Thursday, December 10, 2020

Michigan Thursday: Deep Thoughts

Some have speculated the delay in the Harbaugh discussion is due to him wanting to understand what NFL opportunities he might have.   If true, that is fair and also stupid on both sides.   Jimmy doesn't have enough money to see how it goes without a job? Michigan is not going to fire him and take a $10M hit.  He is also under contract for another year.  My advice to Warde, is do your damn job and figure this out.   If Jimmy wants to go to the NFL,  you better be working on replacing him in the background.   I don't want to hear about search firms and other hiring committees, find his replacement now and ask for his resignation.    The season is thankfully over (even if Michigan is able to play in a week).  The NFL season doesn't end until early January.  Fix this problem now, there are a lot of Michigan donors with deep pockets that can fix any coaching salary issue.   Either way, Done Brown needs to find a realtor.  

The current AP Poll has Alabama #1 and ND #2. 

Earlier this year, Michigan was beating Alabama at half-time and year ago blew out ND.   Now it can't beat terrible teams in the Big Ten.  There is something else going on at Schembechler Hall that we don't understand.  

Michigan Basketball had its best effort on the floor last night against a decent Toledo team.  These are the type of stats that will win them a ton of games:

Mike Smith 7 points and 7 assists

Isaiah Livers 16 points, 5-7 shooting

Franz Wagner 14 points 

Austin Davis 12 points 

Eli Brooks 12 points 

Hunter Dickinson 18 points 

Chaudee Brown 9 points 

The Big Ten is as deep as a basketball league I have seen since the glory days of the ACC.   There will be no off nights, every team can beat you.  Michigan is going to have to bring effort, defense, and scoring like above to win any games in this very deep league.  


  • When the Big Ten came back to football in October, we hypothesized that it was all a show to get Ohio State to the CFP and to recoup some of the lost COVID dollars.  That theory was proven correct yesterday.  I'm not saying it was the wrong decision, I'm just saying this season has been a disaster for most Big Ten schools (minus IU and NW). 

  • IU and Purdue had to cancel their game this weekend.  

  • LSU gives itself a 1 year bowl ban in a terrible year where they are going to finish 3-6.   Man, that is a tough penalty.  

  • Lavert Hill has been signed to the Eagles Practice Squad.  I have no idea how he hasn't gotten pick up before now.   I know he's not Deon Sanders but the kid played some decent corner in college.  

  • Miami CB Al Blades Jr. is out due to Myocarditis, this was the Big Ten's worst nightmare.   I wish the Big Ten had just cancelled the season.  Nothing good is going to come from it and now a players heart as been effected.   I know Miami is in the ACC but to me this season wasn't worth it on any level.   The Big Ten's best team played 5 games and played one with the JV last weekend.  


6 comments:

Tim said...

Bob - wow - good points regarding how Michigan played Bama and ND a year ago. I agree, there appears to be more going on inside the walls of Schembechler Hall than we realize.

Rudy said...

Dude....you fed us a lot on that one. First, Hunter D = Stud! Imagine Ambry Thomas thinking he was ready for the NFL when someone much better couldn't get drafted. Wish Ambry well but dude should have stayed and balled out. His leaving may lead to your next point. WTH is going on in Schem Hall! Hard to find a good thing to say about the Cockeyes, but at least their dudes came back to play even though they were already considered high draft picks. After watching that Amazon special a couple of years ago, I came away with a couple of impressions of JH. One, he's a regular dude and family man. But two; he's not the inspirational leader type that Bo was....not even close. I think he counts on his assistants to be the rah rah and they have failed him along with their coaching skills. If they end up playing in the "crossover", it'll only feed the haters that we ducked the Suckeyes. Season over....lick wounds and try your damndest to convince these recruits better times are ahead!

Goose said...

So if I have this correct, JH has basically told Warde that he wants out & is looking for opportunities elsewhere. But if he cant find a better place he will condescend and return. And Warde is allowing him to take his time and explore " better options" at the expense of moving on in a timely manner.
Quick question what would your boss tell you if you went into his office and said " I'm looking for another job I'll let you know when I find one. If I cant find anything better I'll stay here. My boss would tell me to kick rocks & hit the road. Who is in charge here JH or Warde?

Rudy said...

You ever get the impression Ward texts Jim in the middle of the night and says "Jim, please....I can't quit you! Whatever it takes, just don't leave me Jim. I love you Jim, there I said it!"

M Don said...

I do have to laugh how quickly you all change including Bob...“Sailboat Bill” sucked, Dave Brandon was horrible, & Warde was the savior for bringing Jim finally. Now he sucks, can’t negotiate, etc. You do realize we have to have current relevance to be able to negotiate right? Even then we never got all we wanted during the dominate years of 80s & 90s. I grew up on Michigan football & have loved it since going to my first game at 5, but our sheer arrogance of being relevant because we won back in yesteryear is mind numbing & stupid. You have to continue to win. Not just against the MAC schools, but go on the road or a neutral site & beat the big boys. You can’t do a damn thing about your conference, but you can play others during pre-conference like Florida/Alabama in Dallas, but here that’s a bad idea. You want to be the best beat the best. Don’t duck them & say we should have all our big games at home. That is not the college football world today. Either suck it up & grow or step aside. Sadly we’ve fallen into into the realm of Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, etc that used to be good & just believe since we were historically good it’s owed to us. That BS! Our academics are what they are & do limit what we can recruit. Rich Rod, although I was never a fan of a system that wouldn’t work long them in the cold weather of the big ten, even stated that as a drawback to the job recently. I have to agree with him. These days most 4 & 5 stars don’t care about academics & chasing the draft dollars. We can stay high & mighty or change. I’m not saying we cave, but if you don’t in today’s world that limits your success. Academics is an afterthought at the 4-6 teams that regularly get into the playoffs. The only way to change that is win. I don’t know if that’s Harbaugh or not, but I don’t know what else is out there better either. Don Brown is done. He refuses to change & everyone has figured out his system. So move on. I don’t know about Gattis, but haven’t seen much difference.
Quite frankly these year sucks more than others. Team is very young (VOR is right), injury bug is worst I’ve seen in years (just look at offensive lineups from week 1 to now as example) & virus craze has made everyone stupid. As I said, I really don’t know where to go & I’ve rambled on for long enough, but until we get over the pre-Madonna arrogance that we won back in 1980 we get to do everything we want we will stay where we’re at. May as well be the has been high school football player taking about the good old days. Grow up! We need to toughen up! Go Blue!!

szanreno said...

I don' think Warde was the man who brought Harbaugh in. I believe that was interim AD Jim Hackett.