I love Jim, even with all his antics & imperfections. What he said made sense to me- the university did have lower academic standards for athletes w/r/t to entry test scores and grades. And why wouldn't the Athletic Dept steer the athletes to take classes & have majors that they would be successful in?
My experience though was a little different. I was a TA in Chemistry when Jim Harbaugh started at Michigan and was (according to him) steered away from majoring in History. That same year I had a football student-athlete in one of my classes who did very poorly. I can't remember if he failed, but I do remember him phoning me at home late one night when the semester ended asking me if there was anything he could do to raise his grade. There wasn't and I don't think he was even close to get a bump, e.g. like on the cusp. I think he told me he needed a C or else it would be a major problem. At that point it was too late to do better in my class, but afterwards, if he was able to stay in the program, his coaches or counselors hopefully steered him away from taking classes that would set him up to fail.
I agree with you totally. As revered as Bo was/is when it came to football he had his dramatic tantrums on the sidelines too. Even if he was doing all the right things to win Big Ten championships, he seemed like an emotional pressure cooker ready to explode. I can see a lot of Bo in Jim's coaching drama.
On the other hand Lloyd seemed more down to earth & calming. I can see that he might not have wanted someone like Jim, with all the ego & unpredictability to join his team. I really liked Scot Loeffler & thought he did a really good job as QB coach, but in retrospect.... we'll never know if Jim would have been a better choice. Jim is a great head coach, but what about his one-on-one coaching skills?
To win more games it may have been right to bring Jim on-board as soon as he was ready to coach full time. But I think his personal life was pretty unstable back then & who knows if the AA lifestyle would have matured him any faster. A DUI as a UM coach might have ended his coaching appointment all too soon, especially in light of Moeller being let go.
Realistically, with his current wife who wants to stay in Cali & a new baby, I can't see Jim ever coming back to AA for a coaching position... unless his wife runs off with the gardner and he falls in love with an AA woman over the internet...not likely.
He would only have played his fresh & soph years at Pioneer since he moved to Palo Alto when his father became defensive coordinator at Stanford in 1980.
I'm curious if he played varsity QB as a fresh or soph. Pioneer has always been pretty competitive, so I wonder if he was able to make Varsity & play QB as a freshman.
As soon as I heard about the expansion I was already envisioning an East-West split. I was thinking in terms of an Indiana split, but I could be happy with a Michigan split. To tell the truth I'm really not keen on the UM-MSU rivalry, it strains family relationships! On the other hand the MSU folks have been missing the MSU-PSU land grant rivalry that they've had the last years.
Is the East - West split just too logical for people?
The case of Alabama & LSU being in the same SEC division, along with AL's intrastate rival Auburn, is the model for MI & OSU being in the same division. It seems to work ok for them, although there has been talk of a North South split.
On a Saturday morning Rutgers is a 1 to 1.5 hour drive from a lot of places in the NY metro area.
For a lot of reasons I don't need to be in a stadium with 113,000 others to enjoy the Michigan football experience and I personally would much rather go to a game in South Brunswick than Columbus.
Sorry, but it's not about what the coaches give a rip about.... although I'm sure there are alums on the east coast that coaches keep in touch with. David Brandon routinely speaks at alum organizations around the country.... and coincidentally 65-70% of donations come in during football season.
I'm sure it's similar for other BIG schools.
I would be happy with a Big Ten with only 10 midwestern schools, a real Pac 10 and Big 8, but that time is past.
There are a lot of alums living on the east coast who don't get to see their teams play unless they go back for homecoming or some other games. My daughter in DC has traveled to Happy Valley & C-bus for games. Not everyone who graduates from Michigan lives in Michigan (or within driving distance for a game) after graduation.
I guess it must show our age. So what do they mean by LBJ??? Do I need to watch more Gameday? I know DH and KH are on Gameday & they're in Baton Rouge today for the LSU-Alabama game.... but what's LBJ????
Oh yeah- Little Brown Jug.... we're not talking ESPN Gameday
We need to change it by not playing it for a good 4-5 years to break the habit. I've been thinking about writing a letter to Brandon about stopping it. It's not "only in the student section". I'm in Section 3 and there are an embarrassing number of people doing it there too. I've started to yell "Defense" but I just get a soar throat and frustrated. Today, my 21 yr old daughter who's a student elsewhere looked at me surprised when it was done the first time and said "Is that new?"
