MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

2 hours and 5 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs USC Starts at :51 Basketball gets to go first because they've earned it. They're the number one team on Kenpom by a full five points and the second highest rated Kenpom team of all time. Michigan shot 20% from three and still beat a top 25 USC team by 30 points. This was the Morez Johnson game. Michigan has three of the top five players in the Big Ten. What does a Michigan loss look like? Dusty May has done a great job working on Roddy Gayle, auto-benching with this team is fine. The cutoff for Kenpom to think you're a rotational player is 10% of team minutes, Grady and Goodman are both above this metric. The things that Michigan are good at are things that are very repeatable. There are different levels of Kenpom Time every time Michigan plays. It's weird to say this but it's good that Michigan gets Nebraska at home, they're spicy.  2. Football vs Texas Starts at 24:34 The Citrus Bowl came and went. We were hoping we could learn things about this offensive line going into the off-season then a lot of them went and hit the portal. Kuzdzal played an encouraging game but there were still a few moments of "I wish Jordan Marshall had hit that hole." Bryce Underwood did get some explosive runs, this will be nice for a new coaching staff that likes to run the quarterback. He was put in a lot of positions to fail towards the end of the game. Kerry Coombs did some things with special teams! Wow Michigan drew holds finally. We are done with the Wink Martindale era. Michigan had zero pass rush.  3. Hot Takes and Coaching Staff Starts at 40:11 Takes hotter than the basketball team, this will be the intro until any reason otherwise.  Offensive Coordinator - Jason Beck Came in from Utah, was at New Mexico before that. Has had some very successful offenses. Was a spread-heavy coach at New Mexico and became Whittingham-ized at Utah. Seems like a seamless fit, he should know what to do with Bryce Underwood. Running Backs Coach - Tony Alford It's working, good work keeping him around. Wide Receivers Coach(es) - Micah Simon and Marques Hagans Micah Simon doesn't have a lot of experience, he followed Beck. How much coaching does it take to get someone to catch the ball?  Tight Ends Coach - Freddie Whittingham He's developed some studs. Kyle Whittingham's brother, does not feel like a nepotism hire. Offensive Line Coach - Jim Harding Has two first round tackles this year. Probably could not have gotten a better o-line coach. Michigan has players trickling into the portal but you've got The Guy coaching next year's group. A lot of offensive linemen got recruited by Sherrone so it's not a shocker that some players are looking elsewhere.  Defensive Coordinator - Jay Hill Turned Weber State into a powerhouse. He has coordinator and head coaching experience, seems good. He has coached college his whole career rather than coordinate NFL defenses. Defensive Ends - Lewis Powell Specializes in Polynesians. Has a spectacular track record of developing defensive ends. Brian pledges to figure out how to pronounce all the Polynesian names.  Defensive Tackles - Lou Esposito Continued from last year. You can get more assistant coaches now so it makes sense to split DEs and DTs.  Linebackers Coach - Alex Whittingham Kyle's son, spent eight years with the Chiefs. Apparently Andy Reid played with Kyle Whittingham. This one is a bit more of a nepo hire but he has moved up the ranks.  Defensive Backs Coach - Jernaro Gilford BYU fans are upset that he's leaving which is a good sign. There aren't a lot of cornerbacks in the portal, hopefully he can find some guys.  Special Teams - Kerry Coombs Gets to keep the job he got right before Sherrone was fired. His previous Special Teams have been in the 30ish rank. He's not a slam dunk but should be solid.  4. Transfer Portal Starts at 1:42:43 It's Portal Takes season, we have not yet gotten to Portal Gives season. Guys who are in the portal are not necessarily gone. Jadyn Davis, Davis Warren, Ben Roebuck, Connor Jones, Devon Baxter, Semaj Morgan, Jaden Mangham, and Jasper Parker are guys who will probably get better opportunities elsewhere. Elijah Dotson, Brady Prieskorn, and Kaden Strayhorn are guys you'd like to keep around. Zeke Berry, Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague, Cole Sullivan, and Enow Etta are the "ouch" group. Some guys have left the door open. Would really really like to get Guarnera back, Sprague sounds like he's going to Texas. Most folks who are going to enter the portal have but we're not out of it yet. Keep an eye on Utah defensive end John Henry Daley, cornerback Smith Snowden, and safety Tao Johnson. Cole Sullivan would be a great fit in this defense, would love to keep him. They need guys (plural) on the defensive line, especially at defensive tackle. Even if you keep Andrew Marsh you would like to get a wide receiver or two. Might want to look into a punter or a kicker, maybe with a new staff we can finally move on from the 2015 Michigan State game.  MUSIC: "Nothing I Need"— Lord Huron "A Couple Minutes"— Olivia Dean "Cotton Mouth"— fanclubwallet “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

