You can't look on the Covid year as anything normal. Just to recap, Michigan had just put 4/5th of its Offensive Line into the NFL. Gone was 2 year starting QB, Shea Patterson. Off to the NFL was Donovan Peoples Jones. Nico Collins was sitting out the year. I can't remember who on the defense was gone. Losing that would have been hard enough during a regular season, toss in no Spring game or practices. Limited summer contact. Abbreviated fall training camp. If Michigan had a veteran team, I doubt the losses would have been as bad as they were.
Western Michigan's opponents scored 31.8 points per game last year (ranked 109th of 133 teams)
To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Stats can deceive you. Don’t trust them.”
Michigan just a little while ago hired a guy whose defense was 119th in scoring defense (35.8 points per game), 107th in rushing defense (193.1 yards per game), 114th in passing defense (264.3 yards per game) and 118th in total defense (457.3 yards per game). That guy was Jesse Minter, and those stats are from him running Vanderbilts defense the season before Jim Harbaugh hired him.
In the Fredericksburg Virginia area, you have three major battlefield sites which happened under three different Union Commanders.
FREDERICKSBURG:
There is a small museum and walking path at the base of the Sunken Road and then up to Marye's Heights. Next to the Heights is the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. A short drive away is Chatham Manor, a Southern plantation with a museum and a walking path.
There are also a few places such as Lee's Hill, which was the HQ for Lee while in Fredericksburg. Prospect Hill, where Stonewall Jackson was positioned and a few others.
CHANCELLORSVILLE
Just on the outskirts of Fredericksburg, is the Chancellorsville battle site. There is a small museum at the Visitor Center. While at the center, you can walk to see the spot where Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men. There is a second longer walk around the woods which basically shows trench line.
From there, there is a driving tour where you can stop and get out and look at the actual Chancellor House site as well as visit various places which happened during the battle.
WILDERNESS
About 20 minutes out from Fredericksburg, you can go to the Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Center. It is near where the Overland Campaign started. There is a two-mile or so walk through the woods if you want, showing trench line and various skirmish points.
SPOTSYLVANIA
From the Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit, it is easy to find the Spotsylvania driving tour where like the Chancellorsville drive, you can decide whether to get out and view the area or drive on to the next one. Most people stop and see the Bloody Angle.
After viewing those areas, you can continue on and follow the Overland Campaign south towards Richmond or drive north and see Bull Run as well as smaller sites like Brandy Station. You can also decide to just go and visit either Washington, DC or Richmond, Virginia and all of the things to do there.
The traffic between Washington, DC and Richmond, Virginia is some of the worst in the country. Getting off the expressways and visiting the battlefield areas is easier but if you are on a schedule, factor traffic into your planning. The DC area is expensive, so factor that into your planning. Make sure you know where you are staying, meaning read reviews and such about the hotels/motels you book. For the most part, you should be fine, but if you are trying to do things on a budget, there are some shady places in the DC area which you would be better avoiding.
You could shrink it from 68 to 48 (32 autobids and 16 at large) and I don't think a single champion would have changed...
One of the things which makes March Madness exciting are the last possession deciding finishes. With all of those amazing end of game finishes, I don't think you could replicate a repeat champion in any of the formats you listed.
Football and Basketball are two different things. You can't have Michigan playing Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon and having an 12-0 record and WMU playing Ball State, Bowling Green and Ohio at 12-0 and saying they are the same thing. How many people were bitching about Michigan's cupcake out of conference schedule these past two years?
A Power 5 schedule is not comparable to a Group of 5 schedule and the records can't be compared the same way.
I read in an article that he is only eligible to play for Iowa and Alabama for this upcoming season, but he has to wait until April 15th to actually enter the portal. Probably something along the lines of previously enrolled at both schools.
Every so often some Ohio State page of some sort comes across my FB feed. I was curious about Alfred jumping teams and decided to see the other sides take of the situation. After reading a couple of those sites, I really cannot believe that Ohio State people truly believe that the only way Michigan has won the last 3 games was by cheating and that any day now the NCAA is coming to drop a nuke on the program.
I understand banter between rivals, but those people honestly and truly are drinking the Kool Aid.
4/5th of the O-Line from the 2019 was drafted in the NFL
New QB after 2 years of Shea Patterson
DPJ - drafted. - Nico Collins sitting out.
The defense lost:
Uche - Hudson - Metellus - Glasgow and Hill to the draft. Ambry Thomas sat out.
That is a lot to replace under normal circumstances. Covid wiped out spring practice. Covid affected off season conditioning. Covid changed fall camp. Maybe the 2019 Michigan team with their experience would have been fine in the Covid 2020 year, but as young as Michigan was with a boat load of new starters, that was just too much to ask, so I gave Harbaugh a pass on that season.
Johnny Manziel recently did a podcast with Shannon Sharpe where he said in the Spring of 2014, his father went to Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and said that Johnny Football would stay for his last two-years at A&M for $3 million. That was 2014 when you didn't have to compete with the portal. So why is it so hard to believe that 10 years later $1.75 for probably one of the top 3 CB's in college football isn't believable?
I get pushing the envelope in a gray area but if he was going to do that, at least do a little something to cover your tracks a little bit more than what he did. At least give some credible thread to plausible deniability. The showing up on the Central Michigan sidelines, dressed as a CMU coach was way over the line. That falls directly into cheating and there is no excuse for that.
Any sort of legitimate chance that had of happening, died many years ago. The ACC committed suicide when they signed their television deal with ESPN. Whomever in the Big Ten had the foresight to sell a controlling interest in the Big Ten Network was a genius. With FOX running the television negotiations the Big Ten is now on Fox, CBS and NBC. The ACC is tied at the hip to ESPN. ESPN is still the flagship for the SEC.
Even if ESPN decided to give up their sweetheart ACC deal, they don't have enough money for a big-time contract with both the ACC and the SEC.
The rest of the Big Ten would laugh their asses off at Michigan as they bring in $20 million less per year in television revenue by joining the ACC.
The most infuriating part of the cheeseburgers and Connor Stalions was how the regents, Santa, and Warde were all too willing to let Jim take all the punishment for whatever was alleged in the hopes that it would all just go away.
