Wolverine Wednesday: I always feel like somebody is watching me...........

News is pretty slow today, unless your connected with the University of Miami.  After reading the Yahoo Sports investigation, my reaction was "that has been going on since the days of Michael Irvin".   I can't believe it took this long to get out.   (yes, I know about Luther Campbell)

Couple of thoughts on Miami.   #1 As Michigan fans lets all be happy that is was the Freep that was on a "witch hunt" a couple of years ago in Ann Arbor and not Yahoo Sports.  If I'm David Brandon, I'm not sure I would grant a press pass from anyone from Yahoo Sports for the Michigan - ND game.   Memo to college AD's and head coaches, if Yahoo sports comes knocking you better not answer the door.  You might just want to resign now.   They have taken down Minnesota Basketball, Ohio State Football and now Miami Football (I am sure there are other examples). 

#2:  Anyone want to speculate, how would Tate Forcier would have done in the Miami environment?  That is a scary thought. 

I wanted to see if some "football" guys had any reactions to Miami, this is what I got: (thanks to Mgoblog and TheWolverine.com for the pictures)

Danny Hope, Head Football Coach Purdue


BHB: Coach Hope, any reaction to the Miami situation?
Hope:  I hate Michigan

BHB: Why are you looking at me like that?
Hope: Because I hate Michigan.

Hope: This doesn't effect my starting QB Robert Marve who transferred from Miami does it?
BHB: Dude you are looking right through me.  It's sort of creepy.


Al Borges, Michigan Offensive Coordinator


BHB: Coach Borges, Did you hear about Miami?
Borges:  Denard is learning the offense and we haven't found a RB back.  I prefer 1 RB step up but  we have a lot of depth at that position.

BHB:  Coach are you ok?
Borges:  Denard was under center in High School and he is adjusting to the pro style offense.   It's a process and we are gaining ground every day. 

BHB: Coach I am asking about Miami and the Yahoo Sports story?
Borges:  I hope to retire there someday.  I would like to take my talents and my firm hat to South Beach.

BHB:  Thanks coach

Stephen Hopkins, Michigan Running Back


BHB: Stephen do you have any friends at Miami?
Hopkins: Do you see how big Wisconsin's defensive lineman are?

BHB: Sure they are big but I am asking about Miami?
Hopkins:  Wait, those guys over there are trying to tackle me?

BHB:  I believe that is correct, back to Mia...
Hopkins:  Is that a 6 foot party sub over there?

BHB: Wait a second, where is that sub?

Antonio Brown, NFL Pittsburgh Steelers
BHB: Antonio Brown, your a former Central Michigan Chip and now with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
You played for a Rich Rodriguez disciple Butch Jones and you grew up in Miami, what is your take on the U?

Brown:  I am focused on training camp and making a big impact for the Steelers this season. 

BHB:  Did the University of Miami recruit you?
Brown:  Did Mike Tyson knock out Michael Spinks?

BHB: Yes, he did.  Are you surprised what happended at Univeristy of Miami?
Brown: NOPE

BHB: Ok, lets change subjects, you were always open at CMU.  How did you get that open?
Brown:  I showed the MAC CB's this look.   I was always open by 5 yards.

BHB: I bet

Michigan Tuesday: Thinks There is a 30 - 30 Documentary at WVU

So how is that West Virgina Football Program doing these days?  The Bill Stewart hire after RR left for Michigan has to be considered  a very poor decision after he blew out Oklahoma with RR's players in the Fiesta Bowl.  I remember a prominent booster said something to the effect, "they just hired the JV coach" when Bill took over the program.

Back in December, I predicted the 1 year coach in waiting would not work.  In fact, it was the most bizarre college coaching situation I have ever seen.  The first day of business school they tell you partnerships don't work.  This one didn't even last 6 months before Bill tried to go project "National Enquirer" on Dana Holgorsen.

Well done Bill!  Your first head coaching job you got fired for a racially-insensitive comment.  You get fired from your second head coaching job because you tried to air your coach-in-waiting dirty laundry in the media. 

