The Weekend Roundup: You Can Hear A Pin Drop Edition: 12/10/07

​It's been all quiet at Fort Schembechler since the UMTailgate.com media blackout. OK, just kidding. Rumors are still flying.

From the coaching front:

• There's a deal on the table for Les, for less. Rumor has it we have put 2.5 million out there, just a million shy of LSU's guarantee if Les wins one more game this year. A million less to be forced into a couple of shitty assistants, have the former coach that hates you in your mentor's old office down the hall, and take over a team that lost to Appalachian State. Oh, and take all the time you need Les, as long as you make up your mind this week. [Call it a Comeback - MGoBlog]


• Steve Starkisian...welcome to the jungle, and Tedford is back in the mix according to a paper that is written 2100 miles away. [Finally A Blip - MGoBlog]


• Oh, and then there's Marvin...Marvin Lewis. [Marvin Lewis to Michigan - Fanhouse]


• Combine piss, vinegar. Lather, rinse, repeat. [Miles Old Teammates are Livid with Search, Carr - MLive]


• The question is, does Bill want to play nice anymore? [LSU AD Tries to Put Miles-to-Michigan talk to Rest - MLive]


• Let's use Les as a fall back...and go after all of the dream coaches we can. Sounds good. Great write up here: [Who Will Be Michigan's $4 Million Man - The Conquering Heroes]


• You like Brady Hoke? You won't after this, my third link to MGoBlog. You really should start going over there on your own people. Oh, you do already? Ya, that's why I'm still at a desk from 9-5. [Profiles in Cronyism - MGoBlog]

The rest of the weekend internets that you missed because you were  dizzy from inhaling pig brains.

• Coaches are doing very well these days. Be sure to click the link to USAToday within the link to the boys from Evanston. [CFB Coaches Salaries Average $1 Million - Lake the Posts]


• Next time you ridicule me for playing guitar hero, remember Zumaya...and Jake Long. [More Important Things Than Coaching Search - Varsity Blue]


• Johnny Cleveland would like to dedicate the following song to CJ. [The Cornhole Song - YouTube]


• It's going to be cold. It's gonna be dark. And it's gonna be Ohio State. [Big Ten to Extend Season... - Freep]

I'm Out

​Too many rumors, too much news...and it's all bad, if you listen to the pundits.

The truth is, it's all bullshit. The perception that nobody wants the Michigan job is retarded. The idea that Les Miles turned down the Michigan job is wrong. You can't reject that which has never been offered. The fact that it should have been offered is the problem here.

There's just too much information, too many opinions...so for now, I'm done giving mine. I'm waiting for real news. No more unnamed sources. No more rumormongering. I am waiting. Waiting for ink on paper. Waiting for press conferences. In the blognews age, it's too difficult for a fan to keep up with what is right and what is wrong.

But know this: This program is not dead. This program is not on life support. We are still the leaders and best. We are still the victors valiant. Hail to the Victors and all that shit. So relax. Flirting with disaster is not disaster itself.

Patience. Don't burn any couches until you learn officially that Debord and English are sticking around.

I drive by Michigan Stadium twice a day. It has occurred to me that in all of the pressure of the Ohio State game, and the goodbyes we gave to Henne, Hart, and Lloyd, we forgot to say goodbye to the oldest icon in Michigan football history...the Big House itself. I've watched day by day as the concrete has been torn up around the press box, and giant holes have been dug for the massive support beams that will hold up the structures that will tower over us for years to come. Today I noticed that the press box, which has been a part of the Big House since 1956, is beginning to come down.

Things are never going to be the same, are they?

The International Bowl Has Been Renamed...

​...the Candidates Bowl.

It occurs on January 5th, which is crap. There shouldn't be any bowls between the BCS bowls and the BCS championship. Also, it's in Canada, which is steaming crap. And finally, it has Ball State and Rutgers in it, which is a really horrible matchup of two programs who have a rich history of jack shit. But today...today it became important.

It's Brady Hoke vs. Greg Schiano. The coaching hire that would have the Wolverine faithful putting Bill Martin on a boat trip with Chuck Muer takes on the coach that has been given so much by his University that he'd be a huge ass for leaving for anywhere other than Penn State... which if we did manage to hire him he would leave us for immediately when Paterno steps down.
All of this excitement comes from the breaking news in the New York Times...

Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano interviewed for the coaching vacancy at Michigan on Wednesday, according to a person who was briefed on the meeting but was not authorized to speak about it.

Was it Herbstreit? Desmond? Maybe Fake Desmond? Jesus Christ...can we plug the leaks here?!?! Maybe it was Lloyd Carr himself? Here's an excerpt from an email I got from an anonymous tipster that spends alot of time on message boards...be advised...all rumor and conjecture (sort of):

Early today a media friend from Florida shed some light on what happened this weekend that is quite disturbing. According to him, the "source"who leaked the story to Herbstreit was none other than LC himself, further that this leak had been floated for the better part of 4 days and no national media was biting, including SEC's tv partner, which whom he has contact.

Even further, my media friend was on the field prior to the SEC game as part of his job and saw Les speaking with a very prominent announcer who consoled Les by saying "I'm sorry Lloyd f**ked you", to which Les responded - "Yes, he sure did."

I was told much more this morning, enough that forced me to leave the office and hit the gym to work off the anger. So much more that I may share later but for now it would be fruitless.

Suffice to say I learned two important things today - one, this college football world is a very small, incestuous pool (so small that when Sweater Vest chided Kirk on his "sources" during the Sunday telecast he knew EXACTLY who that source was) and two, the coaches of the Michigan football program are NOT held in high regard as to their abilities by the rest of the collegiate coaching community.

Bottom line is this - Martin's boat trip, MSC's predelications and everything else are all ir-f-ing-relvant. LC has a fifteen year agenda against LM, simple as that.

That's right folks, the search committee...is just one man.

Does Jim Carty's journalism know no bounds? Um, well, he did go to Rutgers, so he's got this story to tell about the hardest working man in New Jersey outside of Jon Bon Jovi.

If Schiano becomes the next football coach at the University of Michigan - and he appears to now be the leading candidate, with Rutgers confirming he has interviewed for the job - no one will outwork him. That's the first thing you need to know.

Hmmmmmmm. Not Miles....but not Debord or English. Maybe?

The Weekend Roundup: The Aftermath Edition: 12/3/08

So, there's a house for sale in Barton Hills then, right.

Herbstreit's fault says Terry Foster.

Here is the sad thing. Miles wanted Michigan. Michigan wanted Miles. But somehow an Ohio State man ruined it. I just don't understand how this could happen.

If Herbsteit did not report this story Athletic Director Bill Martin would be speaking to him today about coming to Michigan.

Impartiality from ESPN's analyst? I think not. Here he is trying to defend himself (from WDFN via MLive):

All I can tell you, at the end of the day," he said, "what happened was I really believe that he was going to be announced as Michigan's coach and LSU felt that they were tired of hearing about this, and the fact that it was on national TV, and their players were sitting around, and there's all this speculation. They needed to do something quickly, and they did."

Ya, thanks. You'll probably get a fresh set of gold pants for that one.

The rest of the internets on this BCS weekend:

• A gorgeous flash presentation of how each coach voted on USA Today. [Coach Voting - USA Today.com]


• The Realest's ask "Why not App State's Jerry Moore?" as they pick the top ten candidates for the Michigan job. [Top Ten Michigan Candidates - The Realests]


• Penn State hates the BCS, and the Big Ten. [The National Title of BCS Crap - TINNOMJ]


• "I did not talk to Les Miles or his agent this past week in accordance with the wishes of Skip Bertman and the LSU Athletic Department."-Bill Martin. Now that it's over Bill, the appropriate question would be...why? [Martin Press Release - MLive]


• Sports Gone South reminds us that we should be filling out our brackets right now. [Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny... - SGS]


• At least somebody is happy. [Michigan Dodges Bullet - Heismanpundit]


• Illinois, with three losses, including one to the team that lost to App State, is celebrating going to Pasadena. [The Sweet Smell of Roses - Illinitalk]


• Alex Legion has decided to transfer from Kentucky. What an asshole. [God Changed His Mind Again - The Conquering Heroes]

What's In YOUR Bowl Game?

​Michigan has accepted a bid to play in the Capital One Bowl on January 1st, 2008 at 1pm. The game will match the unranked Wolverines against #9 Florida. Should be a hoot.