2 hours and 45 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Kyle Whittingham Reaction Starts at :51 Brian can't make fun of the name "Kyle" anymore. Woah, Alex Drain is here! Did Kyle Whittingham get pushed out of Utah? He's 66 but could probably beat up several members of the current team, he doesn't feel too old. This might be the best guy to hit the ground running with Bryce Underwood. He's had a 20+ year stretch of success and it's mostly over-performing expectations statistically. Are there concerns about the way this would translate to Michigan? Utah folks are asking if we're prepared for limited media availability, a coach who can sound like a jerk, and a 300 lbs fullback. Yes, yes we are. Kyle Whittingham's risk for scandal seems extremely low. How many coaches in the Big Ten would you pick over him? His dad's nickname was "Mad Dog". A brief history of his success over his coaching career, which included two PAC-12 Championships. Kyle lets his QB run the ball, Bryce's output this season would've been the worst for Utah going back at least a decade. Harbaugh had a great hit rate on sleeper recruits, Whittingham should as well. He has some very Harbaugh-adjacent quotes as well. What's your letter grade for the hire? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Assistants Starts at 42:48 The new staff is coming together pretty quickly. Jason Beck is lining up to be the offensive coordinator, coming in from Utah. Alex details his history as a coach which was mostly as an offensive coordinator and QB coach. He likes hybrid players and will love the tight end room. Jay Hill is lined up from BYU as defensive coordinator, BYU fans are not thrilled that he's leaving. He took a 100ish ranked defense and turned it into a top 25 defense. He also made Weber State a powerhouse while he was there. He'll play more man-defense than we're used to which might not be what we want against Ohio State. Jay Hill could also be a head coach in waiting down the road. It feels like the defense is going to be coached again. Jason Beck could be a QB coach but there are rumors that Koy Detmer Jr could come in as an analyst/QB coach. All signs point to Tony Alford being retained. Ron Bellamy will probably stick around, they still need a Michigan guy and he might be the most "Michigan Guy" on staff. Freddie Whittingham could likely come in at tight ends coach, he is not a nepotism hire. He could also be a recruiting coordinator guy if you want to keep Grant Newsome around. Jim Harding could be the offensive line coach coming out of Utah. Lewis Powell might be coming in as defensive ends coach out of Utah. Lou Esposito might stay at Michigan. Linebackers coach is the one area where we haven't heard anything. Whittingham has mentioned going after a coach that is still in the playoffs. Jernaro Gilford might follow Jay Hill as the defensive backs coach. LaMar Morgan is a good recruiter so maybe you keep him. What about Special Teams coach? Time to move on from Kerry Coombs already? How would you grade these potential hires?  3. Hot Takes and The Search, Revisited Starts at 1:38:48 Takes hotter than the Utah message boards. It was a wild ride getting from DeBoer, Fisch, or Dillingham to here. A lot of information was coming from agents getting names out there. A lot of people said "Biff Poggi could get the job" and it was never going to happen. Did Michigan really never go and try to offer Dillingham a job? It feels like his people really hyped him up. We might be having a very different conversation if that Oklahoma receiver would've just caught that ball. Everyone penciled in Dillingham after the Oklahoma Alabama game and then he signs an extension. Whittingham was unemployed, he probably didn't have agents hyping him up. Brian still likes Jeff Brohm. Interestingly Penn State never went after Whittingham but once the Michigan job opened up he said he was "in the transfer portal." Why was Biff Poggi on that podcast? He was shooting his shot for a job but it was never going to happen. How well did the "insiders" do and how clued in will they be on the new staff.  4. Michigan Football vs Texas Starts at 2:18:38 Oh yeah Michigan has a bowl game. The only opt-outs are El-Hadi, Derrick Moore, and Barham (and Ernest Hausmann). Maybe it's a good sign that a lot of players still want to play in this? Six of 11 defensive starters are sitting out for Texas, most of their offense is playing. Michigan's best hope is to watch Arch Manning turf five-yard outs. I guess we'll see Wink walk off the field as a Michigan coach for the last time. This feels like a zombie team right now. Does Michigan have a way to stop Ryan Wingo? The Ohio State game feels like four years ago. Are you excited for this game? A lot of big-name guys have at least remained in the recruiting class. The hope of the Sherrone era was "hopefully he just gets better at coaching" and it's a relief to just move on. What was the most enjoyable game of the Sherrone era? Not the highlight, but the most fun beginning-to-end? A lot of things about the last two to three years make a lot more sense now. A lot of paranoia and worry feels lifted, there are adults in charge.  