Has the football program had a more turbulent year?
Question for you historians/old timers:
Last year, after Mary Sue's apparently drunk interview during a game, I began to sense that things were starting to come apart at the seams at UM.
This year we have had a concussion news event, student protests, email flaps, president leaves, AD leaves and (probably) the coach is fired. Attendance has been spotty, the team may not make a bowl- and now the Frank Clark thing. Seems we never talk football anymore- one long soap opera.
So- has there ever been a year like this for UM football before? I am sure there was a lot of drama on the campus in the 60's - but has the football program had this many negative news stories in one year before? I am not good at UM FB history- thanks for any replies
November 17th, 2014 at 11:00 PM ^
"tolerate summer football practice"??!!
With the history of controversy over practice (the above quote about Kipke "he tolerated summer football practice, RichRod and 'practicegate', and the current standing joke "we practiced well this week"), I'm so very thankful that Allen Iverson has no U of M ties.
November 17th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
I could not resist responding to this post. And I admit, I'm a devoted Buckeye fan. The only thing which distinguishes us is we have different fan obsessions. Like you, i have endured the times of crisis when, for example, Terrelle Pryor sold his sacred memorabillia or Maurice Clarett went to jail. And the Luke Fickell season was painful to watch as well. Like Michigan, though, the vociferous fan uproar over a terrible season and a long-gone, morally questionable quarterback brought Urban here to win games and to be on his best behavior. So far, so good. If the behavior slips--or the wins--Urban's legend goes with it--and he knows it. That's why i always knew Sparty would be in big trouble in East Lansing. You chose the much more likable Brady Hoke. We chose ruthless Urban who is still puzzled that too many people still view him as the enabler of Aaron Hernandez. Ohio State is, therefore, trying to be like the old Michigan, an academic and football powerhouse. Time will tell but Stanford is more of the model than Northwestern. Both M and OSU have the same vision, nonetheless, for that powerhouse combination. Which explains, i suppose, the unspoken sadness of so many Buckeye fans that their Michigan ridicule no longer has the zing it once did. During Penn State;s last visit here, and a crushing defeat, their band watched as the OSU band once again derisively unfurled a Michigan flag during the halftime show. The message was clear: Ohio State will never transplant PSU for U of M. The near-loss at Happy Valley was not so surprising since that fanbase was frenetically committed to winning that game to take Michigan's place in the hiearchy. Didn't happen. Never will. Ohio State is rooting for the Michigan rususcitation, NOt James Franklin and Penn State. Bring it on Harbaugh--or a facsimile. This too will pass, and then we can all return to the hate that we love.
November 18th, 2014 at 2:20 AM ^
I can appreciate when a Buckeye fan comes here and is respectful, and not trying to troll. I, too, can't wait for the days when Michigan can hold up our end of the rivalry. It's a special rivalry.
November 18th, 2014 at 12:50 AM ^
My first grade teacher was a big Michigan fan and got me interested in Michigan during the '69 season. I did not have a good grasp of football back then but during 2nd and 3rd grade I became hooked, even though my Dad was a big ND fan! I was fortunate to remember the Bo years and went to school at Michigan in the early 80s! Mo started out good but kept losing some key games before he got fired. Carr started out the same with 8-4 records before his break out 13-0 season in '97. Even though I worked out of state and could not attend any games it was great getting to see Michigan play on television. The disaster happened after the '06 season. Carr's last season, and looking like he was not happy or did not want to coach any longer during the '07 season but after the App St. loss and blow out by OR, I was pretty down but had hope when we beat UF, and had a bigger name coach, RR taking over. 08' was a complete disaster. Our bowl streak came to an end. What a drop off from a program that usually won 8 or more games to only having 3 wins. I was kind of pissed about the '08 season but just thought it was growing pains installing the spread. I thought '09 was the disaster year for RR. He should have beaten Purdue at home that season and we would have finished 6-6 with a bowl game but we went 7-5. A very poor defense was the demise of RR. Even though the spread worked well against weaker teams, the teams that had a good defense seem to crush us! Now we have Hoke. Things went great for him '11, almost a dream first season. At first I did not like the hire but after watching how the defense and team improved that season I became a Hoke believer. Now the downward spiral. Even though Hoke has recruited good talent he and hid coaches have failed to develop this talent. I'm still optimistic since the building blocks are here for a good coach to come in and turn this program around. There is depth and talent, so I give Hoke credit for leaving the team in much better shape then Carr and RR left the team.
