Weiss Fired

Submitted by enlightenedbum on January 20th, 2023 at 1:49 PM
https://twitter.com/ByAZuniga/status/1616507715068563473

 

Sopwith

January 20th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^

Which is usually considered perfectly  "becoming" conduct anywhere else.

MW sends some emails to recruits during the December signing period using JH's account probably because JH hates that stuff... normal practice in every program, but here it'll get you canned.

EDIT: see caveat I posed below under stephenrjking's reply

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stephenrjking

January 20th, 2023 at 2:46 PM ^

Your sourcing has appeared to be quite good. You were on target with Harbaugh's NFL dally last year. So I have no reason to think you are just making this up.

I will add, as a cautious counter-balance, that it's possible you are stating real source information that comes from the perspective of someone who is unhappy with this, and may not give the complete story. But, this is just general caution about this kind of thing (I've heard a *lot* of stories that sound very particular, that change in color somewhat after one hears the other side) rather than a suggestion that you are wrong or inaccurate. 

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Sopwith

January 20th, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^

It's funny I signed back on just to add the following edit to my post:

CAVEAT: THE FOLLOWING COMES FROM SOMEONE VERY WELL PLACED AND IN A POSITION TO KNOW BUT ALSO WHO MAY HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN SPINNING THE STORY IN A PRO MATT WEISS DIRECTION

So yeah, this is a situation where we have a narrator who knows exactly what happened but may not be reliable because of the above, and I should have noted as such.

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ahw1982

January 20th, 2023 at 4:57 PM ^

If the rumor is true (I agree, big 'if') the extra piece might be that he went beyond his authorization and started digging through Harbaugh's inbox looking at shit he wasn't supposed to (e-mails from the NFL, perhaps?)  Though, I can't imagine it would be escalated to the police raiding his house unless Weiss did something really stupid like forward e-mails from Jim's inbox to his own e-mail account, in which case, it might be plausible that U-M escalates it to make sure Weiss doesn't have anything on his computer/e-mail account that they don't already know about, or what to make sure what was taken did not go out further from Weiss to somewhere else.

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Blue in Paradise

January 20th, 2023 at 3:00 PM ^

This doesn't pass the sniff test unless he did this without Harbaugh's permission and Harbaugh is the one pressing the issue. 

Otherwise Harbaugh would just say that he gave permission to Weiss to use his e-mail and the issue goes away.  And certainly you don't expect the police searching the guys house if his only offense is to send a few e-mails to recruits.

Besides, doesn't Weiss hate recruiting?

I would be shocked if it is not more than that...

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charblue.

January 20th, 2023 at 3:43 PM ^

There are some issues here outside of the administrative action. I mean, how did this firing occur if JH and Warde aren't talking directly to each other? Is this a direct response from Manuel that accommodates JH or is meant to punish him because of the break in their communication? 

The answer to that question might hinge on whether the alleged offense Matt Weiss was accused of involves something more sinister than the university wants to publicly acknowledge to protect him or his boss. In either case, Harbaugh is impacted by the decision. 

If Manuel made the firing decision, what was his motivation in doing so? And what is the effect of that decision on those prospects Weiss was recruiting, namely Jadyn Davis?

The move also gets reported to the NCAA. So how does this affect the current issues Michigan is negotiating with it? 

And how is all this perceived by our new university president in oversight of athletics and the football program? 

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slaunius

January 20th, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^

You make it sound like this was above board, and that he was just doing it for Harbaugh (presumably with permission). If that were the case, then isn't it unlikely this would be a criminal investigation, given that the police report mentioned "fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university email accounts without authorization", and that most of the laws in this area similarly refer to access "without authorization"?

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Blue in Paradise

January 20th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^

I pressed send on my comment (very similar) before seeing yours. 

Doesn't make any sense unless Harbaugh was the one who went to the police.  They searched his house because he sent some e-mails on behalf of Jim to recruits? 

