Michigan

The Legacy of This Michigan Season Will Live On Forever

Published

2 years ago

January 9, 2024

The Legacy of This Michigan Season Will Live On Forever

This season was Michigan versus everybody, and everybody lost.

On Monday, Michigan beat Washington 34-13 to win the program’s first national championship in 26 years. The score was close until midway through the fourth quarter, but the game never felt that way. The Wolverines offensive and defensive lines pummeled the Huskies. Before the College Football Playoff national title game, Washington hadn’t allowed an opposing rush of 45 yards all season; Michigan ripped off two 45-plus-yarders in the first quarter alone. The Huskies’ longest run went for 9 yards; Michigan averaged 8 yards per carry. This was a bludgeoning, and no one felt it more than Washington’s star quarterback.

Michael Penix Jr., who was lauded for his accuracy and poise in the Huskies’ semifinal win over Texas, looked flustered and off all night. The Heisman Trophy runner-up threw his first interception on Monday to Michigan cornerback Will Johnson on the first play of the third quarter.

Penix threw his second pick—and sealed Washington’s fate—with his team trailing 27-13 and less than five minutes to go in regulation. He tried to fit a pass to wide receiver Jalen McMillan into double coverage; senior Michigan defensive back Mike Sainristil leaped to corral it before returning it 81 yards to the Washington 8-yard line. This was Michigan’s moment of bliss. Just as Kelee Ringo did for Georgia two years earlier, Sainristil called game on the biggest stage imaginable.

The Michigan defense never let off the gas. The front seven held the Washington rushing attack to 46 yards on 20 carries. It put the Huskies offensive line in hell. The Wolverines secondary, led by Johnson, Sainristil, and safety Rod Moore, stymied the Washington pass catchers in coverage and tackled extremely well in space. It was a complete, relentless performance from a historic defensive unit.

Offensively, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy didn’t do much, but he didn’t have to. Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards combined for 238 rushing yards with four touchdowns. The Wolverines seemed to take it personally that Washington was given the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the nation after Michigan had won it in each of the past two seasons. Jack Harbaugh could have averaged 4 yards per carry Monday with the holes Michigan was opening up.

Michigan made its share of mistakes, but it was never really in danger of losing. That’s a microcosm of its season—and of the arc of its singular head coach.

While talking to ESPN’s Holly Rowe in the moments directly after the game, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said each piece of maize and blue confetti raining down on the field had a story to tell. This, of course, is ridiculous, the type of statement you might expect from a man who once told his players not to eat chickens because they’re a “nervous bird.” But Harbaugh’s message somehow landed. To understand the significance of this Michigan title, you need to grasp all the smaller events that led to this point. Some of those explain Michigan’s long and trying march from its dark ages back to the top. And some of them detail the program’s brilliantly stupid, brilliantly chaotic sign-stealing scandal, which completely took over college football.

Let’s start with where Michigan was when Harbaugh accepted the head-coaching job. In 2014, the school with more wins than any other in the sport’s history was at rock bottom with no clear path up. The Wolverines had gone 5-7 in the fourth and final season of Brady Hoke’s tenure, a campaign that included a 31-0 loss at Notre Dame. This was just a few years after Hoke’s predecessor, Rich Rodriguez, capped off a miserable stint that included back-to-back losing seasons; before these three seasons, Michigan’s football team hadn’t finished below .500 since 1967. Hoke was fired in December 2014, and Harbaugh left the San Francisco 49ers to return to his alma mater and replace him.

Harbaugh quickly turned things around, lifting Michigan to a 10-3 record in his first season at the helm. Hope abounded in Ann Arbor. But things soon plateaued. Michigan lost between three and five games every year from 2015 to 2019, never climbing higher than third in the Big Ten West Division. Then the results got worse. The Wolverines went 2-4 in 2020, and Harbaugh’s job was suddenly in jeopardy. Michigan restructured his contract in 2021 and sliced his base salary in half, from more than $8 million to $4 million.

