Forcier started at Michigan during his freshman season and served as Denard Robinson’s backup in 2010. He then committed to Miami and San Jose State after transferring from Michigan. He never played a down for either.
Forcier will serve as the backup to former Chicago Bears quarterback Henry Burris.
No word in whether Forcier will actually report or not.
Rich Rodriguez is like the head that won’t die around the University of Michigan. Somehow, someway his name always comes up in conversation regarding the football program even though he’s been gone for almost two years.
While talking to a crowd in Flint, university president Mary Sue Coleman admitted what a lot of Michigan fans already knew. It was a mistake hiring Rodriguez. And she also told the crowd water was wet.
“We though, OK, well let’s go hire the guy who invented the spread offense,” Coleman said.
And it was the wrong call, she told members of the Rotary Club of Flint following a question on the topic from the crowd.
“He was a hot, young coach with a different approach,” Coleman said of the decision to hire Rodriguez.
It couldhave worked if Rodriguez didn’t have to deal with defections and taking knives out of his back. They screwed up the coaching search to begin with that led them to Rodriguez.
I’m not defending the guy but he never had a chance from the start.
When the Michigan Wolverines take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the season opener in Arlington, Texas, the Wolverines will have a slight disadvantage. The marching band will be staying home.
The Michigan Marching Band won’t be traveling with the football team because of budget constraints despite the outrage expressed by fans on various message boards and Twitter.
“We are treating the Cowboys Classic game against Alabama as any other road game,” said U-M associate athletic director Dave Ablauf. “We do not have a travel allowance for the band like we would for a bowl game.
“They traditionally travel to conference games and our rivalry game against Notre Dame. We have not taken our band on similar trips in the past.”
As a person that follows Michigan football it will be very unusual not to have them at a game. I have a feeling that the band will be there it would be an odd feeling.
The Fab Five era was the most storied period of time for the University of Michigan basketball program. You either loved them or hated them. but they were must see tv. Even though the era was sullied by the Ed Martin scandal, no one will ever forget them.
Due to the aforementioned scandal, the school forfeited wins from the that time period. They also removed the team’s Final Four banners from 1992 and 1993. Technically, Michigan can return the two Fab Five’s 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners to its rafters in 2013, when the school’s disassociation period with Chris Webber ends.
Jalen Rose has been doing a lot of politicking, trying to get the school to put the banners back up when 2013 rolls around. There hasn’t been any talk about it until today when school president Mary Sue Coleman said the banners won’t be going up anytime soon.
During a fireside chat with students Wednesday, Coleman said “I don’t think they’ll ever go back up.”
When that statement made it’s way back to Rose, he wasn’t too happy with it.
“Or should I ask for the $250k I donated for my Endowed Scholarship back & move it to another school? Stay tuned.”
I can understand that it is the moral and ethical thing to do, but what those players did off the court had nothing to do what they did on the court. I still have memories of them going to the Final Four as freshman and sophomores. I remember the dazzling dunks and underrated team play. Love it or hate it, those memories will always be with me. Just like when Reggie Bush had to surrender his Heisman, I don’t agree with it. The house he was hooked up with had nothing to do with that memorable touchdown run against Fresno State. Even though there was no wrongdoing uncovered, do you think UNLV is giving back that championship from 1990? No.
I speak from both sides of the fence on this topic because I believe that in some way shape or form, everyone cheats. While Coleman is doing the honorable thing, the banners should go back up in the future.
It’s only a rumor right now, but according to a report on Bucknuts.com , it may be closer than reality than some think.
That’s right, “The Game” might no longer be the final game of the regular season for both schools. And while we despise the idea of the Buckeyes and Wolverines not playing the last game of the regular season, this move was inevitable when the Big Ten made the foolish decision to put OSU and UM in separate divisions. If “The Game” was kept as the final regular-season tilt of the year, there would be a good chance each season that Ohio State and Michigan would meet exactly one week after “The Game” to play in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Now, is this move official? No. But we have people we trust telling us that it’s eventually going to happen.
I won’t say yay or nay on this, but I say just leave well enough alone, but I’m not the decision maker.
The Michigan football Wolverines or their fans haven’t had much to talk about lately, especially when it comes to the rivalry with Ohio State.
Now with Rich Rodriguez being blown out of town and Brady Hoke providing a breath of fresh air it looks like the rivalry won’t be as one-sided as in years past. That remains to be seen, but the Ohio State University has been reeling from an NCAA investigation.
