Tag: Mark Schlissel

Jim Harbaugh, Mark Schlissel release statements re: Big Ten return

The Michigan football head coach and U-M president both shared their sentiments about the Big Ten returning for a fall 2020 season.

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The day has finally arrived, as the Big Ten Conference announced it would be returning this fall.

This comes after months of public pressure, including Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who marched in solidarity in a parents-led protest at The Big House on Sept. 5.

While Harbaugh was stern that day, he’s obviously more relieved on Wednesday, sharing a statement via a team spokesperson noting he’s ‘thrilled’ about the return of football this fall.

“Great news today,” Harbaugh said. “Over the past month, I could sense the anticipation from our players and coaches, and I’m thrilled on their behalf that they will have a chance to play a 2020 season. Stay positive. Test negative. Let’s play football.”

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Much of the consternation during the postponement was directed at University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel, who was one of 11 chancellors and presidents around the conference who originally voted ‘no’ on a fall season.

Schlissel received a ton of fan backlash, especially after Harbaugh noted on Sept. 5 that he hadn’t returned any of his texts or e-mails.

This time around, Schlissel was part of a unanimous decision to play, and he shared his reasoning in a statement of his own.

“I want to share my support for the Big Ten decision to begin football competition next month,” Schlissel said. “I join Athletic Director Warde Manuel and everyone at Michigan Athletics in offering appreciation for all the athletes and coaches, the fans and the families who have been preparing for the possibility of playing in the Big House this fall.

“Earlier I expressed my concern, shared by my fellow Big Ten presidents and chancellors, that we just didn’t know enough about the health and safety concerns unique to intercollegiate athletics to move forward with practices and competition.

“As has been so true during this pandemic, we continue to learn more every day and we have adjusted our approach based on the new information that was developed. I especially want to thank the health and safety officials from the Big Ten campuses who have carefully assessed the risk and developed a stringent plan – that will include daily COVID-19 testing – to mitigate those risks for our student-athletes, coaches and others. While this approach will start with football, our hope is to use this same approach to resume competition in other sports.

“To our millions of fans worldwide, I again thank you for your understanding and your patience. Your support of our teams and our student-athletes is inspiring.”

A schedule has yet to be released, but teams will kick off the weekend of Oct. 23-24.

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Sunday Thoughts: Michigan football recruiting and 2020 misinformation

Talking the 2021-22 recruiting classes, what prospects are likely Michigan commits and why we don’t buy these Big Ten rumors.

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It’s been a long time since we’ve done a Sunday Thoughts, but today seemed like a good day to resurrect it, even if it’s only for one week.

Let’s dig in.

Recruiting

This week, I delved into recruiting in a way I hadn’t since my tenure at 247Sports — and in some ways, with an even more tenacious edge.

It started with going to SMSB to see 2022 five-star Will Johnson from Grosse Pointe (MI) South, the Michigan legacy who’s also being heavily courted by Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and Arizona State. I feel like Michigan is in great standing, but it’s going to be a long process for him. With all the coaches seemingly in on his recruitment, there’s no school from what I can tell, that’s pushing harder.

If that doesn’t kill the in-state narrative, I don’t know what will. Like Allen Trieu told me at the event, Michigan is doing what it’s always done — going after who it wants in-state. It won’t win them all, and hasn’t done so, historically. But I think, this early, Michigan looks good for Johnson.

Then I started delving mostly into 2022, but also spoke to numerous 2021 commits (and just a handful of targets in the current class).

While many think Michigan could be done at cornerback with just Ft. Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas three-star Ja’Den McBurrows committed, keep an eye on two targets in 2021: Tuscaloosa (AL) American Christian three-star Kamari Lassiter and Lehigh Acres (FL) Senior four-star Omarion Cooper, the Florida State commit.

I spoke briefly to Cooper who confirmed that Michigan is throwing everything it has to work to get him to flip — and he’s seemingly receptive. “They are still recruiting me hard,” Cooper told me. Hopefully I’ll get more on that soon.