Michigan under Coach Jim Harbaugh was GUILTY of four Level II violations. There is no if, and's or but's about that. Michigan broke the rules. We can claim righteous indignation until the cows come home about the Level I violation, but the truth of the matter is, no one has publicly shown what exactly the NCAA got their undies all twisted about to allege that Harbaugh lied or mislead the investigators. Personally, it seems sort of suspect to me but until that information is released, it's all just speculation and we do not know if it has any merit at all. The fact is that there is no Level I violation if there were not the Level II violations.
As far as Connor Stalions goes, the University brought out their big gun attorneys, but they couldn't get an injunction. By the time there would have been a hearing and a response from the courts, the 3-game suspension from the Big Ten would have been over. Michigan, not the NCAA or the Big Ten had just fired Chris Partridge and the Big Ten was willing to drop out after the suspension and let the whole thing stay with the NCAA. Michigan and Harbaugh obviously felt that was the best way out of a bad situation.
I personally am of the opinion that there is a difference between 3rd party video and in person scouting but there is that whole Connor Stalions, a member of the Michigan Coaching Staff, on the Central Michigan sidelines dressed as a CMU coach, while they are playing Michigan State. There isn't a work around for that.
Let's quit with the whole Harbaugh was as pure as the driven snow story. As far as scandals go, Harbaugh & Michigan are way down the list, but rules were broken under Harbaugh while he was in charge.
You really do not believe that those on the outside looking in with similar records are not going to be throwing up all sorts of stats showing that they are better than a school inside of the group? As the margin of error grows, that is going to include more teams who are sitting with very similar records all comparing themselves for one or two spots.
Comparisons, wait until something like the 4th best SEC team makes it and say only 1 ACC team does and that loser of the ACC championship game has the same record and such. The more that it is subjective, the more people will be legitimately able to claim they were cheated.
https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/college/football/Take this for what it is worth, but On3 has an NIL ranking list on their website and lists Johnson valuation at $763,000 and that is #34. To put it in perspective, Downs left Alabama and one of the reasons was wanting more NIL. Downs is listed as #19 with a valuation of $906,000.
I don't pretend to know exactly what goes into their valuations but in Johnson's case, is it worth it to uproot everything and move to a new environment for say $143,000 in valuation which would equal Downs?
I'm guessing that Johnson has a very healthy NIL deal, and he could perhaps hit the portal and make a little bit more, but that little bit isn't enough to offset the relationships and environment he already has.
Not so sure about that. The SEC is pretty much locked into the southeast portion of the country. The B1G footprint is coast to coast. Additionally, the B1G worked their broadcast rights through Fox, CBS and NBC while the SEC is locked into ABC and ESPN. The B1G can provide compelling games at 12 - 3:30 and 8 which have regional interest across the country. If anything, the B1G is playing chess, and the SEC is playing checkers.
Sidenote - The SEC has been able to convince most everyone that it simply 'means more' because Nick Saban and Alabama won a lot. Now that Saban has retired, is Alabama going to have that same shine? Oh, Bama will still be a blue blood program but with the portal and NIL Bama may experience some 3 and 4 loss seasons. If and when the ACC begins to crack, who will that benefit more, the SEC or B1G? Sure, the SEC could expand into the North Carolina but the B1G could increase their footprint into Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and so on, right into the heart of the south.
The B1G will never let that happen. Do you think the conference is going to sit back and let Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and say Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA each bring in say $70 million from the networks while everyone else gets say $35 million? [These are imaginary numbers.]
The major football schools would have a huge competitive advantage in the other sports simply because football was funneling so much more money to those schools. No, the conference will drag along the Rutgers, Purdue's and so on simply because the conference relationship extends beyond football.
I think just the opposite will occur. Take last year for example. The second to last CFP rankings had Notre Dame at #16 with a 9-3 record. How many other schools can now make the claim that they should be one of the 16?
Iowa at 10-3?
NC State at 9-3?
Oklahoma State at 9-4?
Liberty 13-0?
SMU 11-2?
Going to 16 is going to create a whole lot of Florida State scenarios for the schools who just missed the cut.
Then - you buy a couple of already committed prospects a couple of cheeseburgers - when the entire campus is shut down because of Covid - and, you could be given a life sentence. OR - there's an alleged violation of advanced scouting - but, no one can clearly state whether or not a rule has actually been broken because of how its written.
Context is also important in a story. The purchasing of cheeseburgers was not the Level I violation. The NCAA is alleging that Harbaugh lied or mislead the investigators about purchasing the cheeseburgers.
The Big Ten and the University were notified by the NCAA that they are investigating the allegation of advanced scouting by the University staff. That investigation has not been completed.
I found the doctors on this board very interesting when Eric All and Cade McNamara transferred to Iowa and there were a lot of discussions about their knee injuries.
"Title IX is a problem for Congress, it’s not a problem for the football players. And I don’t know that it’s clear that Title IX requires equal dollar amounts of revenue sharing."
How is that a Congressional problem? The moment that the University starts cutting checks for pay, there are 26 other varsity sport athletes, who have access to very good attorneys who are going to be asking for their cut.
"We have plenty of examples of collective bargaining agreements from other sports."
Really, list two, heck list one. Outside of the Olympics, I cannot think of an apples-to-apples comparison where you have an entity (university) sponsoring multiple separate sports (varsity sports). You can't pay student football players and ignore everyone else.
Alabama: The easiest answer is that Saban got tired of the transfer portal and NIL. Seeing how quick a lot of his players hit the portal, we can all guess that Saban was having to spend more and more time simply recruiting his own team.
Washington: The Huskies problem is that they didn't realize how good they did truly have it with DeBoer. Washington gave him an extension in 2022 but that still only bumped him up to $4.2 million a year. In the end, Washington tried to keep him with big time money, but DeBoer was always going to take a look at what was out there first. Many in Washington were worried that Michigan, if Harbaugh left was going to take him.
Michigan: If Harbaugh/Michigan had signed the extension in December? I love Harbaugh but let's be realistic. Harbaugh was going to test the NFL waters. Signing an extension would simply mean that he had a larger buy out. The only way Harbaugh was coming back to Michigan was if no one in the NFL offered him a job.
