Michigan being investigated for shoe reselling
August 10th, 2018 at 9:20 PM ^
Well shit. If it turns out that any current players are involved I'd expect some suspensions to be handed down.
Hopefully it's from charities or players that have left the program and no key players are tied up in this.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:22 PM ^
Wonder how long it’d take to find out if any current players are involved hopefully a couple of days at most
August 10th, 2018 at 9:28 PM ^
As we should be if we broke the rules, however, it's possible that these were sold by players that have already graduated or people connected to the program. Players aren't the only ones who get these shoes. If players did sell them, however, they should be punished
August 10th, 2018 at 9:36 PM ^
Possible yes, However instead of getting defensive and coming up with legalistic excuses, Michigan needs to seek out the truth and be proactive. That would show the Michigan Difference.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:42 PM ^
Obviously, I never said the school should do that. But if alumni, transfers, or friends of the program sold the shoes, then it doesn't really affect the team at all
August 10th, 2018 at 9:33 PM ^
So, especially in light of what's been going on elsewhere, sounds like Beilein/Harbaugh needs to get out in from of this with his players. Have a team meeting and say, "anyone who has sold or given away any equipment, or been approached to do so, or knows anything about anyone else being approached about such thing, needs to stay behind. This is your chance to come clean. The consequences will be much greater if wait to do so later."
Then have compliance people thoroughly interview them.
Think What Would Tressel Do? Or Urban? Then take the higher road
August 10th, 2018 at 9:46 PM ^
Bet they never thought of that.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:03 PM ^
I would hope/imagine M started to address/ look into this as soon as M shoes came up in that store owner interview as part of the UNC shoe-related suspension story.
Also - are we sure that MBB and Football are the only programs that get special shoes? (In addition to the non-team people/donations.). I think Ira noted on WTKA that he saw a pair of size 9’s on the site. Not sure any/many on those teams wear shoes that small.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
"Then take the higher road"
Wouldn't that be just about anything but lie?
August 10th, 2018 at 9:41 PM ^
Based upon them being tagged with identifiers for which players sold them, I’d assume that this should be fairly simple to investigate and suspend players accordingly. I don’t love that this may have happened, but it does happen. It’ll be a good teaching moment.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:42 PM ^
So if the worst does happen, and say a current player sold them, how long of a suspension do you guys think we'd be looking at?
August 10th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
I thought I read that 13 UNC dudes got suspensions ranging up to 4 games
August 10th, 2018 at 9:46 PM ^
Yeah, probably 4 games. Nine of the thirteen UNC players got 4 game suspensions. The nice thing for us, were any of our guys to be suspended, is that we have three fairly easy games in our first four. The issue is that giant one in week one. Hopefully, if there's anyone on the team to be suspended, it's only depth guys.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
UNC suspended guys for 2-4 games. So based on that it'd probably mean a loss for ND but should be good for the B1G schedule.
August 11th, 2018 at 7:47 AM ^
UNC was allowed to stagger their suspensions, so not all 13 guys sit for the same games. Some will sit in the beginning, middle and end of the season.
One of stupidest rules and extremely harsh punishments for breaking. You lose 1/3 of your season for selling your own stuff. And I don't need the "rules are rules" lecture either. We all break the rules everyday when we drive by going over the speed limit by 5-10 mph. The big picture here is that the punishment is ridiculous and does not fit the crime. Given the shit going on today across campuses all over the country, this is where the NCAA chooses to focus their efforts - on kids selling their own shoes. Absurd!
August 11th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
It seems absurd if you categorize it as "kids selling their own shoes."
It seems less absurd if you categorize it as "kids receiving up to $20K in cash from boosters."
Some of the numbers that are floating around are 4K/pair for shoes, 5 pairs per athlete. And that's just prices on a public website; who knows if boosters reaching out directly to kids are offering more.
August 12th, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^
That's funny, in my view if you sell (or trade for tattoos for that matter) team owned equipment, that is theft, and you should be dismissed from the team.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
I think the UNC players and Oregon players got between 2-4 games if I remember correctly. That seems somewhat reasonable. Now if their dads had somehow sold them “without their knowledge”, the NCAA will be ok will be fine with it. /Newton’d
August 10th, 2018 at 9:48 PM ^
Someone mentioned this the other day, but there's at least 1 current bball player who has been trying to sell gear on his Insta story. D. Walton also has posted A TON of Michigan gear/shoes for sale on his Insta (after he left the program).
August 10th, 2018 at 9:51 PM ^
Gear, or shoes they bought themselves? I’ve seen the D Walton stuff, but i haven’t seen any active players selling gear via social media, but I have seen them selling shoes they must have bought themselves (mostly yeezy’s). I may have missed it though.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:04 PM ^
Who is that current player?
August 10th, 2018 at 10:45 PM ^
I believe he is referencing Jordan Poole. But I don’t think he was openly selling and Michigan Jordan’s. Could be wrong
August 10th, 2018 at 10:33 PM ^
That's different as far as I know... he's just doing a side hustle with his own buy/sell resell, not exclusive/school issue.
I also think its different once people leave the program. Selling shoes can make you ineligible to play... if you are no longer playing /shrug.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:52 PM ^
You can go on the StockX website and view the sales history. The only thing you can really discern is the shoe size of the pairs sold and quantity. There are some big shoe sizes on here
August 10th, 2018 at 9:56 PM ^
I'm a size 14, and I'm not a giant. Nothing too crazy.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:03 PM ^
I was figuring the size 16s would be for some sort of giant.