When it comes to Michigan’s recruiting strategy, this that J.J. McCarthy told me, I think, tells you what you need to know:

“I’d almost come up with — like pick out recruits from Twitter and watching film and even from camps and everything,” McCarthy said. “And I’d always bring them back to Matty Dudek and everything like that, and he would say, ‘Awesome, love it.’ If he’d love a player, he’d be like, ‘We’re probably gonna offer him.’ And sometimes, he’d be like, ‘He’s just not our guy. He’s not a fit for what we want to do here.’ Character-traits and everything like that. And I kind of never understood his philosophy behind it and the whole staff’s philosophy.

“Until I actually got into the group chat. And we started communicating as a class together. And I was like, ‘Oh. Now I get it. Now I get it.’ They’re recruiting a certain type of man to come to Michigan, and they believe that’s the most successful for them. We’re all gonna be able to do our job to make Michigan the most successful.

“In the group chat, we’re all so similar in so many ways, and I really recognize that and realize that to where I’m like, ‘Oh, I get it! He actually knows what he’s doing! He’s getting the job done!’”

Once you know that — and it’s something I’ve seen over the past two years — the recruits that you hear saying they’re looking for a place that feels like ‘home,’ ‘a brotherhood’ or ‘a family atmosphere’ — you can pretty much assure that Michigan will be one of its finalists.

Moving onto 2022, there’s one recruit I spoke to who definitely espoused that mentality, and it’s one of the most impressive prospects I’ve ever spoken to. That’s St. Louis (MO) Lutheran of St. Charles County four-star running back Arlen Harris Jr.

I could have talked to Harris for an hour, as he’s mature beyond his years and has a firm grasp on who he is, who he wants to be and what he’s looking for. His top schools at this juncture, from what he told me, are Michigan, Stanford, Iowa, Mizzou and Penn State.

Here’s what he said that made me think Michigan will be in it for the long haul:

“I would say a big thing for me is being challenged on and off the field. Michigan definitely brings that to the table,” Harris said. “That’s why they’re a top school for me. I want to be able to work just as hard on the field and do that off. Just a balanced challenge for me. Obviously, I want to be at a place that feels like home and makes me feel wanted and not just a part of a program, a business or a team – but a family. I think those are some of the things I desire in a college team.”

But the notion that Michigan is fading on the national scene is just a narrative.

I spoke to plenty of top prospects, including Earl Little Jr., Jaleel Skinner, MJ Morris and Fabian Ross, and all of them spoke about how meaningful it was to be able to have that Sept. 1 conversation with head coach Jim Harbaugh — with some being somewhat awestruck about it. All being national recruits, however, it’s going to take some time before any of them comes to a decision, especially since none of the above have been to Ann Arbor.

Nonetheless, Michigan is doing an excellent job on the trail. It might take a minute, but I believe that 2022 could be equally as impressive on paper as 2021, once things start to open up and some of these prospects can actually get to campus.

Misconceptions

Listen — I’ve been pretty forthright on my thoughts on the Big Ten, at least on my podcast. I’ll explain.

I’m not saying that the Big Ten made a bad decision — I think that can only be answered in hindsight. But it made a hasty one. And if there were more skepticism from the players about playing football this fall, I’d be more inclined to think it’s potentially unsafe to play. But, with Michigan having, as Jim Harbaugh said on Saturday, nearly one-thousand tests in a row without any positives, if every school in the conference can adopt the same strategies as Michigan, there’s no reason why a season can’t be played safely.

But there are certainly some disinformation campaigns out there.

Take the Penn State doctor, who claimed myocarditis was found in 30-35% of Big Ten athletes before fully recanting. Many breathlessly shared the original article without looking at it critically, crying, ‘See?!’ There’s a reason why there’s so much distrust at the moment, and confirmation bias has certainly played a role. Again, I reserve judgment until we get the full breadth of what’s an actual danger and what isn’t in the long-term. But, I also find it funny that so many who rebut the amateurism model aren’t on the side of the players here. To a large degree, I do believe that if the players want to play, they should be given that opportunity, at least as other conferences take the field — and especially now that high school football is basically happening across the Midwest, with Michigan reversing course and allowing the MHSAA to start up here soon. Assuredly, U-M can protect its student-athletes better than some random high school that doesn’t have similar resources, right? And with those saying that college students are gonna behave poorly, based on what we’ve seen coming out of football, I don’t believe that’s the case. I think those going through stringent protocols who have had close to zero (but not zero) positive tests should have earned the benefit of the doubt given the track record.

