There was a lot of talk heading into this season on what it would take for Amaker to keep his job. Concensus amongst talk show callers was NCAA tournament or the highway. Of course it is not that simple. Bill Martin made a tough decision and give him credit for not taking the path of least resistance by firing Coach Amaker. I’m sure he had a conversation with President Coleman about this, given that Amaker’s wife is associate dean of students and a friend of MSC. A few thoughts: Surprise? In my mind I felt there was a 50-50 shot that Amaker would lose his job after the season. It was clear they weren’t making the NCAA again. Somehow I was still a little surprised when I heard the news of the firing. I’d say the vast majority of M fans are pleased that the school is taking a new direction. Izzo I’m a huge supporter of Coach Izzo and had a ball watching the Spartans battle North Carolina last night at Fraser’s Pub. Those guys play like hell for him and I’m envious. This said, I read some of Izzo’s comments in the paper today about the firing. Basically Izzo didn’t like the firing and suggested that you can’t put all of Michigan’s recent track record on Amaker, and…
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Scheduling I-AA
The athletic department announced that it is rounding out the 2007 football slate with Applachian State, the NCAA division I-AA national champion the past 2 seasons. The Mountaineers have taken on NC State, Kansas, and LSU in the past two seasons and got soundly beaten. So, I’d like to say this is crap so I will. This is crap. I thought the Vanderbilt opener was outstanding: a lower level major conference team with some players, a great way to start the season. If you are going to schedule I-AA why not go with the best, but Bill Martin can do better and I don’t just mean loading down the schedule with MAC teams. According to the folks on ESPN, the correct way to pronounce Appalachian is APPA-LATCH-IN. Not “APPA-LAY-SHIN”
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Carr’s Contract Change Hints at Retirement?
The Ann Arbor News reported that Lloyd Carr’s contract with the University of Michigan was altered slightly this December. The News, who obtained a copy of the contract via the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that the requirement for Carr to receive a deferred compensation payment was changed. The prior contract stated that Carr must work as “Head Football Coach” until July 1, 2007 as a condition for receiving that money. The new contract states that Carr must work for the university “”in any capacity”. After retirement, Carr’s contract makes him associate athletic director. So what does this mean? – For the Carr bashers, this will be interpreted as sweet, sweet music. Why would the change be made if the retirement feelings weren’t looming large for Carr and Bill Martin? – On the other hand, Carr has indicated that he may not be coaching much longer already, and this change simply might be something his lawyer recommended. Of course Martin said this means nothing, and Carr would say the same. Given that Carr will retire whenever he feels like it, you have to assume that Bill Martin will ask for some kind of notice to prepare for what could be a three ring circus: the hiring process for a new Wolverine coach. This might be the first sign that the…
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Sports Inferno Swipes MVictors pic
We all ‘borrow’ photos and images from other websites. I don’t know the etiquette on this stuff is, but if you borrow a doctored photo from someone else, shouldn’t you mention it? I suppose there are exceptions (e.g., if the entire world has already had the pic emailed to them), but one of MVictors’ readers Biggie Munn spotted this pic of Tom Izzo as Bruce Springsteen on 1270 WXYT’s Sports Inferno Website. Here’s the original story from February 2006 featuring Izzo as The Boss, including the doctored pic.
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CFN 2007 Pre-Season Rankings
College Football News released in early rankings for 2007 and they slotted Michigan #10 with USC #1. I’d guess is that this is about as low as you will see Michigan rated in the preseason ranking next year as CFN has been on a run of Wolverine bashing, from last week questioning the validity of the 1997 title, to a recent post basically arguing that Michigan hasn’t had a decent “big” non-conference win in over a decade. Here’s what they had to say about the 2007 team: 10. Michigan. The offense should be tremendous with the best trio of skill players in the country in Chad Henne, Mike Hart and Mario Manningham. Jake Long should probably be off to the NFL, but he’ll be back to be a sure-fire All-American at left tackle. The defense is another story losing Alan Branch, LaMarr Woodley, Rondell Biggs, Shawn Crable, David Harris, Prescott Burgess, Leon Hall and Willis Barringer. And here where some of Michigan’s opponents & Big Ten foes landed: 5. Wisconsin 2006 Record: 12-1 2006 Wisconsin was a very good team with a walk-in-the-park schedule. 2007 Wisconsin will be an elite team with a more challenging slate. The safeties need to be replaced, as do LB Mark Zalewski and OT Joe Thomas, but just about everyone else returns. Tyler Donovan and…
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Pee in the Cornflakes
Just learned from classmate Rosey that Corwin “Cornflakes” Brown is leaving the staff of the New York Jets to take the defensive coordinator job at Notre Dame. This hurts. It always hurts when a player or coach becomes affiliated with a rival, but a captain? Cornflakes served as captain for the 1992 Wolverines, who were Big Ten and Rose Bowl champs. The team was also undefeated but didn’t win the national title because three of the games amazingly ended in ties. This team took the tie to a new level. [Michigan trivia buffs, check yourself on ‘How many Michigan teams were undefeated in the 1990s?’]. When they weren’t tying people they were kicking ass. The 1992 Wolverines scored more than 30 points on 8 of 12 games, including putting up 61 on Houston, and tossing a 63-spot on Minnesota. Brown was popular with the Michigan students when he played. It is confirmed that one group of madcaps even painted C-O-R-N-F-L-A-K-E-S on their pasty bare chests during one game. He’ll have his hands full with the Irish, who were smoked by his former school, LSU and USC this past year (and each of these teams put on the brakes late in the game).
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Becks Coming to America
Whoop tee doo, English footballer David Beckham is not extending his contract with Real Madrid and will play this season for the LA Galaxy. More proof that a) this is a weird cat, and b) his skills are diminishing c) you can relate anything back to Michigan football. Here’s Beck’s doning a throwback Michigan t-shirt at an airport in Japan:
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1997 Title Now in Question!
How bad is it for the Big Ten after the humiliation handed out in the BCS bowls to Ohio State and Michigan (and to some degree, quasi Big Ten Notre Dame)? Fans are questioning the ability of recently annointed geniuses (Tressel, Weis), and resuming the drum beat of too conservative/can’t coach of a 2006 Coach of the Year candidate (Carr). I knew things were bad but it just got worse. Everyone is rethinking all their pre-bowl BCS slotting and all the time spent on those arguments, and rightly many are bringing the whole BCS system into question again. Now College Football News is taking it a step further by questioning titles decided nearly a decade ago. Check out Pete Fiutak’s Cavalcade of Whimsey column posted January 10th: 6. I still want to see the 1997 Michigan national championship team play someone. In this week’s Let It Go file, after watching Michigan get ripped up by USC in the Rose Bowl, and seeing Ohio State’s performance in the title game, I’d like to find a way to go back and see what the 1997 national champion Wolverines would’ve done against 1997 Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, or what appeared to be that year’s best team at the end of the year, Nebraska. Even more so than the 2004 USC-Oklahoma-Auburn…