ESPN story on Steve Fisher - Jalen rips Webber, praises Fish
I like Jalen more every year. Hadn't seen this story posted, discussed.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/19144624/retirin…
April 12th, 2017 at 10:03 PM ^
Why wouldn't he? He was a big part of it and rode it to a successfull career in the NBA. He makes his living now with words, and people keep asking him about it. Why shouldn't he talk about it? I applaud his openness with it, even if it makes some people cringe a little.
And I'd welcome Webber back with open arms if he would only admit what he did. And I suspect most M fans would, also...
April 12th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
Agree 100% until the Webber stuff...what is there to admit? We know what he did. It's just a matter of whether he apologizes or not. And as I mentioned, really? An apology is where so many of you are drawing the line? An apology?
So it all goes away and if he says sorry? This isn't 5th grade and he didn't call you a poopyhead. Saying sorry is polite, but it doesn't change anything - especially from a 40+ year old man.
You make a child say sorry, in part, to teach him/her right from wrong. Why are so many people obsessed with a grown ass man saying sorry? He knows right from wrong. Saying sorry doesn't change anything.
April 12th, 2017 at 10:56 PM ^
April 12th, 2017 at 10:56 PM ^
Why are you changing what I wrote? I don't care if he says he's sorry. He got his, he's got nothing to be sorry about. But he has never admitted to what he did, or that it affected the school/team adversely. He's never aknowledged that, at all. If he does, someday, admit he did things that were against the rules, things that adversely affected the team, and takes responsibilty for it - I'll welcome him back.
He won't do that, though. He won't ever admit he did anything wrong.
there's going to be a fight after school over by the bike racks.
(inner 5th grader snickering at great 5th grade word, at the same time embarrassed)
That's an amazing stat.
Worst move UM made was hiring Tom Goss. He mishandled everything from the budget, staff and firing Fisher. Instead of getting all the facts together, he fired a HOF caliber coach and replaced him with Ellerbe. The sanctions aren't what set the program back. Brian Ellerbe/Tom Goss did more than any booster could do to bring down a program.
April 12th, 2017 at 10:09 PM ^
Yep... Brian Ellerbe is the single worst Michigan coaching hire I can remember, which goes back to the early 70's... Goss was abysmal. Johnny Orr retired that year, and said he'd come back to coach UM that year at no charge. Goss said no.
Goss and Ellerbe should be stricken from the record. But then, if you don't remember history you're doomed to repeat it.
April 12th, 2017 at 10:54 PM ^
April 12th, 2017 at 10:58 PM ^
Whoever the President was at the time - I forget. But Goss was a staffer in the AD and was promoted, I believe, when Schembechler stepped down.
April 12th, 2017 at 11:14 PM ^
Jack Weidenbach replaced Bo in 1990, and then Joe Roberson succeeded him three years later. Goss was hired (from the business world) by Lee Bollinger in 1997, and had no experience in athletic administration. He had only been on the job briefly when he made the coaching change in basketball.
April 12th, 2017 at 11:27 PM ^
Bollinger himself had only been appointed President a few months earlier. Aside from letting students visit his house after the PSU game, he was pretty much regarded as an asshole and ended up leaving for Columbia a couple years later. The awful "Halo" around the Stadium was Lee's idea.
1997 was like the bizarro version of 2014. In contrast to the Schlissel/Hackett/Harbaugh trio of excellence, we hired Bollinger, Goss, and Ellerbe.
April 13th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
And he's done a bang-up job at Columbia, too... They've been on a rollercoaster the last few years on that campus.
April 13th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^
For those of us who graduated between 1997-2001, that's probably what we remember him most for.
Also, Goss was hired in September 1997. He didn't have time to screw up the football program. I have a sneaky feeling that he would've tried to fire Carr if we had another 4-loss season.
April 12th, 2017 at 10:28 PM ^
Love Jalen. He was my favorite of the Fab Five and was the heart of that team. For those of us who experienced it all in real time, we know how the environment really was. For those like WD who are too young to know but still comment on it in a way that makes it nefarious (or more so than it was), piss off. College basketball sucks in comparison to how it was when multi-year rivalries between players were still a thing.
April 12th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^
April 13th, 2017 at 12:04 AM ^
The guy sitting next to me was shouting "Call Time Out!" as were a lot of people in the stands. CW stood up and never once tried to deflect. I also liked that he started the Time Out Foundation with his first NBA check to help inner city kids. Trying to make something positive out of a bad situation.
my all time favorite. Grew up in the worst part of Chicago. Raised by his Grandmother who kept him to the straight and narrow and guided him towards college.
He was at his high school announcing he would go to Michigan to play. Should be the happiest, biggest day of his life. Comes home to find Grandma has had a heart attack or stroke or some such and has passed.
He kept his promise to his grandmother. He came to Michigan, he played, and he went to class. Even after he went pro, he came back and completed his Michigan degree.
Great player, excellent man. Should not be tarred with the Fab-Five-were-all-cheats brush. Lots of people here making assumptions about things they don't know the truth about.
April 12th, 2017 at 10:54 PM ^
April 13th, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^
The reason they won't go away is that failed so spectacularily... So much hubris, so few titles.
April 12th, 2017 at 11:25 PM ^
April 12th, 2017 at 11:29 PM ^
April 12th, 2017 at 11:30 PM ^
Rose and Webber? That's not exactly a secret.
April 13th, 2017 at 12:09 AM ^
April 13th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^
Of course he knew. Read the NCAA report. Read the Fab Five book. He knew Ed Martin. He forged Perry Watson's initials on forms to get Ed Martin comp tickets. Players under Frieder were getting paid--the infamous fancy cars and fur coats. Guess who was Frieder's right-hand man? This just didn't come out of nowhere.
Fisher was one of the chief reasons Ed Martin had access to Michigan Basketball. Period. The "aw shucks" rosy-cheeked yokel routine only goes so far--he helped run, and then oversaw a dirty program.
That being said, with a Michigan basketball program now winning and succeeding by doing things the right way, without even a sniff of impropriety, it would be really great if these people would just go away already.
April 13th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
This is an unpopular opinion I'm guessing, but I don't buy for a second Fisher didn't have an idea something was up.
Anyone on campus during those years knew what was up. Hard to miss Tractor Traylor in his giant, souped-up Suburban.
April 13th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
April 13th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
Do we have other proof that Webber received the money he allegedly was given? I always wondered if both banners had to be removed, especially if Webber didn't receive any money until sophomore year.
He testified about it in court, but I think it's sealed, so we may not know the exact details.
Coach Fisher was a class act.
I loved the Fab Five and the way they energized college basketball. A joy to watch. I was at that Final Four in New Orleans. Utterly stunned by the ending. At the Michigan hotel afterwards, Coach Fisher stood in the ballroom and addressed the Michighan faithful. He said that the coaching staff took the blame and that we should not hold it against CW who felt horrible about it. He said the whole team was standing by CW.
Coach then stood there as if in a funeral receiving line and spoke with EVERY single person passing by. It had to have been excruciating, but he did it with class and dignity. I'll never forget it.
Watching Rumeal Robinson make those two foul shots was one of the happiest sports moments of my life.