To make way for new fitness bad boy Mike Barwis and his $600,000 new toys, Rich Rod and his henchmen cleaned out the weight room. The old equipment will be on sale Sunday from 12-3 at ROCK BOTTOM PRICES. Details here and here:
Due to the purchase of new equipment for the Schembechler Weight Room, the University of Michigan Athletic Department will be holding a public sale of surplus equipment. The sale is scheduled for Sunday (Jan. 13) from noon to 3 p.m. in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
The equipment includes weightlifting apparatus as well as aerobic machines and dumbbells. Cash, credit or checks will be accepted, and the equipment must be removed from Oosterbaan Fieldhouse that day.
Get on it man – Grab that bar and send it up!
After one house cleaning, another was announced as you know by now that Mallett, Manningham and Arrington are gone. No hard feelings here for these kids and of course wish them best of luck.
My take on 86 is “Happy Trails, Super Mario”. I didn’t think the guy gave 100% effort at the Wisconsin game and was obviously frustrated. I don’t care if Mallett wasn’t getting him the ball, he should have played through it and I have trouble forgiving him for that. Plus, did you really expect he’d stay? I always remember the great catches against Penn State two years ago and of course Michigan State in November. So long. (Maybe Millen will take him).
Mallett? Feel bad for the kid. I understand he’s struggled here a little bit with living here and with some of the teammates. I don’t like the 1 year transfer penalty in cases where the coach leaves. This is a textbook argument against that rule. Anyway, I hope it works out for him. And I wish people would hold off on bad mouthing him, as I heard a bit of today on the radio.
Arrington? Boy, after that Capital One game this hurts and it is a surprise. A guy who worked his way back on the team after getting in some trouble. He made the best of it. To me, a great story. This hurts a bit as he would be the guy next year. Again, best wishes for the dude in the NFL.
4 Comments
BenAA
Mallett bashing at this point in his career is premature, I agree.
But, at the same time, I am glad to see him go. From my vantage point, it appeared that he never bought into the program. And, now he is using Rich’s hire as leverage to leave. Thats fine. I hope he finds a place that better suits his playing style and a place were he fits in better.
Lew
Agree people need to stop bad mouthing all of these guys, but I don’t have a problem with the transfer rule – and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. The schools don’t want to change it, rightly so, because allowing kids a free transfer after a coaching change would make it that much more difficult to make a coaching change – what coach would want to make a move if he had to worry about half the team transferring? Nobody wants that. (It is a bit odd that the rule only applies to D1 football, basketball and men’s hockey players – but those are the sports that would suffer the most from a free transfer rule. Life in the big city.)
And while I feel bad that Mallet is leaving (would have been fun to see him play in a wide open offense), he still has the same number of years of eligibility left, he just has to sit out next year, but can still practice (assuming he meets the academic requirements). Since he didn’t red-shirt, the extra year studying defenses and working on strength and conditioning will probably be a benefit for him. And who wouldn’t want an extra year in college? It’ll be fun to follow his college career, particularly if he, Loefty and DeBord end up in Tennessee (maybe Chuck Woodson would grant their beloved Peyton a day with his Heisman).
I wish all these guys the best – they’ve certainly been fun to watch on Saturdays.
M.Victor
Good counterpoint Lew on the transfer rule/coaching change question. This said, “half the team transferring” would never happen. Heck, if that year off is so great as you describe (and it sounds pretty good, get an Old School-esque off campus house, Snoop, etc), what’s stopping half the team from leaving now? That don’t leave because they enjoy school, their team and their teammates.
Lew
Fair enough, webmaster. Half the team is an exaggeration. But if it wasn’t for the rule Coach Rod could cherry pick the WVU lineup and guys like White, Slaton and DeVine could follow him to Michigan – not fair at all. I think there’d be a significant effect on both sides if the rule wasn’t in place. I don’t think the year off is so great for everyone (like upperclassmen) – so the rule works in that instance to prevent defections/cherry-picking. But for a kid like Mallet, a frosh who didn’t redshirt, I don’t think the year off will hurt him at all – so I don’t think his case is a textbook argument against the rule.