Campanile retained. Rutgers settled for this guy:

This is seemingly good news for #Michigan, as Wolverines linebackers coach Anthony Campanile had been a target for the Rutgers DC job. Campanile is expected to stay with the Wolverines. Rutgers retained his brother Nunzio, who served as interim head coach for much of 2019 season.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 14, 2020

That's good news. Turnover's going to happen; losing the guys generally thought of as your top two recruiters at the same time would have been bad. Unfortunately it seems like retaining Campanile means the guy replacing Partridge isn't going to be Kentucky DB coach Steve Clinkscale but rather an assistant from the S&C staff named Tank Wright, per Webb.

Imagine Ohio State passing up an excellent position coach who is also a proven top notch recruiter so they can hire someone with zero track record because they can't find 100k. Would never happen. OSU might hire an incompetent because of nepotism, but they would never say they lack resources.

On the other hand. Tank Wright got married in the weight room.

What Strength & Conditioning Coach you know got married in a Weightroom? #BoutDatAction. Happy Anniversary Mrs Wright. 12/13/2018! pic.twitter.com/18horzAVKg

— TENARIUS TANK WRIGHT (@TankWright) December 14, 2019

If you can recruit a woman to get married in a damn weight room how hard can flagging down high school kids be?

[After THE JUMP: Dantonio deposed]

One spot sorted. Ambry Thomas is back and that means Michigan has the top-graded returning CB in the league:

Here are Ambry Thomas' coverage metrics from 2019:

333 cover snaps
47 targets
25 receptions
53% catch rate
1 TD allowed
3 INTs
3 PBUs
56.3 passer rating allowed

Will Ambry return to #Michigan in 2020 or head to the NFL?

— Jarad Evans (@Jarad_Evans) January 10, 2020

The other cornerback spot is a little worrying.

I'd say fire Dantonio but the best punishment is keeping him. Tony Paul has a pair of explosive articles on MSU's decision to admit Auston Robertson and the sexual assaults that imploded their breakthrough recruiting class. On Robertson:

Robertson's misconduct began by age 11 and continued through high school, according to records obtained by The Detroit News:

►On July 12, 2009, Robertson, 11, was in a park when he allegedly told friends he was going to rape someone. A female friend asked him who, and he responded, “You.” The girl ran home and told her mother, who, having heard concerns about Robertson, called the New Haven Police Department. Robertson admitted the incident.

►On Feb. 12, 2013, Robertson, 15, was with two female friends and asked them if they wanted to have sex. They attempted to walk away, but Robertson grabbed one, who pushed him away, then went home and told her mom, according to a report by the Fort Wayne Police Department.

►On April 17, 2013, Robertson, still 15, was at Wayne High School in Fort Wayne, where his ex-girlfriend purchased a soda. Robertson allegedly took it away then forced her to kiss him. She put her hand up to cover her mouth, pushed him away, and told him to stop. Robertson, according to a witness, said, “no,” tackled her and pulled down her pants, exposing her, according to the Allen County Police Department.

►In June 2013, Robertson invited a girl to his house, and while on the couch, he allegedly asked her to have sex. When she said “no,” Robertson grabbed her by the ankles, pulled her into the bathroom, grabbed her by the hair, pulled down her pants and made her sit on his lap, according to the Fort Wayne police. She got away by squeezing his genitalia.

►In October 2013, according to the same report, the girl from the June incident was at Robertson's house having sex with a different person when Robertson allegedly opened the door and said, “My turn.” Robertson bent her over the bathtub and had intercourse with her until someone began banging on the door. He then left, allegedly telling the girl she “better not tell nobody cuz I already have a charge on me.”

►In July 2015, at a volleyball conditioning practice, Robertson allegedly twice grabbed the buttocks of a female volleyball player, according to Fort Wayne police.

►On Oct. 6, 2015, the same girl was waiting for a trainer to wrap her hand when Robertson allegedly grabbed her buttocks again.

►On Oct. 22, 2015, the same player was in the high school office when Robertson, 18, allegedly rubbed and grabbed her genitalia. The girl pushed him away and started to leave when Robertson did it a second time.

MSU admitted him. They did so after a meeting with six people in the room. One was the AD at the time, Mark Hollis, who got overruled:

In an office at MSU sometime in 2016, an esteemed group of senior executives assembled for a meeting with admissions director Jim Cotter,according to an account provided to The News.