I see now why the WVU fans were so upset when RR left.   It set the the program back years.    He is available for hire if the Mountaineers current coach goes on another casino bender.

Think about all the drama this program has had the past 3 years. 

• A healthy QB thump (or finger I don't remember) away from the NC game
• RR takes the Michigan Job
• The RR shredding documents thing
• WVU blowing out Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl
• Bill Stewart gets the head coaching job
• RR fights the buy out
• Michigan pays most of the buy out
• NCAA investigates RR practice schedule at Michigan and WVU
• RR fails at Michigan
• Dana Holgorsen is hired to replace Bill Stewart in 2012 and will be coach-in-waiting in 2011
• Bill Stewart releases "dirt" on Holgorsen to the media
• Bill Stewart gets fired  resigns

This has to be a 30/30.

• Pryor signs with Drew Rosenhaus.  Shocker, I guess Rob Pelinka wasn't available?

• Kyle Dodson a 4 Star Offensive Line prospect spurns the Buckeyes and committed to Wisconsin last night.  Michigan was also recruiting Kyle.  Many had thought he was a Columbus lock.

• Love this quote from new Wolverine Erik Magnuson on taking other visits:  “I’m not sure. I will definitely be going to Michigan for an official visit, and if coach is ok with me taking an official visit to place where I have friends at, then I might do that, but if not then it’s not a big deal to me. I’m going to Michigan. I don’t care about any other school.”

Wolverine Wednesday: Kids Don't Go to Ohio State to Study Public Relations

They clearly don't understand PR in Columbus.  They have made one mistake after another trying to manage tattoo-gate. 

Let's take a look at how poorly OSU has handled their Public Relations in this matter:

12/23/2010: AD Gene Smith:  “There are no other NCAA violations around this case,” Smith declared. “We’re very fortunate we do not have a systemic problem in our program. This is isolated to these young men, isolated to this particular incident. There are no other violations that exist.”

Really?  Why would you say "we do not have a systemic problem in our program" if you don't?  He knew they had one. 

3/8/2011: Tressel Press Conference after Yahoo report that he knew the players sold their gear.

• Jim never apologizes and just says he made a minor mistake not letting OSU know about the email.
• The school suspends Tressel two games against two weak MAC teams
• President Gordon Gee drops this line (regarding JT's job status) “No, are you kidding me? I’m just hopeful that the coach doesn’t dismiss me”

3/18/2011: Tressel extends his suspension from 2 games to 5 games under media pressure on 2 games being a joke

4/20/2011: AD Gene Smith calls the Tressel situation a nightmare in a interview


5/18/2011: During the Big Ten Spring Meetings:  AD Gene Smith gives his support to his head coach Jim Tressel

5/30/2011: OSU decided to fire ask Tressel to resign.  On Memorial Day when there was little to no sports activity.  No NBA finals or even the Indy 500.  A day with only a few baseball games.  

The reason for the timing was not for the respect for the Military or anything else you have read or heard.  It was because the SI article was due out the next day and OSU wanted to get in front of the article.  OSU was alerted about the article and potential violations on Friday.  Jim was on vacation and returned on Saturday.  Sunday they discussed the situation and Monday they made it public. 

5/31/2001: NCAA and OSU are investigating Pryor and his 8 cars in 3 years. 

Stay tuned I'm sure it will get worse.

Michigan Tuesday: Wants a Competitive Advantage

Whether it comes down to Tressel's creative recruiting techniques/players special benefits or Michigan's lengthy stretching before practice.  The NCAA is all about keeping an even playing field and if a program gets a competitive advantage from breaking or tweaking the rules, they will get a penalty.   OSU is and will be getting theirs, Michigan already has their penalty.

Michigan is working on their practice reduction and David Brandon gave us an update yesterday:   "We haven't been releasing it about hour-by-hour," Brandon said. "But we've been recording it hour-by-hour. We're about two-thirds of the way through that. We've accelerated the process of where we need to be at this point."