Many will argue that it’s not about Michigan, but other schools. That’s fair. We’ve seen outbreaks with other programs. I do think there has to be a baseline of safety, as well as some baseline of protocols. Without of which, there can’t be play. I’m sure that’s being taken under consideration, and it’s also why we need to be patient as these things are potentially reevaluated.

But this rumor mill has been absurd.

I’ve had conversations with one person close to the situation behind the scenes at Michigan who would have full knowledge of the school’s current happenings. Based on that, no, the board of regents have not met and aren’t meeting this weekend for any reason, let alone to discuss U-M president Dr. Mark Schlissel. Also based on those conversations, I do not believe the report out there that Schlissel is holding the conference hostage and that he stands in the way of a potential fall season. No, him not returning Harbaugh’s correspondence is not a good look. I do think he should visit the football facilities and speak with those whose futures he’s potentially affecting. But these behind-the-scenes high crimes are laughable, to be honest, and it just feeds into a lot of wishful thinking.

Could a season start in October? I think it’s possible. But I don’t buy into these conspiracy theories and you shouldn’t either.

Michigan holds Big Ten protest, Jim Harbaugh says he ‘wants to play as soon as possible’

While taking part in Michigan football’s Big Ten parent protest Saturday, coach Jim Harbaugh said his team wants to play and is ready.

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I case you’ve gotten sucked into the Ohio State bubble here as of late, let this serve as a reminder that other schools are trying to fight the good fight on the Big Ten football postponement. In fact, there was a scheduled football parent rally and peaceful protest in Ann Arbor today.

And since we’re all about keeping tabs on arch-rivals, we checked in on how things went up in That State Up North. By the looks of it, there was more than a modest amount of fans, parents, and even coaches that showed up.

On that note, our sister site Wolverines Wire found head coach Jim Harbaugh taking part in the protest and was able to corner him for some feedback on what his desires are for the Big Ten’s immediate future. It’s a good revelation because we haven’t really heard about many things wrinkling those khakis since he supported his players’ readiness just after the decision to postpone the fall season came down like a ton of bricks.

When asked about where he stands, Harbaugh didn’t hesitate.

“Free the Big Ten like my brother John Harbaugh said. I mean, that says it all,” Harbaugh said. “We want to be free to play.”

Later on, when Wolverines Wire asked Harbaugh if he had heard anything from President Marck Schlissel, and what the message has been, the Wolverine head man reiterated that his team is ready to go — and wants to go.

“Our position to the Big Ten — to everybody — has been, we want to play as soon as we possibly can,” continued Harbaugh. “And we’re ready to play. We could be ready to play a game in two weeks … that’s our position, we’re ready to play just as soon as we possibly can.”

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You have to give credit to the Michigan program too. After the latest round of testing produced absolutely no positives in the program, it’s now almost 1,000 COVID-19 tests that have come back negative in a row.

Despite it all though, Harbaugh seemed visibly frustrated that he hasn’t heard much back from Schlissel. He has reportedly sent text messages with desires to play this fall and hasn’t heard anything back from the Michigan president, who — according to reports — may be holding up the Big Ten’s move forward to potentially play in October.

Either way you look at it though, it’s maybe one time when Ohio State and Michigan fans can all agree on something. It’s time to play football in the Big Ten, especially with high schools, most other colleges, and even youth doing so with much fewer resources available to successfully adhere to safety protocols.

It’s not surprising fans feel the same from both schools. Not in this case. What is surprising is that Harbaugh’s mask wasn’t a khaki one.

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Jim Harbaugh says he’s had no response from U-M’s Schlissel

The university president has reportedly not responded to any of the head coach’s texts, calls or e-mails.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Instead of coaching a game on Saturday, Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh marched down Hoover to S. State St., joining players, parents and fans voicing their displeasure over the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the 2020 college football season.

While much of the outrage has been directed at Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel was reportedly among the 11 presidents and chancellors who voted against a season, and he hasn’t exactly been transparent about how he came to his decision, either.

Pundits will scream ‘coronavirus is why!’ yet the medical findings by three other Power Five conferences — the Big 12, ACC and SEC — have allowed their leagues to move forward towards a season. Likewise, high school football is going on, with the state of Michigan reversing course this week allowing the MHSAA to join surrounding states by letting those at the high school-level to play this fall.