Arizona: The Arizona athletic department is having money issues. It was a no brainer for Fisch to head to Washington where the Huskies will have some Big Ten money. Besides Fisch always seems to be on the move.
Spurious allegations? His program committed 4, level II violations. Moore, for his part in those level II violations was suspended 1-game. Of Harbaugh's, 3 game suspension, how many were for the level I violation and how many were for the level II violations?
His new contract won't be guaranteed? Here is the language of what was in his current contract:
4.02 Termination for cause. The University has the right to terminate the employment of the Head Coach for cause in the event of any of the following:
(d) The NCAA or the Conference determines, or the University reasonably determines (following any notice and cure period required by Section 4.02(a)), that (i) the Head Coach has committed a material violation of a material provision of the Governing Rules (including, without limitation, a Level I or Level II violation of NCAA Rules); or (ii) that a material violation of a material provision of the Governing Rules has occurred within the Football Program during the Term of this Agreement and such material violation occurred as a result of the Head Coach’s failure to appropriately supervise the Program in a reasonable and customary manner.
If Michigan was looking to extend Harbaugh after being served with the Notice for the Level I and the 4 Level II infractions plus the whole Connor Stalions issue going on, why would anyone believe that Harbaugh's job was in danger? No one was looking to fire Harbaugh and that language was only moving the goal posts while Harbaugh was out seeing if he would land an NFL job.
Michigan suspended Harbaugh over Burgergate. Sherrone too for that matter. They didn't fight the ncaa, stall them, wait them out, challenge their authority, in short do all the things every other school does, even when faced with far more serious allegations. They preemptively suspended him, just hoping the ncaa would let it go.
There are level II violations and a level I violation. Sherrone Moore was suspended one-game for his part in the level II violations. There is no Burgergate or We Didn't Do It Gate associated with the level II violations. Michigan broke the rules.
You do not have the level I violation alleged by the NCAA, if you do not have the level II violations. Of those 3-games in which Harbaugh was suspended, how many were for the level I violation and how many were for the 4 level II violations?
People just seem to gloss over the fact that had the level I violation not occurred that Harbaugh may have still been suspended for the level II violations. As you pointed out, Sherrone Moore served a 1-game suspension.
If you think that IF there would have been no NCAA investigation that at the end of this past season that Harbaugh would have simply signed a contract extension and that he would have forgone any NFL job, you are mistaken. Three years ago, if the Vikings had offered Harbaugh a job, he was gone. I love Harbaugh and defended him many times over the years but he had an NFL itch that always needed scratching.
"Harbaugh wanted to challenge them on the claim that he deliberately was misleading about the burger receipt."
--> What are you complaining about, according to you, Harbaugh got his way. Michigan has received the Notice of Allegations from the NCAA and is in the process of filing their response within the 90 days. Had the NCAA accepted the 4-game ban, which you are so angry about, this whole issue would have been put to bed. Instead, Michigan still has the chance to fight the Level I allegation. Michigan also has to still deal with the 4, Level II allegations of which there is no defense.
"Later, Michigan pulled the plug on the TRO attempt the day before Harbaugh was going to get his chance to testify."
--> Michigan didn't pull the plug; the judge DENIED the TRO which Michigan filed and scheduled a hearing for the following week on a motion for a preliminary injunction against the B1G. Of the B1G mandated 3 game suspension, Harbaugh had already missed 1 game. The hearing was scheduled the day before the 2nd game, and it was heavily rumored that a decision wasn't going to come down until after the 3rd game. Even at that point, reading posts from the various attorneys on this board, there was no guarantee that Michigan was going to get the injunction. The B1G came forward and said, if you stop, we will. Michigan had just fired Chris Partridge so what was the point of still going forward? Does everyone go down with the ship or at some point can we start getting people on the lifeboats?
"Then, while the Chargers were pitching woo to Harbaugh, Michigan decided to play hardball over the same clause Bill Self got, telling him in effect, "We'll offer you more money but there's no guarantee you'll actually see it." The Chargers' deal offered no such strings attached."
--> It's always surprising to me that people never mentioning that Harbaugh even if he agreed to everything in a contract extension was not going to sign the extension until mid-February. The reason being that under his current deal, he had a $1.5 million buyout but under the new deal, he had a $4 million buyout.
Does Harbaugh love Michigan? Yes. It is plain to see though that he kept moving the goal posts on the extension until he had exhausted his NFL opportunities this hiring cycle. Don't pull some type of fake threat to Harbaugh's job. The only way in which Harbaugh would have been fired is if something really bad came to the surface in which Harbaugh has been lying all along about. If that were the case, no 3-panel hearing board and whatever other considerations Harbaugh had wanted would have saved his job.
Can we for a minute just accept the fact that by promoting from within the program, that Michigan was in a unique situation? First off, Harbaugh dragging his feet to finally flee to the NFL put the University behind the timeline for hiring. Secondly, had Michigan hired Chris Klieman from Kansas State, Klieman would have probably come here with a core group of coaches in tow and then sifted through what remained of the staff.
Moore has promoted people whom he has worked with and now have loyalty to him.
Grant Newson - Moved from TE's to O-Line.
Kirk Campbell - Promoted from QB coach to OC.
Justin Tress - Promoted to Director of S&C.
J.B. Brown - Promoted from Analyst to Special Teams Coach.
Steve Casula - (Noted it has been reported but not been presented with an official announcement.) Former analyst who was the OC for UMass to be the TE's coach.
Abigail O'Connor - Retained as Director of Football Performance Nutrition.
Clink - As reported in this post retained.
So far, it feels as though Moore wants a DC outside of the program. Depending upon who the DC is, they may want to bring some of their people with them to run the defense. So, loading up with position specific coaches before Moore selects a DC may not be the best way to go. So just because Moore hasn't plucked a handful of coaches from outside doesn't mean that he hasn't made good hires and doesn't necessarily have to scroll through Warde's rolodex to do his job.
What are your thoughts on Texas coach, Steve Sarkisian? Sark may not have had the drunk embarrassment of Cullen, but he was a drunk as well. Sark cleaned up his life, was given another chance and is riding a wave of love in Texas. If you are saying it's an X's & O's thing with Cullen, or he does not connect well with perspective student's, that's one thing but if his banishment is because of his alcoholism, which he cleaned up years ago, then that is a pretty high standard for anyone.
