He will be admitted. Then it's a question if he wants to retake Freshman English and if he needs to stay an extra semester after being out of eligibility/scholarship to graduate. He will probably have 54/60 credits accepted. Pretty much every transfer has to retake Freshman English.
Unlike Vandy, Northwestern went 8-5 last year with a bowl victory over a P5 team. Their basketball team finished 22-12 and was 12-8 in the B1G, 4th in the conference.
Does this basically mean no women's NIL? Because the women's team is competitive and generally, competitive plus good academics plus some NIL will keep 80% of players. Something seems amiss.
I think insufficient degree progress will mostly affect senior transfers. It depends a bit on what degree Jrs would want as it's not just 60 credits at UM, it's so many 300 level and above and within the department of your major.
The bigger issue, if someone only has 1-2 years of eligibility but it will take 1.5-3 years to get a degree, is there is no scholarship to cover completing school. While some NBA prospects may not care, the majority of people in the portal recognize they need to develop for a cup of coffee in the G-league or a European career. They aren't 17. They've seen teammates not go to the NBA. They aren't going to attend UM with no scholarship to cover tuition through graduation.
He's not a transfer. He graduated. Graduate students aren't transfers. The term "grad-transfer" isn't a thing except in rare cases like a PhD advisor takes a faculty job at another school.
Ivy league schools don't allow graduate students to participate in varsity sports, so he has no choice but to matriculate to another university for his graduate degree if he wants to use his remaining eligibility.
It is a big deal he chose Michigan. Having great graduate school programs is a structural advantage for UM.
The reasons it's big news is people are complaining it's bad for the sport because it dilutes mid-majors, and that Michigan is "transfer U." But Michigan hasn't had a well regarded undergrad transfer in since like 2014. The reason Michigan takes guys from Stanford, Northwestern , and Cornell is because it's graduate schools are in the same tier. You could argue Stanford is a leg up in many departments but generally, the graduate school applicant pools are similar. It's very good for graduate students to attend other schools as it broadens their network and enhances employability.
Such questions are best answered by a table, chart, or graph.
A chart
There was a large Larry Brown bump. Jankovich continued most of that success. Lanier did not, but his 2nd second is within the Larry Brown range.
If you looked at this differently, SMU is like a 40% to 66% win percentage team on average instead of like 37% to 63%. They are not a historically good team, but are biased greater than 0.500. 20-13 is on the good side. Any coach with a career 55% or better win % there is a keep. Lanier was below that due to a bad 1st season, but won 61% his second year. It's surprising he didn't get another year.
It is more surprising that SMU fired Rob Lanier. He had a good season with a 10 win improvement. They did lose their last 6 regular season games. His first season was bad compared to historical and this year was back to baseline. But still, 20-13 in year two after 10-22 in year one is improvement.
With the right coach, SMU could be a "Houston". They have resources and local talent. They had 18+ wins in 7 of the last 14 years.
Enfield should be able to continue a 17-20 win success, but it will be more difficult in a tougher conference.
Is there any evidence FAU invested more resources in athletics?
Kiffin's base salary was $950K. In contrast, the lowest P5 coaching salaries in 2017 were $1.6M.
Kiffin received less than half the compensation of mid-major coaches like Chad Morris (SMU) and Scott Frost (UCF) who made more than $2M.
Kiffin did make more than his predecessor ($600K base).
FAU already had some of the better football facilities in Conference USA as they built all new stuff when Schnellenberger started the program.
Kiffin took a $500K paycut to leave Alabama for the job.
Kiffin had the 3rd highest salary in Conference USA, but was only $150K higher than the mean and median, or 1/2 a standard deviation above. He did have large bonus incentives.
In summary: Kiffin is not indicative of FAU suddenly investing substantial resources in athletics. Yes, they spent more than historically, but they did not dump a truck of money compared conference peers. It was a reasonable contract for a school that should be able to compete at the top of it's conference given facilities and local talent.
To clarify, admissions let's them in before the credit situation. Credits are handled by an advisor in the college and the college/department. Transfer admissions is an earlier team and step. You get admitted (or not) and then someone looks at what credits will be accepted.
