tony alford

Hey: watchalong. We're going to do a watchalong for the hockey semifinal Saturday at 9 PM. Be there.

The culture is 8-24 and Jon Sanderson works for Illinois. An Athletic article from Brendan Quinn and Katie Strang reveals that an outside consulting firm has been brought into assess the culture of the basketball program:

…a makeshift meeting room was assembled inside Michigan Stadium last week. There, officials from Rankin Climate, an external firm specializing in organizational “climate assessments,” convened to conduct a probe into the culture of the men’s basketball program. Rankin officials asked some athletic department employees about their experiences in the program, Howard’s leadership and support offered by the athletic department. Those interviewed were told that participation was voluntary, according to multiple university employees granted anonymity because they are not permitted to speak about the investigation.

There's not a whole lot else that was new except some more details of what Sanderson sent the university via his lawyer; there are some disturbing claims:

Sanderson claims Howard approached his son, Jett, visibly angry during a 2022-23 practice and threatened, “I’ll slap the sh– out of you,” adding the incident “sparked a lot of internal conversation.” Sanderson said one coach on staff said he saw Juwan Howard “manhandle” Jett on the side of the court; that coach expressed that he was upset with how Jett was being treated.

As many have said in the aftermath of this article's release: it's the athletic director's job to know what the culture of his second-most important sport is. Hiring an outside firm to do your job for you is a waste of money and time. If the consulting firm comes back and says "eh this is fine," should Juwan Howard be retained? No. So what are we doing here? It feels like Warde Manuel wants someone else to make the decision for him.

Meanwhile the season is over for most teams that will be axing coaches. There are already 34 open head coaching spots in D-1, and the most attractive candidates will start going off the board soon as Michigan tries to figure out if the culture is bad on the worst Michigan basketball team in living memory.

Decisions made. Vandy—a program with much less recent historical success—just fired Jerry Stackhouse after Stackhouse went 9-23 in year five. The buyout is supposed to be north of 15 million dollars, which is wild. Vandy hired a guy with no head coaching experience who never got to the tournament and is stuck with that buyout after five years… and even that athletic director was able to see the writing on the wall.

[After the JUMP: football stuff! You should click. I promise.]

Things Discussed:

• Tony Alford: What does it say about Ohio State? Ryan Day's program might have a culture problem. If he loses to Michigan [they get to play one or two more times but] he's out, right?
• Seth checks OSU's schedule; somehow they got just @Oregon and vs PSU out of the Big Ten powers, so yeah, he could get to Michigan unscathed.
• You'd think Alford wouldn't be worried about job prospects if Day is fired; he pulled the ripcord early, which means there's something making being the RB coach under Ryan Day/Chip Kelly intolerable. Brian: Could be the offense doesn't let the RBs do their thing.
• Tony Alford: What does it say about Sherrone Moore? Guys wanna come work for him. Sam: They lost Adegoke because it got leaked so they kept this one quiet. Brian: That speaks to Moore's organization that they got the background checks and everything done.
• Seth: Taking a coach 2 practices into spring is bigger than getting their signs because by this point they have a plan, and they've already started talking about what they're doing for The Game.
• Sherrone: Good early signs. Had a competent assistants process, has a plan with recruiting, prevented Martindale from using up a staff spot. Making big baller moves, like how Harbaugh came in with satellite camps, etc.
• Losing Hart: Plenty. He was a *great* RB coach, a great judge of talent, and a great Michigan player.
• Seth: This exposes OSU culture issues. The Mattison comp: Matty got a title bump and $600k raise, but money can't buy the kind of Jerry Hanlon love he gave up to go to OSU, so there had to be something else. It turned out that something else was Don Brown was a Buddy Ryan, and as much as we love Brown it was a sign that Michigan needed a culture change.
• Quinten Johnson: not a small deal. Good NIL (more valuable to college than pros), great for Michigan, not a replacement for Sabb but does allow them to maybe start Q-Jo and try Moore at nickel, which can ameliorate the loss of Mike Sainristil, who was the QB of the defense at nickel.
• Wink Defense: Need to stop overplaying the differences between him and Minter, because Giants defense had more plays than any other NFL team inside their own 40, also once you have Jyaire Hill ready to go you can play a lot more man.
• Break: Sam mentions more guys who wanted to come work for Sherrone.
• Wink: You guys are doing stuff I wasn't even doing with the Giants. Brian: That's the Mikey Factor.
• Pernell McPhee for support staff: Pahokee guy that Rich Rod wanted, Ravens guy under Mike Macdonald who can step into LB job in the future.
• Lionel Stokes: Defensive analyst who worked with Morgan at Louisiana, been a DC and DB coach at Jackson State, gonna have big shoes to fill from Mallory.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

