unverified voracity
santa ono
jim harbaugh nfl blah blah
warde manuel
warde manuel has been informed
matt weiss
matt weiss was a madden kid
matt weiss was a madden kid but now did computer crimes maybe
osu
gender reveals
100% hilarious futility
people in charge of things are just in charge of them for no reason
weird harbaugh stuff
pff offensive line grading puzzle
[Patrick Barron]

Unverified Voracity Has Notified Person Comment Count

Brian January 18th, 2023 at 11:28 AM

A sponsor note of a different variety. The long-term sponsor of this post, Richard Hoeg, is a good guy and and excellent lawyer who we've had on our podcast a couple times. He also recently suffered a stroke. His family has a gofundme up as he embarks on his recovery.

It's already done quite well because Richard had spent years building his own online community, which you may know if you leaked over from here to there. If Richard was important to you in some way I encourage you to donate.

I have informed the guy whose job it is to do the thing I just did. Harbaugh back, hooray, but also this is a pretty weird way to go about informing the world:

Ono tweets a lot about the stuff he's doing but as of yet I haven't detected a tendency to self-aggrandize. They're mostly anodyne boilerplate things. The Harbaugh's back tweet stands out, and has caused the conspiracy-minded sections of the internet to wonder if this is fallout from a frosty relationship between Warde Manuel and some combination of Ono and/or Harbaugh. Harbaugh's quote on the matter mentions Ono but not Manuel:

This kind of thing usually doesn't happen even if there is some tension between the parties. I'd caution against reading too much into it; on the other hand "I have communicated the news to our athletic director" is indicative of a process that the athletic director did not accomplish himself.

Also! Ono trolling Adam Schefter about Oakland still being in play…

…is sort of astounding since only very online Michigan fans would still be holding that grudge eight years later. Ono was at Cincinnati eight years ago. I think my man is the kind of twitter addict that knows about Temecula.

Good news/bad news on having a Madden kid. Matt Weiss was literally the Ravens' Madden kid—a young person who has played a butt-ton of Madden and thusly has a good grasp on end-game decision-making—and we hailed that sort of hire when it was made. Apparently one of the downsides of having a coach young enough to know how to use computers is sometimes they do crimes with them?

Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss has been placed on leave, according to an athletic department spokesman, as the school's police department told ESPN it is investigating a "report of computer access crimes" that occurred in December at the team's football facility. …

Last week, a neighbor of Weiss in Ann Arbor told ESPN that several unmarked cars showed up outside Weiss' home in what appeared to be some type of police presence. (The neighbor declined to be named.) The search of Weiss' home is believed to be tied to the university police investigation, according to sources. …

An entry from the university police's online daily crime log on Jan. 5 notes that police received a report about "fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university email accounts without authorization" at Schembechler Hall. It is the only report of police activity at the football facility in the past month.

Josh Henschke has a screenshot of the log if you want the primary source.

"Accessing university email accounts without authorization" rules out the most lurid possibilities. It also rules out the possibility this was  some sort of Wakeyleaks scandal that would get the broader football program in trouble. On the other hand, a bunch of police searching your home seems like this is something other than a slap on the wrist.

We'll have to see what the details are here. Boy am I sick of saying that! Seems like this is the third or fourth "hmm, seems bad but let's wait for the details" in the last year. At least the Mazi Smith details were the nothingburger foretold.

People in charge of NIL are just in charge of it. Bry Mac, of Opponent Watch and Punt/Counterpunt fame, details the (unintentionally?) hilarious rug pull from the dwarven goober in charge of OSU's NIL efforts:

And then, bright and early on Monday morning, the last day for players to enter the draft…

Brian Schottenstein isn’t just some dude. He is a member of “Columbus’s last dynasty” (which, despite what you would think when you hear “Columbus dynasty,” somehow doesn’t trace its roots to workout supplements or the band Staind). He’s also a founding member, along with Cardale Jones, of THE Foundation, an Ohio State Name, Image, and Likeness collective. It is one of the three collectives officially recognized and supported by Ohio State. The Board of THE Foundation includes such Ohio State luminaries as D’Angelo Russell, JT Barrett, and… /double-checks notes/… Urban Meyer. These guys are supposed to be the tip of the spear in this new age of college athletics. Just last week Schottenstein gave an interview talking about how THE Foundation is hard at work trying to “keep the players that are here.”

OSU fans got in a frenzy about CJ Stroud potentially returning, only for Stroud to more or less immediately declare for the draft. The Schottenstein news was… a gender reveal.