(Thanks for letting me get this off my chest, for today anyway!!!)
Hopefully this isn't a double post, but it looks like my attempt to post an hour ago failed.
Just wanted to say thanks for posting this because I probably wouldn't have seen it in the regular news media with CFB, NFL, MLB and US Open going on right now.
I loved the video and seeing that sweet enthusiasm of the young women who were also well-spoken. They are also apparently talented enough to carry on the US Womens Soccer winning tradition for the next decade.
For those figuring this out ;), I'm also an H who received tickets on Friday on the east side of the state. Mgrowold- I'm also section 3, seats 25 & 26, but way up near heaven (in the 80's). Can you tell me what yard line they are? It looks like the numbers run south to north in the section, but I don't know how many seats are in the row.
Never went to a HS or college football game (an all-girls HS and small college were good reasons why).
My first experience with Michigan football was as a kid, asking an older sister if she knew what the rules were when I joined her in watching Michigan in a Rose Bowl. She told me, no, I'm just watching these guys in their tight outfits and cool helmets. I was too young to get excited about them then, but became a huge fan of Michigan football when I started grad school here. I had season tickets for many years until my kids activities took over my Saturdays and we were giving away most of the tickets.
Now that they're grown, I'm back to being a football season ticket holder and following them closely. This past year I fell in love with Team 132, and I've been super excited with Hoke's recruiting success. My husband complains about the time I spend keeping up with things at MGoBlog.
When I started listening it reminded me of Adam Sandler doing a corny song, but it developed quickly into something much better- pretty good rhythm & lyrics. It's still bordering on being corny or weird, but not in a creepy way. It's like a "just be happy" or "put a smile on my face" song.
If he doesn't learn to filter out comments like this one, he won't have all buckeye fans behind him. Believe it or not, there are some smart and classy buckeyes out there who are and will be turned off by comments like this one. (I work with a PhD from OSU) Of course if he wins big, they might not complain much. I can't wait to hear Meyer's post-game comments after a loss, especially to "that school up north" he referred to, when the emotions and thoughts may be harder to keep in check.
I don't think Mario was leaving the defenders in the dust with his speed. He usually had defenders around him. I think his good hands made the difference in his catches.
No offense to the under 6' players, but I wasn't all that comfortable with jumpballs for completions this past year. Sometimes they worked out great for big plays, but I was never confident about them. I'm happy to see more emphasis on height, although tall & speedy would be great. I think a 6' minimum is about right. Admittedly, Anthony Carter was only 5'11", so exceptions can always be made!
I think they might be using the tape he made in 2009. They don't make a fresh recording for every game. Does anyone know if Braylon Edwards clip this season was still "Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan"? I think there were some other players who recognized their high schools instead of UM in 2009.
A Michigan hockey game is the "quintessential Michigan sports experience"? I've never been to Yost since I'm not really a fan of hockey in general. Maybe those hockey players living in the apartment above me when I first moved to AA turned me off (too much indoor hockey noise). But anyway, tell me why it would be worth going to a game...even if I don't like hockey.
Michigan also offers 4-year scholarships. They and most of the schools in the Big Ten (9 out of 12) did this year.
Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois confirmed to ESPN.com that they have given out four-year scholarships to this class. Ohio State and Nebraska also confirmed on signing day that they are giving out scholarships that no longer have to be renewed annually. Purdue, Indiana and Minnesota are still awarding one-year renewable grants.
It's hard to not be disappointed when these kids don't pick Michigan, but we just have to keep reminding ourselves that we have a great class. The coaches did a superb job getting the recruits to commit early in the process. Perhaps it's for the best that we are not signing the kids who can't make up their minds before February, the ones who are torn between different schools, or between what they want & what's best for their family.
It is better to have kids committed early who are sure they want to come to Michigan and won't be leaving before the end of fall camp or fall semester, because they want to be closer to home, or can't take the competition, or handle the rigors of the program.
