That’s Chumley from Pawn Stars – the internet is great I just chatted with Aaron Herdez of Herdez Pawn in Phoenix, AZ.   He’s the nephew of the shop owner and was willing to talk about the status of the Scot Loeffler 1997 Michigan championship ring that showed up on eBay.   To recap, once word was out that former Michigan assistant’s ring was stolen, the authorities were contacted and the eBay auction was pulled.    A few different MVictors readers reported contacting Loeffler directly (or through family members), confirming that he wanted the ring back and was upset at some of the neg bombs flown his way, implying that he sold it.   A few quotes from Herdez on the situation: On Loeffler:  “He didn’t call it in stolen, he said he lost it and then he changed his mind.”  “We don’t know what really happened.” On how the store treats items like this that come in the store. “We do a police report for everything that comes into the store.” What is the status of the ring?  “It’s not for sale and it’s already been seized [by the police].  If I want it back I’ll have to take it court.” On how they came to own the ring:  “Everything we get comes from customers that walk into the store.” When they…

Once word was out that former Michigan assistant Scot Loeffler’s 1997 Michigan championship ring was stolen, the authorities were contacted and now it appears as though the eBay auction was pulled.    Per comments on MVictors: Via reader Ned DeGalan: Update> I have texted with Scot and he is aware of this. As of a few minutes ago this was taken off of eBay Scot has access to an attorney in Phoenix. My thanks to to the MGoBlog community for tipping me off about this as I was one of the bidders. Kudos to all of your community for their assistance. You are truly "Leaders and Best". Via reader @jusgre : I reported this to the Phoenix Police Department and this was their response as of 3:25 PM: Thank you for the information. Our Property Crimes Bureau is working with the owner of the ring to return it to him. Officer Jennifer Eastman Internet Detail Public Affairs Bureau Phoenix Police Department 602-262-4061 Visit us online at www.phoenix.gov/police More later?  We’ll see.  If the ring is recovered and returned to Loeffler you’ll hear about it here.

Ahh, the 1997 ring saga continues.   Thanks to friend of blog Craig Ross (with a hat tip to Brian at mgoblog) who passed along this info about the 1997 Championship Ring that is up on eBay right now, bearing the name Scott [sic] Loeffler: …I just talked to Scot. 1. The ring was stolen (in Arizona ) and Scot procured a replacement ring. He still has that ring and his national championship ring. He will never sell these. Scot has never been on e-bay in his life; has never sold anything on e-bay. He did not sell this ring or give it away. It was stolen. 2. Scot, recall, did not leave the UM. He was terminated with the rest of the staff (except Fred Jackson). Scot continues to have strong connections in Ann Arbor and continues to love the University. He is proud to be a graduate and proud to have coached here. He is mortified that anyone would think otherwise. So there you go.  This is backed up by MVictors reader ‘bluchip’, who posted this comment recently, similar story, more details, the exception being it “lost” vs. “stolen” which might be subjective when dealing with hotel rooms: Scot lost it four or five years ago in a Phoenix hotel while on a layover during a west coast recruiting…

[UPDATE 7/14 – Friend of blog Craig Ross contacted Loeffler, details here.] Wow, a ‘97 Michigan championship ring, after an earlier auction of a ‘97 band fell through, is up on eBay.  And the seller claims the original owner of this ring was former Michigan assistant coach Scot Loeffler.   I believe he was a grad assistant on the ‘97 squad and squeaked into the team photo: It’s Scot with one ‘t’, eBay and Bentley! Per the auction description: YOU ARE BIDDING ON A MICHIGAN WOLVERINES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS RING 1997 ROSE BOWL RING ENGRAVED INSIDE SCOTT LOEFFLER MICHIGAN WOLVERINES Loeffler went on to be quarterback coach for Coach Carr, then over to the Detroit Lions when Rodriguez came in, and is currently on Urban Meyer’s staff in Gainesville. Scot, you can leave town, play for Urban Meyer Wiener, and even try to steal our recruits but… don’t sell your 1997 Championship ring!! My only question about this (beyond getting Loeffler to comment and I emailed him).  The ring is truly engraved “SCOTT” with two “t’s”.   If so, just maybe  the ring was misengraved and he was issued a corrected ring – and somehow this one ended up in the hands of a dealer.  Doubt it, because this seems easily corrected: The auction of Loeffler’s ring ends July 19.  Bidding currently…

Another signing day is upon us and you know where to go if you need your updates (not here). Like last year, Sam Webb is holding a live signing day extravaganza this afternoon on WTKA 1050AM. His first call in guest today was the #1 rated player out of Ohio Justin “J.T.” Turner. While Turner committed to Michigan last March, Webb asked him if any schools were making a push on him close to Signing Day. He mentioned Clemson was hounding him, and then dropped this little nugget—Florida’s Scot Loeffler (the popular quarterbacks’ coach for Lloyd Carr and of the Detroit Lions last season) and who just joined Urban Meyer and the Gators last month, apparently tried to woo Turner to Gainesville in the past three weeks. JT said that Michigan and “coach Gibby cut that out”, as in, squashed whatever shenanigans Loeffler was bringing. Here’s the clip where Turner talks about Clemson and Loeffler’s pursuit: [display_podcast] Come on Scoty, J.T.’s a Michigan man! Here’s the podcast of the full interview, and where you can hear the interviews with several more commitments. Elsewhere: Sean at MSC has been doing a great job as usual getting the updates out as soon as they happen. Sean’s take on the class: Michigan has actually had at least 30 different 2009 recruits commit to…

One hundred and fifty eBay Watch posts later, I figured it was time to run down my favorites.  To recap, here are items #10-#6, published earlier this week.  The Top 5: 5.  Suit Up like one of Yost’s Men (posted June 15, 2009) Probably the most remarkable auction of Michigan lore I’ve seen on eBay.  A freaking Yost-era uniform – belt, pants, helmet, and shoes – from the early 1910s up for sale.   What else can you say? I guess the question is what does one do with this stuff?  Put it on display in the man cave or home office?  It absolutely belongs in Schembechler Hall or at the Bentley Library.  I’m not sure what happened to it but it fetched a lot of bucks that’s for certain.  Read the original post here.  – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 4.  Coach Mac wants his Mojo Back (posted January 2008) Many ring-on-eBay dramas have played on this site thanks to eBay Watch.  Recently you’ve had the former assistant Scot Loeffler/pawn shop ‘97 ring imbroglio, which is still playing out.   Then in 2008 you have the Allen Bishop 1986 Rose Bowl ring saga.   Arguably…

A few thoughts on the press conference and media activities down at the Junge Center outside the Big House tonight: RR getting a bit thin up front, might need to go tight like the Webmaster To start things off a frog throated Rich Rod, suffering from both the recruiting and flu seasons, gushed about the 27 commitments to the class and identified those responsible in the recruiting process.  Speaking of his voice, ironically an illin’ RichRod sounds very much like a healthy, wolf-strangling Mike Barwis. Then came the general media Q&A and things got interesting, and you’ll have much more tonight/tomorrow from the writers.  Dave Birkett of AnnArbor.com and Drew Sharp hit Rodriguez hard on recruiting Demar Dorsey, who was acquitted of some serious legal issues, as summarized by AnnArbor.com: Dorsey, ranked the No. 2 safety and No. 12 player in the country by ESPN.com, was charged with two felonies while in high school, according to court records in Broward County, Fla. He was acquitted by a jury on a 2008 charge of robbery with a deadly weapon, and had an earlier charge of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling dismissed. Dave Ablauf had to step in and request the media move on, Rich Rod suggested people didn’t have the entire picture and then urged people to be positive.  Sharp wasn’t…