Students, fans, alumni, faculty and administration of the University of Michigan are used to one thing – winning football. They don’t know how to react to losing. Even Notre Dame had the Gerry Faust years and other down coaching regimes that showed ND losing more games than it won. But not Michigan; going back to Schembechler and Carr, Michigan was a perennial bowl team and a permanent contender for the Big Ten title.
Not anymore. First came Rich Rodriguez, who was lured from his alma mater West Virginia in 2008, bringing his spread offense with him. The expected starting quarterback Ryan Mallett left over concerns that he wouldn’t fit in a spread offense. Starting wide receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington both decided to forgo their senior seasons and enter the NFL Draft. Michigan lost a good deal of its depth and, when the 2008 season began, was forced to start players with very little playing experience.
As a result, Michigan finished 3-9 in 2008, its first losing season since 1967 and did not receive a bowl invitation for the first time since 2974. Denard Robinson became the focus of the offense in 2009, while the NCAA investigated the program for violating the NCAA’s practice time limits. Michigan won its first four games, including a last second victory against Notre Dame, but finished 1–7 in its last eight games and missed a bowl for the second straight season.
Robinson led the Wolverines to a 5–0 start in 2010, but finished poorly again, going 2-6 in its final eight games, but did qualify for a bowl game with a 7–5 record. Michigan played Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl but was demolished 52–14. The Michigan defense set new school records as the worst defense in Michigan history. In the middle of the season, the NCAA announced its penalties against Michigan for the practice time violations. The program was placed on three years probation and docked 130 practice hours, which was twice the amount Michigan had exceeded.
Rodriguez was fired following the bowl game and Michigan hired Brady Hoke. Michigan went 10-2 games in Hoke’s first season, but in the two following years, Michigan posted 8-5 and 7-6. This season however, unlike the Rodriguez years, Hoke’s team has come out of the gate stumbling, going 2-3 but getting blown out at home against Minnesota 30-14 and at Notre Dame 31-0 in the last regular meeting of the two schools after decades of being on the schedule.
Usually, one would only see students protest a coach in the SEC, not the Big Ten but this week, students took to the streets to call on University of Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon to fire Hoke. The most recent incident that has the Maize and Blue frothing at their collective mouths when quarterback Shane Morris was allowed to return to the Minnesota game in Ann Arbor, Mich., with what turned out to be a concussion. Hoke said he had no idea at the time Morris had a head injury, saying that he thought Morris had an ankle sprain. All of this despite the fact that Morris was obviously groggy on the field and needed help getting off the field after a vicious hit. It appeared to most people watching (myself included) that Morris was delirious. AD Brandon waited two days to release a statement saying there was a breakdown in communication among the athletic staff, and now Brandon’s seat is also quite hot. It got hotter when he announced that he had no plans to resign or fire Hoke.
Yes, the incident with QB Morris was preposterous, especially considering the attention that head injuries have recently gotten at all levels of football. But the call really is the 2-3 record, the first time in the over 100 year history of Michigan football that the team has suffered three losses before October began. The Morris incident is a convenient excuse to fire Hoke, but if one looks at the history of midseason coaching changes, it usually doesn’t get any better. The next full season, there is history of improved performance, but not after a midseason change.
Michigan boosters are spoiled by the years of relevance and are having a hard time handling losing, especially so soon on the heels of the Rodriguez disaster.
They need to buck up and get a grip. They can clean house at the end of the season.

One of the problems with being a major media outlet is what happens when you have to report on a major partner? Can you be impartial if you are making money with an organization where there are issues?
I’ve been very busy, so I never got a chance to discuss the Bill Simmons/ESPN situation. For those of you who don’t know, Simmons is a broadcaster on ESPN, and like many broadcasters, Simmons also has a podcast straight to the Internet. Early last week, Simmons was outraged by Roger Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice affair, and on his podcast, The B.S. Report, he let loose a profanity based rant which included calling Goodell “a liar.”
Simmons said “Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar. I’m just saying it. He is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test, that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such [expletive] [expletive]. It really is, it’s such [expletive] [expletive]. For him to go into that press conference and pretend otherwise—I was so insulted.”
Of course, ESPN pays the NFL approximately $2 billion per year for the rights to Monday Night Football. One has to wonder if Simmons would have gotten in trouble if he had stopped there, but like most corporations, they don’t take too kindly of being called out. Simmons continued: “I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell, because if one person says that to me, I’m going public,” he added. “You leave me alone. The commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast. Thank you.”
ESPN moved swiftly and suspended Simmons for three weeks, and also prohibited any on air personnel to mention the Simmons situation. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last that the Worldwide Leader is in the difficult position of covering a scandal/controversy involving a league that it is in bed with financially. Can you be an impartial in a situation where if you uncover particularly bad behavior by a player, team or league itself, you hurt your broadcast ratings/revenues?
The NFL is apparently immune (ratings have been solid throughout the incident), but will the league’s luck eventually run out (see the next article for more on Goodell).