How often in the past have we had kids pick Michigan on NSD or later? I haven't followed recruiting closely, so none come to mind. I'm curious when previous big name recruits signed. Any one remember notables like Woodson signing?
I really enjoyed reading it & being able to hear from RVB again. I always enjoyed his post-game comments.
- definitely agree with those on the Jack Black resemblance
- appreciated hearing him give credit to the improvement in coaching
A lot of people have said that the defense improved because the players matured, but I always thought more credit should go to the coaching staff. They players learned how to make adjustments! One of the most frustrating things under the previous staff was that there didn't seem to be half-time adjustments, by UM anyway. It was great to see GMatt get to the point with the defense where he would let them (the seniors) do the play calling and adjustments themselves, in response to what they were seeing on the field.
I think we'll see more of RVB in the future, whether it's in the media, on the coaching staff, or in the Athletic Dept.
From a family perspective it will makes sense for him to pick OSU. As much as his mother may have liked Hoke, it'll be much easier for her to hitch rides with "the godfather" to see her son play in Columbus. This may be a case where he picks where his heart leads him, rather than what makes sense. I haven't given up hope, just being realistic.
Recent Comments
I love Jim, even with all his antics & imperfections. What he said made sense to me- the university did have lower academic standards for athletes w/r/t to entry test scores and grades. And why wouldn't the Athletic Dept steer the athletes to take classes & have majors that they would be successful in?
My experience though was a little different. I was a TA in Chemistry when Jim Harbaugh started at Michigan and was (according to him) steered away from majoring in History. That same year I had a football student-athlete in one of my classes who did very poorly. I can't remember if he failed, but I do remember him phoning me at home late one night when the semester ended asking me if there was anything he could do to raise his grade. There wasn't and I don't think he was even close to get a bump, e.g. like on the cusp. I think he told me he needed a C or else it would be a major problem. At that point it was too late to do better in my class, but afterwards, if he was able to stay in the program, his coaches or counselors hopefully steered him away from taking classes that would set him up to fail.
I agree with you totally. As revered as Bo was/is when it came to football he had his dramatic tantrums on the sidelines too. Even if he was doing all the right things to win Big Ten championships, he seemed like an emotional pressure cooker ready to explode. I can see a lot of Bo in Jim's coaching drama.
On the other hand Lloyd seemed more down to earth & calming. I can see that he might not have wanted someone like Jim, with all the ego & unpredictability to join his team. I really liked Scot Loeffler & thought he did a really good job as QB coach, but in retrospect.... we'll never know if Jim would have been a better choice. Jim is a great head coach, but what about his one-on-one coaching skills?
To win more games it may have been right to bring Jim on-board as soon as he was ready to coach full time. But I think his personal life was pretty unstable back then & who knows if the AA lifestyle would have matured him any faster. A DUI as a UM coach might have ended his coaching appointment all too soon, especially in light of Moeller being let go.
Realistically, with his current wife who wants to stay in Cali & a new baby, I can't see Jim ever coming back to AA for a coaching position... unless his wife runs off with the gardner and he falls in love with an AA woman over the internet...not likely.
He would only have played his fresh & soph years at Pioneer since he moved to Palo Alto when his father became defensive coordinator at Stanford in 1980.
I'm curious if he played varsity QB as a fresh or soph. Pioneer has always been pretty competitive, so I wonder if he was able to make Varsity & play QB as a freshman.
As soon as I heard about the expansion I was already envisioning an East-West split. I was thinking in terms of an Indiana split, but I could be happy with a Michigan split. To tell the truth I'm really not keen on the UM-MSU rivalry, it strains family relationships! On the other hand the MSU folks have been missing the MSU-PSU land grant rivalry that they've had the last years.
Is the East - West split just too logical for people?
The case of Alabama & LSU being in the same SEC division, along with AL's intrastate rival Auburn, is the model for MI & OSU being in the same division. It seems to work ok for them, although there has been talk of a North South split.
Yes. If we have to expand I would rather be playing schools to the east like Rutgers & MD than schools to the west, like Kansas, Missouri, etc.
On a Saturday morning Rutgers is a 1 to 1.5 hour drive from a lot of places in the NY metro area.
