Wisconsin chancellor supposedly negotiated the deal between M and BIG

Submitted by doubleblue2 on November 16th, 2023 at 5:55 PM

Rumor has it the  Chancelor of Wisconsin played a big role in both parties coming to terms. 
Supposedly after a heated head of universities call yesterday. 
She is apparently a major bad ass.  Her background is in law, evidentiary law , athletics etc.
Apparently she made quite an impression on all involved. 
 

That’s all I know. 

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bronxblue

November 16th, 2023 at 6:37 PM ^

They're done investigating and punishing UM and will defer to the NCAA's years-long investigation.  Otherwise the same bullshit sportsmanship clause they used for this punishment could then be used for, says the B1G title game and into next year.  Clearly once Petitti got that exemption for 3 years the conference was on board fucking with Harbaugh.

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Alton

November 16th, 2023 at 6:33 PM ^

In their letter 6 days ago, the Big Ten stated that further punishments were still on the table. My understanding of today's development is that further punishments by the Big Ten were taken off the table in exchange for Michigan capitulating on the current punishment.

In other words--(1) if Michigan beats Ohio State, Michigan will play in the BTCG and Harbaugh will coach them in that game, and (2) Michigan will play in one or more post-season games, and  Harbaugh will coach them in those games.

So the dreams that Ohio State fans had of vacated or forfeited games, post-season bans, etc., are dead. Michigan won't even have to pay a fine.

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Alton

November 16th, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^

I mean...yeah.  I get it.

But the bucknutz of the world wanted forfeits or vacated wins for 2021-23. They wanted postseason bans. They wanted to get to the conference championship whether they won or lost against Michigan. So many of them were convinced it was going to happen, and now it can't. If Michigan is a national championship team, they can prove it on the field. 

 

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jmblue

November 16th, 2023 at 7:03 PM ^

Sam Webb and others have suggested that while we may have had a good moral argument for not suspending Harbaugh based on due process, it may not have been a winning legal argument in court. 

If so, at that point you've got to take what you can get.  Fighting the Big Ten and losing in court would get us nothing and possibly make them even more vindictive.

But we're going to take down OSU.  None of this doomsaying.

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bighouse22

November 16th, 2023 at 8:01 PM ^

Just because the hearing was tomorrow, does not mean that a decision would have been rendered  in time for the Maryland game.  You were already going to take a 2 game hit, why not get the concession from the B1G that no additional action will be taken and return the focus to the game.

You were already going to serve 2/3rds of the sentence!

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BlueInDallas

November 16th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^

So all the bluster about going to the mat was…bluster?  
 

Sometimes you stand on principle and fight for what you think is right. Here, Michigan capitulated to a mob-led, feckless Commissioner and hung a target on its back for the rest of its existence in this garbage conference.  

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Alton

November 16th, 2023 at 6:54 PM ^

Well I'm not ignoring them, although you're right that I didn't mention them.

The Big Ten could have banned Michigan from this year's post-season. They have now seemingly agreed not to. The NCAA doesn't have time to ban Michigan from the post-season this year, and if they do vacate wins they can only vacate them up until the time that Michigan stopped supposedly violating the rules two weeks ago.

So now if Michigan is a national championship caliber team, they can play for and win the national championship and it can't be taken away.

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Alton

November 16th, 2023 at 8:08 PM ^

What I am saying is they can't. The only danger to Michigan's fate being in their own hands was that the conference could have decided to add a postseason ban to Michigan's punishment. They have agreed not to do that now.

(1) Unlike basketball and every other sport, the NCAA does not determine a national champion in FBS football. The NCAA has ceded that duty to the polls and the CoFoPoff. If a team wins the playoff, they are the national champion. They get the trophy.

(2) The NCAA does not have time to institute a postseason ban on Michigan. Any notice of violations gives Michigan a 60-day (or 90-day? I forget) window to respond, so no NCAA punishment can happen until after the championship game.

(3) The NCAA will not have authority to vacate Michigan's participation in the CoFoPoff if they do qualify, because the NCAA is only investigating rules violations that occurred after Stalions' hiring in 2021 and prior to his suspension just before the Michigan State game in 2023. That's when the NCAA grabbed his laptop and collected their other evidence. So in the unlikely event that Michigan will be made to vacate wins, any of those vacated wins will be from when Stalions was on staff: 2021, 2022, and the first 7 games of 2023.

Therefore, Michigan can qualify for the CoFoPoff--and if they do qualify, their participation can not be voided after the fact.

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Carcajou

November 16th, 2023 at 10:25 PM ^

Yes. The CoFoPoff is in charge of selecting teams for the playoffs, independent of the NCAA. They weigh a number of factors of "worthiness" including championships, strengths of schedule, eye-test. Their goal is to put what they determine to be the "best" four teams. They've already been meeting and committee members have taken these spying accusations into consideration, and unlike ESPN screaming heads, have deemed Michigan worthy of consideration. 
The NCAA someday later vacating/forfeiting regular season wins would not automatically invalidate any playoff wins.

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Alton

November 16th, 2023 at 7:06 PM ^

I agree. Since the NCAA is isolated from the Big Ten mob that formed the last few weeks, I don't see any way in the world this rises to the level of vacating wins by the NCAA.  It's a low-level violation that if it didn't blow up in-conference would have ended in a show-cause for Stalions and in a year or two of probation with no further penalties.

 

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bo_lives

November 16th, 2023 at 7:21 PM ^

This is a terrible deal for Michigan. The Big Ten can’t stop Harbaugh from coaching the CoFoPoff anyway as it’s not a Big Ten game. Vacated wins, to the extent anyone actually cares, is still a possibility with the NCAA ruling. So all we’re possibly getting is, if Michigan beats OSU, Harbaugh will be there for them to play Iowa. I would 100x prefer Harbaugh to be there for the OSU game.

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