Michigan Football - 2025 Season.

[iam416]

I think the Ohio State numbers are overstated. But, regardless, the sustainability is certainly an issue. I'd certainly rather spend on player retention than acquisition. First, you know what you have an properly appraise the talent. Second, it's way closer to true NIL -- established names getting money -- whether it's Blake Corum or JTT or Denzel Burke or Donovan Edwards -- that's more in line with NIL. The far more unsustainable part is paying HS kids large dollar amounts. Especially with the portal. I think you've seen that pare back considerably as teams get more of a handle on roster management.

None of this ends, of course, until the Big 2 (or maybe a 3rd league) collectively bargain with players. Nothing new to you. But, until, that happens, rules limiting transfers and dollars are dead.

One thing I'd like to see is a more formalized approach where you have contracts you disclose. The problem being that those agreements are with collectives, and even if they did shift to Universities then you start to run into Title IX stuff. It's not an easy issue to resolve.

Anyway -- the bottom line is that it's not changing any time soon so those are the "rules" -- that's what Moore and M have to deal with. I mean -- heh -- I thought the Covid year of eligibility was stupid and hated seeing 6th and 7th year kids playing CFB -- but those were the rules.

[Mike]

I think a good way forward is endowments. Something that throws off a certain amount of money each year to be used expressly for player retention/bonuses. You'd need seed money from some wealthy donors and then max it out with a public fund-raising drive. I think if it's privately held it could get around Title IX and be used specifically for football (or basketball or whatever sport they choose). But this involves convincing people like Steven Ross to essentially donate $50M to the football program. I don't know if even the super wealthy care enough to cough up that kind of coin so their alma mater can stay competitive in today's landscape but that's a separate issue.

[iam416]

That's a good way forward for M. But, no matter what, if they want to avoid -- as I say, regressing to their program mean -- they absolutely need to figure A WAY forward. That one is a good model for M. It's seems sort of unlikely to work given the initial barriers -- but whatever way they end up following -- it has to be forward.

I mean, I'm looking at the situtation as an OSU fan and feeling fairly confident they're going to fuck it up with inaction and hesitancy. So, I make my predictions accordingly. But, maybe they'll surprise me. In any event, if they don't adequately move forward then they have given Sherrone both the job and a mulekick to the scrotum. He'll be up against it.

[iam416]

Also -- an additional thought on the OSU retention issue -- you are right in that it's not sustainable to pay 6-7 guys to stay. But, I also think that's a rare situation where you have guys that are sort NFL draftable but not necessarily as high as they'd like (or so high they have to go). And OSU had a lot of them, relatively speaking.

In most years you might have 1 or 2. So I imagine the trick will be figuring out where to spend your money in any given year and being able to pare back in years where you don't have higher price commitments.

I still have no real clue as to the sustainability since I haven't a clue how much any of these foundations are raising, how they're raising and then how much they're paying out. Like I don't know if OSU is way out over their skis or merely operating a little over the edge with the expectation of dialing it back next year.

Also -- the unicorn Saban retirement surely threw roster management for a loop. If you get a chance to get Caleb Downs, you do it. The other 2 were probably relatively cheap -- but still added expenses for sure. They also needed to get a QB and had to beat out USC for Howard. So, this was definitely a weird year.

[lineygoblue]

The current state of college football, with the structure of the conferences, the rules regarding NIL, and the portal (free agency) is completely unsustainable. The situation as of today is only temporary. Yesterday's actions by the SEC and Big Ten are (hopefully) the beginning of the end of the NCAA's reign over college football. Conferences are going to have to be structured in a regional way, but also in a way that promotes competition. You don't want 4-6 regional conferences, but only two of them are competitive. Conferences cannot have situations like where Rutgers men's golf team have to fly all the way to Stanford, to have a 'conference' golf match. That's unsustainable. Its got to change.

In NIL, there's going to have to be verifyable limits set as to how much, and when its offered. Even the NFL has a salary cap. College football will have to follow suit. Verifyable rules have to be established to keep competition at least close to parity. (Pete Rozelle's favorite word)

Regarding the portal, a reasonable time frame and a limit on the number of times that a player can move, must be established. For me, when a player signs a LOI, they should be obligated to that school for at least 2 seasons. No one-and-dones. Its a commitment by both parties. And a player should be restricted as to how many times they can use the portal. For me, using the portal once in a 4 year period should be plenty. A fifth year transfer should still be allowed if a player red shirted and has their degree. Other than that, there should be no unlimited free agency. It wouldn't work in the NFL and it won't work in college football.