It looks like it’s on now between these two bitter rivals. For Michigan’s sake lets hope they put together a better effort on the field than they did in the Rodriguez error, I mean era.
The Tennessee Volunteers entered the NCAA tournament with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over their program. The Michigan Wolverines entered the tournament with confidence, feeling they could play with anyone. On the court in today’s meeting between the two teams Tennessee played listless and didn’t do coach Bruce Pearl any favors and Michigan continued to play with the confidence they exhibited throughout the second half of the year.
Pearl who pretty much has one foot out the door for lying to NCAA investigators, wasn’t given a vote of confidence by athletic director Mike Hamilton before the tournament. Hamilton stated in a radio interview that the “jury was still out” regarding Pearl’s status. Not exactly the right thing to say before the tournament. If he tried to turn this into a Bo Schembechler moment, he failed miserably. You would think the players would come together and have a win one for the gipper moment. The Volunteers simply couldn’t muster up that effort. It led to freshman forward Tobias Harris questioning his teammates’ heart and saying they quit. Based on their performance he may not be too far off.
“We just didn’t play with heart out there,” Harris said. “Michigan came out and made shots and we just did a terrible job of trying to cover them. On the offensive end, we rushed too many shots. Basically, just quit.”
Anyone who thinks Tennessee should get rid of Pearl, think about what the program was before he got to Knoxville. So be careful what you wish for.
As for Michigan, a date with long time nemesis Duke awaits. I don’t expect them to win, but I do expect them to play with the confidence, grit, and heart they’ve played with all year. The Wolverines have shown they can play with the nation’s elite. They were close losses, but with a few more breaks they could’ve won those games. I know horseshoes and hand grenades. I believe Michigan can make this game competitive and possibly throw a scare into the Blue Devils. If they play like they did today against Tennessee they could possibly pull what could be the tournament’s biggest upset.
Stu Douglass is looking forward to the next round.
“It was a great rivalry, great history,” Douglass said, “and it’s a new day.”
Since it’s March Madness time, I decided to do a little research and came up with a list of the top teams that never won the NCAA tournament. I’ll say this, my list won’t be one that most agree upon , but I think it will be tough to dispute. This list comes from 1980 to present day.
5. 1991 Arkansas Razorbacks– The Razorbacks were deep, talented, and athletic as any team in the nation which includes the dominant UNLV team that failed to win that year. They just didn’t have UNLV’s mental toughness. Led by Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, big man Oliver Miller, and coached by Mr. 40 minutes of hell, Nolan Richardson.
For all the talent they had, for some reason they couldn’t put it together come tournament time. Arizona State gave them all they could handle in the second round and people started questioning whether Arkansas had what it takes to make it to the Final Four. They seemed to answer that question when they dismantled Alabama, a team that gave them fits in the SEC. Then they ran into a hot Kansas team and it looked like the Razorbacks tried to out-talent the Jayhawks instead of outplaying them.
Everyone figured it would be UNLV vs. Arkansas for all the marbles but both teams came up short. The Hogs finished 34-4.
5a. 1991 LSU Tigers– Any team with Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Jackson (Abdul Mahmoud Rauf), and Stanley Roberts belong on my list. The Tigers underperformed most of the year finishing with a 23-9 record. The supporting cast wasn’t that bad either outside of LSU’s big three. The problem was that Dale Brown couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag. I know he did more with less previously, but when he had serious talent he couldn’t win.
The Tigers bowed out in the second round of the 1990 NCAA tournament to Georgia Tech and Lethal Weapon 3 (Dennis Scott, Brian Oliver, and Kenny Anderson) in a 94-91 thriller. What I remember from that game was Shaq and Stanley blocking every shot Georgia Tech’s centers put up and Jackson missing an off balance three that ended the season of a team that started ranked number two in the country.
A serious waste of talent as Jackson went pro and Muslim, Roberts flunked out and went overseas and Shaq saw zone defenses for two more years.
4. 1993 Michigan Wolverines- The Fab Five was at full strength for two years and ran roughshod over the college basketball world. Although they looked undisciplined at times these kids could flat out play.
After falling short against Duke in the 1991 finals as freshman, it was predetermined that the championship was theirs for the taking as long as they were in Ann Arbor.
When the Wolverines won the Maui Invitational, beating eventual national champion North Carolina and Final Four participant Kansas, many figured the Wolverines would run to a top seed and Big Ten title. They got a top seed but not a Big Ten crown, being edged out by Indiana twice by one point.
