First, hats-off to being transparent. The University of Michigan held a press conference today featuring president Mary Sue Coleman, new athletic director David Brandon and head football coach Rich Rodriguez. In it, they outlined the NCAA's allegations against the program stemming from an investigation into alleged violations from the football team's practice schedule. Does anyone remember USC or Memphis holding a presser, like this?
Now that I've reached the limit of nice things I'm allowed to say about Michigan, the allegations fall somewhere in between the minor and serious realms. The quality control staff is in position to take the blunt of the heat with Brandon reiterating Rodriquez's job was not in imminent danger as a result of the findings -- which I don't think any of us ever doubted. Evidently the QC group was serving as de facto coaches during workouts and the players were forced into summer conditioning drills for missing class (which is apparently a no-no in the summer). The gist of it is the AD is getting hit with a "failure to monitor" charge, but the NCAA is calling them "potentially major".
Bonus: Michigan was still under NCAA probation from the Ed Martin/Fab Five findings.
The school was hit with five allegations total and will respond to the NCAA within 90 days. The follow-up hearing is scheduled for early August. They'll no doubt try the self-sanction route first, but at the end of the day, Rodriguez has seen the long bowl streak snapped and likely NCAA sanctions arrive under his watch. All in for Michigan?
You can read the full NCAA documents here.