Thus, it’s somewhat bewildering that Schlissel hasn’t spoken to the team. He hasn’t visited Schembechler Hall. He hasn’t seen the protocols in place.

Harbaugh insists that what Michigan is doing is working, evident by the recent testing. While four more student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 this past week, none of them came from the football program, Harbaugh says.

As far as conversations he’s had with Schlissel — well — Harbaugh hasn’t been able to get a response.

“I have had none. I’ve texted and Warde Manuel has done all the conversations with President Schlissel,” Harbaugh said. “You think I maybe got some inside information or something but I don’t. I can tell you how practice was, how the workouts have been. I could tell you we just had another 120 tests that were all negative. That’s close to a thousand tests in a row, completely negative. I could tell you how the guys’ grades are. Those are the things I’m focusing on — training and focusing our guys.”

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Later, WolverinesWire asked Harbaugh if he’s frustrated that he hasn’t been able to get through to the university president, and he merely stated that he’s made attempts — and surely he must know the status of the football team given the current medical intel.

“I texted Mark, e-mailed, showed him all results,” Harbaugh said. “(Senior Associate AD and Chief Health & Welfare Officer) Darryl Conway has been down to our facility multiple times and he thinks what we’re doing is a real model for everybody. It’s a testament to the players and to the staff, everybody really following the protocols.

“So yeah — he’s aware. He’s aware. So is Warde Manuel.”

There have been rampant rumors that the Big Ten is considering potentially reversing course and playing as early as October, to which Harbaugh says, ‘We could be playing sometime in October, early October. There’s a chance of that.’

But would the team be ready to go if the conference did reverse course, giving Michigan approximately five weeks to prepare?

Harbaugh says it would take but two weeks, and the team would be ready to go. According to him, via his conference calls with league coaches, that’s a unanimous thought across the board.

“Our position to the Big Ten, to everybody is we want to play as soon as we possibly can,” Harbaugh said. “We’re ready to play. We could be ready to play a game in two weeks. Put the pads on and our guys have trained without a pause since June 15. That’s our position. We’re ready to play as soon as we possibly can play.”

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U-M president Schlissel mum with football team amid postponement decision

Though he voted to postpone the team’s season, the university president still hasn’t shared his thought-process with the football team.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — All they’ve asked for is transparency, and that’s still not what they’re getting.

Six days after the Big Ten released a revamped, conference-only schedule in early August, it reversed course, postponing the fall season, presumably to winter or spring — though there are reports circulating that the conference may take a revote this week and start the season as early as Oct. 10.

Players have signed petitions demanding answers while many of their parents have done the same, even going as far as holding protests in various locales. Groups of parents from across the Big Ten met weeks ago at Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois, whereas the Ohio State contingent followed that up the next week by holding a Buckeyes-focused protest outside The Horseshoe.

Michigan parents are following suit, with a planned protest this Saturday outside The Big House.

But has that led to any answers by the conference? A few, after Nebraska players sued the Big Ten to find out more about the decision. But Michigan’s president — who reportedly voted ‘no’ on having a fall season as planned hasn’t said word one to those his decision affected directly.

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After the original decision was passed down, Michigan defensive back Tyler Cochran slammed U-M president Dr. Mark Schlissel for making a unilateral decision without consulting the football program and without having witnessed the protocols that have been put in place.

According to Kwity Paye on Thursday, Schlissel still hasn’t stepped up to share his decision-making process.

“We haven’t heard anything,” Paye said. “I think Carlo (Kemp) has talked to him a bit, but other than that, he hasn’t addressed the team. We haven’t had any conversation with him. There’s been no communication.”

Left tackle Ryan Hayes notes that it’s been difficult, preparing for something that may or may not happen, unsure if a season will come or not.

The parents are hosting a protest this Saturday at Michigan Stadium, and Hayes says that the team still is feeling frustration at the current situation.

“We’re all frustrated and upset and we thought it was the final word,” Hayes said. “With all these new rumors coming in, it’s definitely frustrating and an emotional roller coaster, because you don’t really know what to believe, what not to believe.”