I'm sorry that I am so slow and dense, since you have this clarity, please help me out. The "OP addressed and answered at the start of the thread."
My question, "...I'm curious if the OP would answer this, would giving Herbert a new monster contract have affected the market price for the other S&C coaches on campus? People can talk about the money the University saved in hiring Moore but one of the things Moore talked about at his presser was how he wanted to beef up the recruiting office..."
Was the answer in his CV, which begins around the 6th paragraph (which is pretty impressive I would say)? Was the answer in his C+/B- grade assessment? Maybe it was in his Warde needing to be prepared portion?
Here is what I took, "Bakich's value to Michigan, a northern school in the B1G, with no prestigious history in baseball...is far greater than his value to say, Texas.
So unfortunately, this means you have to pay the man. If he is the highest paid college baseball coach, so be it! Get off the "principle" of things and make the best decision for your department...
Ben Herbert was the exact same thing. Unless he just absolutely wanted to go or unless they're paying him $4M/year...Herbert should still be at Michigan."
Herbert had been rumored to be following Harbaugh to the NFL if he had an offer since December. There was a reason that Herbert didn't want to talk about his situation at Moore's hiring press conference. The writing was on the wall that Herbert was leaving. As I pointed out, Herbert was already at the top of not only the B1G but college football for salary for S&C. My question was, IF Warde had thrown the money and years which Herbert was rumored to be asking for, would that have affected the University's other S& C coaches?
What isn't mentioned is that right away Justin Tress is promoted as the director of the S&C program, sort of like that volleyball list the OP mentioned as well as retaining Abigail O'Connor who was also rumored to have been pursued by Harbaugh.
My next question, "Elston: Since we do not have a new DC at this writing, what are the dynamics of a new DC and what that person wants or who they want for a D-Line coach? Was Elston wanting more than to simply be a D-Line coach? I'll ask the same questions of Clink since you mentioned him."
In the second to last paragraph, [I thought it was answered at the start of the thread.] he writes,
"But this nonsense post-hiring Moore was avoidable. It has nothing to do with "era" and everything to do with doing your job and being prepared. THAT is why this is the last straw for me. Michigan could've had all of this ironed out with the remaining staff in 48 hours. It's understandable that Moore hasn't filled the vacant positions (LB coach, Minter, and JayBaugh were always gone). You have to interview new candidates for those roles, but Herbert, Elston, (maybe Clink)...these guys were already on the team!! There could've been a whole "Those Who Stay" social media campaign for the returning coaches (celebrating their return to Michigan), we lost the moment and the momentum."
That is not answering my question. We do not know who the new DC is. How much power does the new DC have? Is he allowed to hire any of his own people? Did Elston or does Clink want more responsibility? Do they mesh personality wise with the new DC? Those are all questions which need to be answered which are not addressed anywhere. As smart as the OP is, and I believe he is very smart, you can't put the cart before the horse. You have to have the DC signed, sealed and delivered before you start any media campaign about "Those Who Stay" and such.
So, no I do not believe that the OP answered my questions and no, I did more than simply read the thread title and type a response. I agree and respect a lot of what the OP wrote but I also believe he is upset about some events which no AD could have done better.
I really dislike the fact that I have to write responses defending Warde. To be honest, he has never really impressed me, but the Fire Warde pitchfork group also has some unrealistic expectations.
Herbert: Has it been a year since he signed his last contract making him the highest paid S&C coach in America? Harbaugh wanted him and made him an unrealistic offer and Herbert dropped his demands in the University's lap. Pay me this or I walk. What is even the point of a contract if Herbert can break it for a similar position in the NFL?
I keep reading how Warde should have ponied up and just spent the money. I'm curious if the OP would answer this, would giving Herbert a new monster contract have affected the market price for the other S&C coaches on campus? People can talk about the money the University saved in hiring Moore but one of the things Moore talked about at his presser was how he wanted to beef up the recruiting office. For 2023, the AD only made a $4 million profit, so it's not like there is a ton of money to simply be throwing around.
Elston: Since we do not have a new DC at this writing, what are the dynamics of a new DC and what that person wants or who they want for a D-Line coach? Was Elston wanting more than to simply be a D-Line coach? I'll ask the same questions of Clink since you mentioned him.
The huge difference between the Moore and Fisch or DeBoer is that they were established coaches and could bring long time assistants with them. Moore is a first-time head coach, fighting for Jim Harbaugh hired coaches.
If they fire Warde, so be it, but a lot of this stuff any AD would have had problems with, and we would probably be standing exactly in the same spot.
Last year details of Jaden Rashada's NIL deal with a University of Florida collective was released after the collective could not come up with the money. At the time, a website published the whole contract, but I couldn't find it in my quick look up. Here are the highlights.
I assume that most NIL deals have some sort of similar requirements.
Rashada signed the NIL contract that day. It called for a $500,000 up-front payment. After that, his payments would increase from $250,000 a month as a freshman, to $291,666.66 a month as a sophomore, to $375,000 a month as a junior, rounded out with $195,833.33 monthly payments as a senior, so long as he fulfilled the following obligations:
Residence in Gainesville, Fla.
At least one branded Twitter post and one branded Instagram post per month.
Up to eight fan engagement events per year. These could include in-person appearances, social media engagements, video conferences or interviews. None would last longer than two hours.
Autograph up to 15 pieces of merchandise per year.
So, for an athletic department, which earned $4 million for the 2023 year, with Title IX still a closely monitored area, where is all of this extra money coming from?
I don't think anyone would have followed Michigan. In fact, Ohio State would be laughing their asses off at us. Using last year's numbers, Big Ten teams had a payout of $58 million and change per team, while the ACC paid out $38 million and change per team. The ACC was distributing from a pot of $617 million while the Big Ten was splitting up $845 million. Where is that extra money coming from?
You are naive if you think that is happening. Fox, CBS and NBC aren't shelling out the big bucks so that they can host Purdue versus Michigan State. The networks are salivating at the chance to show Ohio State versus Oregon. A Michigan - Washington rematch. Penn State versus USC.
