sorry for you. This has been the best 3 year run of Michigan football in any of our lifetimes, culminating in a perfect season and a national championship for one of the most likable teams ever, and you’re wringing your hands over the possibility that our legendary coach might go pursue another dream of his? That’s a shame man. I hope you find some perspective.
He’s 37
Bang Bang!
This team is 2-14 in one possession games under Juwan. That is mind boggling.
Things I did not have on my 2023-2024 bingo card: me starting to like Colin Cowherd.
Great news, and very well deserved!
Woodson’s interception against MSU, Desmond’s Heisman pose, Roman’s catch on the tipped pass Saturday, or Blake flashing the 6-5 after his touchdown against Ohio right after Zinter got hurt. These are in no particular order, I love them all.
I will confess to being someone who complained about the LaPorta pick - not that I didn’t think he’d be good, but I thought they could’ve taken someone else and still gotten LaPorta with a later pick. I’m happy to admit that I was very wrong!
I can never forget the name of Ladd McConkey. That’s just a remarkable name.
It makes sense that *Catapult* isn’t under investigation by the NCAA. Catapult probably isn't an NCAA member institution & thus not subject to any sort of direct regulation by the NCAA. Rather the NCAA would investigate a school that may have broken rules by improperly/illegally accessing someone else’s practice footage. Law enforcement would also be investigating the illegal activity allegedly committed by agents of a school (totally not Ohio State). So this is totally accurate semantics from Catapult.
It seems highly likely that the Lions will win more games than the Pistons this year.
Minter is a stud and we are lucky to have him. Go Blue!
Yes apparently the NCAA only disregards its own protocols and comments publicly on an ongoing investigation if it involves Michigan.
I don’t get it though … Cryin’ Day told us how tough they are! He even screamed at an 86 year old to prove it! But somehow they didn’t look all that tough tonight. Strange times we live in.
Yeah they quote Pete Finebaum, but they also quote Paul Campos (huge M fan, law professor +law blogger + writer). It stinks that it’s paywalled, but the article is actually pretty good. It focuses on how successful Harbaugh has been & how he’s calling for positive change in the NCAA to benefit players, and how the NCAA has gone well outside its usual norms & protocols to go after him. Legit good article.
Exactly, and what for? So the NCAA will treat us fairly? Bama has been getting away with murder (sometimes literally) for ages, and the NCAA comes after Michigan with guns blazing over penny ante nonsense. It’s frustrating that Michigan seems to get the worst of both worlds: won’t play dirty, but gets treated worse than those that do.
There is no better defensive backs coach and evaluator in the history of college football than Nick Saban. If he was a take for Bama, he was good enough to be a take for us as well. I have no doubt that we wanted him, but we won’t compete with Bama in terms of bag size.
I have no doubt that Lord Purpleface would come to Michigan, but that isn’t really the question is it?
Even calling it pseudo-science is charitable. I once had a conversation with an officer whose job included administering polygraphs for the state police where I lived. He flat out told me that he could administer the test in a way that gets whatever result he wants, and that he reads the file, decides if the test subject is guilty or not, then administers the test accordingly.
Thanks for sharing! Eisen is a gem, and a great Michigan Man. I’ll gladly watch his show, even when he has an absolute turd like bruce feldman on.
I am in favor of giving Coach Howard time to right the ship. I’m pretty much always among the last to turn on a coach. I’m rooting for him to succeed.
But it’s absurd to imply that criticism of him can only be due to racism. He hit an opposing coach in the face during a game, went after another coach, and now this. There are reasons to be concerned about his anger management and professionalism, as well as the culture of the team. He inherited an amazing situation and it seems to be getting worse each year. He should get more time to figure things out and get things trending back to how they looked when JB handed him the keys to a Ferrari, but man I hope he does that soon.
This is Smith’s first assistant hire who has any significant experience recruiting the Midwest. I suppose it’s a good move from that standpoint alone - the entire rest of the staff has virtually zero experience recruiting East of the Mississippi.
Washington. I like their team, and I like Kalen DeBoer, and I’d love a Big Ten vs. Pac 12 championship game. I was hoping for Michigan vs. Washington in the Rose Bowl in the semi, but it’s still my preferred matchup in the final.
I don’t know if I could handle hearing Gus Johnson exuberantly call him “Chipper the Ripper” again.
But they won the SEC and that just means more! You seem to be overlooking how much more that means. Seriously guys, I cannot stress enough the moreness of the meaning. /s
I propose an MGoResolution: if Wiltfong is Wingding, then Lorenz should be Longdong.
I had not heard that the way Smith left was perceived as less than honorable. What was the issue?
Definitely MSU. Just an absolute beatdown while pulling starters to avoid running up the score. The atmosphere was great - MSU fans mostly left early and by the fourth quarter probably 90% of the remaining crowd was Michigan fans.
Yes, he has a banged up leg from the Penn State game. Various insiders predicted that he might be listed as questionable. He was not ultimately listed as questionable, but he had a limp in some pregame videos. Tuttle also took snaps with Nugent in the pregame warmup.
Here’s hoping he’s fully healed for next week! Go Blue!
Generally everyone should want a decision maker to have all the facts and argument before deciding (are you listening Tony Pettiti?), but in this case the time crunch was caused by Pettiti’s sleazy decision to wait until the 11th hour when courts were closed and the team was in the air before handing down the suspension. The timing should have been held against the Big Ten and made it more likely for the court to enter a TRO. Unfortunately the court went the opposite direction and effectively held the Big Ten’s gamesmanship against Michigan & Harbaugh.
That is for when a state sues another state. Here we do not have that. We have the state of Michigan (the University/Regents) and a citizen of Michigan (Harbaugh) suing a citizen of another state (the Big Ten). So there is no basis for invoking the exclusive original jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court. That could only happen if, for example, the state of Michigan sued the state of Illinois or something.
There are two plaintiffs here: the University/Regents and Jim Harbaugh. The University of Michigan is a state government entity. State governments are not citizens of any state, they *are* the state. So there is no diversity of citizenship here because the University is a non-diverse party. Therefore the Big Ten cannot remove the case (or, rather, it would be remanded if they do).
Without diversity of citizenship, the only possible basis for removal would be federal question jurisdiction. But the complaint raises exclusively state law claims, so there is no federal question. Therefore removal is unlikely or, if it occurs, would likely result in remand to state court.
To paraphrase the Dread Pirate Roberts, “No good, I’ve known too many Harvard-educated lawyers.”
It’s fitting that Drew Sharp was willing to put his name on a poorly-sourced article when no one else was. Nothing against the man personally, and RIP, but professionally he was more or less a troll. I still chuckle thinking about the time he FINALLY predicted the Pistons would win the 2005 NBA championship (after being very negative about them during the great 2004-2005 run), and Joe Dumars accused him of jinxing them because, and I quote, “You’re always wrong!”
So to be clear: morons on the internet think that a complete stranger just put on a CMU hat and sunglasses and stood amongst CMU’s coaches on the sideline all game and no one on CMU’s team or coaching staff bothered to ask him questions such as “Who are you?” or “Why don’t I know you?” As Brian wrote in Signgate The Fifth, we’ve entered the stage where people can say absolutely anything and it will gain traction. This is hilarious.
Edit: Wow, it apparently actually is him. My bad, I stand corrected. I was going off the “debunked” facial recognition tweet that indicated it’s a CMU GA. I guess we’ve reached the stage where the truth is even stranger than what morons on the internet can make up.