Admissions are about "can this person succeed here and do they add value to the student body." The majority of scholarship athletes will pass that. Can pass college classes; leadership; diversity, including having lived elsewhere and had other university experiences to contribute to in class discussions.
A couple years away can reignite a passion. Coaching is tough. Good coaches would benefit from a sabbatical every 4 years but it doesn't work that way.
They still get in. But they may not be sufficiently progressed towards their degree after credits are sorted to be NCAA eligible. Or they will run out of eligibility before they could earn a degree and thus not have a scholarship to cover their degree. So they choose not to matriculate.
I think the fan hate did it, not a QB competition.
Also, as others mentioned, Cam Ward was rumored to OSU at that time too. And there was an article (maybe the Athletic) saying the going rate for QBs was like $1.5-2Mn. So basically, McCord has to compete against a guy making way more in NIL, and if he beats him out, would not be compensated equivalent to the guy he beat. Without an assurance he would be compensated the same, he left.
• Michigan will send nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, including six returning NCAA All-Americans in Michael DeAugustino (125 pounds), Austin Gomez (149), Will Lewan (157), Cameron Amine (165), Shane Griffith (174) and Lucas Davison (Hwt). Griffith is an NCAA champion, winning at 165 pounds in 2021, and a three-time All-American. Amine is also a three-time All-American, Lewan and Davison are two-time All-Americans, while DeAugustino and Gomez both claimed fourth place in 2022.
• Two Wolverines are set to make their NCAA Championships debut this week in Kansas City: freshman Sergio Lemley (141 pounds) and senior/junior Jaden Bullock (184).
I also like his analytics take. Find something that is repeatable and clearly the result of coaching, that gives a relative competitive advantage. It keeps the team in games they may otherwise lose and reduces the odds of losing games they should win. Players, seeing sustained improvement and an identity in that area, believe in themselves and each other. It creates better, lower variance teams.
Milroe did graduate in December, so he'd have no issues enrolling as a grad student. But I suspect Deboer can adjust his offense to reasonably fit Milroe and they have had numerous conversations on how to do it.
While I agree, the number of people who drink and drive and also say this, is high in my experience. Those people say "but I only have 1 or 2, I don't get drunk." And this is true. They may have a 1 drink rule and never stray.
However, impairment starts at the first sip. I often wonder if we are better off reminding people of this than saying "eff people."
Yelled at an opposing coach he was going to kill him
Slapped an an opposing coach
Acted heatedly towards a staff member that resulted in that staff member feeling physically threatened
Made physical threats towards his own (player) son in practice that left observers extremely uncomfortable
That may not meet your definition of psycho, but it strongly suggests Coach Howard has insufficient control of his temperament to be a successful employee.
He made comments at the time that it was more than just wanting to try the NBA. It was more of he didn't like all the changing aspects of college and was done, but wanted to try the NBA before being done with basketball for good.
I subscribe to the alternative Rocky IV theory. Ivan Drago intended to use his exhibition bout with Apollo to defect to the US. He hated the Soviet system and wanted freedom. When he accidentally killed his idol, he couldn't defect. The US citizenry would kill him. Not only was he forced to return to the USSR, he was then forced to fight Rocky on Xmas Eve, all while still grieving from killing his idol. The best boxer in the world can't reasonably overcome all those tragedies. Consider this: why does he yell, "I fight for me! For me!"? Would a communist say that? Of course not. That is something a freedom loving capitalist would say. Also consider: Rocky didn't throw in the towel, and he abandoned his wife and kid on Xmas for a payday. Those are villain traits.
While not everyone thought 2020 was an anomaly, the sentiment was that Jim H was a good coach but wasn't going to get the team over Ohio State or even pull away from MSU. Yet he was being paid like he'd done so. Was Michigan and the fanbase okay with 10-3 and 9-4 seasons, losing to OSU 100% of the time and MSU 50% of the time plus the bowl game?