You are of course assuming that Harbaugh would have signed an extension. Even with a signed extension, what makes you believe that he would have not gone out and still interviewed with the NFL?
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Same response, if mop up duty is the criteria, how does Orji's stat line of 1-9-5 yds 0-0 garner such confidence on your part?
Roll the tape of Orji's impressive mop up duty. You can't ding Warren for not have good mop up duty stats when Orji is 1 for 9 for 5 yards.
You can't look on the Covid year as anything normal. Just to recap, Michigan had just put 4/5th of its Offensive Line into the NFL. Gone was 2 year starting QB, Shea Patterson. Off to the NFL was Donovan Peoples Jones. Nico Collins was sitting out the year. I can't remember who on the defense was gone. Losing that would have been hard enough during a regular season, toss in no Spring game or practices. Limited summer contact. Abbreviated fall training camp. If Michigan had a veteran team, I doubt the losses would have been as bad as they were.
To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Stats can deceive you. Don’t trust them.”
Michigan just a little while ago hired a guy whose defense was 119th in scoring defense (35.8 points per game), 107th in rushing defense (193.1 yards per game), 114th in passing defense (264.3 yards per game) and 118th in total defense (457.3 yards per game). That guy was Jesse Minter, and those stats are from him running Vanderbilts defense the season before Jim Harbaugh hired him.
In the Fredericksburg Virginia area, you have three major battlefield sites which happened under three different Union Commanders.
FREDERICKSBURG:
There is a small museum and walking path at the base of the Sunken Road and then up to Marye's Heights. Next to the Heights is the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. A short drive away is Chatham Manor, a Southern plantation with a museum and a walking path.
There are also a few places such as Lee's Hill, which was the HQ for Lee while in Fredericksburg. Prospect Hill, where Stonewall Jackson was positioned and a few others.
CHANCELLORSVILLE
Just on the outskirts of Fredericksburg, is the Chancellorsville battle site. There is a small museum at the Visitor Center. While at the center, you can walk to see the spot where Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men. There is a second longer walk around the woods which basically shows trench line.
From there, there is a driving tour where you can stop and get out and look at the actual Chancellor House site as well as visit various places which happened during the battle.
WILDERNESS
About 20 minutes out from Fredericksburg, you can go to the Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Center. It is near where the Overland Campaign started. There is a two-mile or so walk through the woods if you want, showing trench line and various skirmish points.
SPOTSYLVANIA
From the Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit, it is easy to find the Spotsylvania driving tour where like the Chancellorsville drive, you can decide whether to get out and view the area or drive on to the next one. Most people stop and see the Bloody Angle.
After viewing those areas, you can continue on and follow the Overland Campaign south towards Richmond or drive north and see Bull Run as well as smaller sites like Brandy Station. You can also decide to just go and visit either Washington, DC or Richmond, Virginia and all of the things to do there.
The traffic between Washington, DC and Richmond, Virginia is some of the worst in the country. Getting off the expressways and visiting the battlefield areas is easier but if you are on a schedule, factor traffic into your planning. The DC area is expensive, so factor that into your planning. Make sure you know where you are staying, meaning read reviews and such about the hotels/motels you book. For the most part, you should be fine, but if you are trying to do things on a budget, there are some shady places in the DC area which you would be better avoiding.
Minter was the DC at Vanderbilt when Harbaugh hired him.
One of the things which makes March Madness exciting are the last possession deciding finishes. With all of those amazing end of game finishes, I don't think you could replicate a repeat champion in any of the formats you listed.
Football and Basketball are two different things. You can't have Michigan playing Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon and having an 12-0 record and WMU playing Ball State, Bowling Green and Ohio at 12-0 and saying they are the same thing. How many people were bitching about Michigan's cupcake out of conference schedule these past two years?
A Power 5 schedule is not comparable to a Group of 5 schedule and the records can't be compared the same way.
Except they forgot about the women's game for how long?
I read in an article that he is only eligible to play for Iowa and Alabama for this upcoming season, but he has to wait until April 15th to actually enter the portal. Probably something along the lines of previously enrolled at both schools.
Every so often some Ohio State page of some sort comes across my FB feed. I was curious about Alfred jumping teams and decided to see the other sides take of the situation. After reading a couple of those sites, I really cannot believe that Ohio State people truly believe that the only way Michigan has won the last 3 games was by cheating and that any day now the NCAA is coming to drop a nuke on the program.
I understand banter between rivals, but those people honestly and truly are drinking the Kool Aid.
Maybe he got tired of watching the team punt on 4th down and when they did go for it, ran a jet-sweep.
Que Sera, Sera.
I gave Harbaugh a big pass for the 2020 season:
4/5th of the O-Line from the 2019 was drafted in the NFL
New QB after 2 years of Shea Patterson
DPJ - drafted. - Nico Collins sitting out.
The defense lost:
Uche - Hudson - Metellus - Glasgow and Hill to the draft. Ambry Thomas sat out.
That is a lot to replace under normal circumstances. Covid wiped out spring practice. Covid affected off season conditioning. Covid changed fall camp. Maybe the 2019 Michigan team with their experience would have been fine in the Covid 2020 year, but as young as Michigan was with a boat load of new starters, that was just too much to ask, so I gave Harbaugh a pass on that season.
Johnny Manziel recently did a podcast with Shannon Sharpe where he said in the Spring of 2014, his father went to Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and said that Johnny Football would stay for his last two-years at A&M for $3 million. That was 2014 when you didn't have to compete with the portal. So why is it so hard to believe that 10 years later $1.75 for probably one of the top 3 CB's in college football isn't believable?
Take that for what it is worth however it was the Bama NIL collective which announced Sabb's transfer, not the athletic department.
I get pushing the envelope in a gray area but if he was going to do that, at least do a little something to cover your tracks a little bit more than what he did. At least give some credible thread to plausible deniability. The showing up on the Central Michigan sidelines, dressed as a CMU coach was way over the line. That falls directly into cheating and there is no excuse for that.
Any sort of legitimate chance that had of happening, died many years ago. The ACC committed suicide when they signed their television deal with ESPN. Whomever in the Big Ten had the foresight to sell a controlling interest in the Big Ten Network was a genius. With FOX running the television negotiations the Big Ten is now on Fox, CBS and NBC. The ACC is tied at the hip to ESPN. ESPN is still the flagship for the SEC.