The guy who argued, in public, multiple times, that being an Ohio State quarterback who went 0-2 against Michigan didn't define his legacy was never ever ever ever coming back, but a rich guy with a bad grasp of timing briefly got OSU's hopes up that they could once again score in the mid-20s against Michigan with the best wide receiver corps in the nation. What a country.

Hey! Actually, nevermind. Bill Connelly's list of the top 100 games of the season is almost devoid of Michigan games, which is largely because 12 of their games were blowouts. Personally, the OSU game was competitive into the fourth quarter and the sheer mindblowing way that game went probably should have warranted a spot. But if the reason The Game doesn't make the list is because it was a 22-poing shellacking… I'll take it.

The only games to make the list were the Illinois game and, well, yeah. TCU:

Earlier in the day, TCU and Michigan had put on one of the best three-act plays you'll ever see.

Act I: TCU benefits from a pick-six and a couple of scoreless Michigan red zone trips and builds a 21-6 halftime lead.

Act II: The third quarter was the wildest quarter in CFP history, as the teams combined for 420 yards and 44 points. Michigan cut the lead to 21-16, then watched it balloon back to 34-16 thanks in part to another pick-six. But it was 41-30 when the Wolverines recovered a fumble on the final play of the quarter and 41-38 when they scored 47 seconds later.

Act III: The fourth quarter was inferior only to the third. Quentin Johnston's shake-and-bake 76-yard touchdown and a Griffin Kell field goal expanded TCU's lead back to 51-38, but Michigan scored to make it 51-45 with 3:18 left and got the ball back with 52 seconds remaining. But after allowing 45 points and over 500 yards, the TCU defense got the last laugh, forcing a four-and-out and kneeling out a finals bid.

Ah well.

PFF OL grading, continued. Not just us:

FWIW.

Things are going well when… we get some Weird Jim content.

Steve Schilling's old school, FWIW.

Things are not going well when… this sentence appears in a post about your team:

With Rashada likely heading elsewhere to begin his college career, it should clear the stage for Mertz to start for the Gators in 2023.

That is the aftermath of Florida QB commit Jaden Rashada's inevitable request to be released after his ludicrous NIL deal fell apart.

Etc.: Important news about cooling off. Corpse of SI content is low-quality but this Miami site is speculating that Josh Gattis could be on the move again after he wasn't present for a high-profile transfer's visit. How you gonna do Jamal Crawford like that?

Comments

bronxblue

January 18th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^

I will never not laugh at the gender reveal video, in part because my 6-year-old son basically that same outfit down to the shoes and, not to shame short kings or anything, looks about the same size.  Also, gender reveals are stupid and are just a marketing gimmick to trick parents into thinking having a kid isn't a combination of love, exhaustion, and constant panic for decades.

In terms of Michigan, the vibes around it are so crazy.  Harbaugh is back and so are a ton of contributors from last year; probably the most "unexpected" loss was Andrel Anthony leaving, which is pretty good when you're talking about the 4th/5th receiver on the depth chart.  But it's also been basically a month and a half of bad stories publicly around them, including whatever is happening with Weiss.  Cynicism and context clues leads me to believe this is something non-insignificant but I've also seen the media spend a ton of time constructing mountains out of mole hills so who knows. 

The Florida NIL implosion highlights why all those numbers you hear are usually BS.  I'm sure there are a handful of players who command decent NIL checks; pay-for-play like we saw here aren't likely to reach that level except at the highest level of talent.  Some 4.5* kid isn't going to have that leverage and while it's fun to talk like you have a big bag of cash to give to athletic 17-year-olds the reality was always going to be that it was more smoke than fire.

 

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171436

UMfan21

January 18th, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^

We did gender reveals the old fashioned way.  For our daughter we flew back to Michigan secretly.  We showed up on my mom's front step with a gift and when she opened it, there was a gift inside with a pink ribbon.

We did a similar thing for baby #2, secretly flying back home and then surprising my in laws by walking into a restaraunt where they were seated and gave them a gift which was a tiny baseball mitt (first grandson).

Nothing fancy online, yet still fun for the family and memories we won't forget.

 

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 51224

Slim Whitman

January 18th, 2023 at 3:11 PM ^

We didn't ask for a preview or announce beforehand. I think it was before the invention of "let's hope the ultrasound was right" videos.

I learned 1st kid's gender cutting the cord.  2nd kid's gender was revealed when Dr. allowed me to catch her. Everybody else had to wait for a call or a card.

