UPDATED: The commenters demonstrate my point. It’s worth reading what they say.
I come to DailyKos to avoid the noise of social media and mainstream news. What a disappointment to read Kerry’s recent post regarding her “lesson” from the latest University of Michigan football season and bowl win. Instead of her supposed “analysis” of the media, she, and others, need to pause and consider how this situation is a case study in the similarities between Trump and his minions and Harbaugh/UM leadership and the UMich fan base.
Growing up in Michigan in the 70s and 80s I was a loyal University of Michigan fan. Lots to cheer for. I proudly wore the maize and blue regularly. When my sister was a freshman at UM and I was a high school junior, I headed to Ann Arbor for a sibling weekend to, figuratively, sign on the dotted line. After all, it’s a top university and I loved their teams.
I spent 3 days and 2 nights there and returned home beyond disappointed. As my parents remind me, I told them “I can’t go there. So many people I met were arrogant and self-centered.”
Still, my loyalty ran deep, and I applied to UM, along with a couple of other Big Ten schools. UM accepted me into their honors college, which made it even more difficult to say no, particularly after not getting into the honors college at other schools I applied to. After a couple more school visits I ultimately graduated from Michigan State University and then Northwestern University.
Predictably some will say “oh, he’s an MSU fan” instead of actually examining the facts. Most of the facts I cite below can be found in this summary, unless otherwise cited so let’s have a look…
This season UM head football coach Jim Harbaugh served 6 games of suspension for 2 different rules violations, both still under review with potential further consequences. Harbaugh and the university have never said the violations didn’t occur.
The first suspension came from recruiting violations. While the NCAA investigated these violations, the NCAA has stated that Harbaugh lied to the NCAA and now has earned a Level 1 rules violation charge — the most serious charge the NCAA can offer.
UM suspended Harbaugh pre-emptively, which is often done by universities hoping to avoid a bigger penalty. He “missed” 3 games, which means he could plan game strategy, hold meetings, direct coaches and any other activities leading up to the actual game. In this case, Harbaugh missed 3 pre-conference games against teams not representing a Power 5 conference (or said differently, weaker opponents).
The second violation came when the NCAA and Big Ten Conference discovered that Harbaugh’s staff stole football signs in an illegal manner. Briefly, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, UM football staff purchased tickets to watch games in person for 12 of their 13 Big Ten opponents. They had a team of people attend these games early in the season to track opponents’ signs and plays so they had these available for their use when playing these Big Ten opponents later in the season.
Harbaugh had not won any conference title during his prior 6 seasons. In 2021, 2022 and 2023 he won the Big Ten title, with 2021 being the first season in which his staff is known to have stolen opponents’ signs. Also of note, Harbaugh is 2-6 in bowl games, including the recent Rose Bowl win. These games feature opponents in which there is no evidence that his staff stole signs from the opposing teams.
Which brings us to the lessons learned from this situation and the comparison of Trump/his minions and Harbaugh & UM Administration/UMich fans.
Kerry writes as key insights in her diary (linked above) by comparing the UMich season and Rose Bowl win to the 2022 elections: “Reporters and analysts are simply terrible at assessing any environment that breaks with historical norms.” And the media’s predictions are a “lesson in groupthink”.
For someone whose writing I respect and enjoy, this was, well, astonishing. That is the insight you gain when comparing the UM rules violations to politics?
Let’s highlight some of the key content from the timeline summary link above…
- UM football stole signs from opponents during 3 different seasons
- A UM assistant coach destroyed evidence related to the sign stealing in attempt to cover up their actions
- A “low-level staffer” (term used in official statements by UM administration) was fired for his apparent role in the situation. How many times has a political campaign blamed a poor action on a “low-level staffer” and then fired them to feign accountability for wrongful actions taken or directed by others? We already know at least one assistant coach, who destroyed evidence, knew of the sign stealing.
- A different UM assistant coach is currently under FBI investigation for hacking into student computers
- A third UM assistant coach was fired, a rare instance of accountability at UM, for sharing racists social media posts
If this is what “winning” looks like, that’s a rather Trumpian definition of “winning”.
So how does the University of Michigan hold their head football coach accountable for this chaos? Offer him a new, $125 million contract.
And now here’s the meat of the diary…What fascinates me is the UM fan base, players and, in some cases the UM Administration, responding to this season like many Trumpers respond to his legal woes, by saying:
- they didn’t break the rules (which they did)
- everybody breaks the rules (80% according to their QB)
- falsely call out your specific opponents for doing the same
- the rules aren’t fair
- the media is biased against them for reporting the rules violations
- the governing bodies (Big Ten/NCAA) don’t treat them fairly
- by holding nobody with actual power accountable (just the “low-level” staffer)
- Everyone is against us
- claiming the university is a victim
- and yes, it’s a “witchhunt”
This all occurring at the same university where the head basketball coach, Juwan Howard, 2 years ago hit a Wisconsin coach after losing a game, and was suspended for 5 games but he still coaches for UM. This was his second incident — he had to be restrained after receiving a technical vs. Maryland as well. This is not normal, btw, for those who don’t watch college basketball.
This matters as it demonstrates a pattern of a lack of accountability by UM. Coaches who hit opponents are fired. UM’s enemy, Ohio St quite famously fired their incredibly successful football coach for hitting a player. Evidently hitting opponents isn’t worthy of firing at UM.
In summary, what a sad lesson to learn from this situation — essentially, the media can’t see past historical events. Instead, the lesson should be the same one we’ve learned from 8 years of Trump — rules / laws matter and accountability matters.
I’m guessing if there’s any reply to this, it’s likely to contain attacks on the messenger, changing the topic or no substantive rebuttal of actual facts. Just “everyone is against us”. Sounds strangely familiar, doesn’t it?