Monday, March 18, 2024

Michigan Monday: Ed Cooley Watch Again?

It had to be done.  Juwan was struggling with his health, with his players, his staff, and winning games.  That was just this past season.  In 2021 which doesn't seem that long ago Juwan was the national coach of the year.   Now, he is probably headed for an NBA assistant role next season.  If he even wants to coach, Juwan made a ton of money in his NBA career and I assume he doesn't need to work and might want to take some time away from the game. 


The bottom line is, I don't believe Juwan had the patience for the college game which is changing every year.  It used to be about "dirty money" and now its just about money and a difficult admission department.  You think Coach B or Jay Wright is interested in jumping back into that mess?  I doubt it.   Juwan's lack of patience frustrated him and he took it out on opposing coaches and his famous S&C coach.   He was lucky to get past one of those incidents, no way he survives both after winning 8 games. 

Now what?  Your guess is as good as mine.  I don't watch enough college basketball to assess who would be a good fit.  What I do know, is that Michigan should not look at a big name coach.  Find the next Coach Beilein.  Find a guy that will recruit his ass off and run an offense that is hard to prepare for.  Find a coach that can spot talent in the portal and bring coaches that teach defense and sound basketball.   

This is a football school and always will be a football school.  The NIL $$ will flow to Schembechler Hall vs. Crisler Arena (I know its Center).  Michigan Football just won a National Championship and the basketball program just won  8 games.  Yes, each program is over tilted from where they have been but it's time for a reboot of the Basketball Program.   Warde has a ton of leaderships faults, we surmise on the outside looking in.  Though I don't think many of us would want to hire a new football coach and basketball coach in Ann Arbor within a couple of months. 

For those that don't understand the title of this post.  Ed Cooley is a friend of Warde's.  When Warde was looking to hire a coach after Coach B left.  Warde got Ed a raise at Providence by showing interest in hiring his friend, when he knew all along he was going to hire Juwan.  Ed is now at Georgetown. 

Juwan's recruits in the NBA:

- Jett has played in 14 games, 3.7 minutes per game, and averaged 1.6 points per. (Orlando Magic)
- Caleb Houstan played in 51 games and averages 14 minutes with 4.3 points per game (Orlando Magic)
- Mousa Diabate played in 11 games, 5.8 minutes per, and 2.6 points per game.  (LA Clippers)

  • Congrats to the Michigan Women's Basketball team on making the NCAA Tournament. 
  • Duncan Robinson is the fastest player in NBA history to make 1000 3-point shots.
  • George Washington III has entered the transfer portal.  He averaged less than 2 points a game. 
  • New DL Coach Greg Scruggs got an OWI in Ann Arbor over the weekend and got suspended before even coaching his first practice.  
  • Speaking of Spring Practice, I believe that starts today.  

Friday, March 15, 2024

Michigan Friday: End of the Week News and Notes

  • Sounds like Sherrone is about to hire two new staff members to the non-field coaching staff. Former Ravens LB Pernell McPhee and Lionel Stokes who knows LaMar Morgan and coached DB's at Howard State, Jackson State, and Nicholls State. 
  • There is a trend showing former NBA players not doing well as college head coaches.  Jerry Stackhouse was fired from Vandy yesterday. 
  • Jon Sanderson is now a S&C consultant for Illinois Basketball. 
  • With the top 2 bullets and Michigan Basketball having a historically bad season, they have hired a 3rd party to review the culture of the Men's Basketball Program. 
  • Jourdan Lewis has re-upped with the Cowboys.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Michigan Thursday: Well That Was a Surprise

Michigan fans have been upset in the past when Wolverine coaches left for Columbus.  Greg Mattison and Al Washington come to mind.   We knew Greg would flame out quickly as he was near retirement, which he did and Al didn't stay long before he jumped to Notre Dame. 


Now the reverse has happened, Tony Alford OSU's well known RB Coach is jumping from the Buckeyes to the Wolverines and replacing the role Mike Hart just left.   Now we all love Mike and hope his personal situation is not too serious and he is an elite developer of talent.  The issue is, he struggled on the recruiting trail. Per EJ Holland on X: Mike Hart landed 1 top 200 RB while at Michigan, Tony landed 9 while at Ohio State.  This is not to diminish Mike, its to show that Tony gets it done on the trail.  

Since Spring Ball is starting soon, the on boarding team at U of M was able to get Tony's background check and other paperwork done in a matter of hours vs. weeks for other coaches hired.  Tony is official as the new RB Coach and Run Game Coordinator.   I think this is arguably Sherrone's best hire. 

  • Devin Bush who has struggled after his ACL injury and spent last year in Seattle is visiting Cleveland today. 
  • Michigan Basketball ended its season 8-24 last night.  Who knows what Warde is going to do.  I have two words:  Jay Wright.   If those 2 words don't work then: Dusty May

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Wolverine Wednesday: I'm the OG of the System

Wink Martindale has a lot of ground to make up with me personally.  If you read this blog regularly, you know what I think of that hire.  Wink had some of his first public comments on "In The Trenches" a podcast by Jon Jansen. 


One line caught my eye:  "It's like I told the players: In all humility, I'm the OG of the system, so we're gonna be just fine."

On Mason and Kenneth: The thing that you see — and this is through the Draft process, and when you're evaluating college guys coming out — is the lack of technique that a lot of them play with. And these guys are square football players who play with knockback and they can make plays. And it warms my heart to see that.Some will say that they don't have enough of this or they don't — it's complete hogwash. Because if you can start with stopping the run, which those two are very good at, and they do it different ways. It's not just because they're square and play with knockback. They both move well, and it's gonna be exciting for us.


On Josaiah and Derrick Moore: It’s is a great starting point. We just need to build some depth behind them. But I think both both D-Mo and Josaiah, they’re hidden gems, and they did a lot. Just look at the final play against Alabama with Josaiah doing that to that tackle. I mean, that's what made the play, which a lot of people don't realize, but it is. That type of mentality up front across the board is going to win you a lot of football games.

On LB'sAnd we got the two linebackers with with Ernie and Jaishawn, the transfer from Maryland, that when you're strong up the middle, and you talk about those two tackles, those two inside backers, and then the two safeties that we have, that's a great place to start to have a great defense.

OK, he is starting to grow on me.  I like how he saw the Alabama 4th down stop.  

  • Josh Uche has agreed to a 1 year $3M deal to return to the Patriots.  It seems Josh gave the Patriots a discount because he wants to play for Coach Mayo.  His deal could be worth up to $8M with incentives.  “He’d be a coach I want to play for. I’d run through a wall for him,” Uche said last season. “I love players coaches. Guys that take it deeper than the x’s and o’s. It’s more personal. You want to go out and do a good job because you know you have someone behind you that’s backing and supporting you. (expletive), I’m all in on Mayo.”