"We're well ahead, and we will have given back all of those hours well before [2012]," Brandon said.

"Our football team has practiced less than our competitors, and practice is one of the things you rely on to get better," he said. "So to a certain extent, we're at a competitive disadvantage. We had real, tangible penalties to deal with, and we are still dealing with them."

David is correct in saying  Michigan is at a competitive disadvantage.  When you are trying to rebuild the greatest program in college football history you need all the practice you can get.  With that said, it seems Michigan now has a coaching staff that will get the most out of the players in the actual time that they have.

• Is Michigan gunning for Kiel?  The top QB in the nation is reportedly down to a final 4 of Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan and Missouri.  Gunner keeps his recruiting close to his vest so any of the 4 could be his leader.

• Michigan is in the final 3 for highly regarding Offensive Line prospect Erik Magnuson. "I haven't come out with the top three yet. I'm waiting a little bit to make it public, but I will say that Michigan is one of them," he said. "I'm only taking official visits to schools that I'm really serious about and I will be out to Michigan this fall for an official."  Erik is the 34th rated prospect in the nation by Rivals, not offensive lineman but overall players.

• 4 Star Instate CB prospect Terry Richardson has changed his Press Conference to Thursday at 11:45.

• Michigan Basketball News:  Glen Robinson III is now ranked as a 4 star prospect and rated #50 in Rivals new rankings.  Nick Stauskas is ranked #89.  That is 2 players in Michigan's 2012 recruiting class that are in the top 100. 

• Michigan legacy 2012 CB prospect Allan Gant got a Michigan offer on Monday.  Allan is 6'2 185 pounds and has offers from Cincy, BC, Stanford, WVU and some MAC Schools.

Michigan Tuesday: Prefers to Test Drive Cars Then Buy Them

I wrote a couple times over the last couple years that if you let the Press and NCAA inside your football program they will find something wrong with your program.  We saw that example in play when the Free Press made some fairly "wild" accusations on the Michigan football program that led to an NCAA investigation.  Most of the Free Press accusations were found to be false but the NCAA did find the Wolverines to have practiced too long a few times and some football staff were acting like coaches.   Michigan lost some practice time and got put on probation. 

Ohio State now has a ton of problems of their own.  First comes Tattoo Gate and the Tressel cover up.   Now old wounds get re-opened from the Clarrett days regarding the cars that the Buckeye players have been driving.   If you don't want to read the entire article, the Red Flags are:

• OSU players have bought a ton of cars from one guy at two different dealerships in Columbus.   
• He got player passes for home games and bowl games.
• He also sold cars to players family members who didn't even live in Ohio.
• He gave Pryor multiple day test drives so he could go home.
• Public records show that in 2009, a 2-year-old Chrysler 300 with less than 20,000 miles was titled to then-sophomore linebacker Thaddeus Gibson. Documents show the purchase price as $0.

Like the Tressel situation it seems OSU is seeing no evil or hearing no evil.   "We'll take a step back, we'll take a look at the transactions and the values, and we'll make some determinations in consultation with the (Big Ten) conference office and go from there," said Doug Archie, associate athletic director and head of compliance at OSU.  "I have nothing to believe a violation has occurred," he said.

It's not an NCAA violation to do business at one place.  It is a violation if the players can get deals that are not available to any consumer.   There is a lot of smoke here with these deals with one salesman who even sold cars to players family.  Would you drive say 8 hours to buy a car in a different state to get the same deal you could get in your home town?  It seems this was the worst kept secret in Columbus.   This guy is also in trouble with the IRS and his expensive home is in foreclosure.  He no longer sales cars in Ohio and Doug Archie believes no violations have occurred.   Good take Doug.

• Speaking of poor decisions with a vehicle:  Darryl Stonum is expected to be arraigned on a charge of operating while intoxicated-second offense at 8 a.m. Friday in 15th District Court in Ann Arbor.

