25 years ago today
It was 25 years ago today, that Bo Schembechler declared "A Michigan Man will coach MIchigan!!" Bill Frieder was gone and six games later Brent Musberger was on the floor with Bo telling him that he had to hire Steve Fisher now.
What a legacy
March 15th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
Good and bad.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
March 15th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
March 15th, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
Also spawned the most annoying "qualifier" in the history of UM Athletics
Times infinity.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^
March 15th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Neither was Bo. It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
March 15th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
I don't think Bo knew what he said then would morph into what it became. Frieder had openly accepted another job before the season was over making him no longer a MICHIGAN MAN. I doubt Bo intended for it to become no one without a prior connection to Michigan can ever coach here again. Hell Bo had no prior connection himself.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
he had an OSU connection. Egad.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
March 15th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^
Excellent post. Your arrow up, sir. Where it went to hell in a hand basket is when Billy Martin was sea sick and MSC hit the bottle a bit too hard, stuffing a round peg in a square hole. I replied to the post that says Bo didn't mean you had to have Michigan ties and it is not the number it says I'm replying to. This happens all the time. Anyone else?
March 15th, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
Are we trying to become RCMB?
March 15th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
The Eastern European communist bloc started to crumble as mass demonstrations in Budapest, Hungary persuaded the communist regime to negotiate political power with non-communist parties.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
Bo's reach was impressive.
"To hell with the János Kádár "
March 15th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
Only to be abandoned by weak leadership in the West.
...by the West surely you mean the Legends...or has that change taken effect?
March 15th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
because it ended up well.
It was only in the following years that it all went south, but 1989 and the National Championship run remain special.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
The correct quote is "I don't want somebody from Arizona State coaching a Michigan team, and I want that understood. A Michigan man is gonna coach Michigan."
Bo's definition of "Michigan man" was quite clearly "A man who is employed by the University of Michigan." It doesn't mean anything beyond that.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
Context is everything here, so thanks for the entire quote. Bo obviously didn't want someone who already had one foot out of the door to another institution coaching UM. And the rest, as they say, is history.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
March 15th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
Did you count Fielding Yost?
March 15th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
Depending on how you're defining it, I think we've had two. If you mean "From WV and considers it home," that would include Yost and RichRod but not Beilein. If you mean "Employed at WVU at the time we hired him," it includes Beilein and RichRod but not Yost.
One whiff (Rodriguez), one grand slam (Yost), and one double off the top of the wall (Beilein) that may be ruled a homer on review.
March 15th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
I believe Frieder grew up in the Saginaw area and in fact went to Michigan, so on one level, it doesn't get much more Michigan than that. I know he has said in interviews though that he was a little frustrated with the direction of the program and was unsure that Schembechler would be behind basketball they way that Frieder believed he should be. It seems like there was a little tension there, from what I understand. I could be incorrect though.
March 15th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
No you've got it. Frieder was under some amount of pressure to perform in the 89 Tourny given our early exits from 85-88 and it was no secret that he and Bo didnt exactly see "eye to eye" on a lot of things. Rumor had it that Bo was NOT happy about the various extra-curricular "activities" that 80's era Michigan basketball seemed to enjoy partaking in and that caused a high degree of tension between the two. Couple that with Frieder's feeling that Michigan would tilt even MORE towards football with Bo as AD and you have the recipe in place for a regime change.
FWIW Frieder's departure marked the end of Michigan basketball coaches leaving for a "better job" somewhere else.