MUSIC: "Medium Machine"—Sports Team "Inept Apollo"—Nation of Language "Where'd You Go"—Horsegirl “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Women's hoops talk: This is the best team in Michigan history. They're tiny up front but they've got a lot of length on the perimeter and are generating a ton of steals. Hung with the best UConn team in a minute for 3 quarters. Reading the DeBoer comments: When someone's at a terminal job he gets to hog both lanes. Our read on it is DeBoer is making the comments you make if you're going to consider Michigan AFTER the Playoff. Timeline is our enemy: if Bama beats Oklahoma Michigan will probably move on to Dillingham and Dillingham will say yes. Dillingham: Meteoric riser, great motivator, Bryce seems to like, Sam thinks his offense is explosive. Concerns are young guys have yet to make their big mistakes. A little weird, but so was Harbaugh. Very ASU with a very Arizona staff. Brohm: Seems like a solid coach, won wherever he's gone but hasn't had that 11-win season; think people are wary that his DC is Ron English (probably can't come here after the EMU stuff) and Vince Marrow, who's said some things about Michigan. Brian: So did Jim Harbaugh. Seth: But Harbaugh was right. Brian: Marrow said Harbaugh was going to the NFL, so he was right too. Think concerns are overblown. Craig makes the case for Scot Loeffler: Michigan guy from Ohio who'd leave the Eagles in a second. Adam Stenavich: Isn't the playcaller, has never been a HC or a college coordinator. Eli Drinkwitz: Not a fan. Schedule winner (they only play 8 games in the SEC and he got an easy one). Personally find him off-putting, not a cultural fit. Gone out of his way to make uneducated comments about Michigan's 2023 season: hard pass. Clark Lea: Intriguing. Offense is 100% Pavia, worried about building an OL, but Seth finds his defense fascinating, seems to be good at putting together a roster. Don't know his buyout because you can't FOIA a private school. Seth: Roster construction is going to be critical in this age. Can you recruit your needs in the portal, build an OL at home, and keep your team together? Whoever they hire the GM is going to be the next most important position. Find the best.

1 hour and 54 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. What Happened Starts at :51 Sometimes in December we don't have enough content for a podcast... this week there is enough for a podcast. Michigan football has been thrown into chaos following the Sherrone Moore firing. This is the third out of five Warde Manuel hires in the three most important sports to have left in disgrace (also Jim Harbaugh depending on who you ask). There have been too many red flags on too many hires. There is no oversight within the athletic department and then you have to do an investigation instead of preventing one. The only reason the WiFi is better at Michigan Stadium is because of the Zach Bryan concert, not because they cared about the fan experience. Fans are just a piggy bank. Michigan is way too much in the news right now. If "a lot of people knew about this" then why didn't someone say something sooner? Warde lost credibility after his handling of Mel Pearson and he doesn't get credit for Brandon Naurato. Grandmas in Peoria know too much about the Michigan athletic department.  2. Coaching Search Bits Starts at 27:41 Michigan needs a new head football coach. How good do we feel going into it? Probably about a B-. There's not an obvious slam dunk candidate. The three big names are Kalen DeBoer, Kenny Dillingham, and Jedd Fisch. If Alabama wins their first playoff game then DeBoer is almost entirely off the table, if they lose to Oklahoma then there's enough smoke to believe he might think about it. Would DeBoer really leave Alabama though? It's not a place that coaches leave and he's a long shot even if they lose to Oklahoma. Kenny Dillingham played for Arizona State and has a lot of family and connections in Phoenix, he might just be a long shot to convince to move from home. Kenny Dillingham is young, he watches Stranger Things and doesn't understand all the references. What about Jeff Brohm? Jedd Fisch is good at roster construction and handling QBs, something that would be nice for Michigan right now. Jake Butt had a strong endorsement for Jedd. Some coaches wouldn't have former players stomping for them. Jason Eck is a fun name but he's never proven himself at a major program. Based on everything so