Identity Issues
When will the University of Michigan sit down and decide what direction they want to go to as an institution? It has been clear to me since going to Michigan and working within Schembechler Hall for two years that there are larger cultural factors at play then what we just see on the football field. For years I believe the University has been trying to align itself closer to the elite academic institutions of our nation (the Ivies). We know how those schools prioritize sports within the cultural hierarchy of their community. I do not have strong feelings either way what direction the school wants to go, but I want the messaging to be clear. We either want to compete to win or we don't. Additionally, I see a cultural shift from Michigan. The talent in our nation has increasingly been concentrated in the Southeast. Harbaugh identified this and did his very best to recruit that region (i.e. satellite camps) early on, but was unfairly blocked. The fact that we cannot get any top recruits locally (Ohio mostly) also does not help. You need talent, but also kids that get it that have something personal to prove (MSU kids all have something to prove against us every year while kids from Massachusetts, NJ or Florida don't really care or don't get "it"). The 2016 OSU game was a refereeing abomination as we all know as well. Even the Ohio laden referee squad cares more about winning "The Game" than OSU players probably do.
Can we all wake up and talk about the macro issues here that are working against Michigan (self-imposed or not)? We haven't been relevant since I was a Freshman ('07).
November 15th, 2020 at 7:38 AM ^
Can we just go back to where the season was cancelled and people fought about Covid?
November 15th, 2020 at 7:57 AM ^
I’m thinking similar. If the season is cancelled, I’d like to believe these games never happened.
November 15th, 2020 at 10:47 AM ^
NO.
Absolutely not on the Covid fights on the MGoBoard.
As much as I (and everyone else) am dismayed about the current decayed condition of Michigan Football, not about to allow the return of daily covid sniping on the board.
The football situation, here and nationwide, will probably crash and burn soon anyway, the direction the trajectory has been heading.
November 15th, 2020 at 8:11 AM ^
One thing that I disagree with strongly is your claim that we have not been relevant since 2007. If we were not relevant, Finebaum, Salee, Thamel, and countless other talking heads and major sports media networks would not continue to obsess over Michigan and Harbaugh for six years running now. Obviously, we would like to be relevant in the national contender sense, but to say we are not relevant is inaccurate. As you said in your own thread here, change the blatant ref cheating spot in 2016, and you have a big 10 championship and a playoff appearance. None of this is to say that I am happy where the program is right now, but Michigan has been very relevant these last six years.
November 15th, 2020 at 8:11 AM ^
My Bros, it just keeps getting worse..with every day, every snap, every story, every post
The Almighty Michigan Hating God has grown stronger, dude is a beast
November 15th, 2020 at 8:20 AM ^
Identity issues? I know who I am!
November 15th, 2020 at 8:38 AM ^
2016 broke JH and broke this program. 8-5, 10-3, 9-4, and now 1-3. It broke him, and it broke us. BROKEN. Even when we thought we would struggle in certain games or expected to have a down year, the confidence and certainty (or is that “Michigan Arrogance?”) surrounding the team and fan base Is gone.
No identity, you say? Absolutely. Hell, we as a fan base can’t even agree on whether maxing out at 9-4/10-3 is a shortcoming or “who we’ve historically been” as a program.
This team isn’t without an identity as much as we all suffer from a dissociative disorder of some kind. ?
November 15th, 2020 at 8:50 AM ^
I cant even watch the games anymore. I will watch something else and check the game thread on this blog to see the results. I miss UM football the way it was. Lost season to me.
November 15th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
Basketball, baseball, hockey, softball and others prove the theory of aligning with “ivies” wrong.
November 15th, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
This is pretty obvious.
UM wants to be Stanford. Clean, good at lots of things, elite academically, not so dedicated to winning at football at all costs.
OSU wants to be Alabama. They don't come there to play school.
Our ceiling is being Wisconsin at football, maybe plus a few "better" recruits. With a good coaching staff, we'll beat OSU every three or four years, and be competitive most of the time. Alas, this coaching staff ain't it.
November 15th, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^
That ceiling looks pretty optimistic. Still a little shell shocked, though.
November 16th, 2020 at 6:23 PM ^
We beat Wisconsin 38-13 two years ago. It's not like some lofty perch to which we could never aspire, it's more or less where we were from 2015-2019
November 15th, 2020 at 8:58 AM ^
Michigan’s academics are not, and will never be, on par with the Ivies. So if the admin is dreaming of this, they are as lost as Jim is.
November 15th, 2020 at 9:18 AM ^
Depends. We’re on par with Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell. The rest, not so much, save for a few departments. Michigan Engineering is top notch.
November 15th, 2020 at 9:06 AM ^
When the carcass of our arrogance is out of the way, Michigan will become a young and new body, the kind we don’t deserve or own but work for. Harbaugh’s identity has been patchwork and fragmented and the results this year show.