First of all, if you haven’t already checked out the video Dylan posted, you should take some time and do so now.

Done? Alright. A few people have asked me how full Crisler was. There were probably between 1500 and 2000 people all sitting in the lower bowl on the East sideline. That area was pretty full, a few seats here or there, but fairly packed. Apparently, Beilein dind’t originally intend on doing a big event, but as he walked around and saw the cheerleaders’ and managers’ and students’ excitement, he realized that this meant a lot to the entire Michigan community. I’m glad he came to his realization, because it really was a special moment, and it was awesome to experience it with that many other people.

Our good friends at WOLV Student Television were there covering the event. For those of you who don’t know, this blog started out as a companion blog for the show Tim produced about Michigan football. Luckily, we’re still close with WOLV, and they were nice enough to share some pictures:

Furthermore, if you’d like to see some video of the celebration and some interviews, WOLV’s very own Kaitlin Urka put together this piece on the Selection Show event:

Thanks to WOLV for the media, and if you’re in the dorms you can catch original WOLV programming on channel 55.

Posted under Basketball, Photo Album

The football program at a big-time Division I University is a multi-faceted entity, and it requires many changes to individual aspects in order to radically change the program as a whole. Improvement can be measured in terms of wins, merchandise, exposure, academic achievement, even recruiting rankings, but most accurately by some sort of aggregation of these things. The Michigan football program, while still the nation’s winningest of all time, has room for improvement. To move in a direction of positivity and modernity, I propose the following changes. Some of them apply to the athletic department on the whole.

• Upgrade/update the spring game.
• Create a new website (separate from MGoBlue) about Michigan’s facilities. People (including recruits in every sport) care about the facilities at schools. A virtual tour of every facility for practicing, competing, or studying would be entertaining and enlightening. You have the facilities, so make a well-designed website to brag about them. Model it after the Arkansas version of same.
• Speaking of websites, scrap the new MGoBlue. It looks terrible and is a pain in the ass to maneuver. Cloning the (terrible) layouts of CSTV sites was an awful idea. The new video, audio, and photo items are great, but there had to have been a better way to integrate them into the site.
• Encourage more media exposure. With the Rich Rodriguez regime, this has improved a great deal. Rod has been all over ESPN and the local media, and even Mike Barwis is getting interviewed by Brice Feldman. Still, encourage more of this. The all-access feature on College Football Live was a great start. Being more friendly to the media (local and national) means that the media will be more friendly back to you.
• Encourage walkons. Like media exposure, Rodriguez has already started doing this. Like Bo Pelini’s plan to revive Nebraska football, having homegrown walkons will help the team because they are proud to be Wolverines. Take kids from Michigan and Ohio especially, but also any other student who can make the cut. If kids would rather walk on at Michigan than get a scholarship at Michigan State, it would put a smile on my face.
• At least try for a night game. If it means the old alumni won’t come, well… that may not necessarily be a bad thing.
• Give out free maize shirts to fans during maize out games. A sponsor will undoubtedly cover the entire cost, and the “special event” game will no longer look like crap.
• Like Beilein’s meeting with the Maize Rage to brainstorm ideas, have Rod (along with Bill Martin, Bruce Madej, even Marty Bodnar) meet with students for the same purpose. I am not the only person with these sorts of ideas, let the other ones come out.
• Perhaps most importantly (and, unfortunately, least under our control), continue beating Notre Dame and Michigan State, and start beating Ohio State. On top of bragging rights and prestige, this helps recruiting. Enough said.

This is just a little collection of some ideas that didn’t take me more than five minutes to come up with. If you have any of your own, drop them in the comments.

Posted under Coaching

No but seriously, basketball?

One of the most important aspect of running a successful athletic department is being able to rely on your revenue sports to support everything else that goes on. Under Bill Martin, Michigan has been able to turn from a money sink into one of the nation’s most successful athletic programs (monetarily) despite not having a basketball team that has been anywhere close to successful. Thus, if Michigan is able to make the basketball team a big draw, and perennial NCAA tournament participant-type program, it can only continue to help.

Without further introduction, I present the basketball-relevant portion of Bill Martin’s interview with the BTN’s Dave Revsine:

It is clear that Martin is intent on supporting basketball, and trying to bring success back to the program.

Facilities
Crisler Arena is a dump. Regardless of what Martin says, it really should just be demolished, and the AD should start over from scratch (a few suggestions: smaller size, better concourse layout, and location closer to campus (ok, that one is just a pipe dream)). Failing that, The House that Cazzie Built is eventually going to be overhauled for the better, though definitely not until Michigan Stadium is completed, and probably not until there is a practice facility. The practice facility is apparently ready for approval. The sooner that can be completed, the better for Michigan Hoops. Interesting note: Martin stated in no uncertain terms that the funding for a facility will be ready whenever plans are completed.

Recruiting
Martin states that he doesn’t want his coach to recruit players who want to go one-and-done to the pros. Luckily for him, the coach he hired is John Beilein, who does not seem to favor this type of player (and nor does his system). Martin favors the NBA amending its entry rules to require players to spend 3 years in school (I believe they should probably step it up one year at a time).