In the tournament they got a second round scare, having to go to overtime against UCLA and close games against George Washington and Temple. Somewhere John Chaney is still seething. After beating Kentucky in the semifinals, I figured that Michigan had the title in the bag. The game against Kentucky was one of those games where everyone says “the winner of this game will win the championship”. Well, we all know what happened in the championship, close game, the timeout that wasn’t, ballgame thanks for coming. Michigan lost to North Carolina 77-71 to finish 30-4.
Chris Webber left for the NBA and the fabs were no more.
3. 1991 UNLV Runnin Rebels- It was a close call to put this team at number three. They were one of the most dominant teams to ever hit the hardwood. Others will point out that they played in the Big West, but when they went out of conference they blew them out as well, Check out the scores over NCAA tourney teams Louisville, Michigan State, Princeton, Rutgers, Florida State, and Arkansas. The Arkansas game was a 1 vs. 2 matchup on the road and the even though the score ended up 112-105 the second half wasn’t that close.
It was only a matter of time before the college basketball world crowned Jerry Tarkanian and the Runnin Rebels for a second straight year. They won in dominant fashion, but they didn’t blow everyone out like they did in the regular season. The Tarkanian’s worse fear happened. They played Duke in the semis, a team they steamrolled by 30 in the championship game the year before.
Duke knocked off the Rebels 79-77 in one of college basketball’s biggest upsets. I think it’s one of college basketball’s biggest shams. I don’t know which players were responsible, but someone shaved some points or outright threw the game. And I’ll die believing that until I’m convinced Duke won straight up.
The Rebels finished 34-1 and haven’t tasted the success they had since Tark the Shark was ran off campus.
2. 1985 Georgetown Hoyas- It pains me to put the Hoyas at number two, since they also were the most dominant of that year. Led by Patrick Ewing, the Hoyas smothered teams on defense and were efficient on offense. They had a two game slide when they were knocked off by St. John’s and Syracuse in back to back games, but later avenged both losses.
The Hoyas had really had no top notch competition as they ran through all comers until the Georgia Tech game in the Elite Eight. Then they had the misfortune of trying to beat a Villanova team for a third time. Georgetown escaped the Wildcats twice in the regular season but couldn’t complete the sweep as they fell to Villanova 66-64 in the finals.
Georgetown finished 31-3.
1. 1983 Houston Cougars– Yes youngsters, the Houston Cougars made Final Fours and actually have a proud history, they’ve yet to restore. I place Houston at number one for one reason. They made three straight Final Fours and came up short each time. Houston’s failures were based on bad timing, defections, and a cinderella miracle finish.
In 1982 they played North Carolina in the semis, led by James Worthy, Michael Jordan, and Sam Perkins. They lost shooting guard Rob Williams to the NBA after that season. And in 1984 they went up against a Patrick Ewing led Georgetown team and lost Clyde Drexler to the league after the ’83 season. Which means I have to explain 1983.
This team had serious talent, even with the loss of Williams. Drexler, Larry Michaeux, Michael Young, and a young Hakeem Olajuwon, when he was still Akeem. Take this into account, Olajuwon barely played in ’82. Coach Guy Lewis championed the dunk calling it a high percentage shot and Houston dunked so much they started a fraternity called Phi Slamma Jamma.
The Cougars went 31-3 that year, but they were the most entertaining, high octane team in college. They played in an epic semifinal game against Louisville’s Doctors of Dunk and won 94-81. Another game in which the “winner of this game should win it all”. There was a fly in the ointment called North Carolina State. The Wolfpack slowed the game down and controlled tempo. Drexler was hit by early foul trouble and Houston couldn’t get it going. When they did get it going, they went up by five until Guy Lewis went all Thomas Hearns on me and slowed it back down ( check the first Hearns vs. Leonard fight, when Hearns started boxing and let Leonard back in the fight), going four corners and playing right into N.C. State’s hands.
The came the coup degrace, when the Wolfpack’s Dereck Whittenburg threw up a long airball only to have Lorenzo Charles dunk in the miss. What a way to lose. By your favorite weapon. No matter what I’ll always love Phi Slamma Jamma.