Usually, when the media talks about a coach “losing the team,” it is a head coach. Losing the team is probably the worst thing that can happen to a coach; it means that the team no longer believes in your plan, doesn’t like your scheme, and don’t think it will work. Once this has happened, some players will continue to work hard for personal gain/satisfaction; many wont work as hard; and in extreme circumstances, teams will lay down to get a coach fired.
The Miami Dolphins face such a problem. The Miami Herald reported that Dolphins players are “beyond furious” and “irate” with the coaching of defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle in the team’s 34-15 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday. The players’ ire is reportedly focused on Coyle’s adjustments and overall game plan, including the having linebackers Cameron Wake and Jason Trusnik cover Chiefs running back Joe McKnight. McKnight had six catches for 64 yards and two second half touchdown catches in Kansas City’s 34-15 win. For the game, the Chiefs had 342 total yards and 174 rushing yards despite the fact that their number 1 rusher, Jamal Charles, was out with a high ankle sprain.
In business and sports, there is probably no way to get fired/replaced faster than if you have lost the faith/support of the team (although, it seems to take longer for the worm to turn in business). If true, I think that Mr. Coyle needs to update his resume, because he won’t be around long. And while coaches are often friends, head coaches on the hot seat find assistants coaches/coordinators are easy targets when someone needs to be held accountable.

Last weekend, Western Illinois played at Ryan Field against Northwestern and lost, as would be expected 24-7, but there was something weird to me as I watched the game. Coming in, Northwestern had played badly, losing to Northern Illinois, a bowl caliber team, and to Cal, who had gone 1-11 last season. The defense was poor and the offense was nearly nonexistant. NU badly needed a win, but there was no betting line on the game. A Big Ten team playing a non-FCS school is usually heavily favored, but based on NU’s first two games, Las Vegas was too spooked.
In the first half, after giving up a NU touchdown, Western Illinois QB Trenton Norvell (one of the biggest quarterbacks I’ve seen in a long time – perhaps back to Ben Rothlesburger), marched the team down the field to tie. Overall, WIU gave NU all it can handle, including stopping NU from scoring after a blocked punt. NU only scored after a sack and fumble recovery led to a second touchdown before halftime.
As the bands played at halftime, I spoke to some of the other season ticket holders at the game and they said that friends had told them to just wait until the second half, when WIU would collapse. The week before, WIU was down 9-3 at halftime against Wisconsin in Madison before giving up four touchdowns in the second half on the way to a 37-3 loss.
Sure enough, WIU couldn’t get out of its own way in the second half: poor snaps to the QB, an interception, bad punts, penalties. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Norvell, who looked like a decent quarterback in the first half, looked like he couldn’t walk and chew gum in the second. Passes were poor, decisions were worse; if I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was someone completely different in his uniform. But it wasn’t like NU forced the action, while the team played OK, WIU kept shooting themselves in the foot. All game however, WIU’s offense bested NU’s, outgaining them 376 yards to 283. If not for the many miscues, the game would have been closer.
Now, I don’t want to make something out of nothing, but I’ve never seen a team fall completely apart after playing a decent half unless there were weather conditions or a significant injury to the team’s best player. I know that small schools are put on football schedules to earn money for the small schools and be easy wins for the big schools, and for a team to collapse in the second half one game is one thing, but two weeks in a row is weird.
One would think that any coach whose team went into the toilet in the second half one week against a big school that you can make a name against, you would be prepared to not do the same thing the next week. However, Leatherneck Coach Bob Neilson can also be questioned for the bad play calling and poor time management.
With seven minutes plus left in the 4th Quarter, NU has the ball and WIU only down by two scores, WIU used none of their timeouts. NU went three-and-out, but he could have saved a minute or more on the clock if he had judiciously used his time outs. Also questionable were some offensive play calls, especially a needless deep throw in the third quarter when the team was driving. The drive stalled. (In fact, it should be noted that neither teams’ coaching staffs were particularly good. NU Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach Mick McCall has not done a good job all year in either role. Starter Trevor Siemian holds the ball too long and checks down too much – several times, receivers were wide open and Siemian didn’t even look their way. (It is possible that McCall may force Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald to make a move before Fitzgerald ends up on the hot seat himself.)
Again, I’m not saying that there was anything shady happening in Evanston last Saturday, but it looked like more than just gross negligence and ineptitude.