Cotter led MSU admissions for a decade,and is a former MSU baseball player who frequently serves as master of ceremonies for football events, including the year-end banquet.

He was joined that day by at least six others: Bill Beekman, secretary of the MSU Board of Trustees; MSU police chief James Dunlap; deputy athletic director Jennifer Smith; vice president of student services Denise Maybank; Dantonio and Hollis.

The question: Would Robertson's behavior bar him from MSU?

Dantonio wanted him on the team. Hollis, the athletic director, did not.

Hollis resigned a year or so later and Beekman, who pushed for Robertson to be admitted, became the AD. The only good news in this situation is that MSU's fanboy leadership is busy driving the football program off a cliff. MSU has still made no coaching changes since their offense crawled in a hole and died two years ago, followed shortly by their recruiting.

MSU still remains a failed organization that cares zero about anything other than protecting people in power as best they can. No MSU grad should sit on their board of trustees. If the Democratic party nominates the appalling Joel Ferguson for another term on the board they should catch hell.

Sounds familiar. Banner Society has a retrospective on USC's lost decade that touches on some things that sound pretty familiar, most notably hiring a business grifter with zero experience for the head chair, whereupon the business grifter made an awful hire of a guy who had been an assistant several years prior:

To succeed Garrett, the administration brought in former Trojans quarterback Pat Haden, who had no experience in college management. He inherited NCAA penalties for football, a basketball program also in NCAA trouble, and first-year football coach Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin had been the co-offensive coordinator for 2005 USC’s record-setting offense, and his hiring was a transparent attempt to replicate the Carroll era. Kiffin, the well-connected son of a prominent NFL coach, struggled under NCAA sanctions. He had difficulty delegating to assistants, lost a Sun Bowl to Georgia Tech, appeared alternately overwhelmed and indifferent, and got fired after a 2013 loss at Arizona State.

Haden literally left him at LAX, which is funny but also a genuinely terrible way to treat anyone. (Yes, even Kiffin.) Did we mention Haden, his daughter, and his sister-in-law were making six figures a year combined, serving part-time on the board of a non-profit scholarship fund for USC students, sometimes working as little as an hour a week?

Michigan's had a mixed record with unconventional hires but it's notable that until Warde Manuel was picked Michigan hadn't had an athletic director who had worked in an a, you know, athletic department since Jack Weidenbaugh's tenure ended in 1994. Joe Roberson came from development; I was not of age to have opinions about the athletic director at Michigan. (Also Roberson just passed away, RIP.)

The others:

• Tom Goss had never worked at a university, let alone an athletic department. He put up an ugly halo around the stadium, hired Brian Ellerbe, and drove the department into the red. Not great.
• Bill Martin had a background in real estate and no athletic department experience. He got the department in the black with PSLs, built the luxury boxes, hired Rich Rodriguez and John Beilein, and handed off the keys to Dave Brandon a little early because he didn't want to bother with the Free Press investigation. Rodriguez didn't work out but given the state Lloyd Carr left the program in (Seven scholarship OL!) pretty much anyone was doomed.
• Dave Brandon, about whom much has already been written.
• Jim Hackett was CEO at an office furniture company in semi-retirement when Brandon got axed and hung around as a placeholder/guy who hires Harbaugh. He hired Harbaugh, the end.

That's one successful tenure bookended with two guys who have to be in the picture for worst athletic director Mount Rushmore, and then Jim Hackett's single-issue interim stint. I'm a little frustrated with Manuel (fix Crisler plz) but at least he's not burning the place down.

Get out while you can. Ed Warinner's son Edward decided to bail on MSU and just committed to Michigan. Warinner is a linebacker ranked in the 1200s coming out of high school in 2018 and may be a walk-on. He'll be a redshirt sophomore next year.

Also pulling the ripcord: WR Cody White, who's entering the NFL draft. Walter Football has him the #33 WR, so this could be interpreted as a decision to get away from MSU's offense before it destroys his stats.

Hockey recruiting subtext will get all the clicks. Hockey picked up a D commit:

02 D Luca Fantilli (@KUAWildcats) commits to Michigan. Late ‘02 is a nice get, strong skating puck-mover with 19 pts in 16 games for one of the top prep teams.