The sentiment was no. For his contract, the results that would be okay would be to beat OSU 1 in 3 games, beat MSU 2 of 3, and win > 33% of bowl games. He hadn't beat OSU once. His overall records were otherwise acceptable.
People wanted him gone, but not because he wasn't a good coach. He just wasn't good enough. Many were okay with rolling the dice and would have accepted worse results if it also meant a victory over OSU on occasion.
This is different then Howard. Harbaugh still had UM averaging out as the 3rd best B1G team during his tenure to that point, maybe the 2nd. SP+ still liked some of those underachieving Michigan teams. Only in the pandemic year were they bad. In contrast, Howard's teams have been slipping every year. They are nowhere near a top 3 conference team. There is no evidence Howard is a very good head coach.
For Juwan to right the ship it will require doing what Jim did: turnover staff and listen to the new staff.
He had a great 2020 as OC with Penix; a bad 2021 without.
I wouldn't be happy as a Bama fan, but as a neutral party, I trust Deboer. I don't think there is enough data on Sheridan as an OC. Indiana's Oline couldn't block a 3-legged puppy in 2021.
As an alum and fan, I've shared this criticism. It has been common on this blog until 2021 when winning and a great team culture increased the interaction between fans and team.
Go back 10 years and there were several articles on this blog about whether the stadium renovations would increase crowd noise.
I don't see this as a knock at all. Brian has had the same criticism over the years.
NCAA indoor championships run the mile, not the 1500m. All other pro and NCAA outdoor championships run the 1500m.
The mile is still quite popular at collegiate and professional Indoor and other events. Everyone knows "the 4 minute mile" so people like to chase it and fans like to cheer for it. My observation is it is probably run at around 25% of collegiate and professional meets. Most of the big ones aside from the championships, will run the mile. "Diamond League Mile" may attract more competition than a 1500 even though a WR attempt could be chased at either.
In some ways this is because people race to win at championships. Depending on weather and the field strategy, times can be slower at a championship race. But if you put on a premier mile race, the field is going to chase time every time.
Agreed. It is a great recruiting asset to have people on staff with long tenures in the NFL. That needs to be balanced with young, relatable coaches on the recruiting trail, but "this guy knows what it takes to be successful in the league" is a selling point. It increases a recruit's willingness to pay/play.
The downside is if the next HC wants his own guy, of if there is a falling out with Moore, you need to pay for two strength coaches. And you need to pay the second guy the same or close to what you pay the first guy.
Now you can play hardball and tell the next HC "you have to use this S&C guy," but then that hurts negotiation with that coach.
But we don't know exactly what was asked for or how negotiation went. Maybe what was most important was Herbert wants to be employed at UM until his kids graduate High School. If that was most important, then maybe other options could satisfy it (like some other role with less $). There's no way to know what interests and options were discussed.
People have ran too hard with the "NFL S&C coaches aren't important and everyone has their own guy."
Not everyone has their own guy. Some do, especially for off-season. But not everyone does. Practice squad players and guys buried on the depth chart likely don't have their own guy in season.
They don't achieve celebrity status in part because their contracts probably prohibit them from working with players from other teams in the off-season. Two reasons for this: it would be helping a competitor and the coach may get knowledge of a competitors injury. This doesn't mean NFL S&C coaches aren't highly regarded.
The downside is subjecting yourself to the coaching carousel and NFL players won't have the gains as college players. That's impossible. The body changes more from 18-22. But if injury prevention, rehabilitation and explosiveness are your thing, the NFL is a great place to be a coach.
If the timing were different, I'd have loved a more public search to include Deboer and Fisch. Maybe there were discrete talks to their representatives in the background all fall, or to others. Maybe Moore still emerges from that search. That is a possibility after interviews.
I can't think of anyone on the market without the same amount of risk or more. Some of the unknowns are different.
Fisher was a good coach. His SDSU legacy proves that.
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He will be admitted. Then it's a question if he wants to retake Freshman English and if he needs to stay an extra semester after being out of eligibility/scholarship to graduate. He will probably have 54/60 credits accepted. Pretty much every transfer has to retake Freshman English.