For a lot of reasons I don't need to be in a stadium with 113,000 others to enjoy the Michigan football experience and I personally would much rather go to a game in South Brunswick than Columbus.
Sorry, but it's not about what the coaches give a rip about.... although I'm sure there are alums on the east coast that coaches keep in touch with. David Brandon routinely speaks at alum organizations around the country.... and coincidentally 65-70% of donations come in during football season.
I'm sure it's similar for other BIG schools.
I would be happy with a Big Ten with only 10 midwestern schools, a real Pac 10 and Big 8, but that time is past.
I see a few of us were considering this "advantage" around the same time I was logging in & typing up my comment.
There are a lot of alums living on the east coast who don't get to see their teams play unless they go back for homecoming or some other games. My daughter in DC has traveled to Happy Valley & C-bus for games. Not everyone who graduates from Michigan lives in Michigan (or within driving distance for a game) after graduation.
I guess it must show our age. So what do they mean by LBJ??? Do I need to watch more Gameday? I know DH and KH are on Gameday & they're in Baton Rouge today for the LSU-Alabama game.... but what's LBJ????
Oh yeah- Little Brown Jug.... we're not talking ESPN Gameday
We need to change it by not playing it for a good 4-5 years to break the habit. I've been thinking about writing a letter to Brandon about stopping it. It's not "only in the student section". I'm in Section 3 and there are an embarrassing number of people doing it there too. I've started to yell "Defense" but I just get a soar throat and frustrated. Today, my 21 yr old daughter who's a student elsewhere looked at me surprised when it was done the first time and said "Is that new?"
(Thanks for letting me get this off my chest, for today anyway!!!)
Hopefully this isn't a double post, but it looks like my attempt to post an hour ago failed.
Just wanted to say thanks for posting this because I probably wouldn't have seen it in the regular news media with CFB, NFL, MLB and US Open going on right now.
I loved the video and seeing that sweet enthusiasm of the young women who were also well-spoken. They are also apparently talented enough to carry on the US Womens Soccer winning tradition for the next decade.
Did you need to make another donation to get moved that amount?
For those figuring this out ;), I'm also an H who received tickets on Friday on the east side of the state. Mgrowold- I'm also section 3, seats 25 & 26, but way up near heaven (in the 80's). Can you tell me what yard line they are? It looks like the numbers run south to north in the section, but I don't know how many seats are in the row.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97fE7ZR_Ww8&feature=player_embedded#!
he's singing 12's my number
I hate Ohio State.
Never went to a HS or college football game (an all-girls HS and small college were good reasons why).
My first experience with Michigan football was as a kid, asking an older sister if she knew what the rules were when I joined her in watching Michigan in a Rose Bowl. She told me, no, I'm just watching these guys in their tight outfits and cool helmets. I was too young to get excited about them then, but became a huge fan of Michigan football when I started grad school here. I had season tickets for many years until my kids activities took over my Saturdays and we were giving away most of the tickets.
Now that they're grown, I'm back to being a football season ticket holder and following them closely. This past year I fell in love with Team 132, and I've been super excited with Hoke's recruiting success. My husband complains about the time I spend keeping up with things at MGoBlog.
So who does your dad want to win the Cowboys Classic- Michigan or Alabama?
It's Raining Men - Aretha Franklin or The Weather Girls
When I started listening it reminded me of Adam Sandler doing a corny song, but it developed quickly into something much better- pretty good rhythm & lyrics. It's still bordering on being corny or weird, but not in a creepy way. It's like a "just be happy" or "put a smile on my face" song.
Thanks for posting it.
If he doesn't learn to filter out comments like this one, he won't have all buckeye fans behind him. Believe it or not, there are some smart and classy buckeyes out there who are and will be turned off by comments like this one. (I work with a PhD from OSU) Of course if he wins big, they might not complain much. I can't wait to hear Meyer's post-game comments after a loss, especially to "that school up north" he referred to, when the emotions and thoughts may be harder to keep in check.
I don't think Mario was leaving the defenders in the dust with his speed. He usually had defenders around him. I think his good hands made the difference in his catches.
