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by Peter - Monday August 24, 11:00 AM - Leave a Comment

From Say Yes! To Michigan dated 2/14/09:

Train in Vain

There's an over-saturation of Michigan sports blogs. If you want technical analysis there's Three and Out. If you want funny there's the WLA. If you want news and information there's Varsity Blue. There are insanely good resources for basketball, hockey, photoshops, and coachBT. On top of all that there's MGoBlog... which, like, good luck sharing that market. Add to that about 20 other blogs and you get the picture. There is absolutely no good reason for anyone to start a Michigan focused blog. Period.

That said, welcome to my e-blog! I have no inside information, no technical knowledge of anything, really, and nothing to offer besides my thoughts and opinions. Why am I doing this? Because I like to write, I like Michigan football... and there's really no other good reason. If you dig it, awesome. If you don't, that's cool too. We're all just along for the ride.

I wouldn't call this a blog.  It is more like a story...

It became the season of Appalachian State--hey, a good dose of humility never hurt anyone--and a fortunate, celebratory win over Florida, but it was never really close.  There were some stars and seniors as a cover-up, a reminder of days past and the antiquated system, but the program was being left in the dust by its national rivals.

Reclamation Project
Exclusive access as Rodriquez starts over at Michigan

"All of which makes you wonder: If this new approach is really as shocking as Boren, Schilling and others have expressed, what kind of country club was Carr running all those years? And is that why Michigan, for all its considerable talent, has largely underachieved in the decade since its 1997 national championship, including six losses in seven years against Ohio State?"

So, a year wasted.

The conjecture started early and one thing became clear:  It is not easy to find a coach with an unblemished track record and almost guaranteed prospect of success.  Patience paid off and Rich Rodriquez blinked first.

Buckeye Monday- Ohio State 2009 Preview

"Esteemed bloggers like Brian at MGoBlog and your own Big House Bob spent a great deal of time complaining about Carr at the end of his career. His play calling was too predictable and he stayed with coaches that were not getting the job done. I’m a huge believer in Jim Tressel as a coach but I’m not sure how long that will last if he doesn’t demonstrate a willingness to make the changes that seem to be so obvious to me and the rest of Buckeye Nation."

For some reason I think this is fun to look inside Rich Rod's house in West Virginia.  Some time ago I think there were pictures of the back and the pool and the tennis court and the river.  I'm shocked the place is still for sale.

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/rich-rodriguez-man-behind-myth?page=0,0

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/64973-first-m-rr

I didn't see a date but I guess it was close to exactly a year ago.  I was psyched.  And this year I was going to tell a longer story.

For now, though, my motivation has waned.  You look at the whole picture the best you can and you make up your own mind.  That is something I would want my child to do if he or she is a student at the University of Michigan.  Me, for now at least, I am turned off.

Note:  This was around the time of the widely-publicized Detroit Free Press revelations AND the Internet and blog reactions to them.

Tuesday 2/23/10, the day of a U-M press conference concerning the release of NCAA investigative documents.

"I heard they got RR to sign off on a contract change in exchange for not firing him immediately.  Basicaly they can fire him at will and not have to ay off the rest of his contract.  UM is now in a good position.  If RR wins, so does the university.  If he doesen't do well, they can drop him with no multimillion dollar pay."

The NCAA has completed its investigation of the Michigan football program and submitted its findings to the University on Monday.  After sorting through everything, Michigan held a press conference yesterday with Mary Sue Coleman, Dave Brandon, and Rich Rodriguez to share what the NCAA found.  Brandon handled most of the press conference and did a very good job of answering the questions that were asked and presenting the findings in a way that showed Michigan understood the severity of the accusations.  At the same time, Brandon also did a good job of trying to lessen the publicity nightmare of this whole situation by blaming the “mistakes” that were made on communication breakdowns and a poor internal system.  All in all I would say the press conference went about as well as it could given the circumstances.

As for the actual accusations, Michigan released the documents from the NCAA to the public, giving everybody a chance to read through and see for themselves what the football program allegedly did.  ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg already summed up the accusations perfectly, so I will just run down the list and share my analysis on each.

1. Five Michigan quality control staffers regularly engaged in both on-field and off-field coaching activities that are prohibited by NCAA rules. By engaging in these activities, Michigan exceeded the limit on number of coaches who can engage in these activities. Quality control personnel are alleged to have coached players two days a week in offseason workouts, warm-up activities during the season and film study, and they also attended meetings that involved coaching activities.

This is problematic in the sense that Michigan’s coaching staff, according to the NCAA, was five people too big based on what activities the quality control staffers participated in.  My guess is quality control staffers around the country all do similar things and interact with the players like they are coaches, but unfortunately that was against the rules and Michigan got caught.  That is pretty much the general theme to these accusations.

2. Michigan violated NCAA rules by having football staff members “monitor and conduct voluntary summer workouts, conduct impermissible activities outside the playing season, require football student-athletes to participate in summer conditioning activities for disciplinary purposes [missing class], and exceed time limits for countable athletically related activities during and outside the playing season.” This seems to be the most serious charge and the one that sparked the Detroit Free Press report and the investigation. Here are some of the specifics:

• In two separate offseason periods in both 2008 and 2009, football players were sometimes required to participate in up to 10 hours of athletic activities or weight training/conditioning, which exceeds the limit of eight hours.
• During the 2008 season, players were sometimes required to participate for up to five hours a day in “countable athletically related activities,” exceeding the maximum of four hours. The staff exceeded the 20-hour-a-week limit by 20 minutes during the week of Oct. 19, 2008.
• During September 2009, football players were required to participate in four and a half hours of activities per day, exceeding the NCAA limit by 30 minutes. The report identifies four dates in question: Sept. 7, Sept. 14, Sept. 21, Sept. 28.