far, it feels like it's probably Jedd Fisch (PENDING A BACKGROUND CHECK). Which assistant coaches/coordinators would you keep?  3. Hot Takes, Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 54:31 Takes hotter than... actually we need takes about half of where they could go. We need to dial it back this week. Thankfully we can now turn our attention to basketball! Michigan 101, Maryland 83, a strange game. David Coit was hitting threes from every heavenly covered shot. When Michigan was down by 9 Kenpom still had them 76% to win. Maryland went 14-27 from three and Michigan still covered the Kenpom spread. This game was the script for Michigan to lose a game and won by 18. Brian reads Yaxel's boxscore poetically because it deserves it. Solomon Washington got ejected for two technicals. Michigan navigated foul trouble and you probably didn't even notice. Michigan is actually top 50 in three point shooting.  4. Men's Basketball vs Villanova Starts at 1:38:12 They went up by 30 at halftime and only won by 30?? What are we even doing here. You look at some of these top 50, top 25 teams on the schedule, could they beat Michigan in Ann Arbor? No way. Being #1 in two point defense with this schedule is insane. Michigan is identifying their weaknesses and working on them, that's terrifying for opposing teams. What is this team's weakness now? Hey, shout out to undefeated Nebrasketball!  MUSIC: "PH Suite"—Curtis Dro and Lamar Woods "Man I Need"—Olivia Dean "I Got Flavor"—LaRussell and Lil John “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Proportioning outrage: Sherrone, the maximum. Athletics department? Don't know but suspect people knew for a long time and didn't react until they got information they had to act on. The assistant he had an affair with? We don't know—not exonerated but also let's be conscious that sharing her name and photo and history of an unfamous person irreversibly makes her famous for This, for life. It also has a chill effect on other women caught in illicit relationships with powerful men, and we have a public interest in making sure that math favors coming forward, not participating in the cover-up. What is going on here that we don't have a control mechanism? Brian: I don't trust Warde in this situation because we saw the process for Mel Pearson. No faith this was handled appropriately. Who lied to you Sam? Sam: for certain, Sherrone lied. That wasn't the only basis for his report. Michigan investigated or "looked into it" and they didn't have credible evidence until yesterday when the woman came forward. (He doesn't say this but I took it to mean she lied to the investigators originally).  Brian: Warde Manuel has done nothing in 11 years but bumble from one crises to another. Sam: A coverup did take place, between the involved parties. What could Michigan have done to reveal it? We don't know. What brought it to light was she came forward. Argument with Craig over the Wilmer Hale report over Mel Pearson: Craig doesn't like the report, argues for due process; Brian and Seth found the report credible and included you-have-to-fire-him level offenses, and Warde sat on it for months. Other Thing Discussed: Candidates Kalen DeBoer: If he'll listen. Minter: think we can work around the show-cause, might not be able to work around the fact he's in line for NFL jobs. Jeff Brohm: Proven coach, Louisville alum but would listen. Jason Eck: Former Wisconsin OL and line coach who's a cultural fit, only been a HC for 4 years and only New Mexico for one year. Think he's a Harbaugh after 1 year at Stanford. Wildcard: Jay Harbaugh. Bad ideas are bad ideas. Seth notes insanity is possible, e.g. John Harbaugh might come available. Also hiring a coach these days won't be on the AD; you bring in consultants for this sort of thing. It's a much better job than PSU right now, or the last 3 Michigan coaching searches when we were trying to replace Lloyd Carr without paying anybody, trying to find someone who will debase himself to work for Dave Brandon, or Harbaugh-or-bust with a program coming out of a Hoke low. Michigan job today is you get to pick your staff, maybe pick your AD, and inherit Bryce Underwood and a roster built for success with a top 2 or 3 (maybe even #1) NIL war chest. Will DeBoer listen? Math has changed: Alabama fans are holding him to an unreasonable standard based on what Saban did during a time when Alabama had more advantages over Michigan than they did now. Sam: Think DeBoer will listen. If not for that Playoff selection they were ready to run him out of town. People there are expecting him to have the success Saban had in a system that does not afford him the same advantages that Nick Saban had. Brohm will listen too. Sam: Loves Brent Key (also his alma mater), but how much of his success is Hayes King? Lea same thing; why not hire Diego Pavia. Floor: Jedd Fisch, is fine, not a high ceiling, or might be. He's done what we would want to see at Arizona and Washington.