Hello folks, and welcome to the Skull Session.
National Signing Day is tomorrow; here's a friendly reminder that you can follow our three esteemed recruiting analysts (Jeremy Birmingham, Jordan Wagner, and John Brandon) for news, as well as our collective feed.
There are still a couple of question marks for the Buckeyes. The big story for now is that Ohio State appears to be in good position with Malik McDowell and Jamarco Jones.
In regards to Jones, no news is good news. As for McDowell, his parents are filled with the appropriate Michigander self-loathing and want him to get out of Michigan while he still can.
If Michigan and Michigan State are out of the question, it is down to OSU and Florida State for McDowell's services. He is a great athlete with great appreciation for Buckeye history, and –
Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. Clearly this high schooler must be harassed on social media because that's what mature grownups do.
THANK YOU COACHES. The latest AP and Coaches men's basketball polls are out. To the surprise of nobody the Buckeyes dropped out of the AP Poll, ending an 80 week run spanning back to 2010. Ohio State is not out of the polls altogether; thanks to power program bias the coaches still have Ohio State ranked 25th.
After a few weeks of bafflement, expectations are at last converging. Ohio State is projected to finish fourth in the conference with 9.9 projected wins, and are currently in 6-7 seed range. That'll improve if Ohio State gets its second quality win at Iowa tonight.
INTERESTING POINTS. Gene Smith always has interesting things to say. In his extended interview with the Columbus Dispatch, which is worth reading in full, several things that did not make it into print came to light. For the sake of space, we're breaking out the bullet points.
- Smith talked at length about the football team's season and his optimism for the young talent.
- Urban Meyer responded to the two losses with depression, not anger. (See: cart pizza.)
- There was some grumbling that the team left before singing "Carmen Ohio" in the losses.
- Smith backtracked on coaching salaries, saying he would not preclude paying competitive money.
- Smith agreed that OSU played several cupcakes but disagreed that better non-conference competition would make the men's basketball team better overall.
- Unfortunately, there is no chance of a regular Ohio Series involving Dayton and Xavier.
- OSU is fundraising $60 million for the next set of athletic buildings.
- Smith says he will be gone by the time St John Arena, French Field House, and the ice rink are rebuilt, meaning those projects are at least six years away.
- Though he disagrees with Northwestern's unionization effort, he respects that they are trying to solve the same issues the NCAA.
- Smith expects a new NCAA governing structure by August 14.
Most amusing is Smith's discussion of Big Ten issues, such as the invitation of Maryland and Rutgers to the conference being motivated by fear of the ACC poaching Penn State:
Q: When you look at Rutgers and Maryland, they haven’t set the world afire and Rutgers has had its issues with coaches and its AD. Do you still feel those are good additions?
A: I do. We could have gone a number of ways. I think it was great for the league and really good for Penn State. People haven’t focused on that enough. Penn State was sitting out there like an appendage. Anybody could have plucked them. The ACC could have plucked them.
The other one was the lock up a little bit of the East Coast with television. We’re doing that. We’re going to Navy next year. We’re playing in the Ravens stadium.
Yes, we’re still happy with (having added them). Do we need to help Maryland and Rutgers get better? No doubt. In football, obviously. Their Olympic sports are phenomenal. We have to help them with football and basketball.
Not even John Swofford thought the ACC had a chance at poaching Penn State from the Big Ten. It's okay to admit that the Big Ten is adding two lemons.
Johnny Football now comes in sweatshirt form.
LOUSY PR. In contrast to Gene Smith's recent affability, University of Michigan administrators are stonewalling in response to Brendan Gibbons' expulsion and making themselves look terrible in the process.
On Nov. 20, Michigan expelled determined that the preponderance of evidence was enough to suspend Gibbons. Gibbons then played against Iowa on Nov. 23. Brady Hoke kept him out for the Ohio State game and the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, citing an injury for the OSU game. Gibbons was expelled on Dec. 19, and Hoke announced on Dec. 23 that Gibbons would miss the bowl game because of a "family issue". At best, the explanations for his absence shade the truth.
In a closed press conference from which the newspaper that broke the story was snubbed, Brady Hoke issued a statement saying that he could not discuss Gibbons' departure from the team and defending his program's integrity. Of interest is this line:
"Our usual approach is to not issue discipline related to a student's standing on the team before the University's process runs its course and the outcome has been determined."
Again, Gibbons was expelled suspended on Nov. 20. The process ran its course, and that leaves only two options: either Hoke was not made aware that Gibbons was in the process of being expelled, or he played a player he knew was in the process of being expelled. The coaches know if players miss even a single class; are we supposed to believe he would not know if one of his players was on the verge of being kicked out of school?
The Michigan administration is in full CYA mode. Former athletic director Bill Martin claims he was unaware of the case, which beggars belief since even local media knew something untoward happened back in 2009. Michigan has been invoking FERPA nonstop to avoid discussing the case, which is probably an abuse of the law. It's definitely hypocritical, since like most Division 1 schools Michigan violates FERPA by disclosing certain athletes' GPA.
The point of all this is not to drag Michigan through the mud; the task force Michigan's student body president authorized to investigate the case will do that.
Collectively, Michigan's PR response makes the university look like it has something to hide when it doesn't. The four year gap between the reported sexual assault and Gibbons' expulsion is a result of unintentional delays and revised policy, not some conspiracy. When your handling of a scandal brings back memories of Gene Smith's PR efforts leading up to football sanctions and Penn State's PR efforts in everything, you are doing something terribly wrong.
TEXAS IS UNHAPPY. Mack Brown's departure from Texas was not the happiest of times for all parties. He is still around the Texas program as a special advisor but he might not stay on if, as one Texas commitment says, Mack Brown offered to help him go to other schools:
I was at my official visit when Mack Brown resigned and he told us to go look around. [He said] he'll even talk to other coaches for you and everything because he really just wanted the best for us as players.
Texas fans are predictably going into histrionics about betrayal and disloyalty. This does raise the question: where is the line between looking out for players' interests and spiting the program that forced you out?
LINKS AHOY. 2014 hoops commit Jae’Sean Tate suffers a shoulder injury... An argument that unions can save college sports… Former NFL offensive lineman Alan Faneca lost 100 pounds and ran a 3:57 marathon... NCAA clears Washington in a recruiting investigation... Tony Dorsett’s mental health decline... Jonathan Quick’s patriotic helmet... Every NFL helmet in Star Wars style... Where Ohio’s top 100 recruits are going... Cris Carter re-signs multi-year deal with ESPN… the weird, corporate trappings of watching the Super Bowl... Comparing 2013's best rushers... For Cavs fans, it’s play bingo or cry... 2004 Auburn championship ring on sale for $4,500 from a so-called championship year... This year's most insane Super Bowl ad... Jared Lorenzen is thick... And an oral history of Street Fighter II.
