Brandon Settles The Michigan Difference

After months of allegation, investigation, and composition, new athletic director David Brandon hands out the first ever set of major sanctions for Michigan Football.  And the verdict is..... No Big Deal? (gavel smash, duhn duhn duhhhhnnn)

And so it is ordered.

At least that seems to be the message anyway.

Although the sanctions are for violations classified as major, the punishments are anything but.  If there is one thing these self imposed punishments say about the University’s perspective on this whole matter it is Michigan isn’t so much willing to give themselves reprimand as much as they are willing to make everything equal once again.   

The first allegation, and the one that caused the huge media outcry which stirred this whole mess up, was practicing and working out too much.  Initial Detroit Free Press reports talked of the Wolverines going over the allotted NCAA amount of practice time on a weekly basis by “two to three times more than the eight hours allowed”. 

Actual evidenced findings on the other hand were quite different, and University officials contest the major digression from this rule was the forgetful act of not counting warm-ups as countable athletically related activites (or CARA).  In order to right this wrong, the sanctions plan for Michigan to do what until now only Stephen Hawking and Doc Brown could come up with a way of accomplishing--literally making up for lost time (minus the Delorian unfortunately).  For practicing too much in the past, in the future the Wolverines will practice doubly less by subtracting around fifteen minutes of practice time from their entire regiment over the next two years. 

Such a self-imposed sanction says a couple of things.  Namely: the belief that no actual reprimand is needed beyond taking care of the violation itself.  The University and Brandon could have decided to not only subtract future practice time but also hand out a punishment outside the category of practice time in order to give an actual consequence to the actions of the coaching staff.  When you receive a major traffic violation, for example a DUI, you aren’t just made to not drink and drive in the future.  There are court costs, fines, lawyer fees, and a night in the drunk tank with possible jail time in the future.  With Michigan’s major violation, they won’t be facing any sort of outside punishment whatsoever.  It is sort of like a game of H.O.R.SE.  Yeah, you have an H on your record, but at least you get to shoot again.   

 And this isn’t all this sanction implies.  In other ways, the practice time sanction alludes to the overall concept of fifteen minutes of practice time being so minute a thing to sanction one for that Michigan is willing to give back that time twofold.  It tells the NCAA: if you're going to get mad about fifteen minutes per practice over one year, we'll give it back to you over the next two years in order to show how little it affects the overall competitive advantage the football team was able to derive.  This amount of time becomes even more trivial when you realize Michigan can cut out a big chunk of their practice just by asking its players to begin completing their pre-practice stretching and warm-ups on their own.  As noted in the report: "had the student-athletes warmed up and stretched on their own, the football program would not have exceeded the weekly CARA limits."

The next major violation on the list was having too many quality control personnel present in places they were not supposed to be, e.g. team meetings, film study, and certain types of practice.  When the news first broke about these allegations the picture was painted as Rodriguez having these staff members conducting full on practices and workouts without his presence as a way to circumvent the rules. 

Again though, the findings were much different, and Michigan contests instances of quality control staff watching over players in a coaching manner were “sporadic” or filling a dual role: “Had the full-time strength and conditioning staff, rather than the quality control staff members, conducted voluntary summer training, no violation of Bylaw 11.7 would have occurred.  The quality control staff in effect filled a dual role”.

So again then, Michigan fans, lock those seatbelts and get ready to hit 88 mph's once more: for having too many quality control staff at practice the Wolverines will get rid of the two extra quality control personnel Rodriguez hired upon his arrival to Michigan, and will also limit the ability of those who stay on staff to attend future meetings and particular practices. 

This could very well benefit the program.  Carr only had three quality control personnel during his tenure and he seemed to fair better to date than Rodriguez has so far.

Those sanctions, a couple of reprimanding letters, a new system to make sure this doesn't happen again, and the NCAA has their answer.  

Of course, these sanctions are more than just a punishment or a reprimanding for a violation.  By being self imposed they in fact become a reflection of the University’s opinion as to the severity of the violations themselves, and President Mary Sue Coleman fully agrees with this, “We believe the sanctions we have imposed fit the nature of the violations”. 

Therefore, in suggesting such small sanctions, the university also suggests these violations were insignificant. 

There is also the aspect that by not giving up too much, the football program can recoup faster

For example, when you talk about the Michigan Men’s Basketball violations from years ago one of the biggest components of the story that stands out (besides the nature of the violations themselves) is the vacated tournament appearances.  To this day the program has yet to recover, and this is in large part to the bad name the team received.

Brandon, the University, and it’s athletic department, are fully conscious of this in their sanction decisions.  Surely they are keeping in mind the Basketball team’s unrelated history due to its effect on their status as a repeat offender.  By not removing scholarships, banning future playoff appearances, or firing coaches, the  punishments say more about the crime than the crime does the punishments.

All that remains to be seen is whether the NCAA will dabble their fingers in the punishment pot as well.  As small as these sanctions are, and as much as these punishments reflect Michigan’s outlook on the violations themselves, the NCAA will more than likely agree with the University’s self-imposed decision. 

Why?

Because its Michigan and they can do whatever they want! 

(kidding)

Because the orchestrator of this entire sanctions policy is Gene Marsh, who not only ironically graduated from that school down south, but who also spent the better part of a decade coming up with exactly these types of punishments for other schools.  Meaning, he can gauge right up to the very last drop all the blood the NCAA is looking to shed. 

Michigan fan needn’t worry about future years for the program, at least in terms of sanctions anyways. 

Rodriguez, on the other hand, should make no mistake about the Universty’s stance.  This was a backing up of the Michigan program more than it was him.  The heat will continue to be on, especially now that he not only lost his opportunity at guaranteed millions in the future, but also the security blanket of a job his contract came with.