Even if ESPN decided to give up their sweetheart ACC deal, they don't have enough money for a big-time contract with both the ACC and the SEC.
The rest of the Big Ten would laugh their asses off at Michigan as they bring in $20 million less per year in television revenue by joining the ACC.
Quit trying to rewrite history.
Michigan under Coach Jim Harbaugh was GUILTY of four Level II violations. There is no if, and's or but's about that. Michigan broke the rules. We can claim righteous indignation until the cows come home about the Level I violation, but the truth of the matter is, no one has publicly shown what exactly the NCAA got their undies all twisted about to allege that Harbaugh lied or mislead the investigators. Personally, it seems sort of suspect to me but until that information is released, it's all just speculation and we do not know if it has any merit at all. The fact is that there is no Level I violation if there were not the Level II violations.
As far as Connor Stalions goes, the University brought out their big gun attorneys, but they couldn't get an injunction. By the time there would have been a hearing and a response from the courts, the 3-game suspension from the Big Ten would have been over. Michigan, not the NCAA or the Big Ten had just fired Chris Partridge and the Big Ten was willing to drop out after the suspension and let the whole thing stay with the NCAA. Michigan and Harbaugh obviously felt that was the best way out of a bad situation.
I personally am of the opinion that there is a difference between 3rd party video and in person scouting but there is that whole Connor Stalions, a member of the Michigan Coaching Staff, on the Central Michigan sidelines dressed as a CMU coach, while they are playing Michigan State. There isn't a work around for that.
Let's quit with the whole Harbaugh was as pure as the driven snow story. As far as scandals go, Harbaugh & Michigan are way down the list, but rules were broken under Harbaugh while he was in charge.
This is only a guess, but I think that is a result of some national television advertising campaigns he has been involved in.
You really do not believe that those on the outside looking in with similar records are not going to be throwing up all sorts of stats showing that they are better than a school inside of the group? As the margin of error grows, that is going to include more teams who are sitting with very similar records all comparing themselves for one or two spots.
Comparisons, wait until something like the 4th best SEC team makes it and say only 1 ACC team does and that loser of the ACC championship game has the same record and such. The more that it is subjective, the more people will be legitimately able to claim they were cheated.
https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/college/football/Take this for what it is worth, but On3 has an NIL ranking list on their website and lists Johnson valuation at $763,000 and that is #34. To put it in perspective, Downs left Alabama and one of the reasons was wanting more NIL. Downs is listed as #19 with a valuation of $906,000.
I don't pretend to know exactly what goes into their valuations but in Johnson's case, is it worth it to uproot everything and move to a new environment for say $143,000 in valuation which would equal Downs?
I'm guessing that Johnson has a very healthy NIL deal, and he could perhaps hit the portal and make a little bit more, but that little bit isn't enough to offset the relationships and environment he already has.
https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/college/football/
With no connotation, I read the statement to my 13-year-old and asked for a translation. He said, "Dad, that means all lies."
Not so sure about that. The SEC is pretty much locked into the southeast portion of the country. The B1G footprint is coast to coast. Additionally, the B1G worked their broadcast rights through Fox, CBS and NBC while the SEC is locked into ABC and ESPN. The B1G can provide compelling games at 12 - 3:30 and 8 which have regional interest across the country. If anything, the B1G is playing chess, and the SEC is playing checkers.
Sidenote - The SEC has been able to convince most everyone that it simply 'means more' because Nick Saban and Alabama won a lot. Now that Saban has retired, is Alabama going to have that same shine? Oh, Bama will still be a blue blood program but with the portal and NIL Bama may experience some 3 and 4 loss seasons. If and when the ACC begins to crack, who will that benefit more, the SEC or B1G? Sure, the SEC could expand into the North Carolina but the B1G could increase their footprint into Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and so on, right into the heart of the south.
The B1G will never let that happen. Do you think the conference is going to sit back and let Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and say Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA each bring in say $70 million from the networks while everyone else gets say $35 million? [These are imaginary numbers.]
The major football schools would have a huge competitive advantage in the other sports simply because football was funneling so much more money to those schools. No, the conference will drag along the Rutgers, Purdue's and so on simply because the conference relationship extends beyond football.
I think just the opposite will occur. Take last year for example. The second to last CFP rankings had Notre Dame at #16 with a 9-3 record. How many other schools can now make the claim that they should be one of the 16?
Iowa at 10-3?
NC State at 9-3?
Oklahoma State at 9-4?
Liberty 13-0?
SMU 11-2?
Going to 16 is going to create a whole lot of Florida State scenarios for the schools who just missed the cut.
Context is also important in a story. The purchasing of cheeseburgers was not the Level I violation. The NCAA is alleging that Harbaugh lied or mislead the investigators about purchasing the cheeseburgers.
The Big Ten and the University were notified by the NCAA that they are investigating the allegation of advanced scouting by the University staff. That investigation has not been completed.
Last year Athletic Department $4 million profit.
I head from somewhere that Hart is on a leave of absence.
I found the doctors on this board very interesting when Eric All and Cade McNamara transferred to Iowa and there were a lot of discussions about their knee injuries.
"Title IX is a problem for Congress, it’s not a problem for the football players. And I don’t know that it’s clear that Title IX requires equal dollar amounts of revenue sharing."
How is that a Congressional problem? The moment that the University starts cutting checks for pay, there are 26 other varsity sport athletes, who have access to very good attorneys who are going to be asking for their cut.
"We have plenty of examples of collective bargaining agreements from other sports."
Really, list two, heck list one. Outside of the Olympics, I cannot think of an apples-to-apples comparison where you have an entity (university) sponsoring multiple separate sports (varsity sports). You can't pay student football players and ignore everyone else.
Not officially.
The NFL doesn't have a Title IX concern with funding 14 women's varsity athletic teams and 12 other men's teams.
Well, it looks as though the Chargers or Clink did decide to pony up the money for his buy out after all.
Rumor is that Mike Hart is on a leave of absence.