• There continues to be strong rumors that instate CB Terry Richardson will make his announcement this week.

• RJS is #87 on the Top Rivals 100.

Wolverine Wednesday: Wishes Darius Good Luck

Reports on many sites are saying that Darius is planning to stay in the draft and not return to Michigan.  Which is really bad news for John Beilein's club.   Darius was one of the most improved players in the country this year from his Freshman to Sophomore year and he feels he is ready for the NBA.  
Initial reports are that Darius is still outside of the first round (or maybe a late first rounder) so this information is still a head scratcher for me.   The NBA is looking at a lock out and many top players are deciding to stay in school rather then risk months of not playing ball.   Don't forget, this isn't the NFL draft and if your not a lottery pick you could struggle to make a team.  I think playing at Michigan would be a much better option then the possibility of the D league.


With that said, I hope Darius makes a team and has a long NBA career.   It's just too bad with the upside the Wolverines would have had with him in the fold next year.  Good luck D Morris!

• If your interested in the NCAA Compliance Letter that Tressel signed which will probably cost him his job, here it is from Sportsby Brooks.

• Michigan continues to be in Armani Reeves top group.  Armani is a 4 star CB out of Mass.
• TomVH has a interview up with 2012 Athlete DJ Foster.

• If your wondering, Justin Boren was not drafted and will be looking for a free agent offer when the lock out is lifted. 

Wolverine Wednesday: Wonders if Tressel is Bigger Then the Program?

That's what it comes down to right?  Is the Vest more important then the Ohio State Football program?

Unless he is fired before August 12th, consider the answer to the above statement as YES.

Let's give some proof why he is:

#1: OSU hired a successful D1A coach that was just coming out of a similar NCAA problem at YSU.   Seems like a very strange hire when you look back at it.  How could a D1A coach handle being head coach at OSU and mostly with a bad track record with the NCAA.   Would Michigan hire Grand Valley's coach if he had issues with the NCAA?  Not a chance.

#2: JT won a National Championship and has only 1 loss against Michigan.   Everyone still remembers John Cooper in Columbus and can't stand the thought of another situation like that happening.

#3: The guy can recruit (maybe with a little help).  He consistently gets a top 10 classes.

#4: The OSU President who seems to consider himself a part time comedian said, "he hopes Jim doesn't fire me".

#5: The NCAA will come down even harder on OSU if they keep him as coach. Coaches don't survive this label from the NCAA.  If they don't fire him, they are willing to take a harder penalty if he continues as head coach. 

This is the decision that OSU is struggling with right now.  It's clear they don't want to let JT go, but do they really have a choice?  If they keep him, it's clear that he is bigger then the program.

(Memo to Urban Meyer: you don't want this head ache, stay retired enjoy your big contract from ESPN and working a couple days a week.  Look how happy Jon Gruden is)

Last point, would a CEO of a Fortune 500 company keep his job if he lied to the DOJ and his board of directors? Not a chance.

• 5 Star RB from Ohio Bri'onte Dunn has re-opened his recruitment (verbal to OSU) and might visit Ann Arbor this weekend.  Even if he doesn't make it up on Saturday, it seems Michigan still has a great shot at getting a visit from him.

Bad Day For the Buckeyes

Any day you get a notice of allegations from the NCAA is not a good day.  Being Wolverine fans we know how it feels.  

On Friday, OSU got their letter and today it's becoming public.  The good news for Buckeye fans, the NCAA did not alleged  OSU for "failure to monitor" or "failure of institutional control" violations.  Which actually makes no sense.  Kids were doing the wrong things, the coach gets tipped off, he lies about it and hides it and then is caught red handed.   So I guess the NCAA is saying, OSU did monitor the situation they just hide it or didn't do anything about it.  

There is plenty of bad news in the allegations but maybe the most damning penalty is that OSU could be seen as a repeat offender for Troy Smith taking $500 from a booster and former basketball coach Jim O'Brien who gave a recruit $6000. 

