We could have had Urbs
It has been well documented on this board and other places that Rick Pitino was a squash game (or some similar rich old man's sport) away from becoming Michigan's Basketball Coach. There was a similar, albeit not as close, situation back in 2004 when Urban Meyer was leading Utah football into uncharted waters. I remember at the time Florida and ND bidding for his services and a certain contract clause continually being mentioned by media. Seems Urban had specifically restructured his Utah contract so that he could leave at any time for one of his three self-proclaimed dream jobs. Those dream jobs? Notre Dame, OSU, and Michigan. Thank goodness Lloyd was not quite ready to hang it up then. Last paragraph from this 2004 espn article mentions the clause. If you think there is a chance in the world that I can embed this link that you don't know squat.
Ahh, urban would have had to behave better... Hed have crushed it here...
If OSU fired Meyer in the next few days and Michigan hired him and replaced Harbaugh....deep down I’d be ok with it.
Shame on you.
Deep down I don't want Meyer fired so Harbaugh can reel off a string of W's against him.
You're honest. I'll give you that. That's it though.
15 years of mediocrity has taken its toll on me...
They've been mediocre for Michigan expectations, but overall a good team.
Well that is while blocking the few truly bad years from my memory completely I suppose.
Over the past 15 years Michigan is 120-63 or .656 winning percentage. In that period our highest final AP ranking is 8. We’ve been unranked 7 times. Only twice (2011, 2015) has Michigan’s final ranking exceeded the preseason ranking. 1 conference championship in 2004. 2006 was the last time weve been in the running for a championship whether B1G or national.
I haven’t gone back further for the stats but my memory tells me this is the worst stretch of Michigan football in the 45 years I’ve been a fan. While 2015-16 were good seasons I’d like to have a great season again. Just stating the obvious
#metoo
I remember the ND/OSU/Michigan clause. Once Urban was hired, he tried to talk up the fan base like it never existed (which was expected but laughably disingenuous) and Buckeye fans ate it up like a bunch of 14 year old girls drooling over Justin Bieber.
Since these folks are so good at blocking out a part of history, I wish they could teach me how to block out the majority of this past decade. I've tried and tried but I can't do it.
I’d be interested to find out how many Michigan fans would’ve taken Meyer if they knew this was the end result? Probably a National title or two for Michigan, but a bad ending overall.
Let's not jump the gun. We don't know what the outcome is...
not sure if the same thing would have happened or not... esp w/ boosters...
Personal faults, hubris, ego, would have undoubtedly follow Urban... so his dalliance with co-eds probably would have followed him here, esp if he was winning.
the other stuff, like lack of institutional control and recruiting shady players? not sure that would have necessarily happened here, and certainly not to the same extent as in florida and now OSU
Great coach, but "winning at all costs", actually does have costs, and if OSU has any kind of moral compass, they kick him to the curb, regardless of his record on the field.
not holding my breath.
Half of the D-1 coaches had Michigan in those contract clauses then. Didn't mean Michigan was ever going to hire Urban Meyer, or any of the others.
It is quite possible that Urban in a different environment behaves differently. If when he first got to major college football and something shady went down he gets called into the ADs office and gets told "that's not how it works here" then perhaps he changes is approach. To the extent he operated in the gray, maybe he does so because the environments he was in emphasized winning at any cost.
He was also offered the job when brady Hoke was hired and he declined.
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August 6th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
"We could have had Urbs."
1. You're on a nickname basis with him? Creepy.
2. If Lloyd had called it a career a few years early, & Michigan hired him I can only assume that he would have done a few things that would have not been cool & decided to retire due to health reasons. New AD Dave Brandon doesn't bother calling the Stanford coach, but hires the guy from Ball State. A year later the rivalry REALLY heats up when "Urbs" is miraculously cured & signs on to coach the team he currently does.
(Basically "Urbs" would have been a better RichRod.)