Update From Former AD Employee / Insider Buddy
Some quick updates from my buddy, the one who shared info on the "binders of dirt" on other programs.
- Has no confirmation on the supposed 6-9 other teams that were allegedly also in person scouting. He says it could just be a rumor. That said, UM has indeed hired 3 separate firms (one named Kroll?) to look into
- How UM's signs were obtained
- Who shared those signs
- How far the conspiracy went (how many teams shared the signs)
- Also of interest, was there indeed video tape of UM's practice circulating in 2018-2019 as has been alleged? And which teams had or have that tape.
- Was it OSU that hired a PI team to go after UM (AD is 90% certain it was)
- On the legal side, he has nothing to add that hasn't gone public. Most of the legal info is not really coming out of the AD at this point but is at the university / regents / President level rn.
- Of note, UM is not just looking at other conferences per leverage. There are actual convos going on, albeit very early. There is a deep, profound grievance that OSU in particular has been "getting away with murder" for 15 years (as the B1G flagship program) and UM is being railroaded in a clever PI / PR hit job here. Actual conversations (no idea how serious) have taken place with the SEC. Out of left field - Texas for some reason is in contact with UM and is in their ear and pushing hard for them to join SEC - no idea what that relationship is about.
That's all I got. Not too helpful in these crazy times, but felt I should share.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
Re: 9 team scouting rumor: Yeah, as expected, that source was ass. Also said no penalty this week...butthole.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
What do you mean not too helpful? I love any news about us leaving B1G. I am giving you +1 all day tomorrow just for these nuggets.
Texas wants us in? Why would that be? Don't they want to be new kid in the block? LOL. Texas is a good university. UM Texas OK in SEC would be great unless Texas wants UM to be in B12.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
You guys know the SEC is really good right?
November 10th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
You realize the SEC would have to come to Ann Arbor in November....
November 10th, 2023 at 11:13 PM ^
According to them, yes.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
Hold me....I think we need a what are you drinking thread....also LFG I love the anger this is causing for the university. We are getting screwed
November 10th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
I’m so pissed…..and disappointed. Fuck the Big Ten. They can fucking rot.
Petite is a small man trying act tough. He is literally a dumb shit.
Now let’s go ram it up there asses and win out with a big fuck you.
I hope Michigan employs an army of private investigators to follow every fucking person around associated with OSU for eternity.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:53 PM ^
Love the imagery of the last sentence. Get our posse of PI’s and cyber experts to hunt them down. Hire Lord Baltimore and track them over rock. Send them all to Bolivia to track down the Banditos Petitti.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
Man it would be awesome to see Bama in the big house in November. The sec would never schedule it though. Our November games would be like Vanderbilt/Mississippi State and Chattanooga.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:29 PM ^
I think Michigan should talk to Texas, but not necessarily to join the SEC.
Imagine the power Texas, Michigan, ND, okla, and USC could wield if they started a conference.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:33 PM ^
Exactly. UT is like the Michigan of the south.
November 10th, 2023 at 11:01 PM ^
Texas isn't the south. It's Texas. That was made clear to me when I moved there.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
Would love to see a group of power schools band together and create an entirely new conference.
And would probably best to work on it with Fox to guarantee a lucrative tv contract - while at the same time they dump the Big 10.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:41 PM ^
Fantastic, bring Oregon, UCLA, and Washington too
November 10th, 2023 at 10:44 PM ^
This x 1000
November 10th, 2023 at 10:31 PM ^
SEC / Sankey already sold us out by telling the B1G that Stalions bought tickets to the SEC championship game last year (and that wasn't a violation of the rules - just adding salt into the wound). That conference can go fuck itself now and forever.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:41 PM ^
Not an SEC fan (or an ESPN fan, by extension). I'm not that mad at them in this case, even if they were trying to undermine us. At least they have their members' backs - much better than this shit
November 10th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
Michigan would never be accepted as a "member", though. That's not how they roll down there.
Oh, Michigan could join, and the SEC would happily engorge themselves on the revenue they'd bring. But in literally every other way, they'd be worse than the B1G. Because Michigan could be in the SEC for 300 years from this day, and in every moment of it they would always be a "them" to them.
If Michigan doesn't like how the B1G is treating them, they'd have to be completely nuts to consider the SEC.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:41 PM ^
Well yes, but Michigan is not a member of his conference. It's doubtful he would do that if Michigan was a member of his conference.
This doesn't bother me too much. It makes sense for a rival league to pile on. It's the knife in the back from the Big Ten that's most painful.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:42 PM ^
Good or bad, SEC does a good job looking after its own interests, and having 2 SEC teams in the playoffs would suit them better than just having 1.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
Yep, can't blame the SEC. They saw the dipshit B1G commish purposely try to undermine one of his conference's best opportunities to make the cfp. And probably figured if that idiot wants to undermine his own conference, then let's give him some help.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:46 PM ^
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
It's hard to see where this ends. A week ago, the thought of Michigan leaving the B1G would never have crossed any of our minds. Now, staying in the B1G seems like an impossibility.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
At that point, wasn’t Stalions pinned to a dozen games already? One more games was whatever. Right now, Sankey’s just ripping shots and laughing it up as idiot Tony is gifting him a top 5 combo athletic/academic institution.