Same experience on multiple computers and browsers.
Unlike Vandy, Northwestern went 8-5 last year with a bowl victory over a P5 team. Their basketball team finished 22-12 and was 12-8 in the B1G, 4th in the conference.
Northwestern athletics are fine.
Does this basically mean no women's NIL? Because the women's team is competitive and generally, competitive plus good academics plus some NIL will keep 80% of players. Something seems amiss.
I think insufficient degree progress will mostly affect senior transfers. It depends a bit on what degree Jrs would want as it's not just 60 credits at UM, it's so many 300 level and above and within the department of your major.
The bigger issue, if someone only has 1-2 years of eligibility but it will take 1.5-3 years to get a degree, is there is no scholarship to cover completing school. While some NBA prospects may not care, the majority of people in the portal recognize they need to develop for a cup of coffee in the G-league or a European career. They aren't 17. They've seen teammates not go to the NBA. They aren't going to attend UM with no scholarship to cover tuition through graduation.
Incorrect. He went to college at California University and shared a suite with Zack and Screech.
And you know basketball. Bobby's flying skills were up there with Wilkins and Jordan.
Such questions are best answered by a table, chart, or graph.
A chart
There was a large Larry Brown bump. Jankovich continued most of that success. Lanier did not, but his 2nd second is within the Larry Brown range.
If you looked at this differently, SMU is like a 40% to 66% win percentage team on average instead of like 37% to 63%. They are not a historically good team, but are biased greater than 0.500. 20-13 is on the good side. Any coach with a career 55% or better win % there is a keep. Lanier was below that due to a bad 1st season, but won 61% his second year. It's surprising he didn't get another year.
It is more surprising that SMU fired Rob Lanier. He had a good season with a 10 win improvement. They did lose their last 6 regular season games. His first season was bad compared to historical and this year was back to baseline. But still, 20-13 in year two after 10-22 in year one is improvement.
With the right coach, SMU could be a "Houston". They have resources and local talent. They had 18+ wins in 7 of the last 14 years.
Enfield should be able to continue a 17-20 win success, but it will be more difficult in a tougher conference.
Like others depends on roster. Right now:
A- = team develops over the season and plays hard until the end of games; wins some of the 50/50 games.
If the roster looks okay, I'll adjust after OOC.
Is there any evidence FAU invested more resources in athletics?
In summary: Kiffin is not indicative of FAU suddenly investing substantial resources in athletics. Yes, they spent more than historically, but they did not dump a truck of money compared conference peers. It was a reasonable contract for a school that should be able to compete at the top of it's conference given facilities and local talent.
To clarify, admissions let's them in before the credit situation. Credits are handled by an advisor in the college and the college/department. Transfer admissions is an earlier team and step. You get admitted (or not) and then someone looks at what credits will be accepted.
Admissions are about "can this person succeed here and do they add value to the student body." The majority of scholarship athletes will pass that. Can pass college classes; leadership; diversity, including having lived elsewhere and had other university experiences to contribute to in class discussions.
A couple years away can reignite a passion. Coaching is tough. Good coaches would benefit from a sabbatical every 4 years but it doesn't work that way.
They still get in. But they may not be sufficiently progressed towards their degree after credits are sorted to be NCAA eligible. Or they will run out of eligibility before they could earn a degree and thus not have a scholarship to cover their degree. So they choose not to matriculate.
Why did Lunquist leave Buffalo for Bama? Why did Chip Kelly leave UCLA?
It happens. But those are outliers.
I think the fan hate did it, not a QB competition.
Also, as others mentioned, Cam Ward was rumored to OSU at that time too. And there was an article (maybe the Athletic) saying the going rate for QBs was like $1.5-2Mn. So basically, McCord has to compete against a guy making way more in NIL, and if he beats him out, would not be compensated equivalent to the guy he beat. Without an assurance he would be compensated the same, he left.
