Isiah Hole: No New Evidence Was Found; Michigan's Move Today Doesn't Make Sense

He is not a man who inspires confidence

The regents the regents the regents. They did this. No way Harbaugh willingly agreed to this. It’s the final straw for Harbaugh, he’s gone. And the university doesn’t care which is why they threw him under the bus 

Whatever good will the Regents and Ono inspired has completely evaporated. A public relations debacle and a lily-liveried response.

I hope they are playing a long game, but I have zero faith in that.

I never put much stock in Hole because he has never said all that much of anything regarding any topic. When he does speak he's been wrong to some degree fairly often, as has Balas and others. We can toss Webb in there regarding recruiting and down the line.

I'll only say that Michigan backing down makes sense only in the scenario that they found more info or (maybe an and/or) the risk of going forward was  not worth it due to the B1G making it clear at some point that if you make the B1GCG we will ban you from it (they clearly have the votes to do so). They would then try to block them from the CFP and keep this going indefinitely. So, UM chose to shut it down to keep worse info from getting out AND/OR to avoid a post-regular season ban ON THE TEAM.

Jim would eat that bullet. As he would if, say, his son was found to have some connection to Stalions above what was told. 

The conference didn't need to find more to give UM a reason to settle. That's the main point.

Finally, I also posted the day people starting suggesting that UM had some dirt on others they were going to share that it doesn't exist. I've worked in the building. There is no secret vault containing the dossier of dirt you have on other teams. That's movie-brain shit, you're living in a fantasy land if you believe that. I hoped UM did and hoped I was wrong but at no point was I privy to "the dossier" these insiders kept insisting was real and about to be used. It's bullshit. Yes, we knew what programs cheated in a general sense but it stayed as that. It wasn't like OSU paid some DL we also wanted and we obtained evidence to add to this secret dossier hidden under the Schembechler Statue. No, it just stayed with the coaches and staff. It's the real world and most coaches both know they aren't perfectly clean themselves and they would rather swallow the info than look like a crybaby bitch. 

But back on point, UM didn't need a reason to stand down beyond the threat that losing the TRO would mean the conference was going to block any potential B1GCG and try their best with any Postseason beyond that. That's enough to just take the 3 games. 

How does he know “no new evidence was found” if his “sources have all went dark”? 

Isaiah Hole has proven to be a phony and a slappy. He cryptically promised that Michigan would have a big reveal that would turn the story on its head. He hasn’t offered any substantial reporting. He’s just been gooning people for clicks. 

To a great extent, a dispute like this--i.e., litigation between the B1G and one of its member schools over the limits of the B1G's authority to regulate competition--is uncharted territory. Because of that, no one has ever really delved into this issue. Think about it: compared with the NCAA's rules and bylaws, how often do we hear about the B1G's rules and bylaws related to actual competition (as opposed to bullshit like TV rights and revenue distribution)? My guess is that, when the lawyers actually looked into all of the relevant agreements and policies that govern Michigan's relationship with the B1G and the latter's authority over competition-related issues, they didn't see a winning argument. 

The idea that Michigan is entitled to due process might sound fair, but the reality is that the B1G is a private organization that isn't bound by the Fifth Amendment. There's probably some rule or provision somewhere that gives the conference unlimited discretion to impose these kinds of sanctions, and the University must have decided against fighting an uphill battle.

If no new information was discovered, then that's the only viable explanation I can come up with for this abrupt about-face.

At this point, the only thing that could possibly make sense is if the B1G suspends other HCs tomorrow. 
I don’t expect it, but it is the only thing that makes sense (other than total capitulation). 

My guess is that Harbaugh turned down a great new contract the University offered him sometime this week. He probably told Michigan that he plans to coach next season in the NFL and he told them there is no need for the court hearing. I think Moore may be our next coach, so Harbaugh if giving him a great head start and will help coach the team except on Saturday's. My guess Harbaugh may not coach the B1G title game or playoffs (if we make it, or the bowl game if we cannot beat OSU). Oh well, it was nice ride with Jimmy and he build up the team to a championship level. Too bad the dickhead Pettite had to suspend Harbaugh to take away his last hurrah on the sidelines.

Maybe I’m completely off on this, but Occam’s razor based on what we know is that Michigan figured: 1) They weren’t going to win and thought the publicity of losing would be worse than the publicity of settling; and/or 2) They weren’t going to get a decision tomorrow and the team would be in purgatory for the week before The Game.

Yeah, I really don’t care what any “insider with sources” has to say anymore. 
 

just win 

Here’s what makes sense:

Petty made his first grand move as commish. He can’t back down from it without facing major disgrace and losing all legitimacy even if he understands he made a terrible call.

After making this boneheaded move, he agrees to recommend to the NCAA that Harbaugh gets zero additional punishment (because there’s no evidence after all) in exchange for Michigan backing down and perhaps some wheel greasing in other ways. He also saves face for when the NCAA would exonerate Harbaugh and make him look like an idiot. 

It’s not just, but it’s just politics.

Bacon's right, no one knows anything, except that Michigan's regents decided to resolve a lawsuit and take an undeserved whacking.

That's all we know. We don't know what factors went into this decision.