And finally college athletes deserve to be paid for their work. Not just football and men's basketball, but ALL scholarship athletes should receive fair compensation for the work they put in, and the money that they earn for their schools. Billions of dollars are going to schools, and still there are too many athletes who don't receive a penny for their efforts. That must change.

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And one last comment about the Harbaugh situation. It now appears that he's done with taking coaches away from Michigan, so if I were in the position to do so, I'd ask the following questions: "Coach, is there any circumstance, where you would have decided to forego your dream of winning a Super Bowl, to stay at Michigan?" Was money a problem? (doubtful) Was it the NCAA's stupidity that pushed you out? Was it the portal or NIL? Was it the incessant recruiting where you have to keep recruiting the players on your own roster? "Was there ever any way that you were NOT going back to the NFL?"

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As things appear now, it looks as though he was never staying at Michigan. Which means he lied to us. That's disappointing. I thought he was better than that.

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Anyways ...that's it. Moving on into 2024.

[Mike]

IMO, player compensation should be proportionate so the revenue they generate. Those that don’t generate revenue, which is every sport except football, hockey, and men’s basketball, can be happy with their FREE (or half price) Michigan degree. Field hockey players don’t need to be paid on top of the substantial sum of money it takes to float the sport at the major D1 level.

The reason it was immoral (and therefore destined to change) to prevent football and basketball players from gaining financially is because their sports generate billions of dollars. CFB is the 2nd most watched sport in the USA ahead of the NBA, NHL, and MLB.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here's what I think JH would have said to Linesman's questions:

is there any circumstance, where you would have decided to forego your dream of winning a Super Bowl, to stay at Michigan?" and Was there ever any way that you were NOT going back to the NFL?

Yes, give me the contract language you received from my representative during our negotiations. Your people dilly-dallied over it until it was too late. I would have stayed at M if your people had been willing to protect me from the idiocy of the NCAA and B10 conference. Failing that I wasn't going to hang around and get pilloried for success, honesty and complete transparency with regard to any and all allegations against me or the school when I should have been coach of the year.

Was money a problem?

Nope

Was it the NCAA's stupidity that pushed you out?

See above

Was it the portal or NIL?

The lack of an organized approach by the NCAA to these two out of control options for our athletes contributed but it wasn't a major factor. Unwillingness to protect me, go to bat for me with the NCAA and the B10 conference, was 98% of why I resigned.

Was it the incessant recruiting where you have to keep recruiting the players on your own roster?

Not really - it's part of the game but the NCAA has been negligent with regard to this and it is ruining the game. See above.

Frankly, I was tired of the soap opera drama surrounding Jim Harbaugh and I think he was fatigued by it. Although we lost a great football coach, I'm releived he's gone.

"There is only so much sand in our hour-glass," he said in a recent interview. That's revealing. I don't think he wanted to waste what sand is left fending off unwarranted allegations and criticism that put the focus on him personally instead of the football program and the athletes competing. If he stayed, he would have been in an endless fight for his innocence and for his integrity. Done with that.

How his departure went down cleanly and Sherone Moore seamlessly replaced him was engineered by, I believe, Jim himself. While the deciders were twiddling their collective thumbs on Jim's contract extension language (the immunity thing) I think he back doored Warde and worked with Ono and his POCs with the BOR to arrange his resignation and Moore's ascension to HC.

JUB offered some thoughts on Jim moving on to the NFL and how M managed to fuck things up - their usual MO in such matters. He opined Jim wanted to stay and would have stayed if he had it down in writing that the U would go to bat for him and in his defense. Pretty sure, the U couldn't deliver on that for what ever reasons they got tangled up with. As negotiations faltered in the two weeks following the NCG and it became clear the U wouldn't put it in writing they'd back him, Jim moved from want to stay to want to leave. End of story.