In the wake of all of this, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has been the entity who’s come under most fire, whether it be from players, parents, fans, media or even the White House. But if the decision is to be reversed, it will take nine Big Ten presidents and chancellors to say ‘yes’ to a fall season — and with the original vote being 11-3 in favor of postponement, getting six to reverse course may still be a tall task.

Meanwhile, the SEC, ACC and Big 12 intend to play, whereas two FCS teams — Central Arkansas and Austin Peay — already have a game under their belt, with zero coronavirus cases reported among them in the aftermath.

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‘Infuriated’ Aidan Hutchinson calls out hypocrisy by Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren

The Wolverines football star didn’t mince words about the Big Ten’s commissioner or University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel.

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In the words of Samuel L. Jackson in the acclaimed 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, ‘Hold onto your butts.’

While former Michigan team captain and All-American Chris Hutchinson — father of current DE Aidan Hutchinson — has been outspoken as an ER doctor about the Big Ten’s decision-making in terms of postponing or effectively canceling the 2020 fall football season, his son is now speaking out.

Appearing on ESPN personality Marty Smith’s podcast, the younger Hutchinson didn’t mince words when it came to the Big Ten and Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel’s involvement in the changes that have happened to college football this season — or the result in a lack thereof, rather.

“I would say my emotions are just frustration. I’m just infuriated,” Hutchinson said on the show. “They made this decision without talking to us. The commissioner, our president — there were no words exchanged asking our thoughts on whether we wanna play. Because, at the end of the day, we’re the ones playing the game and they didn’t ask us for our opinion and it’s super frustrating to find out one day that our president voted for us not to have a season when I’ve never seen that guy in my three years here at Michigan. So, you know, it was definitely frustrating and felt kinda helpless because there’s nothing I can do and us players don’t have a voice.”

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But that’s not all.

Powers Warren is a tight end at Mississippi State. That’s important for a handful of reasons: Mississippi State is in a conference — the SEC — which fully intends to play the season in a conference-only slate; and Powers is the son of Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

None of that is lost on Hutchinson.

“I think it’s unfair that Kevin Warren, the B1G commissioner, is canceling the B1G season yet his son will be playing football at Mississippi State this year. That doesn’t quite make sense.”

Aidan’s father, Chris, appeared on Jon Jansen’s Conqu’ring Heroes podcast on Tuesday and further explained why he feels concerned about the Big Ten’s lack of communication to go along with its lack of transparency.

“Zero. I’m outside right now and I can hear the crickets in my backyard and it’s the same thing from them,” “I have a friend who has a player at Iowa and they’re hearing the same thing – nothing. Complete silence. That’s not the way to tackle this sort of thing. I don’t know why they’re not getting out in front of this. It’s as if they think they can just shut the doors and let the winds blow by and then they’re gonna open up the doors and we’re gonna say, ‘Oh, great! One big happy family again!’ I don’t know what sort of leadership academy teaches that, but I don’t think it’s the right way. You need to get out in front of this, you need to be transparent, you need to be forward. We can accept the fact that you didn’t like whatever you interpreted was too much of a risk for our kids. But you didn’t share that with us, you didn’t get our input, and now you made a decision on our behalf and a lot of people don’t like it.”

Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s Warren did make a media appearance — on Sports Business Journal — where he reportedly only got one question on the conference’s decision, and did little to help the fervor or firestorm currently surrounding him and his cohort.

Stay tuned. The inferno is only now starting to heat up.

Michigan football senior slams U-M president for Big Ten decision, lack of communication

A 5th-year senior made specific plans for 2020 that have been unequivocally altered. And he’s not liking the lack of support from U-M’s pres

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University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel posted a statement to Twitter explaining why he believes that the fall sports postponement in the Big Ten but some Wolverines football players might not take him at his word that they have his support.

For days, college football players all across the country attempted to have their say in the matter, noting they didn’t have a seat at the table when it’s come to the decision-making behind either canceling, postponing or keeping football in the fall as scheduled. With the decision coming down from the Big Ten on Tuesday that fall sports would be postponed to spring, it isn’t sitting right with one fifth-year senior, who had made specific plans to prepare for the opportunity to have one more year playing in The Big House.

Defensive back Tyler Cochran was a special teams standout in 2019, with his forced fumble against Rutgers being the highlight of his season.