Alabama: The easiest answer is that Saban got tired of the transfer portal and NIL. Seeing how quick a lot of his players hit the portal, we can all guess that Saban was having to spend more and more time simply recruiting his own team.
Washington: The Huskies problem is that they didn't realize how good they did truly have it with DeBoer. Washington gave him an extension in 2022 but that still only bumped him up to $4.2 million a year. In the end, Washington tried to keep him with big time money, but DeBoer was always going to take a look at what was out there first. Many in Washington were worried that Michigan, if Harbaugh left was going to take him.
Michigan: If Harbaugh/Michigan had signed the extension in December? I love Harbaugh but let's be realistic. Harbaugh was going to test the NFL waters. Signing an extension would simply mean that he had a larger buy out. The only way Harbaugh was coming back to Michigan was if no one in the NFL offered him a job.
Arizona: The Arizona athletic department is having money issues. It was a no brainer for Fisch to head to Washington where the Huskies will have some Big Ten money. Besides Fisch always seems to be on the move.
Spurious allegations? His program committed 4, level II violations. Moore, for his part in those level II violations was suspended 1-game. Of Harbaugh's, 3 game suspension, how many were for the level I violation and how many were for the level II violations?
His new contract won't be guaranteed? Here is the language of what was in his current contract:
If Michigan was looking to extend Harbaugh after being served with the Notice for the Level I and the 4 Level II infractions plus the whole Connor Stalions issue going on, why would anyone believe that Harbaugh's job was in danger? No one was looking to fire Harbaugh and that language was only moving the goal posts while Harbaugh was out seeing if he would land an NFL job.
There are level II violations and a level I violation. Sherrone Moore was suspended one-game for his part in the level II violations. There is no Burgergate or We Didn't Do It Gate associated with the level II violations. Michigan broke the rules.
You do not have the level I violation alleged by the NCAA, if you do not have the level II violations. Of those 3-games in which Harbaugh was suspended, how many were for the level I violation and how many were for the 4 level II violations?
People just seem to gloss over the fact that had the level I violation not occurred that Harbaugh may have still been suspended for the level II violations. As you pointed out, Sherrone Moore served a 1-game suspension.
If you think that IF there would have been no NCAA investigation that at the end of this past season that Harbaugh would have simply signed a contract extension and that he would have forgone any NFL job, you are mistaken. Three years ago, if the Vikings had offered Harbaugh a job, he was gone. I love Harbaugh and defended him many times over the years but he had an NFL itch that always needed scratching.
Why do we keep having to rehash this:
"Harbaugh wanted to challenge them on the claim that he deliberately was misleading about the burger receipt."
--> What are you complaining about, according to you, Harbaugh got his way. Michigan has received the Notice of Allegations from the NCAA and is in the process of filing their response within the 90 days. Had the NCAA accepted the 4-game ban, which you are so angry about, this whole issue would have been put to bed. Instead, Michigan still has the chance to fight the Level I allegation. Michigan also has to still deal with the 4, Level II allegations of which there is no defense.
"Later, Michigan pulled the plug on the TRO attempt the day before Harbaugh was going to get his chance to testify."
--> Michigan didn't pull the plug; the judge DENIED the TRO which Michigan filed and scheduled a hearing for the following week on a motion for a preliminary injunction against the B1G. Of the B1G mandated 3 game suspension, Harbaugh had already missed 1 game. The hearing was scheduled the day before the 2nd game, and it was heavily rumored that a decision wasn't going to come down until after the 3rd game. Even at that point, reading posts from the various attorneys on this board, there was no guarantee that Michigan was going to get the injunction. The B1G came forward and said, if you stop, we will. Michigan had just fired Chris Partridge so what was the point of still going forward? Does everyone go down with the ship or at some point can we start getting people on the lifeboats?
"Then, while the Chargers were pitching woo to Harbaugh, Michigan decided to play hardball over the same clause Bill Self got, telling him in effect, "We'll offer you more money but there's no guarantee you'll actually see it." The Chargers' deal offered no such strings attached."
--> It's always surprising to me that people never mentioning that Harbaugh even if he agreed to everything in a contract extension was not going to sign the extension until mid-February. The reason being that under his current deal, he had a $1.5 million buyout but under the new deal, he had a $4 million buyout.
Does Harbaugh love Michigan? Yes. It is plain to see though that he kept moving the goal posts on the extension until he had exhausted his NFL opportunities this hiring cycle. Don't pull some type of fake threat to Harbaugh's job. The only way in which Harbaugh would have been fired is if something really bad came to the surface in which Harbaugh has been lying all along about. If that were the case, no 3-panel hearing board and whatever other considerations Harbaugh had wanted would have saved his job.
Can we for a minute just accept the fact that by promoting from within the program, that Michigan was in a unique situation? First off, Harbaugh dragging his feet to finally flee to the NFL put the University behind the timeline for hiring. Secondly, had Michigan hired Chris Klieman from Kansas State, Klieman would have probably come here with a core group of coaches in tow and then sifted through what remained of the staff.
Moore has promoted people whom he has worked with and now have loyalty to him.
Grant Newson - Moved from TE's to O-Line.
Kirk Campbell - Promoted from QB coach to OC.
Justin Tress - Promoted to Director of S&C.
J.B. Brown - Promoted from Analyst to Special Teams Coach.
Steve Casula - (Noted it has been reported but not been presented with an official announcement.) Former analyst who was the OC for UMass to be the TE's coach.
Abigail O'Connor - Retained as Director of Football Performance Nutrition.
Clink - As reported in this post retained.
So far, it feels as though Moore wants a DC outside of the program. Depending upon who the DC is, they may want to bring some of their people with them to run the defense. So, loading up with position specific coaches before Moore selects a DC may not be the best way to go. So just because Moore hasn't plucked a handful of coaches from outside doesn't mean that he hasn't made good hires and doesn't necessarily have to scroll through Warde's rolodex to do his job.
Likewise.
Comment of the year so far.
What are your thoughts on Texas coach, Steve Sarkisian? Sark may not have had the drunk embarrassment of Cullen, but he was a drunk as well. Sark cleaned up his life, was given another chance and is riding a wave of love in Texas. If you are saying it's an X's & O's thing with Cullen, or he does not connect well with perspective student's, that's one thing but if his banishment is because of his alcoholism, which he cleaned up years ago, then that is a pretty high standard for anyone.
