Gregg Henson.com

Sorry Sparty, There Can’t Be Any Tobacco Road

After Michigan’s win against Michigan State last week in Ann Arbor there is growing belief that Michigan and Michigan State can create the Duke v. North Carolina rivalry in Michigan.  Sorry to say, I don’t believe there is much of a chance that both team will or can be long term “powers” in the same region.

I firmly believe that both schools can be good but not top ten national powers consistently at the same time.  It isn’t a coincidence that Michigan State’s football and basketball programs rose to power in the State of Michigan on the backs of a disastrous basketball scandal and an ill-advised football coaching hire.

All things being equal, and usually they aren’t, Michigan will always win the recruiting battle.  The brand is too large and the fan base too fanatical in the State of Michigan for MSU to have any long term dominance.  Most MSU fans are alumni and that simply won’t translate into long term, sustained success for the Spartans.

MSU won’t fall to the back of the pack anytime soon as they have a top basketball coach and a strong head football coach, but it is pretty apparent that Hoke and Beilein have stopped the Spartan run and are now in the process of returning Michigan to the top of the heap in-state.

Brady Hoke is hauling in a top 5 recruiting class in 2012 and John Beilein just scored the top high school Power Forward in American along with a top 5 consensus class.  Michigan is out-recruiting MSU and that simply shouldn't happen with the disarray that has been Michigan's football and basketball programs recently.

It will be more interesting between MSU and Michigan, but the MSU run is over.

Below is the conference recruiting ranking for Michigan and Michigan State in 2012.

Rank	School	Total	Five-starCommits	Four-starCommits	Three-starCommits	Avg Stars
#1	Ohio State	24	2	14	8	3.75
#2	Michigan	23	2	9	12	3.57
#3	Nebraska	14	0	5	9	3.36
#4	Purdue	25	0	2	21	3.00
#5	Michigan State	17	0	3	14	3.18

2012 Big Ten Basketball Recruiting Classes Rank

BEST OF THE BIG TEN

Ranking the classes (national rank)

1. Indiana (2) 2. Michigan (5) 3. Michigan State (11)  4. Purdue (23) 5. Iowa 6. Wisconsin 7. Northwestern 8. Nebraska 9. Minnesota 10. Penn State 11. Illinois  12. Ohio State

 

Oklahoma To The Big Ten?

With Texas A & M's brilliant move to the SEC, the question is....who will be the SEC's 14th team and who should be the Big Ten's 13th....and 14th.

The Big Ten should immediately move to add Oklahoma to the conference.  Oklahoma is a perfect natural fit and their addition would move the Big Ten much closer to the SEC in terms of prestige.  The Sooners can't be any more thrilled with Texas's baloney than the Aggie were following the Longhorns sweetheart deal with ESPN.  Oklahoma is a HUGE national brand and would be welcomed with open arms into the Big Ten.

The addition of Oklahoma would balance the conference and also allow the continuation of one of the best rivalry's in college sports....Oklahoma and Nebraska.  It would also allow the Big Ten to balance things regionally by having the Sooners and Huskers anchor the Big Ten west with Nebraska.

Oklahoma would also bring the Big Ten solidly into the Texas market as there are many Oklahoma and Nebraska alums in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.

The Big Ten west would consist of:

Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern and Minnesota.

The Big Ten East:

Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame/(Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse)

This would give the Big Ten a mega-conference that would rival the SEC.  The Big Ten markets would be much more lucrative than the SEC, with solid huge media markets in Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Indy, and NY.  This would solidify the Big Ten for years to come as a solid media partner for any network.  It would be a coup for the Big Ten Network.

Scheduling:

6 games against division rivals, 3 non-conference games, 1 "crossover division" challenge and 2 rivalries against opposite divisional oppponents and 1 title game.

The whole idea makes a lot of sense.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Leave a comment.

 

Is Lloyd Carr Behind The Disaster at Michigan

The disaster that has going on at Michigan over the last 3 years has largly been orchestrated by former Head Coach Lloyd Carr and his minions.

First Les Miles and now Jim Harbaugh have been overlooked to Coach the Michigan Football team because Lloyd Carr doesn't want them in Ann Arbor.