Joined: 11/09/2018

MGoPoints: 3403

1989 UM GRAD

January 18th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^

You can figure out my age by my screen name, so take my opinion FWIW.

I find gender reveal events/parties/spectacles to be one of the dumbest things ever.  What is the point?  People are going to be excited regardless of the gender of your child, so why even bother? 

It's not like the people who attend your event or who watch your video are truly excited because of the specific gender of your baby.  

Just once, I'd like to see a gender reveal where people "boo" upon learning of the baby's gender.  Or maybe see one of the parents express a little disappointment because they were hoping for the opposite gender.  I do have a male cousin who has four daughters.  His wife was done after the fourth, so he got a male dog.  

I found it to be really exciting to not know the gender of both of our kids until the baby made its appearance.  Created some anxiety...but also a heightened amount of anticipation.  This might be TMI, but the combination of being overwhelmed by the moment and the swelling that female babies have "down there" made me pause before making the call on our second child's sex.  

Joined: 03/08/2012

MGoPoints: 1530737

TrueBlue2003

January 18th, 2023 at 5:26 PM ^

Man, you all sound really fun.  I agree that gender reveals solely for social media purposes are lame (as is anything done solely for attention on social media), but a gender reveal party?  Why the hell not?  I'll take any excuse to get friends together to have fun.

For my son's gender reveal, we invited 25 of our friends over, got a keg, had someone dye the beer (pink or blue) with food coloring the way you dye kegs green for St. Patty's.

So I tapped the keg, blue beer shot out and that's how I found out I was having a son. Then we proceeded to have an awesome time drinking said keg and merrymaking.

Lighten up, y'all.  It's an excuse to celebrate and have fun!  Who doesn't like that?

Joined: 01/05/2010

MGoPoints: 38075

goblu330

January 18th, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^

IMO the book The Road is best allegory for parenting I have ever read or seen.

Go this way, because I think it is right, but it might not be, and watch out for those guys, they are pretty bad, and maybe talk to these people because they seem alright, maybe, oh here is this one cool thing, now definitely don't go that way, we are going this way because the thing might be there, or it might not, REALLY stay away from them, trust me, I think, now run!  But wait up.

Joined: 01/07/2022

MGoPoints: 32123

kehnonymous

January 18th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^

As far as we know, there's no connection between the literal nothingburger NCAA allegations and Weiss' misbehaviors, right?  With those two things coming so close together at a place with our profile, there's almost certainly (and understandably) going to be some conflation which is what it is.  But I would really like for these two things to not be the different peaks of the same iceberg, tyvm.

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 32994

kehnonymous

January 18th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^

That's fair, but from everything we've been given so far re: Harbaugh (as opposed to Weiss, which who know), not being forthcoming about buying recruits burgers is an utterly meaningless "offense"  As Seth pointed out, it is certainly possible we might be getting served papers for screwing up COVID protocols during the lost year of 2020, which is decidedly less OK given the context, but even that is something that you could have nailed any other CFB program for.

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 32994

TrueBlue42

January 18th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^

Aside from the Harbaugh coaching carousel this year and last, what can be pinpointed as the main reason(s) we have not been recruiting at 247 Composite top 5 levels? Is there something else that is hurting Michigan, especially with the top 100 recruits given the on-field success these last 2 years? I am curious to hear everyone's take. Why are we not a recruiting powerhouse right now other than the uncertainty of whether Harbaugh stays or goes?

Joined: 08/15/2017

MGoPoints: 13

AZBlue

January 18th, 2023 at 1:17 PM ^

^^This.  Add to that the many top 100 kids are looking to get “Paid” - or at least open when it is offered - and M refusing to do pay for play. 
 

There is a big difference between the “legal” NIL that M is trying to do and what A&M, Oregon, Miami, and others are doing with big promises prior to signing and/or just plain up-front $$.

Joined: 09/14/2008

MGoPoints: 16788

First And Shut…

January 18th, 2023 at 12:06 PM ^

As has been discussed here, there are many theories about Warde Manuel's role in the re-hiring of Jim Harbaugh, and why University president Santa Ono has taken the lead role.

My theory is that UM, like many large corporations, gives its executives the power to sign contracts up to a given $$ amount. When the needed amount rises above an executive's signing authority, it bumps to the next higher-level executive.