The rest of the allegations  (from the Columbus Dispatch):

• Tressel was guilty of ethical misconduct when he knowingly provided false information to the NCAA in certifying that he knew of no potential violations by his players and failed to inform OSU officials.

• Ohio State fielded ineligible players last season when starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor and others competed despite Tressel's knowledge of their misconduct. NCAA bylaws call for immediate suspensions.

• The NCAA said that Pryor, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams, Solomon Thomas and Jordan Whiting will not face further punishment. They have been suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season.

• The NCAA letter details what those five current players and one former player did: Improperly sold Big Ten championship rings, "gold pants" charms from Michigan wins, game-worn equipment and other items to tattoo-parlor owner Ed Rife for $9,480.

• Players, whose names were redacted by Ohio State citing a federal privacy law, also received 13 free or discounted tattoos. In addition, one player received a $2,420 discount toward the purchase of a used vehicle from Rife, as well as an $800 loan for vehicle repairs, the NCAA reported.

• Tressel knew that at least two players were selling memorabilia or football awards to Rife. Those transactions made the players ineligible to compete under NCAA rules, the letter states.

The allegation that Tressel lied to the NCAA is significant. Since 2006, the NCAA has sanctioned 28 schools for violating the ethics bylaw that Tressel did. Of the 13 head coaches involved, only one kept her job. The others either resigned or were fired by their schools.  

OSU can kiss the 2010 regular season good bye, it sounds like they will be able to keep the Sugar Bowl win since the players were already under penalty. 

OSU clearly wants to keep Tressel as head coach but that's a mistake.  There should be nothing keeping this guy in his job.  The NCAA hates when people lie to them and Tressel did it twice.  IMO, if Tressel keeps his job the NCAA will come down hard on Ohio State and even harder if they are found to be a repeat offender.  A penalty could be a number of lost scholarships and being banned from the Big Ten Championship game and Bowl Games.

Don't forget Tressel could "personally" found to be a repeat offender as well for the situation at Youngstown State.   The NCAA lately has been trying to penalize coaches who skip to other jobs and leave the entire penalty with the University they just left.   Other examples of this are Kelvin Sampson when he left Oklahoma for Indiana.  There are other guys that have gotten away with it include: Lou Holtz, Pete Carroll, and John Calipari.

Ohio State is in a no win situation with Tressel at the moment.  They don't want to fire him but can't support him either.  He is and will be hung out in the wind.  He should resign since he could be fired with cause today anyway.

OSU will meet with the NCAA on August 12th.  The best they can hope for is that the NCAA accepts the current penalty they have given Tressel.   Don't count on it.

Michigan Friday: Recruiting Visit Blitz and Tressel Gate Gets Longer

I don't know how your NCAA Bracket looks but mine took a huge hit yesterday.   I guess I should of worn more green.  That's how March Madness works.

Did anyone notice that Jim Tressel has expanded his suspension from 2 games to 5 games and that the NCAA denied the appeal on the 5 game suspension for the players? Ohio State sure is acting fast instead of acting smart when it comes to this situation.  A Yahoo Internet report is out for less then 24 hours and they jump to a press conference and suspend Jim for basically OSU's MAC season and then the NCAA says "are you kidding me?" regarding the players suspension and Jim extends his suspension 3 more games.  

What will be interesting from here is if the NCAA will make his suspension even longer and will they have OSU vacate their wins from 2010?  Either way it's clear OSU doesn't want to fire Tressel and it's getting even clearer they might not have a choice.  Jim signing that NCAA document that he didn't have any knowledge of the situation will be his downfall.    If you include the Youngstown State stuff this looks pretty bad for the Ohio State coach.  If Tennessee's head coach lies to the NCAA about a player being at his home for a BBQ and now looks like will be fired.  If he is let go, Jim doesn't have a chance since his crime is much worse.
_______________

Saturday is the start of Spring Practice for the Wolverines and of course the start of the Brady Hoke era.  It will be interesting to hear "rumors" from practice on how things are different and who is having a great spring.