• Michigan will send nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, including six returning NCAA All-Americans in Michael DeAugustino (125 pounds), Austin Gomez (149), Will Lewan (157), Cameron Amine (165), Shane Griffith (174) and Lucas Davison (Hwt). Griffith is an NCAA champion, winning at 165 pounds in 2021, and a three-time All-American. Amine is also a three-time All-American, Lewan and Davison are two-time All-Americans, while DeAugustino and Gomez both claimed fourth place in 2022.
• Two Wolverines are set to make their NCAA Championships debut this week in Kansas City: freshman Sergio Lemley (141 pounds) and senior/junior Jaden Bullock (184).
Source: Team Page
Claire Hao was 21 editor in chief and is an excellent energy columnist for the Houston Chronicle.
Does that count?
Great point. After the Howard experience, we have the taste of "must have head coaching experience" in our mouths.
That's a strong preference, but is it really a must have? Does it really reduce the likelihood of failure and increase the likelihood of success?
A long time assistant coach is something to consider. I doubt they are more likely to fail or less likely to succeed.
I also like his analytics take. Find something that is repeatable and clearly the result of coaching, that gives a relative competitive advantage. It keeps the team in games they may otherwise lose and reduces the odds of losing games they should win. Players, seeing sustained improvement and an identity in that area, believe in themselves and each other. It creates better, lower variance teams.
That's only one part of the job though.
There are no sure things. That's why it is important to have a decisive AD when it is the wrong thing.
Milroe did graduate in December, so he'd have no issues enrolling as a grad student. But I suspect Deboer can adjust his offense to reasonably fit Milroe and they have had numerous conversations on how to do it.
While I agree, the number of people who drink and drive and also say this, is high in my experience. Those people say "but I only have 1 or 2, I don't get drunk." And this is true. They may have a 1 drink rule and never stray.
However, impairment starts at the first sip. I often wonder if we are better off reminding people of this than saying "eff people."
With Phil Parker from Iowa as Secretary of Homeland Security. No offensive capabilities, only defense.
That may not meet your definition of psycho, but it strongly suggests Coach Howard has insufficient control of his temperament to be a successful employee.
He made comments at the time that it was more than just wanting to try the NBA. It was more of he didn't like all the changing aspects of college and was done, but wanted to try the NBA before being done with basketball for good.
Nix was good for 2 years
3. Rocky Balboa is my favorite villain.
I subscribe to the alternative Rocky IV theory. Ivan Drago intended to use his exhibition bout with Apollo to defect to the US. He hated the Soviet system and wanted freedom. When he accidentally killed his idol, he couldn't defect. The US citizenry would kill him. Not only was he forced to return to the USSR, he was then forced to fight Rocky on Xmas Eve, all while still grieving from killing his idol. The best boxer in the world can't reasonably overcome all those tragedies. Consider this: why does he yell, "I fight for me! For me!"? Would a communist say that? Of course not. That is something a freedom loving capitalist would say. Also consider: Rocky didn't throw in the towel, and he abandoned his wife and kid on Xmas for a payday. Those are villain traits.
There aren't any Chargers fans. Most from San Diego abandoned them..
While not everyone thought 2020 was an anomaly, the sentiment was that Jim H was a good coach but wasn't going to get the team over Ohio State or even pull away from MSU. Yet he was being paid like he'd done so. Was Michigan and the fanbase okay with 10-3 and 9-4 seasons, losing to OSU 100% of the time and MSU 50% of the time plus the bowl game?
The sentiment was no. For his contract, the results that would be okay would be to beat OSU 1 in 3 games, beat MSU 2 of 3, and win > 33% of bowl games. He hadn't beat OSU once. His overall records were otherwise acceptable.
People wanted him gone, but not because he wasn't a good coach. He just wasn't good enough. Many were okay with rolling the dice and would have accepted worse results if it also meant a victory over OSU on occasion.
This is different then Howard. Harbaugh still had UM averaging out as the 3rd best B1G team during his tenure to that point, maybe the 2nd. SP+ still liked some of those underachieving Michigan teams. Only in the pandemic year were they bad. In contrast, Howard's teams have been slipping every year. They are nowhere near a top 3 conference team. There is no evidence Howard is a very good head coach.
