Isaiah Hole: Four national media outlets working on the "Who hired the PI firm?" story

I don't know him personally but I've heard good things and kinda shitty things about him. I'm assuming he's a decent guy but as someone that knows anything more than the above-average fan I don't see it. I'd guess his "insider" access to be nothing more than a dude that works in the building at some level below staff.

Very vague stuff that can't be fully verified or debunked seems to be his wheelhouse.

All I know and I'll keep repeating is that there is no dossier of dirt. I've worked in the building and while that doesn't mean I was privy to the highest levels of info, we all knew everything. It's essentially an office. We knew who was sleeping around, we knew which programs "didn't play school", we knew which programs outright bought kids and such. It was widely known but never documented in a provable way to my knowledge.

Why? Most coaches that aren't pussies really, really don't want to be seen as a pussy. They also know their own house isn't totally clean so info is just kept among themselves. They fear M.A.D. and looking like a crybaby bitch so it stays in the "coaching brotherhood". Everyone knew the entire SEC bought/buys kids like you buy a car. Everyone knew certain HS would pad a kid's grades. Everyone knew certain programs didn't give the slightest shit about their kids actually going to class. Everyone knew everything like that.

Nobody kept a dossier on it all. That part was always bunk (IMO) but clearly some people have now shared data they knew of or at least kept circumstantial evidence of. We'll see where that goes and if media outlets even bother to look in to the PI Firm but I don't buy it if Hole claimed it and that's the only person claiming it. No offense to him personally. We recently learned that most "UM Insiders" know exactly jack shit.

Yes, the initial reports unfortunately spread and were accepted with limited skepticism. But, they were probably given a very detailed report that had been researched for over a year. Whoever funded this made sure they had all the documents they needed to paint the story they wanted to paint. Also, the nature of the scandal, true or false, was one that people were going to want to believe so it spread like wildfire. 

At this point, anyone who publishes a story in opposition is going to want to make sure they do whatever they can to get the facts right. Even lies that catch fire, can be very difficult to disprove in the eyes of the public when everybody has already picked a side.  Further, the PI firm had potentially a year to research their story. So far Michigan and any media outlets have only had a month. 

Media outlets investigate stories that are going to be bombshells or bring them viewers.  The Harbaugh story has just about run it's course.  Michigan basically ended it on Saturday for all of the Pearl clutches.

But just like TV shows, producers want spin-offs to hold your attention.  So what would be the next juiciest thing?  Ryan Day was behind it all and pulling the strings this entire time.  *GASP!*

But you have to have something pointing to Day.  A file, a picture, an e-mail, a memo...something.  Otherwise it's just a rumor or accusation.

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Now you say, well with Harbaugh it was an accusation.  That is partially true...but they always had Stalions to lean on and the "you should know everything in your program" angle.

If you go back to the early reporting...it was all about Stalions, not Harbaugh. The outlets were reporting it through "sources" and the talking heads (even Fienbaum) were saying it was nothing.  People were laughing, but calling it a "nothingburger."

Then the outlets started reporting more and more, and there was more smoke and more evidence, and pictures, and thats when the talking heads all switched their tune.

But it started with Stalions and didn't move to Harbaugh until later.  It's media, think about it, you've seen the note in the ticker "(x) involved in domestic dispute."  Someone reports on it, that's the end of it.  Then the woman's lawyers leak photos or video on Twitter and people see it...now it dominates the headlines and every media personality has a Tweet and a take.  It wasn't until the photos, the MSU/CMU, the organized payments, etc. dropped that everyone really latched on and ran wild. 

So ESPN and others are searching for their story. When someone gets something, the Thamel's of the world will report it, per "sources."  And if there is evidence, the talking heads will decide how outraged they are about it.

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For the Thamel's, they're like Woj and Shams for the NBA folks on here.  They're in a race to find the story.  That's all they care about.  If they get it first, they win.  Thamel is the weasel digging through the dumpster and showing up on door steps.  Thamel just wants to be "first."  After that, it doesn't matter for him, he's on to the next piece of dirt he can find.  He is less concerned about your response.

For the talking heads...they're just worried about viewership.  They don't care about being first, it's what take will spark the most outrage.  Taking about it first does nothing.

Someone who likes or has ties to OSU, hiring a PI firm, at this point, isn't going to move the needle.

But if the weasels somehow find that Day is directly involved.  That, is juicy enough for Fienbaum to flip into something that gets people going (likely some take about how the B1G is out of control and Alabama and Georgia should play Washington and Oregon in their own CFP).

So unless they have audio, video, or some type of damning evidence...I don't believe this will ever turn into much.  It's just not how news cycles work.  The scandal isn't that OSU found a PI firm, it's that Ryan Day funded it himself or something like that.  They don't just need something for the ticker (because the story is old), they need something for the talking heads and Twitter mob to latch onto.  Hence investigators. 

I was struck also by the apparent lack of emotion. There was a little more flexing on the defensive side of the ball, but it made me wonder if players in both sides are just more respectful of each other than are all the so-called adults. 

I wonder what people will think when they realize that last sentence has inverted cart and horse.

Chris Day filed his incorporation papers, Alterum filed their incorporation papers, Chris Day quit his day job and went to work for Tim so his free time would be free...all that happened in late 2020-Jan. 2021. It wasn't a response to the losing; they hadn't lost to us in almost a decade. It was probably a response to the Al Washington/COVID stuff. "Gonna hang a hundred on em."

Three years and all they got out of it was a couple of cheeseburgers and documentation of an op that turns out to be a badly executed copy of something OSU was already doing and Knowles had been doing for years. And three bad losses.

I hope there's a reporter out there willing to take his/her time and get the story right instead of rushing for the scoop. The scoop's just a paper cut; the full story's likely to be a twisted dagger.

I very much doubt Day is dumb enough to ever have his name directly tied to it, but I am fairly certain the coaches have known about (probably) an OSU booster paying for a PI to investigate Stallions for a long time. OSU coaches are the ones who would be mad at Stallions and would be the ones to tip off a booster looking to screw Michigan. I just find it very unlikely Gene Smith and Day havent known about this PI since the investigation’s inception 

I'm at a complete loss. I still don't even know how this was identified in the first place. Who "discovered" this? Why did everyone take it seriously? Obviously that has an answer, but I don't know what it is.

As for the rest of it, CMU clearly does not believe the person is part of their staff. Then the NCAA got involved in the investigation a week later, announced as co-investigating, rather than announced as CMU being investigated.

We've gotten no information about where all this stands. I guess because people only leak things about Michigan and not Central Michigan. And other than ESPN asking MSU to help confirm that it is 60% likely that it's CS, the media has also lost interest.