Honorable Mention- 1981-1983 Virginia Cavaliers, 1980-1981 DePaul Blue Demons, 1992 Indiana Hoosiers, 1999 Duke Blue Devils
As you all know Michigan has fired head football coach Rich Rodriguez. In a way I feel sorry for the guy because, the people at Michigan and the fans did not exhibit enough patience with him. It wasn’t all you guys’ fault. A lot of problems he brought on himself, mainly wins and losses. Even before he set foot in Ann Arbor, you guys palced a blcak cloud over him that never left. I can understand he had a horrible 3 year run, but to you Michigan fans he was never good enough. Your complaints went beyond wins and losses.
I say you guys as in Michigan fans, who have a higher opinion of everyhting Michigan. That’s what landed you Rodriguez in the first place. Lloyd Carr wasn’t good enough. You wanted boring Lloyd out and he walked away. Then you couldn’t get the “Michigan Man” when LSU punked Les Miles into staying in Baton Rouge. You want a “Michigan Man” so bad that it limits the pool of coaches you can go after. But then say we want a big name coach. Rodriguez was a big name coach. I understand he was hired amid a shroud of secrecy and left West Virginia unceremoniously. Remember, he had the Alabama job for about two days before he reconsidered. You guys wanted a fancy spread offense, the flavor of the month, and now you denounce it saying you need to get back to Michigan football. Didn’t Bo Schembecler run the option. Yes he did. Sometimes do some history checking before speaking. True the defense was tremendously lacking, but the offense was ok. But the fact Rodriguez wasn’t a “Michigan Man” was what made you dislike him.
Speaking of the defense, I’ve said it before, it was not Greg Robinson’s fault. True he had the blood on his hands only because he was the defensive coordinator. The 3-3-5 scheme he was hired to run was not his scheme. But you guys only wanted him gone because he was the face of the defense. Robinson didn’t bring that scheme to town with him. He’s also a respected coordinator. He’s won a Super Bowl and had a good run at Texas before bombing as a head coach at Syracuse. But hey, to you guys Robinson was the problem with the defense. That was a scheme Rodriguez brought in from West Virginia and swore by.
Now you guys want to hold Athletic Director David Brandon’s feet to the fire. The bagman in the whole deal was former Athletic Director Bill Martin. He’s the one who hired him and botched the coaching search in the first place. History check again. If Schembecler never mouthed the words “A Michigan man will coach Michigan” regarding the basketball program on the eve of the 1989 NCAA BASKETBALL tournament, Michigan’s football program would never be in this position. No one wants to give a non “Michigan Man” a chance, but then say we want a big name coach. Maybe coaches outside of the Michigan family know something we don’t. Or realize they could end up like Rodriguez, since they’re not from the Michigan family. Get over it. Remember, Schembechler wasn’t a “Michigan Man”.
The pool of coaches are limited now. If you want a “Michigan Man” the best you can do is Jim Harbaugh. And that’s no guarantee. In fact I doubt he comes back to Ann Arbor. Then there’s Brady Hoke. If he gets hired I’ll feel sorry for him too. You know why? Because that’s not good enough for you guys. He lacks pizazz, but has done a credible job at Ball State and San Diego State. Also he’s a Michigan man. He may not be ready for those bright lights but as far as “Michigan Men” go that’s the best you’re gonna do. I don’t believe Brandon will go down the Les Miles trail again. And Ron English isn’t getting the job. Remember, everyone jeered Auburn when they hired Gene Chizik and his 5-22 record from Iowa State. So if Hoke is the choice get off your high horse, respect the hire and rally around the coach. Get over the fact that you won’t get a high profile “Michigan Man” and just make sure they make a solid hire this time around. Besides the high profile coaches outside the Michigan family you might vilify them the same way you did Rodriguez.
Didn’t us Michigan fans see this last year. A blowout win against an overwhelmed opponent in the opener and a scintillating win over Notre Dame. A Top 25 ranking only to see the bottom fall out. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bailing on the Wolverines, but its a little too fast to start with the “Michigan is back” talk. I don’t wanna hear how Denard Robinson is the early leader in the Heisman chase. I heard it last year about Tate Forcier and last I checked he had a towel over his head, pouting on the sideline. His future is now in doubt. Just wait and see what happens when they hit the Big Ten schedule. I’m not saying they’ll tank like last year, but it’ll be a lot tougher than UConn and UMass. And before you tell me Indiana is an automatic “W”, remember they took Michigan down to the wire last year in the Big House. Which was the last time they won a Big Ten game, a game they probably should’ve lost. Call me cynical, I just feel they have more to prove until I feel comfy as a Wolverines fan. Just stop all the Heisman and conference title talk. We were at the same point last year and it was downhill from that point on.
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