Yet 2021 also brought the breakthrough: a 12-2 mark, Michigan’s first win over Ohio State in a decade, and a spot in the four-team playoff. The 2022 season was even better: an undefeated regular season, another victory against Ohio State, and another berth in the playoff. Michigan hadn’t won it all, but it was on the verge. Then the team roared out of the gate in 2023 and looked ascendant.

Until, well … enter Connor Stalions. A born-and-raised Michigan superfan, the retired U.S. Marine Corps captain became the biggest name in sports after going from unpaid volunteer to low-level Michigan staffer to kingpin of an absurd and illicit sign-stealing operation. The news cycle was flooded with reports about a scheme that ran afoul of NCAA rules by sending representatives to games to scout future opponents. This operation reportedly included paid iPhone camerapeople, suspicious Venmo payments, and terrible sideline disguises. That’s not to mention Stalions’s nearly 600-page (!) manifesto.

Both the NCAA and Big Ten launched investigations into Michigan, and Stalions resigned from his post as the program made the case that he had acted as a rogue agent and that neither Harbaugh nor the team was aware of improper conduct. While the NCAA investigation is ongoing, the Big Ten opted to move swiftly; it suspended Harbaugh from the sideline for the final three games of the 2023 regular season. (Harbaugh had also missed the first three games of the season after the school imposed a suspension amid an NCAA investigation into prospect visits during the pandemic. This was less controversial, but it’s still important context.)

Without rehashing the entire saga, let’s just say that the drama surrounding Michigan became all-consuming. Before Michigan’s November 11 game at Penn State, Harbaugh’s camp threatened to file a restraining order to block his suspension from the tarmac. The players wore “Free Harbaugh” shirts and tried to rebrand as “America’s team.” Snippets of message board posts somehow made it into legal documents. More reports came out about a linebackers coach aiding in the destruction of evidence and a booster nicknamed “Uncle T” providing financial backing. Most notably, Michigan won all three games that Harbaugh missed, including the team’s third straight matchup against Ohio State. Then Harbaugh returned and the Wolverines won again, against Alabama. And then they won the whole damn thing.

After Monday’s win over Washington, Harbaugh maintained that he and the team are innocent. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel went a step further, saying “hell nah” when asked whether this championship would come with an asterisk. Michigan president Santa Ono called the Wolverines a “very deserving team” and celebrated their six wins without Harbaugh this season. Oh, and the kicker: Stalions returned to Twitter to celebrate the championship with a GIF.

If each piece of maize and blue confetti has a story to tell, that confetti has plenty of material to draw from. And collectively, they paint quite a portrait. This Michigan team will now go down as one of the all-time greats, not just because it won a national championship, but because of how it did so: defiantly, unapologetically, perhaps illegally, and resiliently.

Soon after hoisting the trophy above his head while wearing Cartier glasses, Harbaugh started talking spring ball. He told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt that he’s planning to move spring practice back by about a month. Does that mean Harbaugh is returning to Michigan?

Who knows? The other major talking point around Michigan this season has been Harbaugh’s future and whether the coach will leave campus to return to the NFL. Harbaugh dismissed questions about any such scenarios in his postgame presser. While it’s been widely reported that he and his agent, Don Yee, will explore his opportunities in the pros, no decision has yet been made. It will likely be influenced by how significant the NFL interest is, which teams pursue him (Chargers? Raiders? Commanders?), and who from the current Michigan roster is returning to school next season.

Corum is gone. He’s exhausted his eligibility. McCarthy has yet to declare for the 2024 NFL draft, but he has been considered a potential first-rounder at multiple points this season. Sainristil, Moore, and defensive tackle Kris Jenkins are all projected to go in the first few rounds, as well. An era of Michigan football is ending; what comes next is unknown.