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Cochran — the son of Brad Cochran, the consensus first-team All-American Michigan defensive back from the early 1980s — is taking exception to Schlissel’s lack of transparency, communication and overall unwillingness to support the football team. He took to Instagram to voice his displeasure with the university president, noting that not once has he ‘ever seen him in the (football) facility in my 4+ years here.’

While Schlissel’s decision may be prudent, it’s understandable that players would be frustrated that he hasn’t done anything to communicate why they must sacrifice everything they’ve worked so hard for.

View this post on Instagram

Last year I decided to drop a class to come short of graduation by 1 credit to come back and play my final year of eligibility. Unfortunately, the incompetent Presidents of the @bigten decided, despite constant testing and strict protocols, that the voices of the players were irrelevant and cancelled the season. It’s even more disappointing that the @uofmichigan president did not come speak to our team or even explain his decision making process. Not surprising since I’ve never seen him in the facility in my 4+ years here. Due to this decision, I, along with many of my brothers, may never be able to play the game of football again. I’ve wanted to play football for Michigan and follow in the footsteps of my dad ever since I can remember, and he had that same dream for me too. Coach Harbaugh gave me that opportunity, and everything that came with it was more than anything I could’ve ever wished for. I’ve played in the Big House, travelled the world, and got to wear the winged helmet. I got to share the honor of playing for Michigan with my father. If I never get the opportunity to play football again… this has still been more than a dream come true. Go Blue!

A post shared by Tyler Cochran (@tcoch30) on

It’s unclear whether or not Cochran, being one credit shy from graduating, would be able to participate in a spring season, should that actually occur.

Nonetheless, that Schlissel hasn’t addressed the team — or spent any time in the football facilities as Cochran alleges — makes for a not-so-good look.

For now, Cochran and the team will continue to practice, according to a team spokesman.

University of Michigan president defends Big Ten postponement

The U-M president offers a statement supporting the conference for effectively canceling fall sports in 2020.

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The Big Ten university presidents and chancellors voted to effectively cancel the 2020 college football season along with fall sports, with intentions to postpone the seasons to spring 2021.

There have been various reactions from media personalities, with some praising the decision, while others decried it, especially given that it’s been less than a week since the Big Ten rolled out a new set of protocols along with a revamped schedule.

We’ve heard multiple times from Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel and football head coach Jim Harbaugh, but after he reportedly voted in favor of the season postponement, it was the first time we’ve heard from University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel, who himself is an epidemiologist by trade.

He offered up a statement via Twitter.

 

Full statement:

“There are currently too many poorly understood health & safety concerns unique to intercollegiate athletics to move forward at present. I agree with today’s @BigTen decision & offer my unwavering support to our @UMichAthletics coaches, staff & athletes.”

I fully support the difficult Big Ten decision to postpone fall athletics competition. There are currently too many challenges to preventing spread of the infection among our student-athletes and coaches during practice and competition, and the impact of extreme physical exertion on the healthy risks of COVID-19 are not yet well understood.

I join Athletic Director Warde Manuel and everyone at Michigan Athletics in expressing my empathy to all who were looking forward to competing, coaching, supporting and cheering us on as members of the Wolverine family. I particularly feel badly for our student-athletes who gain so much from their participation in their sports and are such outstanding representatives of our university. We will work hard to return them safely to competition.

I also share my gratitude with the many individuals who have been working tirelessly to prepare for competition, including our student-athletes who have risen to the challenges of this pandemic and the many coaches, trainers and medical staff who have always made the health and safety of our student-athletes and staff their highest priority.

To our millions of fans worldwide, I think you for your understanding and your patience. This decision is the right thing to do at this point in the pandemic. Your support of our teams and our student-athletes is inspiring and Michigan will be back and ready to welcome you when it is safe to do so.

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That statement will satiate some, but certainly not the players who vigorously clamored on social media to play this fall.

According to fifth-year senior Tyler Cochran, Schlissel never met with the team nor explained his reasoning for allowing the season to be postponed or canceled. He expressed his displeasure with the lack of communication and support shown by the university president.