Lloyd Carr believes that he should be on the Mount Rushmore of Michigan Football alongside Fielding H. Yost, Fritz Crisler and Bo Schembechler because of his 1997 National Championship.  Lloyd has spent his years in retirement building a coalition that we will call "Lloyd's boys."  He has spent a lot of time creating a division between Bo Schembechler's players (the Schembechlers) and his own.  In short, he is more concerned about his own legacy than the well-being of Michigan football.

Moles in Ann Arbor tried to lay the story out for me and I will do my best to relay what I was told.

"Lloyd's boys," believe they have the right to shape the program because they won a National Championship and want to return the program to one of Lloyd's old Assistant Coaches, Ron English, Brady Hoke or Mike Deboard.  

Pete Thamel of the New York Times alluded to the warring factions in his article today.

The "the Schembechlers," believing they are the standard at Michigan want to return the program to Bo's direct lineage by hiring one of his former players.

That is the rift, Michigan's goal now is to find a coach to bridge the divide.  This is why Brady Hoke shouldn't really be a viable option.  Nobody believes he is the guy to calm the waters.  The "old Schembechlers" are having none of Brady Hoke.

Lloyd Carr doesn't want Harbaugh to get the job, remember, he didn't hire Harbaugh in 2002 to be a QB Coach, instead opting for another much less successful former Michigan QB, Scott Loeffler.  Lloyd's ego and paranoia is clearly clouding his judgement and he had become a distraction in Ann Arbor before new Athletic Director David Brandon asked him not to come to work anymore.  Lloyd's nose was also bent out of shape when Harbaugh made comments about Michigan's academic standards at Michigan. Lloyd knows Harbaugh will overwhelm the program and he will be an afterthought in Ann Arbor.

Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman loves Lloyd Carr, because of his fund-raising at Mott's Children's Hospital; he can do no wrong in her eyes.  She wants nothing to do with Miles or Harbaugh because Lloyd has poisoned the well for former Bo players as they represent a return to Bo's lineage and not Lloyd's.  Well informed sources believe Harbaugh wasn't even offered a contract, that it was a rouse to placate the fan base.

It is interesting to note that the "Lloyds" were the ones who sabotaged Les Miles's chance to get the Michigan job when they hired Rodriguez three years ago.  "The Lloyds" leaked the story to Kirk Herbstreit early so he was forced to strongly deny interest in the Michigan job before the National Championship game.

Ironically Les Miles may have aligned himself with the "Lloyds" in order to get Rodriguez out.  

My sources also claim that Lloyd has sabotaged Rich Rod at every turn during his tenure at Michigan, including a hand in leaking the "practice-gate" information to the Detroit Free Press.

In the end, the two factions are only hurting Michigan football, the players and Rich Rodriguez.  Rich Rod was thrown to the dogs and it is unfair and unseemly.  He thought he was hired into a unified Michigan program and he was duped.  He didn't make it better with his own mistakes, but he was doomed form day one.

This information comes from two separate sources with no knowledge of the other, I found that stunning and hard to believe until I quizzed them individually without the others knowledge.

Post Later Today on the Fractures Within the Michigan Football Family.

I'm working on a post that will provide some background on the fractures in the Michigan football family.  Everybody is involved including new AD David Brandon and former Head Coach Lloyd Carr.  Check out the site around 1 p.m. Eastern time today for the backstory on the drama in Ann Arbor and how it could effect the head Coaching position in Ann Arbor.

 

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Rosenberg Has Conflicting Reports About Harbaugh in This Mornings Free Press

I woke up this morning at 3:00 a.m. and read a tweet from Michael Rosenberg that said "Harbaugh unlikely to accept Michigan job."  I let it process a bit and then wandered over to Freep.com for details.  When I arrived I found two conflicting reports from Rosey.

The article that coincided with with the tweet was time stamped Jan. 3, 2011 @ 3:54.  Uh, that was yesterday, not today.  Must be a mistake on the date.

  
There was also another column from this AM that said January 4th, 2011 where Rosenberg stated, "My gut tells me he ends up in Ann Arbor, but I don't know."

 
I'm hoping for some clarification out of Mike today but I think all this shows is that noboy really knows where Harbaugh is going but Harbaugh.