Great license plate- I hate Michigan State
Sugar Bowl Final- Michigan Wolverines 23 Virginia Tech 20 (OT)
It wasn’t the greatest season in the storied history of Michigan Football.
Losses to instate rival Michigan State and Iowa, prevented the Michigan Wolverines from winning the Big Ten title and returning to the glory of the Rose Bowl.
But it may have been the most surprising and joyous season since the Wolverines went undefeated and the won the 1998 National Championship.
A year ago the program was floundering, having been spanked in the Gator Bowl losing to Mississippi State by a score of 52-14.
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It seems like a million years ago.
Prior to the game, Brady Hoke was rumored to be on the short list to take over if Rich Rodriguez was fired.
I couldn’t believe it. Now after an unbelievable year, that saw the Wolverines finish 11-2 I wonder how I ever doubted him.
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From day 1 he said and did all the right things.
He won over a jaded group of players many of whom were fiercely loyal to the outgoing coaching staff.
He preached the gospel of being a Michigan Man, of being responsibility to your teammates and honor.
He brought back former Wolverine Coach Greg Mattison to be defensive coordinator to resurrect a moribund defense that was among the worst in the nation. Last season former Buckeye and TV commentator Chris Speilman called the players on Michigan defense guys “…who would be nice little subs at Indiana.” This season a defense made up primarily of the same players returned to playing Michigan football terrorized opponents.
The Michigan Wolverines capped an amazing turnaround season with a 23-20 (OT) BCS Sugar Bowl Victory over Virginia Tech.
Those who stay will be Champions!
Bo would be proud.
What a ride.
GO BLUE!
NCAA Speeds towards Oblivion
Some day, sooner rather later, we will look back and wonder how the NCAA lasted as long as it did.
The NCAA is a gang whose members split up the loot generated from basketball and football to curry favor with alumni and pay for their non-revenue sports programs.
As long as the member institutions played by the rules, most everyone was happy.
But the jig is up.
Dear Rich, good luck and some words of advice…
Former Wolverine Head Coach Rich Rodriguez has been hired to lead the Arizona Wildcats.
Rich had a tumultuous tenure in Ann Arbor. He seemed like a good guy who made some mistakes.
I wish him the best at his new job.
Here are some recommendations to ease the transition.
- Hire somebody who knows defense, you don’t. To quote the immortal Dirty Harry, “a man has to know his limitations.” Running a defense and managing a defensive staff is beyond you.
- Let your defensive coordinator hire his own staff. See #1, read and repeat. If by some circumstance you hire some of your old friends to be part of the defensive staff, don’t allow them to undermine your defensive coordinator.
- Don’t expect conditioning to win games for you. The world has caught up to the conditioning you had at West Virginia and Michigan. Skill and coaching wins, conditioning is now a given.
- Get out and meet people. As the situation deteriorated in Ann Arbor, you took refuge in your office. Take that sparkling personality out on the town. Eat at the local restaurants. Visit some classes, shake hands and kiss babies. You figured this too late in Ann Arbor.
- Open up your inner circle. You have a loyal group of friends and coaches. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that they give you the best advice. You need someone who will disagree with you.
- Stop whining and use your agent. At Michigan you fought with the administration over details like the wording of press releases. If you want approval of such things, get it in writing. Whining doesn’t change things.
- Pare down your inner circle. Some of the people you brought with you to Ann Arbor did you no favors. They did you more harm than good. They were more concerned with blaming others than helping you succeed.
- You don’t have a reality distortion field. When you were in West Virginia the press took your word as gospel. Those times are over. You can’t be fuzzy on details and gloss over reality. It makes you look dishonest.
- Don’t bend NCAA rules. The last thing you need to bring with to Arizona is an NCAA investigation. You need to be an expert on all compliance issues.
- Win.
Rich, make these changes and hopefully we’ll never see you like this again…
Big Ten wimps out on conference football championship game
From the people who brought you the Leaders and Legends divisions…Your Big 10 Football Championship Location-INDIANAPOLIS.
Really? That’s the best you can do?
I hope the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce has worked out some sweet incentives for Jim Delaney and his crew of merry pranksters but color this football fan unimpressed.
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