But the legacy of this team is forever secure. Sure, some fans will debate the merits of this title for years to come. That’s part of the story, and it’s unavoidable in a sport with debate built into its very DNA. But other parts of this team’s story are also undeniable: It restored Michigan to the mountaintop. It won with and without Stalions, and with and without Harbaugh on the sideline. It won as a hero, and it won as a villain. It became just the fourth team in modern college football history to finish 15-0. And it won the championship the same way it has won all season: by dominating the line of scrimmage, and by playing a bludgeoning brand of football that not only erased its competition, but also made all the struggles that led to this point worth it.

This season was Michigan versus everybody. Michigan won.

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Greg McElroy reveals two coaches for Michigan search if Kalen DeBoer turns down job

Published

10 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Greg McElroy reveals two coaches for Michigan search if Kalen DeBoer turns down job

With what transpired yesterday regarding Sherrone Moore, the latest opening on the coaching carousel now belongs to Michigan. Now, several names once thought to no longer be candidates elsewhere could be again with this availability as of yesterday in Ann Arbor.

Greg McElroy also discussed possible names who could be hires for the Wolverines in appearing on ‘SportsCenter’ on Thursday morning. That began with him addressing the candidacy of Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, whose name has reportedly come up to an extent this cycle, but certainly so after yesterday in this search specifically, depending on how he may feel about his future with the Crimson Tide.

“I’d start with Kalen DeBoer,” McElroy said. “You gotta wonder, though, is Kalen DeBoer really interested, and what do the optics look like? Kalen DeBoer is the ultimate competitor. Would he leave Alabama? It would look like he was running? I don’t know if he’s truly going to consider it, but it is Michigan. It’s a great job, and you have to listen to what they’re proposing.”

Through two seasons in Tuscaloosa, DeBoer is 19-7 (.731), including being 10-3 this season in making the SEC Championship and returning the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff. That’s not to mention all the successes he has had elsewhere coaching in college, namely as a head coach at Sioux Falls, Fresno State, and Washington, in which he led the Huskies all the way to an appearance in the national title game against, ironically, Michigan. However, despite some of his successes at ‘Bama, DeBoer did have his name come up to some point in rumors during the search at Penn State, and is seeing it come up even further now in this new one at Michigan.

From there, McElroy named three other possible candidates for the maize & blue. He first said two other college options in Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, who’s 27-12 (.692) the past three seasons with the Cardinals, and Washington’s Jedd Fisch, who’s 14-11 (.560) the past two seasons with the Huskies while also having ties to the program having spent two years on the offensive staff for the Wolverines. He then also named another option with connections to the program in Jesse Minter, who was their defensive coordinator for two seasons under Jim Harbaugh and is still with him now with the Los Angeles Chargers, but with McElroy noting that it may be time for Michigan to move on from those involved in or connected to their past two tenures.

“Ultimately, I think this will come down to either Jeff Brohm at Louisville or Jedd Fisch at Washington. I think those are probably the two best candidates,” said McElroy. “They have an elite quarterback in Bryce Underwood. They want someone that has a history of developing that position. Both Jedd Fisch and, if you look at what Jeff Brohm’s done in (his) career? They’ve done a great job.”

“And Jesse Minter is the other name to keep an eye on, the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers,” McElroy added. “But, like what Paul (Finebaum) just said, I think distancing themselves from the Harbaugh era? That’s what many Michigan people want at this point, given some of the hurdles that they’ve had the last two years in the court of public opinion.”

We’re less than day since this job even came open, although, based on the details, it may have been trending this way for some time, at Michigan. That leaves a lot to still unfold, including more major names like some of these ones, who could become targets in the coming time for the Wolverines.

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Michigan Senate votes to block pursuit of COVID jobless aid overpayments

Published

22 hours ago

December 11, 2025

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Michigan Senate votes to block pursuit of COVID jobless aid overpayments

Lansing — The Michigan Senate voted unanimously this week in favor of a bill that would prevent the state’s Unemployment Insurance Agency from continuing to try to recoup jobless aid overpayments that were made during the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting as many as 350,000 people.