Michigan fans don't have to be told how frustrating it is when a top assistant leaves for a rival. I mean, when this much hate's involved, you'd think there'd be something like loyalty, right? But like they said when Greg Mattison and Al Washington left Ann Arbor for the formerly perennial Big Ten champs, when you can't beat 'em…

BREAKING: #Michigan to hire Ohio State RB coach Tony Alford to replace Mike Hart. #GoBlue (STORY) https://t.co/bJ6fhb6odf pic.twitter.com/bDMqtG8dGi

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) March 13, 2024

Doubtless this is the funniest thing that could have resulted from Mike Hart's departure. Alford was a staple at OSU for almost a decade. He was the highest paid running backs coach in the Big Ten, grew up (mostly) in Ohio as the son of a Buckeye alum, played for Urban Meyer in college, and was reportedly a long associate of Ryan Day before Day joined Alford at OSU in 2017.

So...why is he doing this (other than going from the Big Ten's #2 team to the defending national champs?) Well, everyone's speculating. Sam Webb reports the money won't be significantly different($). Day's program was two days into its 2024 spring practices, their first under new OC Chip Kelly, who presumably has different ideas about running on 3rd & 2. 11W notes Alford's last contract, like Hart's, expired after last season. While it's common for assistants to be at-will employees in college football, Sherrone Moore was likely able to offer a lot more stability on his new staff. Alejandro Zuniga adds that Alford has head coaching aspirations, and that Michigan's been a better launching pad for that sort of thing lately.

Moore also offered an opportunity to be one of two guys on the staff who are older than I am. Alford moved to Colorado in high school, played his college ball for Urban at Colorado State in the early '90s, and got his coaching start in high schools before rapidly moving up as a running backs coach for Mount Union, Kent State, Iowa State, Washington, Louisville (leaving after 2008 so no overlap with 2009-'11 GA Sherrone Moore), and Notre Dame, where Alford coached a year under Charlie Weiss. Alford was the only staff member retained by Brian Kelly, who made him a receivers coach, then the recruiting coordinator through 2014, when Urban Meyer hired Alford to replace Stan Drayton. There, Alford caught the tail end of Ezekiel Elliott, coached the entire career of JK Dobbins, was the architect of the Treyveon Henderson/Chip Trayanum/Miyan Williams/Dallan Hayden/Evan Pryor backfield, and recently recruited Ole Miss star Quinshon Judkins (and onetime Jay Harbaugh who-dat target) out of the portal.

Even without the rivalry aspect Alford would be a big hire from a recruiting standpoint. Ohio State is a good platform for this, but Alford has been one of the best recruiters in the nation. In addition to backs like TreVeyon Henderson and JK Dobbins, in his time with OSU and Notre Dame Alford served as primary (via 247) for OSU guys like George Fitzpatrick and Tyreke Smith, and ND's Louis Nix. That list shows strong connections across Texas, Florida, and especially Ohio. That last is an important consideration given Michigan lost Steve Clinkscale to the NFL this offseason. Alford also famously convinced Mike Weber to stick with OSU after Drayton left the day after Signing Day.