November 10th, 2023 at 11:16 PM ^
We are the #1 athletic/academic institution.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:32 PM ^
Thanks for the update! Does that mean no word on using the binders of dirt yet?
November 10th, 2023 at 10:44 PM ^
No word. He says the department is focused on task at hand...
Signal investigations
Protecting Harbaugh and securing him into the future
The binders of dirt have a ton of old shit he says they will leak to media slowly...but the most relevant, impactful info (if anyone cared about $$$) is OSU breaking NIL rules by paying for visits - upwards of $10k - just for recruits visits.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:33 PM ^
At this point I’m a rumor junkie and this is delicious. If our practice footage was stolen hoo man that will really take the cake. I still think what Conner Stalions did is NOT clearly illegal despite the whining about tHiRtY-FiVe games or whatever. Randos attended games and took video with iPhones. That cannot possibly be more of a violation than Rutgers coaches scouting us for OSU, even if the latter is “commonplace”. As Dan Wetzel said, don’t let the thieves define theft.
As to the SEC/Texas thing that’s honestly pretty intriguing and it would absolutely send shockwaves. Would not surprise me if Texas wants to get some academic blue bloods to follow them. They are a top 10 public university.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:35 PM ^
Hole confirmed Michigan is virtually certain OSU hired a private investigator that obtained the notorious spreadsheet referenced in Tony Petite-dick's email.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:46 PM ^
Ok … but practically speaking, what difference does that make? I guess you could make a bad sportsmanship argument, but it’s not illegal to try to catch your opponent doing something you think is illegal. It seems like it’s just whistle-blowing.
November 10th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Presumably the document was obtained illegally. Also the NCAA has rules about investigations and proper procedures. What's worse? Advanced scouting a public game that 80k people are watching and can film or Rivals aiming to take each other down by hiring private investigation firms and conspiring with the media to execute political hit jobs?
November 10th, 2023 at 11:13 PM ^
It means that the alleged evidence should be subjected to even greater scrutiny given the obvious bias.
November 10th, 2023 at 11:18 PM ^
The conference sanctioned Harbaugh for a sportsmanship violation. Spying on a rival is beyond the pale.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
Texas has contacts with AD since we have a home and home with them. They are also a fellow AAU member and a SEC newbie. Probably a good go between for initial discussions.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
Time to create a super league of the top 16 teams in the country
November 10th, 2023 at 11:13 PM ^
Minus OSU and PSU
November 10th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
Can you imagine the fury of Fox and NBC towards the Big Ten and Petitti if Michigan bolts for another conference?
November 10th, 2023 at 10:37 PM ^
Kroll is a heavy hitter. They are one of the top in the business of forensic investigations. They are my go to when I have a high dollar matter that needs a serious forensic investigation. They are currently handling a number of matters for my clients. They are not cheep but they are worth the price. If we hired Kroll, we are not fucking around.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:57 PM ^
They are known for cyber security and forensics but got their start in risk identification and management.
Per their website:
Kroll specializes in immediately and swiftly safeguarding your most valuable assets—your people, property and brand or reputation—from threats of any kind, utilizing expert practitioners, advanced technology solutions and proven strategy.
A lot of wiggle words in there which obfuscates their badassery. Definitely glad the University hired them.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:39 PM ^
I’ve accepted that it would be hard to leave this conference (but we should still shop). But when the day comes that super league discussions start, and the top 30-40 teams leave the rest behind, I hope we have no words in defense of the bottom feeders in this league.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
In fact, I hope we string MSU along, making them think that their basketball program is enough to qualify them into the new league, then drop them for Kentucky or whoever at the last moment so they can fade back into obscurity as an also-ran.
November 10th, 2023 at 11:19 PM ^
Izzo doesn’t have many years left. When he retires, they sink back to mediocrity.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:40 PM ^
The situation smells like baby poop. There are a lot of unresolved issues from referees to OSU’s teflon relationship with the BIG.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
Santa just tweeted bet. Is that good or bad?!?!?
November 11th, 2023 at 12:16 AM ^
This made my night, thanks for bringing it to my attention. A university president who understands the connection between athletics and institutional reputation/integrity. He is the right person for this moment.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
This is so clearly about the safety of the children and sportsmanship. Remember last year when the BigTen suspended Mel Tucker (you remember . . . the guy who pulls his cock out during phone calls with rape survivors) after his players stomped on Michigan players and one used his helmet as a weapon to injured a player. It's great to have a conference that's so concerned for safety, integrity and sportsmanship for things that endanger player's safety like advanced scouting. Maybe Haller (You remember . . . The AD for the university who harbored the most prolific sexual abuser in NCAA history), since Petitedick is "believing" him (per his letter to Warde) should shove his moral pontifications up his foul infested asshole.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
Please join the sec. I need Michigan games to go to down here. I also need to see sec teams playing in Michigan in November.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:44 PM ^
I was thinking acc. But the more I think about it, going to the SEC would be the biggest fuck you to the Big ten and it makes the most sense financially. That SEC logo will look real good on our jerseys.
November 10th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
We'd also get really good, really fast. And not just national title good every 25 years, but would be a top 5 program every year given resources, new recruiting ground, Harbaugh (assuming he stays) and SEC "rules"
If we're already being called cheaters for this bs, might as well go all in and get our money's worth