I saw "10 years and $125 million" as a guess thrown out for what it might take to keep Harbaugh. If this is a realistic figure, then it wouldn't surprise me if Warde didn't have authorization to commit UM to a figure that high - perhaps his limit is just $100 million. But Santa Ono probably does have authority to go to $125 million, or higher. Hence, it could make sense for Warde to drop into the background, as Santa Ono worked with Harbaugh to get an acceptable contract.

Joined: 11/11/2014

MGoPoints: 579

ShadowStorm33

January 18th, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^

I saw "10 years and $125 million" as a guess thrown out for what it might take to keep Harbaugh.

But it makes almost no sense that money would be the holdup for Harbaugh. The only thing that might remotely fit would be that it's an ego thing, i.e. it's not the money itself, but rather what that kind of deal says about Harbaugh's status as a coach. But this is a guy that gave away ~$2M of bonus money last year. That kind of action doesn't jive with a coach holding out for $12.5M/year because $10M/year (which is still top-5 money in all of CFB) is far too little...

Joined: 07/22/2008

MGoPoints: 22978

rc90

January 18th, 2023 at 12:59 PM ^

Even people who don't care about their money can see their salary level as a status symbol. When Michigan was flirting with Pitino, Bo announced it wasn't feasible because at Michigan the basketball coach can't make more than the football coach. And for me this gets to where I could see Warde being in a lousy position, because I think everyone in Ann Arbor agrees the Tuck contract was foolish, but it is also an obvious mark of status for Harbaugh. 

Joined: 02/15/2016

MGoPoints: 8508

jmblue

January 18th, 2023 at 12:27 PM ^

If it were that innocuous, I don't think Ono would word the tweet this way.  His tweet very much gives off the impression that Harbaugh went over Manuel's head to reach out to him.  This is corroborated by Harbaugh's tweet which doesn't mention Manuel at all.  Not to mention that we don't seem to have heard anything from Manuel himself.

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102750

ZooWolverine

January 18th, 2023 at 1:18 PM ^

You're right, this is not wording used to describe "I needed approval."

Obviously much smaller figures and no publicity, but I recently negotiated a new job with the head of a department. The head didn't set my salary, his boss did, but the negotiations were still with the head of the department, they just had some wait time in between when my request was run up the line, and the response was run back down to me. At no time would anyone have described the negotiations as between me and the department head's boss.

With Harbaugh, if all is healthy, there would still be regular updates to Ono because the president cares about the success of the negotiations. But it would be coming our of Manuel's budget and/or fundraising, so even if Manuel needs Ono's approval to sign a big contract, that should be pretty quick. I think there's no way to read this other than negotiations were not working with Harbaugh and Manuel and Ono stepped in to take them over.

Joined: 02/27/2009

MGoPoints: 3698

BlueMan80

January 18th, 2023 at 1:00 PM ^

I suspect Ono is involved because of NIL $$.  Warde probably only felt comfortable going so far and Harbaugh was pushing for more.  That's when you call in the Big Boss to negotiate the stuff that reflects on the university as a whole instead of just the athletic department.  So, I'm hoping NIL is going to be working in our favor going forward.

Joined: 01/21/2011

MGoPoints: 13097

ST3

January 18th, 2023 at 1:27 PM ^

I tried to find that information online. I haven’t found it, but I stumbled upon this arrangement at Little Brother’s:

The Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics is authorized to sign contracts and other documents directly related to the scheduling of intercollegiate athletic events and employment contracts for all coaches other than the head coaches for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s ice hockey. 

https://upl.msu.edu/common/documents/delegation-of-sig-auth.pdf

Even if that’s the case at UofM, I would still expect the AD to be involved in the negotiations. I agree it’s odd.

EDIT: Hackett AND Schlissel signed Harbaugh’s contract in 2014.

http://media.mlive.com/wolverines_impact/other/Harbaugh%20employment%20agrmt.pdf

 

Joined: 09/11/2010

MGoPoints: 52470

maquih

January 18th, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^

My theory is that UM, like many large corporations, gives its executives the power to sign contracts up to a given $$ amount. When the needed amount rises above an executive's signing authority, it bumps to the next higher-level executive.

Of course, that's totally normal.  But if that was the case here there's no reason for Harbaugh and Ono both to throw Manuel under the bus.  Harbaugh asked for things that Manuel himself didn't want to happen, and he was forced to go over him to get them.

If it was just money authority, all it takes is a five minute phone call from Manuel to Ono to ask for a higher limit.  Still no need for Harbaugh and Ono to negotiate directly if Manuel is doing his job.

 

Joined: 11/04/2010

MGoPoints: 1772