The Future
Though Beilein was unable to get it done in year one, the improvement made by the team over the course of the year was encouraging, and it is unlikely we will see 2008-09 be a repeat of the epic struggles of 2007-08. With several players accustomed to the system after one year in it, and a few new additions who are good fits for Beileinball, an NIT bid isn’t out of the question. Though that may not be good enough for some fans, it is important to remember how far this program had fallen, and realize that it will take some time to rise again.

Udoh
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Junior-to-be Power Forward Ekpe Udoh intends to transfer from the University of Michigan. This has now become official. While I am not sure he is making the right decision (though UMHoops.com’s analysis has certainly gone a long way to convince me), I wish Udoh the best of luck in the future.

Posted under Basketball

No new commits over the weekend, but Michigan did get a reaffirmation from Marcus Witherspoon. Additionally, J.T. Floyd visited Tennessee this weekend, and is expected to choose between Michigan and the Volunteers tomorrow or Tuesday.

WOLV talked to Bill Martin yesterday at the wrestling match, and while he couldn’t comment on any specific recruits, he indicated that he was very pleased with Rich Rodriguez, and he has been on the road every day during the week, until the visit weekend.

Posted under Recruiting

Probably a lot of posting, in light of what a big day it is today.

From the Ann Arbor News.

The criteria seem to point away from Mike Trgovac, in terms of people who have already been mentioned as potential candidates. Miles seems to fit the criteria the best (Jim Carty definitely thinks so). The Best Sports Writer in America questions whether Les Miles should be considered a lock to coach the Wolverines next season. Tedford doesn’t likely have the “Michigan Tradition” knowledge that Martin talks about. Brian Kelly seems to meet the criteria well. In terms of coaching longevity, I doubt people will have to worry about DeBord (and not just for that reason).

Posted under Coaching

Bill Martin has been in the media a lot lately (makes sense, seeing as how he, you know, just hired a new basketball coach or two). Some highlights from his interview with the Monroe Street Journal:

On accusations that luxury boxes threaten the tradition of Michigan Stadium:

“Think about Fielding Yost when he built Michigan Stadium in 1926… Many of the Alumni clubs fought him and said, “You’re going away from the traditions of Michigan”. He recognized the reality that Michigan must be up with the times. You know, you’re either moving forward or backwards in life… Minnesota is building a new stadium right now and for the next 30 years every student will be paying a $30 -$45 student fee each semester to help build it. We are going to do it all on our own. People have to understand the reason we are building premium seating is not that it’s the end-all-be-all, but it is a way of paying for renovating the bowl. Look at it this way: 5,000 people are going to pay to give 105,000 other people a brand new state of the art stadium without putting a nickel on their backs.”

He goes back to the old standby “Yost did it, so I can, too.” It works I guess, and as someone who’s not adamantly opposed to the boxes, I have no issue with it.

On potential increased crowd noise in the stadium:

“By the nature of our new structures, the sound will be reverberated back in to the field. We also have an older Alumni crowd. Many want to go to Ohio State game in the late November cold, but want to see the game in comfort, in warmth, and have a nice social experience.”

Getting all the lame old people who refuse to cheer out of the bowl is fine by me. I doubt the acoustics will be drastically affected, but replacing some non-noisemakers with people who will hopefully be a bit more rowdy can’t hurt.

Still, I think of the Notre Dame game. They fit less people into a similarly-shaped structure, with no luxury boxes, and it still manages to be louder than Michigan stadium on a level that’s not even comparable.

On scheduling for football:

“Scheduling is one of the toughest things we do at Michigan and that’s because nobody big wants to come play us here, and they often only will if we’ll do a return game. Every time that stadium stays vacant on a fall Saturday, there goes 4.5 million dollars that I don’t get to pay the bills and fix the place. I’ll tell you that my principle objective in scheduling today is to play a complete round robin in the Big Ten… While I’m around we’re never going to have a conference championship game.”

The “not able to pay the bills” argument rings a little hollow when the athletic department rings up $16 million in profit every year. A home-and-home with a big school is unlikely to cost us that much lost profit, when you take into account TV incentives, etc. The round robin in the Big Ten is something that I’ve been hoping for a while, though the decrease to 2 non-conference games would lose Bill 4.5 million every year (5 home conference games and 2 potential home non-conference games each year, against 4 home non-conference games and 4 home conference games each year). I am glad to hear that there is no desire from Michigan’s end to have a championship game.

On the feasibility of getting a round-robin conference schedule:

“Well, it takes a vote of 6 of the 11 ADs. I’ve got a ways to go.”

On his career aspirations:

“My career as an athletic director begins and ends at Michigan. I put my heart and soul into this place because I love it. When it’s time to go into the shuffleboard business or whatever you do next in life, I’ll figure it out.”

Bill Martin wants to grow up to be a shuffleboard salesman.

Posted under Basketball