— Over the Boards (@overtheboards) January 10, 2020

It's unclear exactly how big of a prospect he is; he got drafted in the OHL's U18 draft, which is for late bloomers and doesn't produce a lot of OHL-level players, let alone guys who could be high-level collegians. On the other hand when Fantilli's drawn mention from scouting services it sounds like he's pretty good:

Luca, a late-02 defenseman, is described as an exceptional skater with great upside, already getting attention from some D1 blue bloods. … both BU and BC, among other bigs, are already in the chase for Luca’s commitment.

It would be a lot easier to judge if Fantilli was in the USHL instead of prep, but his league does produce a lot of college players and Fantilli's scoring more than a PPG as a D. KUA's head coach is former Maine head coach Tim Whitehead.

In any case, the Luca Fantilli text rather takes a backseat to the Luca Fantilli subtext. That's because his brother is this guy:

Adam Fantilli’s older brother — who Adam left JRC to play with — has committed to the University of Michigan.

It is well documented that Adam also has NCAA aspirations.

Adam Fantilli is the odds-on favorite to go first overall in the coming #OHL draft.#2023NHLDraft https://t.co/fRlNFT5qRe

— Sam Stern (@SternScouting) January 10, 2020

Adam Fantilli is a pretty big deal and moved from Toronto to New Hampshire to follow his brother. He is apparently planning to accelerate his schooling and graduate early, which would make him a part of the 2021 class. That would probably be unprecedented: he is eligible for the 2023 NHL draft, so he'd play his freshman and sophomore years before getting drafted.

As always, it's possible that this is posturing for OHL draft purposes. If it is it's pretty extreme.

Even more hockey recruiting, for the culture. D Owen Power was on a podcast recently and while it wasn't quite stated directly Power mentioned that his USHL stint would be two years. This is his Power's second year, so the plan appears to be to have him at Michigan next season. Power also said the OHL is "not even a consideration" if you're (understandably jumpy.

I was pretty sure this was the case—Michigan's most recent too-young-to-draft D were Zach Werenski and Quinn Hughes and Power is getting similar draft hype—but not 100%. Now it's basically 100%. Mel Pearson retweeted a @YostBuilt assertion that Power would be coming in next year.

So. If we assume that the guys who have announced LOIs and Power are in the recruiting class looks like this so far:

• G: Erik Portillo (3rd round pick last year)
• D: Power (mid-high first rounder in 2021), Jacob Truscott (mid-late round pick this year), ?
• F: Kent Johnson (mid-high first rounder in 2021), Thomas Bordeleau (fringe first rounder), Josh Groll, Philippe Lapointe, ?

The question mark at F is almost certainly going to be Brendan Brisson, who appears to be playing himself into the edge of the first round as a part of the same USHL team Power's on. Michigan has four more D nominally committed to this class, so your guess is as good as mine there. Ethan Smzagaj could go late in this year's draft and might have the inside track.

Meanwhile, draft rankings:

• The NHL's CSB mid-term rankings came out. Bordeleau is #26, Brisson #31, Truscott #78, and 2021 D Ethan Edwards #85. Those are North American skater rankings so multiply those numbers by ~1.4 to get a true draft rank. That would put the two forwards in the second round and the two D in round 4 or 5.
• Brisson is listed as a riser and a mid-second round pick at The Hockey Writers.
• Here's another early 2021 draft ranking featuring four Michigan commits. Luke Hughes is #5, Johnson #8, Power #15, and Dylan Duke is #21 .

The recruiting lull on the roster is obvious:

• Drafted seniors: Luke Martin (2nd round), Will Lockwood (3rd), Mike Pastujov (7th)
• Juniors or would-be juniors: Quinn Hughes (1st), Josh Norris (1st), Jack Becker (7th)
• Sophomores: none
• Freshmen: Cam York (1st), Johnny Beecher (1st), Eric Ciccolini (7th)
• 2020 projections: Power (1st), Johnson (1st), Bordeleau (2nd), Brisson (2nd), Truscott (5th?)

Over the next three years Michigan is going to go from a talent deficient team to one with more whiz-bang than anyone in the country. This hasn't always led teams like BU and Wisconsin to wild success, FWIW.

Etc.: AJ Epenesa to the draft. David Ojabo profiled by the BBC. Deep dives on why college football attendance is tanking should just be 3000 editions of the sentence "there are 16 commercial breaks per half". Hockey is CHN's team of the week after sweeping ND. A former PSU player is suing James Franklin and a former teammate for hazing.

Remember that LSU booster scandal from earlier this year? No, you don't. Is it even a scandal then?