I think it's totally fair to be angry. I can't fathom a program doing less (recruiting specifically) with the three years of sustained success than Michigan. I put all of that at the feet of Jim Harbaugh interviewing at the close of every season and chasing away high ranking players worried about his future. And as long as I'm processing my grief I blame him for last seasons TCU game plan, because he wasn't focused on preparing for that game but rather getting ready to get an NFL job. 

So thanks Coach for getting Team 144 to the pinnacle, but also not sad to see this constant will he won't he circus end. He's a weird guys and hopefully he finds success with the Chargers before he wears out his welcome in LA.   

I assume you're right about wanting to talk to the team, but the way he's dragged all of this out has been For Jim, For Jim, For Jim.     

I'm officially at the anger part of this grief journey. Hindsight being what it is and all, but I think Michigan after the Washington game should have offered Jim their best contract and said sign it or shop the NFL but we need to move forward. This one foot out the door looking for a perfect goldilocks situation or coming back to Michigan as plan B. That is what's best for Jim but not what's best for the University of Michigan. The fact that this program hasn't been able to parlay the past three seasons into recruiting success because of lack of coaching stability at the top is miss management by Ward and the Regents. Thank you Jim for what you accomplished this season but taking a large part of the coaching staff with you to LA at this point in the cycle is only good for him and will be a huge setback for the team. I'm over it and hope he leaves today so we can all move on with a leader that wants to be here. 

What a bummer for those of us of a certain age. This is interesting timing, being in Louisville there was just a Business Journal article talking about SI having the naming rights to the new "Premium" lounge area in the newly renovated Churchill Downs paddock area ahead of the 150th KY Derby. Doing some digging it seems SI has gone the way of many once popular brands and is owned by Authentic Brands Group (What a fucking name that is). They buy the name, gut the brand and it basically exists as a zombie. I found SI branded media and sports books, basically everything except good sports journalism.   

The premise of being better off then before Jim got here is inarguable. My general grumpiness comes from the inability of this program to truly build on the successes of the past three seasons. We can continue to point to the ability to find undervalued / lower ranked recruits and develop the hell out of them. Great! But, I refuse to believe that there aren't plenty of 5 star culture fits at skill positions like JJ that are turned off from coming to Michigan because every year the Head Coach looks for his Goldilocks job in the NFL. He continues to cuck this school and fan base making us watch as he takes NFL meeting after NFL meeting finally choosing to comeback and profess this is where he wants to be. Make a choice, make peace with whatever you choose and get to work. 

I really wondered why after the National Championship game the joy I felt didn't meet my expectation. Or even match what I felt after the Rose Bowl game. I think knowing that this new cycle was inevitable zapped some of the joy for me.    

During the Tressel and Meyer years of dominance I always thought part of what kept Michigan from getting over the hump (despite great game plans several of those years) was young kids who deep down didn't know/think they could win. Sounds crazy, but dealing with my own kids, and coaching youth sports I've witnessed kids after repeated losses to the same competition beat themselves with poor attitudes and sloppy mistakes at the fist sign of struggle. This coming season will be interesting in Columbus because they are a team full of kids that haven't beaten Michigan and even with all the players coming back I do wonder if deep down they worry they can't win.  

It's been so great for Michigan football lately it's hard to believe the lows that got me here. I started on Firelloydcarr.com in 07 after Oregon slammed a sledge hammer in Michigan's end zone. I think that was Brian's first page that then morphed into this beautiful chaos. That part I could have wrong, but I do remember sitting watching with shock as Michigan started 0-2 after being ranked #5 to start the season, and thinking it can't get worse than this. HA! The journey that followed has lead us all here, and I'm so incredibly excited to watch the game tonight with my sons and hopefully see a National Title come to Ann Arbor. Go Blue!

We as Michigan faithful are all to familiar with the September Hesiman. Having watched some of the videos Coach Prime's Son makes following the team it's clear they love the limelight and are doing a awesome job of self promotion. In this new age of NIL, Prime letting these kids self promote will be attractive to recruits, at least at first. The thing I can't wait to see is what happens in a couple of weeks with Oregon and SC in back to back games. If the team doesn't win will there be finger pointing and infighting as a means of protecting an individual players marketability? It seems like there is a lot of I's on that team but not a lot of WE's. Tom Luginbill has been dragged about his comments regarding the roster construction, but I think he'll be proven largely correct. There are several NFL ready players propping up average O and D lines. When big boy football is required I'm not sure they have the horses and I'll be very curious what the mood is like then.