unverified voracity

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Hey: watchalong. We're going to do a watchalong for the hockey semifinal Saturday at 9 PM. Be there.

The culture is 8-24 and Jon Sanderson works for Illinois. An Athletic article from Brendan Quinn and Katie Strang reveals that an outside consulting firm has been brought into assess the culture of the basketball program:

…a makeshift meeting room was assembled inside Michigan Stadium last week. There, officials from Rankin Climate, an external firm specializing in organizational “climate assessments,” convened to conduct a probe into the culture of the men’s basketball program. Rankin officials asked some athletic department employees about their experiences in the program, Howard’s leadership and support offered by the athletic department. Those interviewed were told that participation was voluntary, according to multiple university employees granted anonymity because they are not permitted to speak about the investigation.

There's not a whole lot else that was new except some more details of what Sanderson sent the university via his lawyer; there are some disturbing claims:

Sanderson claims Howard approached his son, Jett, visibly angry during a 2022-23 practice and threatened, “I’ll slap the sh– out of you,” adding the incident “sparked a lot of internal conversation.” Sanderson said one coach on staff said he saw Juwan Howard “manhandle” Jett on the side of the court; that coach expressed that he was upset with how Jett was being treated.

As many have said in the aftermath of this article's release: it's the athletic director's job to know what the culture of his second-most important sport is. Hiring an outside firm to do your job for you is a waste of money and time. If the consulting firm comes back and says "eh this is fine," should Juwan Howard be retained? No. So what are we doing here? It feels like Warde Manuel wants someone else to make the decision for him.

Meanwhile the season is over for most teams that will be axing coaches. There are already 34 open head coaching spots in D-1, and the most attractive candidates will start going off the board soon as Michigan tries to figure out if the culture is bad on the worst Michigan basketball team in living memory.

Decisions made. Vandy—a program with much less recent historical success—just fired Jerry Stackhouse after Stackhouse went 9-23 in year five. The buyout is supposed to be north of 15 million dollars, which is wild. Vandy hired a guy with no head coaching experience who never got to the tournament and is stuck with that buyout after five years… and even that athletic director was able to see the writing on the wall.

[After the JUMP: football stuff! You should click. I promise.]

[Bryan Fuller]

Defensive coaches announced; Hart outgoing. Michigan has finally finished asking every one of their new defensive hires if they have ever run a vacuum refurbishment company with many negative reviews and officially announced them:

Moore's first staff is led by Don "Wink" Martindale, U-M's Matt and Nicole Lester Family Defensive Coordinator, who brings 19 years of NFL coaching experience to the program. Martindale was the architect of the defensive scheme that Michigan has run for the past three seasons and will continue to utilize as the framework for its 2024 unit.

The staff includes defensive line coach Greg Scruggs, linebackers coach/run game coordinator Brian Jean-Mary and defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator LaMar Morgan. The Wolverines have also added former defensive back Brad Hawkins as a graduate assistant coach.

There has been some chatter online about how Martindale didn't quite run the Ravens Defense as Michigan fans understand it via the lens of Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter—he was much more blitz heavy and ran more man defense—so the explicit statement that Martindale is here to change nothing is interesting. Reassuring? I don't know.

Also in "change nothing, do the same thing," LaMar Morgan is here largely on the recommendation of one guy:

"LaMar is someone that I have enjoyed getting to know through this process. He came highly recommended by Jesse Minter and I saw why he is respected as an top notch defensive backs coach during our conversations. He is an excellent teacher and communicator, and his passion for football and for helping young men achieve their goals showed through in his interview. I am excited to have LaMar mentoring our defensive secondary and coordinating the passing game."

Minter-recommended G5 DC becoming secondary coach: okay.

Unfortunately, Angelique Chengelis is reporting that Mike Hart will not return as a running backs coach next year. Hart does not have an instant landing spot elsewhere, and it's well past the usual coaching carousel, so it seems like this was a decision from Moore. There had been rumors about a lot of conflict between Harbaugh and Hart… but there are rumors about conflict between Harbaugh and everyone. 

[After THE JUMP: squeeze the money tree until it withers]

this could be us but you listenin' to Atlantic Hockey coaches [Bill Rapai]

Cullen pursuit. After Sam Webb broke news that Michigan was pursuing Kansas City DL coach Joe Cullen to be their defensive coordinator, an NFL reporter, uh, reported that Michigan wasn't the only team in pursuit:

The Commanders have since filled their spot, leaving the Seahawks. It makes sense that Mike Macdonald would probably both 1) recommend Cullen and 2) consider him for his own DC slot, since both guys have that Ravens background. Webb notes that Macdonald is going to be his own DC, though:

“Yeah, right now the plan is I’ll be calling the plays,’’ Macdonald said Thursday during his introductory news conference. “Now, depending on who the defensive coordinator is and when that becomes — ultimately, I’m the head coach of the football team, so I want to coach the football team. Right now, the best way that we can win in my opinion is for me to call the plays, and then when it becomes obvious that someone else is ready to go and we see it the same way, then we’ll make that change.’’

Cullen may want to be the guy, or the Seahawks may turn their attention to someone else.

[After THE JUMP: death to the NCAA, returning production, home regionals now]

it's not good! 

no sign content included 

nothing's going to happen at the MSU game 

michigan can pay its guards but not its centers 

DEVIN GARDNER IS FIRED UP ABOUT DECADE OLD EVENTS AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO

more like JJ McAss

shouldn't they be suspending chris creighton instead 

the majestic sight of beavers soaring through the sky

we're just treating the NCAA like the crazy uncle who says stuff now