Many lawmakers have reported receiving a deluge of calls from constituents, in recent weeks, after the agency began sending out letters, wanting money back from people whom state officials believe received more assistance than they should have during the pandemic. The messages came after the settlement of a three-year court battle over the repayment effort, which allowed the agency to resume collections.

Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, contended that the Unemployment Insurance Agency was demanding money back from low-income and gig workers who were simply trying to access a financial support system that was available to them in 2020.

“Somewhere along the line, in the maze of boxes that they have to check every week to stay compliant, there was one box that was unchecked,” Irwin said. “And now, the UIA comes after them alleging fraud, turning their life upside down, sending them threatening letters.”

The Senate bill, which passed Tuesday in a vote of 35-0, would require the agency to waive the recovery of improperly paid benefits if they were distributed more than three years ago. The first cases of COVID-19 in Michigan were identified in March 2020, five years ago. The pandemic and government efforts to combat the spread of the virus spurred a rush of unemployment claims and a wave of fraud.

The bill still allows the state to seek repayments that were “the result of the claimant’s fraud.”

Both Democratic and Republican senators — Democrats have a majority in the Senate — voted for the measure Tuesday. However, it will have to be approved by the GOP-controlled House and signed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to become law.

Jason Palmer, the Unemployment Insurance Agency’s director, said in a statement on Sept. 8 that his staff was “legally obligated” to seek the repayments from the pandemic if they were improper. Roughly 350,000 workers with claims in collections dating back to March 2020 would be required to return the unemployment benefits they received, the agency has said.

The value of the overpayments, many of which lawmakers believe were made or sought by accident, has been estimated at $2.7 billion. The Unemployment Insurance Agency faced a tidal wave of claims and fraudulent activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the state’s jobless rate reached as high as 22.7% in April 2020.

Palmer has said the overpayments primarily resulted from claimants not providing the requested or required proof of employment or income, starting a job but continuing to certify for benefits as if they were unemployed and not satisfying the required work search activities.

“In these situations, we have a legal and fiduciary duty to recover the funds,” Palmer previously said. “The unemployment trust fund is taxpayer money, and we must be responsible stewards of it.”

Much of the unemployment money in question flowed through the federal government. Many business groups, like the National Federation of Independent Business, have voiced concerns that the U.S. Department of Labor might try to force the state to reimburse the federal government for the overpayments if they’re specifically forgiven by the Legislature.

“We would still like to see a waiver or waiver language because we don’t want to see the state end up with a budget crisis,” said Amanda Fisher, Michigan state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

Lawmakers attempted to address that concern in the bill by adding a provision that says the new policy doesn’t obligate the Unemployment Trust Fund for any amount of money.

Brian Calley, president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan, called the new language an improvement. But Calley said he wants to see a specific statement in the bill that makes it clear that employers will not be assessed any additional liability because of the policy.

Forgiving the overpayments isn’t the problem, Calley said. It’s the potential liability to the small businesses that fund the Unemployment Trust Fund, he said.

“You could inadvertently create a massive obligation for small businesses,” said Calley, a former lieutenant governor.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, who’s running for governor, was among 16 Republicans who voted for the bill Tuesday. He said it was a shame that lawmakers were still dealing with the “ineptitude” of Whitmer’s administration.

From the other side of the aisle, Irwin said the Unemployment Insurance Agency was acting “irresponsibly” in seeking the repayments from the pandemic.

“They bully our residents,” Irwin said. “I’ve had residents … who have paid UIA back money, not because they owed, but because they’re scared. They’re bullied. And they’re harassed by the agency.”

Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, the proposal’s sponsor, called on the House to pass it next week before the holidays.

“They should do the right thing,” Camilleri said Wednesday in an interview.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

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Lumen Christi pulls away to beat Michigan Center

Published

2 days ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

Lumen Christi pulls away to beat Michigan Center

JACKSON — The Lumen Christi girls basketball team opened the coaching tenure of Scott Stine by pulling away in the second half to beat Michigan Center 50-28 on Tuesday.

