The saga continues on the Big Ten all-time coaching statistics. Readers of this site know that at the urging of a pesky blogger, the Big Ten officials updated their records last season to reflect the time Michigan left the conference from 1907-1916. The result was a boost to Fielding Yost’s lead over Jim Tressel in conference win percentage by coaches from .833 to .888 (here are the current numbers, through last year’s bowls): Mark Snyder discussed the ramifications of the Ohio State self-imposed vacated wins on the all-time records in this recent piece, & note Mark corrected Yost’s official win pct last night ;) As Snyder points out, I think we can assume nothing is official until the NCAA/Big Ten complete their investigations. I asked the Big Ten offices to confirm and I’m guessing they will say it be resolved when the investigation is completed. [Update July 11] I got the expected response from the Big Ten’s Scott Chipman: My question: Scott, is there an official ruling from the Big Ten on how the Ohio State sanctions/vacated wins affect Tressel’s conference win percentage? Or is this all pending the final NCAA/B10 rulings on the sanctions? Chipman’s reply: Greg, As of right now, that’s all TBD. I see a few possible outcomes that could impact these records once again: Final Punishment…
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Yost Field House: Bring Back the Photo of the Old Man! (1966)
You might know that Yost Ice Arena, the current home of your beloved Frozen Four bound hockey squad, was once the home of the Michigan basketball team. Check out this wire photo of Michigan hoops star Cazzie Russell and notice the gent who’s featured on the wall with his familiar grin
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Michigan Coaching Rumors – “Clever Coach” on his way
Best news I’ve heard all week: If you’re a Michigan or college sports history buff, you’ve got to read this. Author John Kryk found this 110-year old piece describing the epidemic in the divided Michigan fan base, check it out.
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Gil Thorp needs Botox
So over the weekend a gent named Neal Rubin for popped up and wrote this piece on Rodriguez in the Detroit News, basically talking about how much of an a-hole Rich Rod is. Normally I wouldn’t bother to say anything – it reads like a bad sports radio call – but after basically calling Rich Rod a slippery, money-grabbing phony, he went here: Fielding Yost didn’t sign contract extensions and then flirt with other schools to extort raises. Actually, despite this being a completely different era in college sports, Yost maneuvered quite a bit with his contracts and with U-M. I know FHY on some level—he was a very savvy negotiator and businessman, go read The Big House–so when I saw this I got a laugh. I asked author/historian John Kryk [Natural Enemies], who’s in the process of writing the definitive history of Yost and his Point-A-Minute teams, and he shared this on the topic: “No matter how long Yost’s contract was (one-year, two-year, five-year) in his first decade, it was always a source of relief in Ann Arbor every late-Nov/early-Dec when he announced he was for sure coming back. Occasionally, there were reports he was considering an offer from, say, Wisconsin — or from the East. One year he even boldly and publicly disputed the wording of his contract…
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This Week in 19th Century Michigan Football!
Here’s the last entry* in ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ to be played Saturday on WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show before The Game. It’s probably the most unique segment in the series as we go back — ALL the way back – to the 1800s and talk about the game played on this day in 1883 against Stevens Institute, the first game ever played against Racine College and a few key facts from the underappreciated 19th century. I hope you enjoy it: [display_podcast] Thanks to reader Scott B. for pointing out to me the tie to George Jewett, the first black player in Michigan (and conference) history, and the current team. Believe it – according to U-M Media Relations, freshman DB Courtney Avery is a descendant of Jewett. I’m digging for some better details on this. The sponsor of This Week…is Wolverine Beer so here’s where you can find it and you can hear all of the This Week… clips here. * Exclusive: We might to special hockey history segment for the Big Chill so look out for that.
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A Century Ago: 1910 Michigan Football through the Words of The Daily
Recently I visited the outstanding U-M Bentley Historical Library to wade through the pages of the Michigan Daily archives from fall of 1910. Here’s a brief look back at Fielding Yost’s tenth season at the helm of the Wolverines: Preseason: Expectations were high coming into 1910, as the previous season Yost’s men became the first “western” team to knock off one of the traditional eastern foes when they defeated Penn 12-6 in Philadelphia, in a game not as close as the score indicated. They added a 15-6 win in the season finale over Minnesota and Michigan made claim to the mythical title of “Champions of the West”. The 1910 season would prove a bit rockier, as Michigan was still settling into their status as an independent. Seven games were scheduled for the year, including four against rivals that are quite familiar a century later: M.A.C (later MSC then MSU of course), Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Minnesota. Here’s how the season went, through the words of the U-M student newspaper from the fall of 1910: Game 1: vs. Case, Ann Arbor, October 8, 1910 The 1910 slate started on October against Case, the Wolverine’s foe in the previous four season openers and a team that nearly spoiled the 1909 season. Yost squeaked by 3-0 that season and hoped to put…