I'm sorry that I am so slow and dense, since you have this clarity, please help me out. The "OP addressed and answered at the start of the thread."
My question, "...I'm curious if the OP would answer this, would giving Herbert a new monster contract have affected the market price for the other S&C coaches on campus? People can talk about the money the University saved in hiring Moore but one of the things Moore talked about at his presser was how he wanted to beef up the recruiting office..."
Was the answer in his CV, which begins around the 6th paragraph (which is pretty impressive I would say)? Was the answer in his C+/B- grade assessment? Maybe it was in his Warde needing to be prepared portion?
Here is what I took, "Bakich's value to Michigan, a northern school in the B1G, with no prestigious history in baseball...is far greater than his value to say, Texas.
So unfortunately, this means you have to pay the man. If he is the highest paid college baseball coach, so be it! Get off the "principle" of things and make the best decision for your department...
Ben Herbert was the exact same thing. Unless he just absolutely wanted to go or unless they're paying him $4M/year...Herbert should still be at Michigan."
Herbert had been rumored to be following Harbaugh to the NFL if he had an offer since December. There was a reason that Herbert didn't want to talk about his situation at Moore's hiring press conference. The writing was on the wall that Herbert was leaving. As I pointed out, Herbert was already at the top of not only the B1G but college football for salary for S&C. My question was, IF Warde had thrown the money and years which Herbert was rumored to be asking for, would that have affected the University's other S& C coaches?
What isn't mentioned is that right away Justin Tress is promoted as the director of the S&C program, sort of like that volleyball list the OP mentioned as well as retaining Abigail O'Connor who was also rumored to have been pursued by Harbaugh.
My next question, "Elston: Since we do not have a new DC at this writing, what are the dynamics of a new DC and what that person wants or who they want for a D-Line coach? Was Elston wanting more than to simply be a D-Line coach? I'll ask the same questions of Clink since you mentioned him."
In the second to last paragraph, [I thought it was answered at the start of the thread.] he writes,
"But this nonsense post-hiring Moore was avoidable. It has nothing to do with "era" and everything to do with doing your job and being prepared. THAT is why this is the last straw for me. Michigan could've had all of this ironed out with the remaining staff in 48 hours. It's understandable that Moore hasn't filled the vacant positions (LB coach, Minter, and JayBaugh were always gone). You have to interview new candidates for those roles, but Herbert, Elston, (maybe Clink)...these guys were already on the team!! There could've been a whole "Those Who Stay" social media campaign for the returning coaches (celebrating their return to Michigan), we lost the moment and the momentum."
That is not answering my question. We do not know who the new DC is. How much power does the new DC have? Is he allowed to hire any of his own people? Did Elston or does Clink want more responsibility? Do they mesh personality wise with the new DC? Those are all questions which need to be answered which are not addressed anywhere. As smart as the OP is, and I believe he is very smart, you can't put the cart before the horse. You have to have the DC signed, sealed and delivered before you start any media campaign about "Those Who Stay" and such.
So, no I do not believe that the OP answered my questions and no, I did more than simply read the thread title and type a response. I agree and respect a lot of what the OP wrote but I also believe he is upset about some events which no AD could have done better.
I really dislike the fact that I have to write responses defending Warde. To be honest, he has never really impressed me, but the Fire Warde pitchfork group also has some unrealistic expectations.
Herbert: Has it been a year since he signed his last contract making him the highest paid S&C coach in America? Harbaugh wanted him and made him an unrealistic offer and Herbert dropped his demands in the University's lap. Pay me this or I walk. What is even the point of a contract if Herbert can break it for a similar position in the NFL?
I keep reading how Warde should have ponied up and just spent the money. I'm curious if the OP would answer this, would giving Herbert a new monster contract have affected the market price for the other S&C coaches on campus? People can talk about the money the University saved in hiring Moore but one of the things Moore talked about at his presser was how he wanted to beef up the recruiting office. For 2023, the AD only made a $4 million profit, so it's not like there is a ton of money to simply be throwing around.
Elston: Since we do not have a new DC at this writing, what are the dynamics of a new DC and what that person wants or who they want for a D-Line coach? Was Elston wanting more than to simply be a D-Line coach? I'll ask the same questions of Clink since you mentioned him.
The huge difference between the Moore and Fisch or DeBoer is that they were established coaches and could bring long time assistants with them. Moore is a first-time head coach, fighting for Jim Harbaugh hired coaches.
If they fire Warde, so be it, but a lot of this stuff any AD would have had problems with, and we would probably be standing exactly in the same spot.
Last year details of Jaden Rashada's NIL deal with a University of Florida collective was released after the collective could not come up with the money. At the time, a website published the whole contract, but I couldn't find it in my quick look up. Here are the highlights.
I assume that most NIL deals have some sort of similar requirements.
Rashada signed the NIL contract that day. It called for a $500,000 up-front payment. After that, his payments would increase from $250,000 a month as a freshman, to $291,666.66 a month as a sophomore, to $375,000 a month as a junior, rounded out with $195,833.33 monthly payments as a senior, so long as he fulfilled the following obligations:
So, for an athletic department, which earned $4 million for the 2023 year, with Title IX still a closely monitored area, where is all of this extra money coming from?
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2024/01/30/michigan-wolverines-athletic-department-surplus-2023-fiscal-year/72410485007/
I don't think anyone would have followed Michigan. In fact, Ohio State would be laughing their asses off at us. Using last year's numbers, Big Ten teams had a payout of $58 million and change per team, while the ACC paid out $38 million and change per team. The ACC was distributing from a pot of $617 million while the Big Ten was splitting up $845 million. Where is that extra money coming from?
You are naive if you think that is happening. Fox, CBS and NBC aren't shelling out the big bucks so that they can host Purdue versus Michigan State. The networks are salivating at the chance to show Ohio State versus Oregon. A Michigan - Washington rematch. Penn State versus USC.
You are of course assuming that Harbaugh would have signed an extension. Even with a signed extension, what makes you believe that he would have not gone out and still interviewed with the NFL?