No offense to the under 6' players, but I wasn't all that comfortable with jumpballs for completions this past year. Sometimes they worked out great for big plays, but I was never confident about them. I'm happy to see more emphasis on height, although tall & speedy would be great. I think a 6' minimum is about right. Admittedly, Anthony Carter was only 5'11", so exceptions can always be made!
His photoshopping was hysterical. Was he sent to Bolivia?
Thanks for the support! i like you too (even if you're suffering from low self-esteem).
Or is that called stalking? I suspect that's a joke, but it must be over my head... am I too young, too much of a yankee, to get it?
I do agree that you are certainly an interesting Mgoblogger.
They never get the glory the QB's & receivers get.
sorry if this is getting off-topic, but I had to look up Tom & Gisele's net worth. I was surprised to see that Gisele comes out on top:
Net worth Gisele Bundchen: $150M
Net worth Tom Brady: $100M
(maybe he can catch up if she stops working & he plays as long as Favre)
I think they might be using the tape he made in 2009. They don't make a fresh recording for every game. Does anyone know if Braylon Edwards clip this season was still "Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan"? I think there were some other players who recognized their high schools instead of UM in 2009.
I think my boy Tommy is doing ok with his own checking account. He could buy a corvette for each member of the o-line & not sweat it...
Like someone else said- they need to draft Big Play Hemingway! or at least some receivers who can catch the ball when the pressure is on.
Michigan Health System commercial was not nationwide.
from MICHIGAN is stealing the show... but I want Brady to win!!!
Was that something you made, purchased or saw on the internet somewhere????
My arteries feel plugged just looking at that cheese-bacon casserole. Hopefully that's split into 24 servings.
Is T-town for Tarrytown?
A Michigan hockey game is the "quintessential Michigan sports experience"? I've never been to Yost since I'm not really a fan of hockey in general. Maybe those hockey players living in the apartment above me when I first moved to AA turned me off (too much indoor hockey noise). But anyway, tell me why it would be worth going to a game...even if I don't like hockey.
Michigan also offers 4-year scholarships. They and most of the schools in the Big Ten (9 out of 12) did this year.
Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois confirmed to ESPN.com that they have given out four-year scholarships to this class. Ohio State and Nebraska also confirmed on signing day that they are giving out scholarships that no longer have to be renewed annually. Purdue, Indiana and Minnesota are still awarding one-year renewable grants.
From: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7528614/some-big-ten-off…
Maybe Jordan's mother wants to move to Auburn where its nice and warm. Lots of parents move to be closer to their kids.
...at least no one stood us up on the altar.
It's hard to not be disappointed when these kids don't pick Michigan, but we just have to keep reminding ourselves that we have a great class. The coaches did a superb job getting the recruits to commit early in the process. Perhaps it's for the best that we are not signing the kids who can't make up their minds before February, the ones who are torn between different schools, or between what they want & what's best for their family.
It is better to have kids committed early who are sure they want to come to Michigan and won't be leaving before the end of fall camp or fall semester, because they want to be closer to home, or can't take the competition, or handle the rigors of the program.
How often in the past have we had kids pick Michigan on NSD or later? I haven't followed recruiting closely, so none come to mind. I'm curious when previous big name recruits signed. Any one remember notables like Woodson signing?
I really enjoyed reading it & being able to hear from RVB again. I always enjoyed his post-game comments.
- definitely agree with those on the Jack Black resemblance
- appreciated hearing him give credit to the improvement in coaching
A lot of people have said that the defense improved because the players matured, but I always thought more credit should go to the coaching staff. They players learned how to make adjustments! One of the most frustrating things under the previous staff was that there didn't seem to be half-time adjustments, by UM anyway. It was great to see GMatt get to the point with the defense where he would let them (the seniors) do the play calling and adjustments themselves, in response to what they were seeing on the field.
I think we'll see more of RVB in the future, whether it's in the media, on the coaching staff, or in the Athletic Dept.
From a family perspective it will makes sense for him to pick OSU. As much as his mother may have liked Hoke, it'll be much easier for her to hitch rides with "the godfather" to see her son play in Columbus. This may be a case where he picks where his heart leads him, rather than what makes sense. I haven't given up hope, just being realistic.