Fielding H. Yost, 1907 team postcards
From a post composed by John Fineran of gatorcountry.com:
Even Michigan’s legendary coach Fielding Yost might rise from his grave and pay Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and his Sooners their due. Yost, you’ll remember, was the architect of Michigan’s “point-a-minute” team of 1901 that scored 550 points in 660 minutes of football in winning the national championship and the first Rose Bowl. Actually, that’s 0.83 points every 60 seconds, making the offense of Michigan’s Yost toast when compared to Oklahoma, where the points come whistling down the plains.
These 2008 Sooners, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford, have scored 702 points in 780 minutes of play this year – 12 regular-season games and the Big 12 Championship – in running up a 12-1 record that has them in the BCS National Championship Game Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium against the potent Florida Gators.
Not quite a point-a-minute, mind you. But again, fathom the numbers – 702 points in 780 minutes of play. That’s 0.9 points every 60 seconds.
Clearly this isn’t meant to be a deep dive comparison on Yost vs. Stoops– the purpose is to highlight the prolific offense possessed by the Gators’ barrier to another BCS championship. That said, there’s an inaccuracy in those numbers. The Wolverines played 11 games in 1901 which Fineran equates to 660 minutes of play (11 games x 60 minutes). In 1901 games weren’t 60 minutes, they were 70 (composed of two 35-minute halves) although games were frequently cut short.
By writing this I’m not attempting to show that Yost was better/worse than Stoops or any other modern offense. The comparison is silly if not meaningless, save for the nostalgia and another mention of the great historical teams/figures like Yost’s 1901 team. FWIW, here’s a few other points that should be mentioned when comparing these eras:
- The field was 10 yards longer.
- Forward passing was not permitted.
- Touchdowns were worth five points, extra points one and there were no two-point conversions of course.
Local author, professor and Michigan athletics historian John U. Bacon launched his new radio program this afternoon on WTKA’s ‘Big Show’. As announced a few weeks ago, Bacs will take the Monday 3-6pm slot on the live local program which rotates hosts throughout the week.
He started off with a bang as just a few minutes after taking the air he had Coach Rich Rodriguez on the line. They discussed the rigors of recruiting, how the internet has changed recruiting, on “derecruiting” (getting players adjusted to school and the football program after they’ve been fawned over for years), on the reception he got at Crisler during the Illinois hoops game, on the search for the defensive coordinator (nothing new, although he admitted a factor was the NFL playoffs) and on the defensive scheme he’s looking for, and more. Enjoy:
Rodriguez John U Bacon 01-05-09 WTKA:
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A couple notes:
* I got a chuckle when he and Bacon joked about how coaches rave over the food served the families of recruits. Rodriguez said jokingly, “the tea tastes sweeter”, which is a reference to southern-style iced tea, also called sweet tea (prounounced swate tay) due to (duh) it being loaded with sugar. You’d be hard pressed to find a recruit’s moms serving sweet tea anywhere in these parts anytime but especially this time of year. I’m not sure I’d have any idea what he was talking about if I hadn’t lived in Washington, DC and southern Virginia for a stint. It also touches on one of the criticisms of Rich Rodriguez, that he’s abandoned the Michigan base of recruiting. This of course seems silly in the wake of the commitment of #1 recruit in the state, but so it goes.
* Bacon noted he’s going to write a piece that’ll describe the experience of going through an extensive workout S&C coordinator Mike Barwis. Oh, and as Bacon notes, he’ll be the guinea pig for the article, actually going through the paces with Barwis. Rodriguez told him to bring extra Tylenol. Word.
A great segment of Recruiting Round-up on WTKA this morning. Host Sam Webb broke down the William ‘Big Will’ Campbell recruitment process and revealed some of the inside pool on why Webb and other recruiting gurus weren’t buying Campbell’s declaration that Michigan was off his list last week.
Here’s the first five or so minutes where Webb gives you all the goodies and explains:
- Campbell’s initial commitment
- The reason for Big Will’s decommitment
- The rationale behind declaring Michigan was off his list earlier this week
- On his mother’s assurance that Michigan was at the top of the list
- And, Big Will’s message to Rich Rod and the text he blasted out to his Michigan peeps before the selection:
Summary:
- On why he decommitted: There was a coaching change of course, but Webb advises that it was primarily the desire to visit other schools (LSU, for instance, wouldn’t allow a visit if he was committed to Michigan) and his desire to declare on national TV (and pick the hat, etc.)
- Why Campbell said Michigan was off his list last week:: “to inject a little bit a intrigue” into the selection.
- On why Webb was still confident of Will going to Michigan after those statements: Several things:
- Campbell told the Army people to keep a Michigan hat on the table right after making that comment.
- Big Will told his boys and family he was just playing with the media (not sure if he’s sorry about Sean at MSC’s wall)
- Last week he called Rodriguez and told him to make sure he watches the Army game.
- Finally, Campbell’s mom told Webb last week that Michigan was top of the list but Sam didn’t get clearance from Big Will to release that statement.