Whole thing seems very odd.  I think the jealous lover theory makes the most sense and the recruiting e-mails is just a cover to protect the guy's family.

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Sopwith

January 20th, 2023 at 3:06 PM ^

Yeah, I was thinking about that, and here a couple of possibilities:

1. The most Pro Matt Weiss slant: Matt had or genuinely thought he had implicit or explicit permission to contact recruits as JH. Even if he did have permission, there are some things you can't always authorize someone to do, like misrepresent themselves to others where a reasonable person would not expect that it's not actually JH writing the emails (unlike, say, in a fundraising email to UM alumni). 

In this case, JH may have legal exposure if he "authorized" misrepresentation to recruits, so he can't stand up for MW without putting his own neck on the line. It sounds impossibly stupid but so was Stretchgate.

2. Not so Pro Matt: All assistants are under heavy recruiting pressure. If you're not a natural recruiter, you know you can get more responses making contact as The Man not as Matt Weiss. So you assume all's fair in recruiting (what, do you think Nick Saban is actually writing 50 emails a day himself?), and you already have explicit permission to read the incoming emails from recruits in JH's inbox (speculative, NOT from the source), and you stretch that a little to making use of the outbox without explicit permission.

"Authorized" starts getting gray and fraud statutes get implicated from the point of view of the recipients and maybe the university. As in, "OK, what else have you been doing on JH's behalf?

 

 

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Benoit Balls

January 20th, 2023 at 4:10 PM ^

Well, theoretically, his account permissions could be set so that Weiss would be labeled as a "delegate" on Harbaugh's email. Those delegate permissions could include the ability to read emails, or they could include "send as" permissions. If Weiss were a "delegate" he would not need to log in under JH's profile to access his email account

(BUT if they were doing it on the sly, and didnt want to have an official record of anyone having delegated access to JHs email, then Weiss would need JHs credentials to log in under JHs profile to access the email account)

Also - if they were trying to find additional computers, then it may well be because the University uses Microsoft Outlook/Office 365. 365 is the web based version where you can log into anyone's email from any PC, provided you have credentials. You can also access any other accounts to which you have delegate access , if applicable).  This MAY be why they went to his home, as maybe he used a PC at his house to log into 365, or access the school via their dedicated VPN.  Doesnt mean he DID download something - but if they see the access by that PC then theyre gonna want to inspect it to see if there's anything

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ak47

January 20th, 2023 at 3:43 PM ^

The story isn't plausible because nobody but Harbaugh would be pressing the issue. A recruit isn't asking for a criminal investigation because he found out an email he got was from Weiss. There isn't a situation where a criminal investigation gets started that Harbaugh doesn't support and just can't defend Weiss with the truth because it would harm him.

The guy clearly sent something without permission, and whatever he sent was bad enough it triggered an investigation. That isn't a standard recruit to an email, that just defies all logic. 

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M-B Devil Dog

January 20th, 2023 at 3:58 PM ^

no. having been thru the recruiting process with my son it is a VERY well known fact all coaches, especially head coaches, have people messaging on twitter, IG and sending emails on their behalf.  So Weiss "breaking in" to do this is not something that would warrant this level of police activity. It would be dealt in house and not a soul would know about it.  

Searching his home for devices that he used that were UM property to see what he sent makes zero sense.  All they have to do is check the server and see the activity. even if deleted it will still be accessible via server.  

I have zero clue what it could be but signing into JH's account to send recruit shit on his behalf is not it. at all.  

unmarked cars outside a house and obtaining a search warrant means its serious.  Very serious.  

I honestly don't trust ANYTHING coming out of the university at this point because they don't want this to effect recruiting at all.  

 

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ST3

January 20th, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^

That seems plausible, especially if Weiss didn’t have Jim’s permission. But after Warde didn’t fire Jim after 2-4 (performance,) Howard after the slap (violence, severity of which is debatable,) or Mel immediately after the external report, this seems like keeping Pete Rose out of the HoF for gambling. Like, Weiss picked the wrong technicality to violate.

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