Not only are the players interested in how Coach Hoke runs a practice so are a number of recruits.  Here is a list of 2012 visitors courtesy of TomVH from Mgoblog:


Ohio OL Kyle Dodson (6'6", 315 lbs)
Mass LB Camren Williams (6'2", 215 lbs)
Mass ATH Armani Reeves (5'11", 185 lbs)
Michigan LB Royce Jenkins-Stone (6'2", 215 lbs)
Michigan LB James Ross (6'0", 210 lbs)
Michigan DB Terry Richardson (5'9", 160 lbs)
Michigan OL/DL Kelby Latta (6'4", 295 lbs)
Michigan OL Ben Braden (6'7", 285 lbs)

•  Cincinnati offensive lineman Caleb Stacey (6'4", 275 lbs) was in Ann Arbor yesterday for a visit and came away impressed with U of M, Ann Arbor, and took home a new Michigan offer.

Michigan has a lot of catch up to do with the 2012 class and the Michigan staff is working hard to gain some ground with these kids.  The Michigan kids that will be at practice are very important, Michigan needs to keep these kids at home and in Ann Arbor.  It would also be nice if they could get one of these kids to commit in short order.  If a James Biggs or RJS would commit (neither is expected to make an early choice) it would set the class on the right track and I think we would see a number more commits soon after. 
_____________

Let's not forget about today's basketball game at 12:40.  No matter what happens today, I am very happy with what this team has accomplished this year.  With Bruce Pearl hanging in the wind, I hope the Tennessee players will be distracted and decide not to show up to play.   I hope Michigan can work the inside - outside game that they have been working the last 11 games or so.  I look for Zack and Stu to hit some big 3's.    

Go Blue, Beat The Volunteers! 

 

Tressel Needs To Resign

Ohio State is currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Jim Tressel has lied and deceived the NCAA and has been caught red handed.  This isn't a he said, she said case there is a paper trail and Jim has been caught red handed.  Here is the evidence:

• Tressel signed a document on Sept. 13, 2010 that said he was not aware of NCAA violations.

• He failed to tell school officials on or around Dec. 9, 2010 about emails he received in April explaining players’ involvement in selling memorabilia.

• He did not tell school officials about the emails – or his knowledge of players selling memorabilia -- when specifically asked on Dec. 16, 2010. He also misled school officials that day when stating he “did not recall from whom he received the tip,” and that he “did not know that any items had been seized.”

 He didn't just lie once to school officials and the NCAA he lied 3 times.  The 9/13 document is going to come back to haunt him.   Right now even Buckeye fans aren't really supporting "the Vest".   We also are not naive enough to believe this was the first time he might have swept something under the rug right?  We know it happened at Youngstown State and I am sure it's happened at Ohio State as well. 

So Ohio State doesn't want to fire it's legendary coach and Jim doesn't want to leave Ohio State.   But will they have a choice?  The "Senator" role the Jim has been portraying is now dead and he is now seen as do anything to win coach, where rules are just a suggestion.   So what's next?  If they what for the NCAA to come back with a ruling they are not coming to like the result, if they act now or soon it may warrant less of a penalty.   Gordon Gee, President of Ohio State who seems more interested in being a funny man on Glee then a University President is making jokes that he works from Tressel.   He should be taking this much more serious then he is, instead of making jokes he should be showing leadership.  

Where is the Big10 in this?  Hello, Jim Delany?  Step up and do something.  This is your premier program of the last 5-10 years who just deceived the NCAA.  This is a matter you need to be involved in.   The SEC stepped up and suspended Bruce Pearl for 7 games for lying about a recruit being at his house for a BBQ, this is a case where a head coached signed a document to purposely deceive the NCAA, this will not end well for anyone that is involved with Ohio State .

The only clear solution in my mind is to work a buyout with Ohio State and for Jim to step down.  If you wait for the NCAA you are just delaying the inevitable.  The coach never survives these type of situations. 