Maybe I just have small feet.... and you know what they say about guys with small feet
August 11th, 2018 at 12:53 AM ^
Small shoes?
August 10th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
I'm 14 now, used to be 13, and I clock in at 6'5. I'm honestly tall for my shoe size; I know a lot of people at size 13 in the 6'0-6'3 range.
The sizes at that link are pretty normal except for two 16s and a 15.
Aren't these basketball shoes? Do football players get complimentary basketball shoes?
August 10th, 2018 at 11:43 PM ^
Yeah, and I'm a little a short for my shoe size at just under 6'1 in a 14. I agree, pretty reasonable sizes on there - nothing that looks like Shaq's shoes.
They are "basketball" shoes, but really they're just fashionable/collectible Jordans, and, yes, football players do get some of those.
August 11th, 2018 at 12:32 AM ^
I'm 6'2" and wear a 12 in Nike and a 11.5 in Adidas. I'd guess you're looking at one of the bigger wings for 15s and 16s, or maybe one of the smaller centers.
Now, if they're from football players, it's going to be a different story just because of the weight they're carrying making it more likely they have bigger feet.
August 10th, 2018 at 9:59 PM ^
To be honest I didn’t see shoe sizes that were out of the ordinary. I hope these are from players that graduated or gifts to close friends of the program
August 10th, 2018 at 10:00 PM ^
I've got no issues with athletes selling stuff that is given to them, however, if they sign a form saying they won't... uh oh.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
Am I the only one who sees this as a good thing in terms of timing? Better to have this happen at the beginning of the season than in the middle of Big Ten play or possibly after having played ineligible players. And now compliance will be able to better deal with this moving forward by possibly instituting a system similar to Oregon if it is found some of our players were involved.
Who knows how many people are provided gear that are associated with the program so I wouldn't automatically assume it was tied to current players. Hopefully none of our guys were involved, but it is better to address it now and move forward.
August 11th, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
With the huge exodus of players from the football team via the draft/graduation, coaching changes, and transfers, I’m curious to see how many of these are from players/coaches leaving the program. I would hope at least the starters on the football and basketball teams would know better than to jeopardize their eligibility with something like this.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
I'm honestly not thaaaaaaaat worried here. If you think about it, we've had quite a few guys leave the program in the last 2.5 years since this Nike deal happened, and for sure those are the guys selling shoes to a site like this.
If you're a guy like Kingston Davis, of course you are selling the free shoes if they will give you $4500. Or any of the other 50 guys who have graduated/nonrenewed/left the program in the last 2.5 years.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
I'm honestly not thaaaaaaaat worried here. If you think about it, we've had quite a few guys leave the program in the last 2.5 years since this Nike deal happened, and for sure those are the guys selling shoes to a site like this.
If you're a guy like Kingston Davis, of course you are selling the free shoes if they will give you $4500. Or any of the other 50 guys who have graduated/nonrenewed/left the program in the last 2.5 years.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:03 PM ^
True. I didn’t even think about it. Worst case scenario we lose players for four games with 3 of those games being gimmes. It’d be disappointing to be missing key contributors for Notre Dame though
August 10th, 2018 at 10:05 PM ^
I wouldn’t assume Michigan will give the same suspension lengths as UNC.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:08 PM ^
I would assume it would be similar. UNC probably issued that suspension to be as short as possible to adhere NCAA rules and guidelines. They didn't make it up out of thin air. Suspension is tied to how much merchandise they sold.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:20 PM ^
Does the NCAA have guidelines for suspension lengths? I was under the impression that it is at the school’s discretion when they self report.
August 11th, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
They do, based on the amount of money involved.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^
was Ablauf's counterpart at UNC making statements? I like how DA was out in front of the story making the comments and addressing the possible scenarios.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:12 PM ^
Same, that stuck out to me in a positive way.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:46 PM ^
I hope you are right. Just as I was starting to get really excited and believe that we have a legit chance at a BigTen title with a top 3 defense and a much improved offense this kick in the nuts comes along.
August 10th, 2018 at 11:30 PM ^
Notre Dame, MSU, Northwestern, Rutgers, OSU.........Honestly I don't feel too bad about it. As long as they don't get fucked by injuries this year, they finally should have the talent to win any of these games.
August 11th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
more like a punch to the facemask. . .won't hurt us one bit. Except crooked referees in Columbus who don't understand the concept of pass interference.
August 11th, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^
first of all. Yes. . .and it started with Steinbrenner taking out Drew Henson. Secondly, if I'm so off base, why doesn't Tressel still have his job. OSU tried to keep him until the NCAA made it unbearable. Then Osu brought in another snake and that is playing out right now. . And you're very astute to not say OSU won 15 times, because they had to vacate one of those wins.
OSU is the most crooked program in football. But the entire state backs it and protects. Note, Powell Police not releasing police reports. How convenient.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:03 PM ^
Damn it. Watch the NCAA make an example out of us and knock us on scholarships if a couple players sold shoes.
Seriously, let's keep our fingers crossed that we don't have an eligibility problem with last year's Final Four team.
August 10th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
I feel like UNC has already been made an example of...
August 10th, 2018 at 10:11 PM ^
Here’s a thought I just had... if the football team generates around 200 pairs/year of these, and the Nike contract has been for 2 full seasons that’s around 400 total pair of these shoes. So, 23 would be 5.75% of the total that ended up on this site. 23 sounds like a lot, but that percentage of the total seems fairly low? Current players shouldn’t be selling them, but I’d be interested to know what the overall percentage is of people receiving them that could legally sell them.