November 18th, 2014 at 12:49 AM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 1:06 AM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 8:26 AM ^
Its hard for me to separate THIS ugly season from the last 3/4 of a decade of mostly ugliness. Nothing in my 4 decades as a fan comes close to this period of mass suckiness. And its not JUST that the team has fallen so hard its that the main rivals have all accelerated past UM too. No one could have convinced me that the day would come where MSU would be slapping UM around annually...no fking way. OSU goes through Tresselgate and comes out ahead wtf.
Now there are kids growing up who will revere Dantonio and Sparty...who can't remember what is was like for UM to own MSU. OSU fans are as unsufferable as ever (maybe moreso as now some even show pity). For a handful of programs CFB is magical and that magic is easily taken for granted.
November 18th, 2014 at 8:42 AM ^
Turbulent is kind of relative given the ever-changing landscape of the media. I mean, how do we compare this season to other times in the past that didn't have to deal with ESPN sensationalism, Twitter, and Facebook?
Imagine the media frenzy in 1968, with Michigan in the middle of an almost 2 decade football doldrums, a 50-14 humiliation to OSU and an incoming head coach that nobody had ever heard of after having been turned down by Joe Paterno.
What kind of media frenzy would have erupted in 1938, when this coach from Princeton showed up to take over the football program and changed the design of the helmets to this odd maize and blue winged design?
November 18th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Someone else mentioned this, but 1984 is one that sort of comes close. Harbaugh got injured and the team finished 6-6, losing to BYU in a terrible Holiday Bowl. Bo's only non-winning season.
Many years later, Bo said there was a lot of internal turmoil on that team, including having to kick some guys off the team for selling hippie lettuce. I believe he said that it was personally his hardest year ever.
November 18th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
We've been playing football at Michigan for 135 years. I don't think there are any "old-timers" that can answer that question. Best response so far is the guy who did the research on the 1934 team.
This reminds me of "best of" and "worst of" lists that purport to cover the history of a thing, then everything on the list is from the last decade.
November 18th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
For the reasons previously posted.
November 18th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
This one seems much worse than it is because of the echo chamber of the internet. I think it's the immediacy of the feedback and anonomous piling on. The team has a couple of very ugly losses early, a few volatile people vent on the net pronouncing the season over, screaming about problems that stretch back years before the current staff was here, emotions boil over and all rational assessment leaves the building.
No one has to own their commentary in the real world. Coaches get mocked, have their character and motivations abused and trashed. negativity abounds and things devolve into an absurd caricature of fandom. Support for the program becomes damning with faint or backhanded praise. All is darkness. People give up on everything and bash any signs of improvement. Any negative is blown far out of proportion.
Except, of course, all is not darkness and things aren't that bad. The intensity of the turbulence is more the result of the level of communications available to the most vocal of the fanbase.
Rather than roll around in the gloom of losses that have yet to occur, I suggest that we follow the lead of the players and take this one game at a time. Objectively, it is still possible for Michigan to go 8-5, beat OSU, win their bowl game, and finish the season with five straight wins. While an eight win season hardly meets the expectations of most fans, it does not foretell the doom of the program.
The time to assess the state of the season and the program is after Michigan plays its last game.
November 22nd, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^
still on board that things aren't that bad yet and it is all the internets fault?
November 18th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
Hello, Im new to this.
I got one thing to say, Stop with the BS on RR for crying out loud, We all know the story of what happen. You guys havent consider of figuring out why RR having so much success at Arizona which he couldnt do at Michigan. All i hear is the same crap. I dont see the result of his 15-22 and 6-18 in three season at michigan compare to 24-12 and 13-12 in three season at Arizona. It laughable.