How would you like to be the OSU AD right now who has to deal with this situation and also head up the NCAA Selection Committee for the NCAA Tournament.   I wonder where his mind is right now.  BTW:  If he keeps Michigan out, because he graduated from ND and is running the OSU Athletics Department, he is going to have some explaining to do!   Which seems to be a common theme in Columbus these days. 

Go Blue!  Beat Illinois!

Is Jim Tressel Dirty?

(I know every Michigan blog in the world is on this topic today, so I thought I would chime in as well)

Does the Vest need a good dry cleaning? 

Believe me, I get it. Yes, this is a Michigan blog and yes, I don’t wear Buckeye Red colored glasses but there is a lot of evidence that Jimmy has been dancing around this issues for a number of years. (I also know Michigan is under probation for a stretching violation and having non-coaches coach, we are doing our time and that head coach is on a fishing boat somewhere in Florida)


It even goes back to his time at YSU. Jim Tressel while coaching at Youngstown State was close to a booster named Michael "Mickey" Monus who at the time was the CEO of Phar-Mor, Inc. and the head of the board of trustees. Jim had a star QB at YSU named Ray Isaac who was a local kid that decided to stay home and play at YSU. Jim introduced Mickey to Ray and you pretty much can guess the rest of the story, can’t you? Mickey gave Ray thousands of dollars and used cars provided by Monus.

A few years later, Mickey gets brought up on Federal Fraud charges for embezzling $10M from Phar-Mor and the entire relationship between Mickey and Ray comes to light. Of course, Jim denies ever knowing anything about it. Mickey went to the “other Big House” and the NCAA took away a few scholarships and sited YSU with a “lack of institutional control” and Jim skated to Columbus as he just landed the Ohio State job.

Since that time there have been consistent similar events happening within Jim’s program. Brian at Mgoblog lists them here:

2003:

• Clarett’s expensive “dealership” car was robbed of over $10K of stuff.

• Clarett also claims his grades were fake, got free rent, and people would hand him money all the time.

2004:

• OSU Booster gives Troy Smith $500 for a fake job, Chris Gamble also was employed by the same booster.

2005:

• Nick Mangold and AJ Hawk have their apartment robbed of $3000 in cash, 2 Xbox’s, Play Station, $500 Watch, and a bunch of movies.

• Former Agent Josh Luchs said he paid Santonio Holmes during this period.

2010:

• Pryor is pulled over 3 times in cars registered to Auto Direct a local dealership.

• Pryor and others are suspended 5 games for selling their Ohio State gear for free “Ink”.

2011:

• Oops!  Was this was important? I just thought it was an Easter message.



Another fact that OSU fans will consider “more icing then cake” is the 375 secondary NCAA violations between January 2000 and May 2009. This happens to be more secondary violations than any other division 1 school.

So I will go back to my original question: Is Tressel dirty? I will even add one more question; OSU had to of known of the YSU investigation when they hired Jim. Did they know about it and overlook it or did OSU hire a guy they knew could bend the rules to get an advantage and were OK with it?

I can tell you that there really aren’t too many secrets in college football. Everybody and their brother knew about USC and the Reggie Bush stuff is probably just a little bit of what went on there. If there was a situation at YSU, I guarantee Ohio State knew the details and whether Jim was involved or not.

So what do you think? I think there is enough here for a full NCAA black coat investigation in to the Ohio State Football Program that spends more on football than any other school in the country at a tune of $31.7 Million last year.

There is too much smoke here not to be some fire.

Wolverine Wednesday: Hosts a Mid-Week 2012 Visitor and Other Michigan News

Matt Godin is an instate DT/DE prospect for 2012.  He was being recruited by RR and Staff and had made it to Ann Arbor for a couple of games in 2010.  He was clearly excitied about playing for his home town team and wanted a scholarship offer.  Well, when the new staff took over at Michiga offers starting flying out of Schembechler Hall to other prospects but not Matt.  He clearly got frustrated as MSU had offered and coaches like Chip Kelly were calling him.  