Webb also got a text Saturday morning that included many of Will’s peeps, saying he wanted to show folks how we do things in the D– BAM:
Here’s the
full audio of the segment via the WTKA podcasts.
What a classic basketball game today as Beilein and hoops recover from the tough Wisconsin loss to get their first conference win, 74-64 over Illinois. It certainly wasn’t a must win, but losing the first two Big Ten games at home would have caused a bit of a shiver.
On hand for the game was once again coaches Carr and Rodriguez, each with their wives. BTN color man and Buckeye Jimmy Jackson couldn’t help but admit that he was sorry that Lloyd Carr hung up his whistle, saying as a Buck, Carr was his favorite coach. Some forget that Carr crushed the Buckeyes early in his coaching career and despite the struggles against Tressel was 6-7 lifetime. But he certainly finished on a down note and Jackson’s comment would be excusable if Carr and his wife Laurie weren’t sitting right next to him on the end of the press table. Come on man.
But I thought Jackson did a good job for BTN and today, and man, was he awesome at Ohio State. When they panned over to Fab Fiver Jimmy King chilling in the tunnel JJ talked about some of their battles (Ohio State won two during the regular season with Michigan winning in the NCAA tournament). I was at the game at Crisler his senior year and Jackson was unbelievable. Here’s a shot of King looking fresh with his tight beard:
As we conclude Wildcard weekend today, I thought I’d offer one back look at the miserable Lions. A friend of mine, Paul, made the trek to Green Bay last weekend to witness a bit of history as Detroit failed to prevent what’s widely considered the worst season in pro sports history.
I asked him to send me a few takes and photos from the trip, enjoy:
- We didn’t have any issue getting tickets, but because every game at Lambeau is sold out for years to come we had to go to StubHub. We bought very nice seats that had a $62/face for $106.
- We drove in for the game and it was a mess getting to the stadium. It took us an hour to travel the last five miles.
- As far as the tailgating environment, they have a bunch of special tents set up around the stadium and around Brett Favre’s steakhouse. There were folks tailgating where they parked but they really don’t have large parking lots around the stadium. It was a lot of car dealership lots, truck stops, car pool areas, and malls.
- Lambeau looks like they took Spartan Stadium except it’s painted yellow instead of white. Similar press box, ramps, scoreboard. They really don’t have any advertising inside the stadium except for on the scoreboard. The food was very cheap relatively speaking. I paid $5.50 for a beer; $3.75 seat cushions.
- While it could have been due to the meekness of the opponent, the Green Bay fans were very friendly. I’m guessing it we were Bears or Vikings fans it would have been a lot different.
Here’s a few more photos:
Just announced - dig it:
Update: Sam Webb explains what was going on with the commitment, decommitment, not going to Michigan, and finally, commitment ping pong.
Hat tip to the Ann Arbor Chronicle, it appears as though the primary donors to the new (& very well done) University of Michigan baseball and softball complex were stung a bit by Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. Ouch.
Bloomberg.com compiled and published a list of foundations that invested with Madoff and included the Wilpon Family Foundation.
Thankfully it’s not clear how much the family invested and lost with the shmuck Madoff.
Related:
The WSJ has been all over the Madoff story, read Stephen Greenspan’s essay this weekend, Anatomy of Gullibility: Why We Keep Falling for Financial Scams.
Despite playing an Alabama that team that either wasn’t ready to play or didn’t care, Utah looked impressive last night and hats off. It seems ages ago when the Utes visited Michigan for Rich Rodriguez’s debut and took down the Blue 25-23. Utah led 25-10 at one point and Michigan could have tied the game on had they converted a two pointed conversion.
I ran into a gaggle of Utes at Conor O’Neills pub on Main Street that evening, all in good spirits of course and very friendly. I talked to a guy for a little bit, and having traveled far for the game he clearly was a big fan. In the wake of this win he was genuinely excited about the prospect of an undefeated season, with the primary obstacle being then-ranked BYU (who they later dispatched 48-24).
I don’t care how disinterested Alabama was at the beginning or even throughout the game, Utah looked impressive and des. I probably wouldn’t vote them ahead of USC or Florida at this point, but I’d sure like to see them play.
To help get through this tough bowl season, how about few select items from the MVictors Vault featuring Rose Bowl-related items throughout the years.
My favorite? Probably the photo of above from Fielding Yost & company’s trip to the first Rose Bowl football game in 1901. The team is on a trolley heading around town and the photo is featured in Bo Schembechler’s Tradition, available from Amazon.com.
Runner up may be the lighter from the 1948 tilt. Enjoy:
Want to own your own piece of Michigan Rose Bowl history? There’s a few solid eBay auctions out there right now:
* 1981 Rose Bowl Glass
* 1965 Rose Bowl Ticket Stub
* 1948 Rose Bowl Program
* 1998 Rose Bowl Seat Cushion
Thanks to all Michigan fans and readers of this site for all the support this year. Best wishes to you and yours and look forward to some quality stuff in 2009. I’ve already got some solid interviews/stories lined up for January and expect more of the same coverage of history via eBay Watch.