View this post on Instagram

Last year I decided to drop a class to come short of graduation by 1 credit to come back and play my final year of eligibility. Unfortunately, the incompetent Presidents of the @bigten decided, despite constant testing and strict protocols, that the voices of the players were irrelevant and cancelled the season. It’s even more disappointing that the @uofmichigan president did not come speak to our team or even explain his decision making process. Not surprising since I’ve never seen him in the facility in my 4+ years here. Due to this decision, I, along with many of my brothers, may never be able to play the game of football again. I’ve wanted to play football for Michigan and follow in the footsteps of my dad ever since I can remember, and he had that same dream for me too. Coach Harbaugh gave me that opportunity, and everything that came with it was more than anything I could’ve ever wished for. I’ve played in the Big House, travelled the world, and got to wear the winged helmet. I got to share the honor of playing for Michigan with my father. If I never get the opportunity to play football again… this has still been more than a dream come true. Go Blue!

A post shared by Tyler Cochran (@tcoch30) on

Report: Michigan’s Schlissel among voters to cancel Big Ten 2020 season

The Wolverines school president was reportedly in favor of canceling the 2020 football season.

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Et tu brute? That’s the question that many in the Michigan athletic department are certainly asking at the moment of the school’s leadership.

It hasn’t even been a week since the Big Ten announced a new set of protocols to go along with its revamped 2020 schedule, and yet, the impending season is in serious jeopardy. Players reported to fall camp, got a couple days of grueling work in, and on Sunday, the Big Ten member institution presidents met virtually, voting to pull the plug on the season due to the novel coronavirus.

While nothing’s been officially announced at this juncture, details are starting leak out. For example: it wasn’t unanimous among the schools.

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According to former ESPN personality Dan Patrick, as he shared on his radio show, two schools voted against the season cancellation on Sunday night — Iowa and Nebraska. That means that Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel was one in favor of canceling the upcoming college football season along with fall sports.

Maybe it’s the right call, but given that the Big Ten just started implementing measures last Wednesday, beyond those which were already in place, the decision is causing something of an uproar.

College players as well as coaches — and even some athletic directors — are galvanizing behind the Twitter campaigns #WeWantToPlay, #WeWantToCoach and #WeAreUnited.

If nothing else, it’s clear now that those leading these institutions are making decisions unilaterally, without consulting those who are affected most by taking the season away.

Michigan president says no college football in the fall if students aren’t on campus

Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel says there will not be college football in Ann Arbor without students on campus this fall.

If it holds true, it looks like Michigan may not have to worry about losing to Ohio State this November. It’s not because the Wolverines will be able to get the monkey off their back by winning on the field in Columbus. No, it’s because University of Michigan President Dr. Mark Schlissel reiterated this past week that if there are no students on campus, there will not be college football at Michigan.

The comments come as a result of an interview Schlissel — who has an immunologist background — did with the Wall Street Journal.

“If there is no on-campus instruction then there won’t be intercollegiate athletics, at least for Michigan,” Schlissel told the Wall Street Journal. Schlissel went on to say he has “some degree of doubt as to whether there will be college athletics (anywhere), at least in the fall.”

Schlissel’s comments come as optimism begins to build with the possibility of a college football season. Especially following the NCAA’s vote to allow voluntary workouts on campus once again as of June 1. Ohio State is slowly beginning to embrace a careful return as well as it plans to welcome football athletes back on June 8.

Maybe Schlissel missed the memo.

The comments aren’t without merit however. Michigan — and the Detroit metro area in particular — have been hit harder than most locales during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state is still under an extended stay-at-home order until June 12.

Other Michigan state institutions have made decisions to allow students on campus already this fall, but the situation is completely different in Ann Arbor. Schissel believes a decision on face-to-face instruction could be made “in the coming weeks,” at which time a further decision can be made for athletic events.

“Any decision we make for this coming fall is likely going to be the case for the whole academic year. What’s going to be different in January?” Schlissel said.

Associate athletic director Kurt Svoboda released a statement that falls in line with where the situation stands, meaning we’ll all have to wait to see what happens in the next month.

“Whenever students are allowed back on campus, we will work with U-M leadership and the Big Ten Conference to establish next steps,” Svoboda said in a statement last Wednesday.

So stay tuned. Though most folks connected to the situation in this country believe college football is on pace to occur on time, with each state, conference, and institution able to make their own decisions, we could see a patchwork of decision-making and policy.