The Titans led by five early in the third after McKynley Gaddy hit a putback and Mayrese Vieau added a pair of free throws for the Cardinals, but Lumen Christi responded with an 11-1 run, then added a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter.

“We worked all off season and are working right now to get to be able to play against Michigan Center,” Lucy Wrozek said. “They’re a good team who likes to push the ball up the floor, but we stopped that tonight.”

Lumen Christi’s stellar sophomores, Wrozek and Kenna Hunt, combined for 38 points, with Hunt leading the way with 20 and Wrozek adding 18.

In the first half, it was Wrozek coming up with key shots, scoring seven of the Titans’ first eight points of the night with a 3-pointer, a spin move in the lane to get a layup, and a drive down the lane.

“She’s a basketball player,” Stine said. “That’s one of the best compliments I can give her. She can shoot the ball, she can get to the hoop, she plays defense. She’s a tough kid who, one game it might be hitting 3s. The next game it might be getting to the hoop and getting to the foul line. But she’s going to make winning basketball plays.”

Hunt scored six points in the first half, limited by Michigan Center’s use of a box-and-one against her.

“I thought we played great defense,” Cardinals coach Greg Vieau said. “I thought we had a really good game plan to really squeeze in on Kenna. And I thought Mayrese did a really nice job defensively on her that first half. And then they got us into some switches that second half and really caused us some problems. They made some nice adjustments at halftime to get other girls on Kenna, and she was just more effective than that second half.”

But in the second half she scored six points in the third and eight more in the fourth. Hunt had a series of third-quarter layups, one in transition off of a steal, to extend the Titans’ lead to 33-18 after three. She then opened the fourth with another layup before Wrozek drained a 3-pointer off a drive-and-kick from Lily Ganton.

That 3-pointer answered one at the other end moments earlier from Gaddy off of a Mayrese Vieau assist. That bucket, and a Karsyn Smith floater in the lane moments earlier, helped the Cardinals briefly keep pace with Lumen Christi, but the Titan defense clamped down from there, getting defensive stops on the next eight Michigan Center possessions before a transition layup ended that string, that basket coming off a Gaddy steal, with the Michigan Center junior guard then feeding a behind-the-back pass to Mayrese Vieau for the layup.

Mayrese Vieau led the Cardinals with 12 points and Gaddy added eight.

“They’ve played together forever with AAU and now with high school,” Greg Vieau said. “They know each other really well. They missed some shots I think that they would like to get back, but they played really well off each other. They seem to know where the other one is going at all times. So while their shots were off tonight, I expect them to be two of the better guards in the state.”

But the Titans also kept coming up with defensive stops. Michigan Center turned the ball over 20 times in the game and Lumen Christi held the Cardinals to 11 points in the first half.

“I’m really proud of the way we played defense for four quarters,” Stine said. “To hold that team to 11 points at halftime, even with our offensive struggles, it’s impressive.”

Both teams struggled with cold spells shooting the ball at times. Michigan Center, after an Ella Best 3-pointer in the first quarter, did not connect from long range again until Gaddy’s 3-pointer early in the fourth. The Cardinals shot 10-for-41 overall from the field.

“Offensively, we looked like we had three girls with experience and five girls without,” Greg Vieau said.

But Lumen Christi also suffered through shooting woes, going 6-of-32 from the field in the first half before knocking down 12-of-35 in the second half.

Part of that surge came from adjusting to what Michigan Center was doing on defense.

“When they came out in the box-and-one, we had a little issue with it,” Stine said. “At halftime, we drew up some stuff where we could just put our shooter in the corner and put Kenna in a situation where if they were switching the high screen, she could attack the mismatch. And they had to pick their poison at that point.”

Helping limit the Titan shooters was Kara Straub, who swatted away a pair of shots in the paint in the first half.

“Kara has a knack for blocking shots,” Greg Vieau said. “She’s big, she’s long, she’s athletic, so we expect her to block a lot of shots. She’s very active in the post, so defensively she really anchored us. She really makes up for some of those mistakes that we might make on the perimeter.”

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