Cheers and let’s hope I’m drinking posting from somewhere warm this time next year in anticipation of our game.
You can still own the website domain, images and content on UMICHFOOTBALL.com for $499, here’s the auction (with free shipping!).
Mark Snyder’s recent blog post in the Detroit Free Press caused a little bit of a dust up over the terms of Scott Shafer’s resignation as defensive coordinator. Here’s some from the post titled ‘Departed defensive coordinator sworn to not rip Michigan’:
Shafer parted ways with Michigan by “mutual agreement” a week before the school announced the change in the letter from athletic director Bill Martin, but there were conditions. It said Shafer could not publicly release the terms of his agreement, and he also agreed “that I will not issue any statements to the media or in a public or similar setting which demean or disparage the University of Michigan, the football program, or any of their employees, in any way.”
It’s implied here that Shafer would “rip” Michigan if he could, but contractually, he can’t. I don’t know if that’s what Snyder wanted to convey or whether a headline writer took some liberties, but either way it comes off as if Michigan is trying to silence a potentially loose cannon in the form of a disgruntled former defensive coordinator.
While we don’t know what Shafer would say right now if could, certainly there was a misalignment with Rodriguez or he’d still be there. The question is whether Michigan went out of its way to write some special language into the severance contract to keep Shafer quiet.
Instead of speculating on this I shot a quick note to local attorney Nick Roumel whose firm (Nick Roumel and Associates) handles sports and entertainment contracts. I asked for his take on these terms and in particular, whether this language prohibiting Shafer to “demean or disparage” the football program is unusual.
Here’s what Roumel wrote to me:
I can tell you that those terms are typical for most employment separation agreements. Those might include an agreement that the separation is a resignation, that the employee is receiving some kind of severance, that he is waiving his right to sue, that he and the employer agree to not disparage one another and to keep the matter confidential, etc.
The trick with a public employer is that the separation is probably still obtainable under the Freedom of Information Act, and I’m guessing the Freep obtained a copy of that agreement.
Not surprising, but this doesn’t appear to be anything unusual. While that’s one attorney’s take on agreements of this sort, it’s one more attorney than was asked to comment on the Snyder post.
Update 12/30: Jim Carty talked about the contractual terms on WTKA yesterday and offered “it would not surprise me if it were standard or somewhat standard”. Audio from MLive. Oh, he also talked about Big Will Campbell.
Along with the entire 0-16 Detroit Lions coaching staff except wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson and running backs coach Sam Gash.
Take: I’m one of the few that would have been fine with keeping Coach Marinelli around another season to resurrect this crew. Marinelli had these guys playing hard (for the most part) long after the season was ruined. But I understand that if you want a major overhaul, which is needed, that after the GM you should probably start with the coach. If they want to nab a solid name, they’ll certainly have the incentive that a) things can only get better, and b) there’s a boat load of draft picks in a few months to start rebuilding.
So, add Marinelli to another Lions coach who bites the dust in the Millen era.
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Check this out from Sports Illustrated this week [12/29/08 issue]. On the Dan Patrick ‘Just My Type‘ page, Chris Webber talks about his time on the practice squad for the 1992 Olympic Dream Team while he was at Michigan.
IT’S NICE to know that even stars get nervous around their idols. Before the 1992 Olympics, Chris Webber was one of the players on a practice squad that provided opposition for the Dream Team. He shared a limo from the airport in Barcelona with Larry Bird. “I was shaking, calling him Mr. Bird,” Webber said. “He was very nice. It was a 10-minute car ride. I said, ‘It was nice meeting you.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, you can grab my bag.’” Webber left with more than just memories: “I got autographs, I stole socks out of their bags, I took everything, even jockstraps. I took one of Charles Barkley’s shoes. I was just a kid in a wonderland.”
That’s good stuff (as long as we’re way outside the statutory limit) and you can’t blame him for grabbing everything in sight. I remember reading about C-Webb working out with the team but I didn’t know he actually traveled to Spain. And how big of a pisser is Bird? I wonder if it was just a little reminder to Webber not to get too cocky.
If you caught the pregame for the New England vs. Buffalo game on CBS today you may have noticed a shiny blue ring on color man Dan Dierdorf’s finger. Here it is:
My first thought wondered if this was a 1969 Michigan Big Ten championship ring for the former All-American offensive tackle. After a few Google searches I couldn’t find an example of a ‘69 ring. Certainly if the ring had a stone it’d be blue, but that doesn’t exactly narrow it down.
The other obvious choice would be a Pro Football Hall of Fame ring which very possible, here are a couple examples:
I’m guessing it is either his HOF ring as a player as the 2008 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. And no, I really don’t care that much what a dude is wearing on his finger but give me a break man, the Lions are about to go 0-16 and there isn’t a lot of M pre-bowl hype to discuss.
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