The accusations involving the offseason seem to be more serious than what took place during the season.  Although Michigan was apparently exceeding the maximum daily hours during the season, it sounds like the 20-hour limit was only exceeded once, and that was by a mere 20 minutes.  In that regard the attitude that Michigan was blowing by the 20-hour limit is not correct.  Michigan’s problem was that it did too much on individual days rather than as a whole each week.

3. Graduate assistant Alex Herron is accused “providing false and misleading information” to both Michigan and the NCAA enforcement staff when asked about the allegations. He denied being present for 7-on-7 passing drills in the summers of 2008 and 2009 when he allegedly conducted the sessions.

All I can say is Herron probably won’t be involved with the Michigan football program going forward (at least I hope he won’t).

4. Because of the first two allegations (detailed above), Rodriguez is alleged to have “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program and failed to adequately monitor the duties and activities of the quality control staff members, a graduate assistant coach and a student assistant coach, and the time limits for athletically related activities.”

5. Because of the first two allegations, Michigan’s athletics department is alleged to have “failed to adequately monitor its football program to assure compliance.” Compliance staff members became concerned about the duties of the quality control coaches in the winter of 2008 but didn’t gather enough information to determine potential problems. The strength and conditioning staff didn’t calculate time limits for offseason workouts or effectively communicate information to the compliance office. This resulted in the compliance office approving miscalculated activities and failing to follow its own policies for monitoring these activities. Athletics staff also failed to provide the forms showing countable activities to the compliance office.

Internal changes will hopefully eliminate these last two issues going forward.  As Lloyd Carr said in his reaction to the accusations, the internal problems that helped cause these issues can be improved “quickly and easily.”  Hopefully that is the case and these improvements to their internal system will help lessen the blow when it comes to what punishment Michigan will receive from the NCAA.  The way the process will move forward now is Michigan has 90 days to respond to the accusations, and then in August Michigan will have a hearing with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.  Any punishment wouldn’t be dealt until a couple months after the hearing, though it’s possible Michigan could self-impose sanctions before that.

The one thing that people have been making a big deal about is the fact that in the NCAA’s letter to Rich Rodriguez, the accusations were described as “potential major violations of NCAA legislation, unless designated as secondary violations.”  A lot of people have taken that to mean that these are major violations for sure, which is not the case.  Michigan will likely designate all of the accusations as secondary violations because that would be less of a black eye for the program and would likely result in a lesser punishment.  Whether the NCAA will allow them to be designated as secondary violations is beyond me, but I’m hoping they do.  If these all turn out to be secondary violations then the punishment probably wouldn’t be anything more than probation and the loss of some scholarships.  Major violations certainly bring about a worse feeling, but the key in all of this is that the accusations are merely potential major violations.

The other main thing I want to address is the idea that Rich Rodriguez suddenly is on the hot seat even more than he was before.  I can understand why that is the perception considering the situation, but as Adam Rittenberg pointed out, “Rich Rodriguez’s fate ultimately comes down to whether or not he wins games, not what the NCAA decides in August.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  While what happens with the NCAA could make it easier to fire Rodriguez if it comes to that, his job status heading into 2011 will be dependent on what the team does in 2010.  If Michigan puts together a great season that shows this program is headed in the right direction, then a couple NCAA violations, though embarrassing, probably won’t be enough to cost him his job.  At the same time, if Michigan has another bad season, Rodriguez is probably gone regardless of what happens with the NCAA.  The only thing violations will do is let Michigan fire him with cause and therefore not have to pay his buyout.

–

Side note from all of this: WTF, Morgan Trent?

“I’m not surprised because I know what happened, and I know what kind of rules were broken. I couldn’t see how they were going to get out of that.

“Whatever steps need to be taken (to restore Michigan’s winning tradition), I’m all for it. What is happening right now obviously is not working. I don’t know how long they’re going to let this last until changes are made. This year is going to be the tell-all what’s going to happen. We can’t have three losing years in a row. Not at Michigan. To lose seven of last eight games (in 2009) is an embarrassment.”

Hey Morgan, you know what’s also embarrassing?  Your play as a cornerback for much of your career at Michigan, especially in 2008.  Perhaps you should just keep your mouth shut considering you contributed to one of those losing seasons

*          *         *

Posted on Touch The Banner 2/25/10:

Pretty good... I finally figured out that "Thunder" is the blog host. To steal the framework for one of your points, I don't know which is worse, the infractions (there is some gray, but to me they are real) or the sentiments of so many online M fans. As you wrote, something like 'infractions are infractions are infractions...' They got caught. On another level, I don't think it is right to push young student-athletes too hard, in one direction, for the wider changes in or failures of the program. It is not their fault, and it certainly shouldn't be up to them--they shouldn't be put in the position--to defend, cover-up, comply with, or whatever for other problems.

But still, you... I don't blame the FREEP for their generally fair reporting. (Yes, a few interviewees were slightly blindsided.)

Regarding RR, I am inclinded to believe he has some maturing to do at, or just plain isn't the world's greatest, manager (e.g., seemingly, the transition could have been managed better...). He also has some characteristics that are a bit on the sleazy side. But as the line from the movie Chinatown goes, "He has to swim in the same water as the rest of us." Coaches and people are not perfect; he is a good coach and a good recruiter and the promise for the team is there. As with the young recruits, I just hope he will..., well, improve.

Finally, I have to mention this. Brandon, a "communication failure?" That to me is not contrition. Take a look at the quality control assistants, look at their history with RR, consider their involvement in this on all its levels. Give them the benefit of reasonable doubt just to move on. To me, they got caught and it needs to stop.