[lineygoblue]

In watching Harbaugh's public appearances and quotes since he left, I'm seeing a totally different person, than the one who was coaching at Michigan about a month ago. He's free-wheeling, smiling, joking, all the stuff that I thought we were getting back in 2015. He appears to be relieved that he's no longer coaching Michigan. That's fodder for our opposing team friends, but its what I am seeing. My impression is, that he was never committed to finishing his coaching career at Michigan. A return to the NFL was always going to happen, at some point. However in his statements during his time at Michigan, he led us all to believe that staying at Michigan was his priority. So, actions speak louder than words. He flirted with the NFL all thru his time at Michigan, and finally went out the door when the right opportunity came along.

Yes, I won't let Michigan off the hook completely. They've messed up lots of situations in the athletic department over the years. But I'm getting the impression that even without the foot-dragging and dawdling around by the M leadership, Harbaugh was leaving anyway. In the end, I get the impression that no matter what M may have agreed to, he was leaving. And that was his intention from his first day on the job in 2015. But his words led us to believe otherwise.

But, IMO he left a good man in charge. Moore isn't going to be making anyone forget Schembechler any time soon, but I think the program is in the hands of a good and decent man, who believes in tough competition, and sound fundamentals. He's surrounding himself with good people, who believe the same as he does. And the players love him, which helps a lot. He's got a tough job ahead of him for the next couple seasons, but he's been left a good foundation to build on.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Of course, JH is a happy and "free-wheeling" guy. Being a HC in the NFL is entirely different than being a HC in CFB. Not only that but he knows the ropes, the good and the bad with management and the players, so he's got a leg-up and is likely well inside his comfort zone.

It appears he has a long term and friendly relationship with Chargers owners and managers, the Spanos family in particular. It was meddling by SF's owners and head guys that landed Harbaugh out of that HC gig. I suspect Jim asked the Spanos clan for control of specific aspects involved in running a pro-football team, like roster management, and got it. Whatever he was dealing with at SF, he knew he didn't want to deal with that in LA and likely got assurances in writing to prevent those from reappearing in his new role as LAC's HC.

Now, he can balance his family life with his work life - something he couldn't do as M's HC. CFB coaching is all-consuming. So, you could be right. Harbaugh could have been planning on jumping to the NFL for a long time starting with his flirtations with pro-teams as early as 2020. I see most of that stuff as leverage against his direct boss, Warde Manuel whom, it is said, he had a poor relationship with. Not so much his pay and contract terms but rather for Manuel getting behind him and advocating for the same kinds of things Harbaugh advocated for (a long list of changes/improvements to CFB that we all know about). Warde was and still is a head-wind to those kind of major improvements involving realignment, player pay and ditching the NCAA . He's not a leader, like Harbaugh might have wanted him to be. He's pretty much a slug. Who knows how that played in JH's plans.

[Jeff Buchanan]

A decent article with an objective basis on roster issues that Moore is going to face due to attrition, esp. on offense. Sherrone is going to have his work cut out for him. Sounds like 8-4(5 - if M makes the playoff) is a good pick.

https://saturdaytradition.com/michigan-football/michigans-returning-production-paints-brutal-picture-for-sherrone-moores-debut-season/

[Mike]

I saw an analysis of our returning production and the offense was ranked 132. I didn't think there was 132 teams in D1. We need a QB desperately - at least someone to come in and compete for the starting position. If a guy currently on staff wins the job, great, but I think they need more competition. We'll probably need to wait until after spring ball for the next round of transfers and the checkbook better be open.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The ranking was an ESPN/Bill Connelly thing and that's what was quoted in the article I linked.

[Mike]

Ah. I didn't read your link. 2024 will clearly be a situation where one side of the ball is great and the other may be trash.

[Mike]

Michigan is hiring Joe Cullen as DC. He is the current D-line coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and spent 5 seasons from 2016-2020 with the Ravens in the same role. He hasn't been in the college game in 20 years so no idea how well he can recruit. The folks at MGo seem excited. I consider it a meh hire but willing to wait and see.

[Mike]

OK, now it appears Michigan actually hired Wink Martindale as DC. I like it better than Cullen since Martindale has at least been a DC for several seasons, most notably for the Ravens when MacDonald and Minter were there. He's 60 and hasn't been in the college game since assisting Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky so don't expect much in the way of recruiting. I think this is a good stop-gap hire. Someone who can come in and maximize the current talent on the defensive roster.