For Juwan to right the ship it will require doing what Jim did: turnover staff and listen to the new staff.
He had a great 2020 as OC with Penix; a bad 2021 without.
I wouldn't be happy as a Bama fan, but as a neutral party, I trust Deboer. I don't think there is enough data on Sheridan as an OC. Indiana's Oline couldn't block a 3-legged puppy in 2021.
As an alum and fan, I've shared this criticism. It has been common on this blog until 2021 when winning and a great team culture increased the interaction between fans and team.
Go back 10 years and there were several articles on this blog about whether the stadium renovations would increase crowd noise.
I don't see this as a knock at all. Brian has had the same criticism over the years.
NCAA indoor championships run the mile, not the 1500m. All other pro and NCAA outdoor championships run the 1500m.
The mile is still quite popular at collegiate and professional Indoor and other events. Everyone knows "the 4 minute mile" so people like to chase it and fans like to cheer for it. My observation is it is probably run at around 25% of collegiate and professional meets. Most of the big ones aside from the championships, will run the mile. "Diamond League Mile" may attract more competition than a 1500 even though a WR attempt could be chased at either.
In some ways this is because people race to win at championships. Depending on weather and the field strategy, times can be slower at a championship race. But if you put on a premier mile race, the field is going to chase time every time.
Good…
UW >>>>>>>>>> UCLA.
Someone may prefer LA to Seattle but UW is the better job.
Lol. Again, Osborn is not employed by the Ravens. He works for Biff Poggi at Charlotte.
The consensus was he was a bad recruiter until he got Marshall.
I think he graduated and went to WVU as a grad student, not a transfer.
Agreed. It is a great recruiting asset to have people on staff with long tenures in the NFL. That needs to be balanced with young, relatable coaches on the recruiting trail, but "this guy knows what it takes to be successful in the league" is a selling point. It increases a recruit's willingness to pay/play.
Harbaugh uses Excel for EVERYTHING. I think we found Harbaugh's burner twitter account.
You are missing Penn State who are #1. Sanderson has that program on another level.
This has probably hurt Lewan and Amine due to their styles, especially the former. But I like it. It encourages more aggression and rewards it.
It would be QUITE the splash if we had a national headline hire for safeties coach.
Jim keeps it in Excel, but probably on a 1998 Gateway computer.
The downside is if the next HC wants his own guy, of if there is a falling out with Moore, you need to pay for two strength coaches. And you need to pay the second guy the same or close to what you pay the first guy.
Now you can play hardball and tell the next HC "you have to use this S&C guy," but then that hurts negotiation with that coach.
But we don't know exactly what was asked for or how negotiation went. Maybe what was most important was Herbert wants to be employed at UM until his kids graduate High School. If that was most important, then maybe other options could satisfy it (like some other role with less $). There's no way to know what interests and options were discussed.
People have ran too hard with the "NFL S&C coaches aren't important and everyone has their own guy."
Not everyone has their own guy. Some do, especially for off-season. But not everyone does. Practice squad players and guys buried on the depth chart likely don't have their own guy in season.
They don't achieve celebrity status in part because their contracts probably prohibit them from working with players from other teams in the off-season. Two reasons for this: it would be helping a competitor and the coach may get knowledge of a competitors injury. This doesn't mean NFL S&C coaches aren't highly regarded.
The downside is subjecting yourself to the coaching carousel and NFL players won't have the gains as college players. That's impossible. The body changes more from 18-22. But if injury prevention, rehabilitation and explosiveness are your thing, the NFL is a great place to be a coach.
It's off-season cluckbait
He would be on my list to interview for TE coach.
No. Lefty has a so-so OC record. If we want a MAC head coach to become coordinator, get Toledo's coach or Joe Moorehead.
If the timing were different, I'd have loved a more public search to include Deboer and Fisch. Maybe there were discrete talks to their representatives in the background all fall, or to others. Maybe Moore still emerges from that search. That is a possibility after interviews.
I can't think of anyone on the market without the same amount of risk or more. Some of the unknowns are different.
Fisher was a good coach. His SDSU legacy proves that.