The Michigan Football uniform changes from the period between 1879-1939. For all uniform changes prior to 1970, the rules change - If I have a compelling photo of an actual jersey (or portion of a jersey) over this period, I will include it in the timeline even if it didn’t mark a particular change in design or new feature.
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Harbaugh: The Legacy Hired Gun
Since the turn of the last century, as I see it the Michigan coaching hires have fallen into 2 buckets: Legacy Hires > under the Michigan Man umbrella, these are guys with playing and/or coaching experience in Ann Arbor before they took over. (And FWIW a lack of outside heading coaching success). Hired Guns > gents with head coaching “success” (let’s call it .550 or better) at other college programs but no previous coaching or playing experience at U-M. Harbaugh is the first hire that really falls on both sides of this divide, having had both college (& NFL for that matter) head coaching success along with U-M ties as a player and alumnus. A breakdown*: * I removed George Little who kinda/sorta coached U-M for one season in 1924 while Yost took a breather, and ok if I moved the Mendoza line for “success” down to .500 Hoke gets a check. A few thoughts: Of the 4 Hired Guns, I think Ivan Maisel of ESPN got it right, comparing this hire to that of Fritz Crisler who won two national titles at Princeton before taking over in Ann Arbor: For one thing, Harbaugh is the most successful head coach Michigan has hired since it swiped Fritz Crisler from Princeton in 1938. All Crisler did in 10 seasons in Ann…
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Remembering 1964 | ‘Bump Elliott, the Michigan Wolverines and Their 1964 Championship Season’ – E. Bruce Geelhoed
Last Saturday WTKA played the Ufer broadcast of the 1964 Ohio State game (the 10-0 win that sent Bump Elliott’s crew to the Rose Bowl). Dang those broadcasts are gems and this was no exception (remind me to try to get a copy of Ufer’s halftime interview with Fritz Crisler and post it here). If you read this site you know how I feel about that squad and their legacy—they have to be one of the most underappreciated teams in U-M history. I think this year a few folks have done a lot to help right that wrong, leading with historian Bruce Geelhoed. For starters, Geelhoed has an outstanding story in the current edition of Michigan History magazine on the 1964 Ohio State game titled, ‘The Game that Turned Around the Michigan-Ohio State Rivalry’. You can pick it up at local Meijer and Barnes and Noble stores or online here. Captain Conley’s righteous pigskin – the Ohio State game ball But foremost — Geelhoed recently published this, a 248 page book on the 1964 season itself: If you are the type of fan who has books like John Kryk’s Natural Enemies and John Bacon’s Blue Ice on your shelf, this is no brainer— go out and get a copy. It includes an endorsement from yours truly on the back cover.…
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Sights & Sounds | Michigan 34, Indiana 10 (2014)
Last week I talked about finding the “bottom”, that is, the end of the spiral of crappy things happening to this football team. I don’t know if we’re there, but out there before the game Saturday you felt a weight was lifted and the mood was actually a bit festive.
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Captain Conley and the 1964 Wolverines | Business Time (Part III)
Part I: Starting from NothingPart II: The Season Business TimeThe trip to the 1965 Rose Bowl was conducted in two distinct phases – party time and business time. The first portion started off with the usual tours, some time to hang out, and a bit of partying. OK, maybe a lot of partying. “Chrysler gave us a car for every 4 guys,” junior fullback Barry Dehlin recalled. “For the first week, you had a bunch of 20-year-old guys out there and we were partying.” As young men tend to do, they took advantage of their celebrity status with the California coeds. “We went to Disneyland. The next thing you know we’re in our hotel room and there are eight or ten of the Disneyland tour guides,” Conley recalled. “We also went to the Whisky a Go Go. The girls are dancing and all that, and let’s just say we had some guys that were good at what they do, do you know what I mean?” “I’ll never forget, we’re walking back into the hotel at night. [Senior end] Bill Laskey is with me along with a couple of other guys. We’ve got these girls with us with those frilly skirts shaking around. As we’re walking down the hall [assistant coach] Jocko Nelson walks by, looks at me, and just says,…
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Debuts: Bo and Canham’s Carpet | TWIMFbH (1969)
This week we head back exactly 45 years to the opener of the 1969 season and a new era in Michigan Football History. It was of course the debut of Bo…and Canham’s beloved new carpet: Speaking of Canham’s carpet, I love this old shot of Dierdorf and Bo: You can catch all of the This Week in Michigan Football History clips here…And don’t forget to catch it live Saturday on the KeyBank Countdown to kick-off on WTKA 1050AM or inside the Bud Light Victors Lounge starting at 11:30am. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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WPW | Jimmy Orwig’s Righteous Swig
Hump Day! Wire Photo Wednesday leads with something near and dear to my heart, the Little Brown Jug: A great shot of a few men from Bennie Oosterbaan’s 1957 roster. Left to right I believe you’ve got: Stan Noskin (QB), Dave Brown (QB), ‘57 captain Jim Orwig (LT) taking a pull, Larry Faul (LG) and Jerry Goebel (C). We don’t have a lot of information on this shot, but it looks like it appeared in the Minneapolis Star, making me think it was shot just prior to the ‘57 battle for the Jug. The caption also says that’s a replica – which is looks to be (for starter, there are no scores down the side, at least on the side we can see…). Good news – Orwig took back the real jug after Michigan’s 24-7 victory on October 26, 1957. Fritz: “..and finally, we’re getting new helmets..with yellow wings on them.” [Team breaks out in laughter]Fritz: “Trust me on this one. Wings are the future. Wings I tells ya.” So I’ve seen this shot on eBay before but never noticed the significance of the date it was taken. This is actually a pretty historically significant shot from March 28th—the start of Spring football back then. This is probably one of, if not the first, published photo with Fritz Crisler…
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Schembechler Hall 2.0 (Fresh Renovation photos)
A few sneak-peek photos from the new Schembechler Hall renovation:
