"Hours Long" UM/BIG Meeting Yesterday (Insider Updates)

This exactly. They're asking for an admission of guilt when, by all word, the only named guilty party acted alone. 

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills with all this BS. 

I admit that none of us know everything but unless they have a text message from Jim to Stalions saying "thanks for the stolen signs, please get more" they're not following any level of due process. It seems like such a clear case of letting The NCAA handle it and especially so since I'm beyond sure they will hammer Jim anyway. By their own rules, the act of a staffer can be assumed to be known by the head coach and this means they can treat them one in the same. In their eyes, it was Jim in the CMU sideline. It was Jim buying tickets. Etc. Get used to that now and it's why on day one I disagreed with Brian's take of "nothing comes of this". Even he seems to understand now how it'll likely go down and even then I think he's still underselling how bad they are going to hammer Jim/Michigan. 

So it seems like such a gimme for the conference commissioner to tell the rest of the conference to do whatever they feel they need to do in order to mitigate their own harm in the immediate (eyeroll) and they'll talk again when The NCAA is finished. At that point they can add their own punishment if they deem it fit. Whatever. 

To have anything less than Jim on record knowing about it all and demand any immediate suspension right now seems insane. It's mob justice.

Besides, we already did that with cheeseburger-gate and what did that get us? That was a bogus, minor infraction and then based on knowing what was in Jim's mind (his recollection) to claim that he lied.

I believe the BIG is an Illinois entity.  Think it would be a federal suit.

I think they'll need to go to U.S. District Court because of the timing issues. Otherwise, what are the percentages in Washtenaw County Circuit Court?

Don't ever bet against stupid happening.

I agree with the thought that the B1G taking any action now would be incredibly stupid.  I don't know how large Pettiti's ego is, but I have to believe there are cooler heads in the B1G office that will prevail and prevent Tony from stepping on this land mine.  

... and, again, for some crazy reason they don't seem to care about the gorilla (OSU) that's been smacking them around for years (and probably being the biggest cheater in the process).

What is crazy is that if there is really evidence of our practices being recorded and shared, and we informed the conference of that fact, then taking unprecedented action now without investigation seems like very targeted enforcement.  If that is the case, then 1) seriously look to leave the conference; and 2) go scorched earth and share all of the dirt on everybody.

I would also love for someone up high to mention the B1G collaborating with those who may have committed criminal acts that were coordinated across state lines, and just throw out the term RICO.

Other ADs: “Warde, get off the call. We want to talk to Tony alone.”

Warde: “You got it fellas! We’re still friends, right?”

Other ADs: “Just get the fuck off the call, Warde.”

Warde: “Righteo!”

In an environment where Texas, OU, and USC blew up two conferences by realigning when no one thought they ever would it is extremely shortsighted to go Salted Earth with Michigan. The media contract is only for 6 more years and who knows where the TV value will be at that point. Will Fox give another Billion+ dollars to a conference with NW, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland and UCLA? Idk, but I kinda doubt it given where linear television will be in 6 years. 

Should Michigan get punished? Yes. But to go in a direction that is completely unprecedented and counter to the rules of the conference could piss Michigan people off enough to chase the bag with the SEC. Why should Michigan prop up these consistently garbage teams with their media revenue power if the conference just caves to the lynch mob when its against Michigan? And its not even the first time this has happened (2016 OSU ref job, MSU getting two home games in a row, 1973 Rose Bowl, etc).

And you know the minute Michigan goes to the SEC OSU will follow. They spiritually are an SEC team anyways.

He will care when this all crumbles before him. He is the one in charge. When all the other presidents, AD’s, and coaches get called into court, and other headaches are brought to light, it will be directly related to his call on this. He will ultimately be fired and left walking away with his tail between his legs. He will care when it’s all said and done, millions of dollars wasted in court, and him being jobless. 

Yeah, now they'll be fifth place behind OSU, USC, Washington, and Oregon.

It can’t appease everyone.  NCAA still investigating.  It’s a false choice.  No way they should agree to it.

I think Maurice Clarett is spot on. They’re after Harbaugh because he suggested revenue should be shared with players. They will shank him for threatening their profits.

I see the flipside of this too -- not saying you're wrong -- but my hunch is that this rush to condemn and punish before a notice of allegations has even been served is because the B1G and its schools suspect the NCAA investigation will turn up nothing more than petty Level 2 infractions and the punishment they dole out will be modest. They have to act now to take advantage of the irrational media frenzy. It's a common scam/social engineering tactic, and it's incredibly alarming that a contrived PR smear campaign could have so much sway over an official governing institution.

Brian seemed to have a source that the alleged CMU photo was indeed CS, but other than that it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.  Granted, the NCAA is not a court of law, so that standard doesn't apply, but at the same time, it would be very bad to set a precedent where a program could get in trouble over what amounts "maybe/probably" visual identification of a person.