Matt finally got his offer last weekend and it didn't take long for Matt to take his un-offical visit to his dream school yesterday.  TomVH from Mgoblog has an interview with him up.    I absolutely loved it, a lot of it was more of what the coaches were saying and how they want to bring Michigan back. Also, at some schools you don't really see the players that much, but I walked in there and all the players were in the locker room joking around. It was a good experience, especially for my dad to be there. He's a season ticket holder for 30 years, and for him to see his son get a scholarship from the University he loves is great.

Let's hope we have some good news out of the Godin camp real soon.  Michigan is still looking for it's first verbal commit for the 2012 class.   Written offers can't go out to 2012 prospects until August. 

• Looks like a couple of teams might find themselves in hot water with the NCAA:  Tennessee is expected to release the NCAA's finding on a number of their athletic programs today (including baseketball and football) and Oklahoma seems to have reported some violations that are similar in nature to Michigan's with making off season workouts mandatory instead of voluntary.  Oklahoma self correction is to take a week off from conditioning.   Also Alabama, has been a hot topic in the media lately.  First a crazy fan kills Auburn's 100+ year old tree and then calls a radio station and brags about it, Nick Saban continues to be the example of what's wrong in college recruiting by over signing players, then Nick is shown on the big screen at an Alabama basketball game with Barry Sanders and his son who Nick is recruiting.  Alabama said they didn't commit a violation and it was just an honest mistake.  That mistake must be similar to the one Dee Hart kept making when he forgot that book in his locker at his high school over winter break and just happened to wathc Alabama's bowl practices a number of times.  

• Former Wolverine QB Ryan Mallett has been dropping down draft boards lately and it seems it could have to do with lack of leadership skills and rumored drug use.  I have to admit I heard similar rumors at Michigan, again they were just rumors.   Let's hope they aren't true and Ryan answers the right questions and passes the right tests.  As your remember, Mario Manningham admitted to doing a little "pot" before the NFL Draft as well.

• The Michigan Basketball Team plays Wisconsin tonight at Crisler Arena.  As you know, Michigan is still not considered a "bubble" team but could change that with the next 3 games which include; Wisky tonight, Minnesota this weekend, and then MSU at home.  Michigan needs a signature win and Wisconsin could fit the bill if the Wolverines were able to get a win tonight.  Michigan needs a .500 record in the Big Ten and one win in the Big Ten tournament to make it's case for the Big Dance.  Let's hope the Wolverines can get a win tonight and at least one more over MSU and/or Minnesota.

• Michigan QB Recruit Zeke Pike now is up over 40 offers.

• New Jersey DB Yuri Wright (6'2", 180 lbs) has been offered by Michigan and Coach Mallory has been in discussions with NY DB Wayne Morgan (5'11", 180 lbs) and an offer soon may follow.

David Brandon on Bo and the NCAA

For those that are still wondering if Michigan loses the next 2 weeks, will Coach Rod and Staff be let go? Here is some quick insight to what Michigan's Athletic Director might be thinking...............




On the NCAA...............

Breaking News: Michigan Expected to Hear the NCAA Findings on Thursday

The initial reports are that the NCAA will report the findings on Michigan tomorrow.  The source also said that Michigan won the argument against the NCAA that Rich Rodriguez did not fail to promote an atmosphere of compliance.  Which would be a huge win in favor of Michigan. 

I expect to hear that the NCAA will accept the self imposed penalties that Michigan levied against itself.  The source close to the situation said it's "positive news for Michigan football.".

We will see the details on Thursday but this is the positive news that Rich Rodriguez needed this week.  Mostly after 3 losses in a row.

I wonder if U of M will take any legal action against the Freep for the loose allegations and poor research/reporting in their story against the football program.  I believe Michigan has invested over half a million dollars in this case and it would seem that the Freep could be responsible for some of that cost.  David Brandon should just send them a bill.

The latest update is that the NCAA added a 3rd year of probation.  3:00pm we will know the details.