The people who have crystal balls and seem convinced about Harbaugh leaving know nothing. It's all guesswork.

It's mind blowing that people can insist they can predict the future without knowing the whole story.

Those who want answers might start with an old investigative adage: Follow the money.

Someone's got the whip hand here, and it might not even be the Big Ten (it's certainly not Michigan). I think it may be TV. I freely admit that's just a wild guess. 

The Game is always huge TV draw, and it just got way more interesting. There's a big storyline for people to watch unfold next Saturday. There should be enormous interest in The Game played without one of the head coaches amid a swirling media shark feeding frenzy.

M players will be fired up even more than usual in the interest of disproving the doubters and silencing the critics.

Ratings galore.

This puts even more pressure on Day and Ohio! When he loses to Coach Moore he will officially be John Cooper 2.0!

I believe it.  Only thing that would make sense in all this is if they got a deal for the NCAA to back down too.  But no sign of that.

All I know is Connor Stalions can F ALL THE WAY OFF!!  He’s worse than Bartman, F’ing piece of shit!!

I was holding out hope that some of this supposed "dirt" we have would drop the week of the Ohio game, but it's hard to believe we're going to do anything at this point. This really just seems like we've thrown in the towel and bent over for the Big Trash yet again. Tampering by the conference has been deemed a-okay. 

Unless his source is the AD, the Associate AD, or Santa, then I don't care. All these sources have fed a mostly unfruitful rumor mill.

These sources aren't lawyers, and many lawyers had serious doubt that today would have gone well for us.

My only thought is that Harbaugh wanted to eliminate ANY chance his team was held out of the Big Ten championship game.  He has faith in Sherrone, the coaches, and his team-and this deal DOES assure the Big Ten won't ban us from the CG.  That's all I have to hold onto.  

Yeah, as always a lot of these insiders either (a) aren't that connected or (b) aren't willing to say anything because they don't want to lose access.

I don't pay for the message boards mostly because of these limitations.  I assume they'll let you know about player injuries and stuff like that but the higher up you go the fewer people are going to know enough and be willing to share it off the record.

I do suspect that he's right about there being no new major info on Stalions.  We haven't heard anything on that front except exonerating info for UM so if there was another shoe it would be out by now.

The PR problem with UM’s approach: by caving and getting nothing meaningful in return, people will conclude that UM was trying to hide more evidence of cheating. Then, media reports involving leaks will appear that throw more dirt. People will then accept that dirt as true and the reason why UM caved. 
Taking your shot in court—even if unsuccessful—looks way better. 

If Harbaugh is here next year, you'll know that he was on board with dropping the case and there was nothing else bad that was agreed to be kept silent.

The converse, however, is not true.  If he is gone is it because his future was traded for not pressing forward with more damning evidence?  Is it because he is fed up with the NCAA and Michigan?  Or, did he simply find the chance he has been looking for to move on?

Once the judge punted case, we were effed. Is my understanding. Almost nothing to gain by going to court.

I really hope this was a situation of both parties trying to avoid some mutually assured destruction and Michigan ended up getting something out of this, although even if they did, we'll probably never know what it was. 

From an outsider's perspective, it sure looks like we are the ones who blinked. Who caved. That said, if it was Harbaugh who made this decision and decided to just move forward with the suspension and move past it, so be it. I'm not sure I would've done the same, but its his team, not mine, and he's the one with his neck on the line. I'm just some ass on the internet behind a keyboard. 

That said, if any of the rumors surrounding the regents are true in that they went around their own legal counsel and sought this outcome out on their own, then honestly, Michigan deserves whatever fallout it gets from that choice. Now and in the future. 

If the regents made this choice on Michigan's behalf, and then we end up losing to OSU next week? We lose Harbaugh to the NFL over it? The B1G wakes up one morning after the season is over and decides its not done dolling out punishments and decides to tack some more on anyway? 

Michigan will fully deserve that. 

ASSUMING there really is no new evidence tying to staff (like the whole weird Clink thing), I am generally inclined to believe this was likely one or a combination of just getting it resolved for this season to end the distraction, the possibility we wouldn't have won the TRO or had it decided in time anyway, or that Pettitti was going to continue to come after them by a DQ for the conference championship or something along those lines.

The newbies disappear and the newbies return....hmnnnn? What changed?

This whole thing ended in a very frustrating way.

It'll be nice to go back to not having to watch this bozo in God First clothes give like 0.2% of actual inside information while shilling gambling sponsorships.

Sources have gone "dark" because everyone within a radius of knowing something was probably told to STFU.

I think the Michigan community needs to come to the grips with the fact that the only “insider” who said anything that wasn’t 100% inaccurate was John U, and all John said was “nobody knows anything.”

The credibility of all other insiders has basically been destroyed.

Just a reminder why I’ve completely stopped donating to universities… screwed up admin with political agendas 

Isaiah Hole saying there is no new evidence is the best evidence so far for there being new evidence.

Nobody knows the whole story behind this capitulation yet.

Who was behind this? Some think it was the regents, if so, who or how many?

Have we seen or heard comments from Santa Ono or Warde about this?

Jim says it was to keep his team focused for these last two regular season games. As long as he can coach during the week and nearly up until game time is good enough.

More questions than answers thus far.