We have another football player acting badly, but this time at least, we don’t have to wait for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to make an uneducated, ill considered decision. This time, it was Florida State University.
Already the subject of a sexual abuse accusation that was poorly investigated Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has been suspended for the first half of Saturday’s game against No. 22 Clemson. Reportedly, Winston shouted a profane comment at the school’s student union. (I won’t repeat the NSFW comment here – no real need.)
Winston apologized for his actions following the news of his suspension and provided further comments: “I just want to apologize to the university, my coaches and my teammates.” Says he’s not a “me person,” but he made a “selfish act. I did something, and I’ve got to accept my consequences.” He said it’s going to “eat him up” to not be out there. Finally Winston tweeted:
“I have to tone it down. I have to.”
Yes, he certainly has to if he wants to be a high draft choice in the NFL Draft. With all of the domestic violence incidences shining light of the actions of NFL players, we have a young man who may have engaged in a rape while in college. No one questions the value of Adrian Peterson to the Minnesota Vikings, but the court of public opinion has forced the team to inactivate Peterson while the criminal process against him proceeds.
I know what Winston said, and it is dirty, but without context, it is hard for me to impossible to make a judgment on whether the punishment was warranted. Again, I don’t want to support political correctness, and you have to ask how many of us said dumb things at 19 years of age? (I certainly did.) I think that Winston is being suspended for not learning – you are a famous athlete, everything you do and say is subject of being recorded and is subject to wide distribution, All athletes, celebrities, and now even we “normal, non-famous” folk need to be aware of what we do because Smartphone cameras have make George Orwell’s nightmare a reality. Ordinarily, I would expect a suspension against Southwest Bug-tussle State or some other pushover, but he will miss the first half against a ranked team. Of course, it would have been more courageous to suspend him for the whole game, or the second half….

I am a fan of U2, jumping on the bandwagon since I first heard “I Will Follow,” the first song on the band’s first album “Boy.” My friend who owns a record store had gotten a number of demo copies and gave me one. I was hooked.
I have followed all these years, through the anthemic “War,” the breakout “Joshua Tree” and the watershed double barreled monsters “Achtung Baby” and “Zooropa.” Achtung would definitely be on any 10 desert island album list that I concoct. I haven’t like the following CDs as much although “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” was an excellent throwback to the early days. The albums since have been OK, but not much more than that.
As a member of the band’s fan club, I have gotten messages about the progress of new music, and first there was going to be new music this year to go along with the single “Invisible” which was a free download with each download representing a $1 donation to One, Bono’s charity. Then there were stories that the band had tons of new music and what would be released and when. We heard that there would be a release this year, and then, the band and Apple gave every account owner on iTunes a free copy of the new music – “Songs of Innocence.”
It took some work, but I got the album downloaded, and as a fan club member, I’m used to musical presents from the band. They have issued books and CDs of remixes and rare tunes before, and I have enjoyed them immensely. Unfortunately, this is a collection of mediocre songs that sounds like “generic” U2. When the band was at its best, it broke conventions and went in some different, unexpected directions. This CD, produced by Danger Mouse and other “hit masters” is a poor retread of U2’s sound.
As a completist, I am very happy that U2 gave us this album – I don’t have to pay good money for it. However, if the earlier accounts are true and there is a lot of new music completed, maybe there is a CD on the horizon that will be more worthy of the band. I certainly hope so.

Never one to turn down a revenue stream, it is surprising that the National Hockey League has decided against placing sponsor logos on jerseys. According to the report, the league is forgoing a possible $120 million annually by not having sponsorships on uniforms. The only advertising on the jerseys is from Reebok, which manufactures the jerseys. Reebok’s deal with the NHL ends in 2016.
Is this a move against so much sponsorship; a statement that hockey players shouldn’t look like NASCAR drivers with every inch of their jumpsuits dedicated to some corporation or other? Of course not; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman would sell players’ body parts if it were legal to do so.
No, since no North American sports league currently allows ads on jerseys, reports are that the NHL just doesn’t want to be first league to bastardize their uniforms. Already, several NHL team has ads on their practice gear.
So, this is a positive step, but don’t hold your breath if you want it to be permanent.