Tag: Matt Weiss

With everything going on in Ann Arbor in recent months, whether it’s ‘burgergate’ or alleged illegal sign stealing, some may have forgotten that there was another Michigan football scandal from right after the end of the 2022 season.

In the winter months, former Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss was summarily dismissed from the program after having committed alleged ‘computer access crimes.’ No details have emerged from that story to date, but according to the Detroit Free Press’ Tony Garcia, the university police department and FBI have been working together for some time.

The University of Michigan police department told the Free Press on Thursday that it has been working with the FBI “for months” to investigate former Michigan football co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss’ computer case.

“The University of Michigan Police Department has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the Matt Weiss unauthorized computer access incident,” the police said in an email on Thursday.

“Currently, the investigation is extensive, ongoing, and is of the utmost priority. Additional information will be provided when available.”

While there are some who speculate that the case is related to the current saga the football program is undergoing, the Michigan deputy police chief insists that the two incidents are unrelated.

U-M Deputy Chief of Police Melissa Overton said the Weiss investigation is “not related to the sign-stealing allegation in any way.”

More on this story as it develops.

It was a big, yet incredibly vague, story that led to the departure of a Michigan football on-field staff member last month.

Just as life appeared to be calming in Ann Arbor during a tumultuous January, reports surfaced that quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss was being suspended pending an investigation due to alleged computer access crimes. That in and of itself is a vague term.

It didn’t even take a week and Weiss was terminated with cause, which, we’re now learning was subsequent to him not appearing for a meeting to discuss the investigation with the Michigan athletics brass. Per the Detroit News’ Angelique Chengelis, Weiss’ alleged crimes were inappropriately accessing computer accounts, and when he didn’t defend himself, it was treated as an implicit admission of guilt.

Former Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss was fired Jan. 20 after it was found during a university investigation review that day that he appeared to “have inappropriately accessed” computer accounts, according to his termination letter.

Weiss was asked to appear at the meeting and was informed in a Jan. 19 memo the investigation was for violations of the University of Michigan’s Standard Practice Guide (SPG) policies, according to documents obtained Monday by The Detroit News. The memo to Weiss said a summary of the “relevant evidence” was attached, but it was not included in the documents The News requested. Weiss did not appear at the Jan. 19 meeting.

While there’s still no public knowledge about the accounts he’s accused of accessing, and the investigation is ongoing, Michigan has moved on, having promoted offensive analyst Kirk Campbell to the QB coach position.

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Entering the Week 13 game at Ohio State, without Blake Corum, just about no one game Michigan football a chance to beat, let alone dominate the Buckeyes. Yet, there the Wolverines were, making plays we haven’t seen all season, from big, explosive deep-ball passes, to trick plays, to the game-sealing 75 and 85-yard runs by Donovan Edwards.

As a result, the maize and blue advance to the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis vs. Purdue on Saturday, while Ohio State has to sit at home, hoping that something happens with either TCU or USC to allow the Buckeyes to advance into the College Football Playoff.

On Wednesday, Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss shared more insight about the offense’s plan and execution vs. OSU, as well as what he’s seen from the Purdue defense.

Here is everything he had to say.

(Editor’s note: special thanks to The Wolverine.com‘s Clayton Sayfie for the audio since we were unable to attend.)

The Wolverines are off to another fantastic start going 8-0 and have themselves in a position to make another College Football Playoff run. One could argue that this is Jim Harbaugh’s most complete team that he has had in Ann Arbor.

The Michigan scoring offense is eighth in the country scoring 41 points per game. The defense is as elite as ever allowing just 11.5 points per game. There isn’t much to complain about if you’re a maize and blue fan.

Well, maybe the red zone offense.

Michigan is an efficient scoring team in the red zone. The Wolverines are 13th in the country scoring 93.1% of the time they reach the red zone. But Michigan has had an issue scoring touchdowns when it gets inside of the opponent’s 20-yard line. The Wolverines have scored a touchdown 28 out of 44 times in the red zone or 63% of the time.

But Michigan is doing everything it needs to do in order to win games. The Wolverines are out scoring their opponents this season by a total score of 328-92 points. Co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss is happy that there isn’t many problems that face the maize and blue. He acknowledges that the coaching and playing needs to be better in the red zone, so the Wolverines plan on working on just that.

“I think we’re very process focused,” said Weiss. “So we look at each drive as an individual case, look at each player as an individual case. And, yes, it’s a place we need to coach better, we need to play better. But it’s great for us to be in a situation where when we have problems, we’re winning, and being able to get a lot better along the way and fix problems while we’re winning. And it’s also great that we don’t have a long laundry list of problems, you know, where you can isolate one or two things like the red zone. Say, we need to be better here and really drill down on it. And we’re focused on that confident work group.”

But what makes it so difficult for Michigan to score more red zone touchdowns? If you choose to run the ball, it’s difficult because the defense is closer to the point of attack. If you choose to pass the ball, you can’t stretch the defense with the field being so small. Weiss said Michigan needs to have a red zone styled offense when it gets inside the 20.

“So it’s harder to run the ball,” Weiss said. “Because there’s constricted space, all the defenders are closer to the point of attack, right? It’s also harder to throw the ball, because you don’t have the ability to stretch the field vertically. So it’s harder to move the ball in general. And certainly that takes away a lot of things you can do both run game and pass game. So you need a red zone specific offense, which we’re really just talking about a couple of drives. Really, specifically, two drives inside the 10 where we needed to score touchdowns the last game, that we didn’t. Give credit to Michigan State, they did a good job. They had a good plan. But, as I said, we need to coach better, start to do that that will lead to play better.”

The Wolverines stalled twice inside the Michigan State five-yard line on Saturday and was forced to kick field goals. But Matt Weiss is confident in his groups ability to be successful in the red zone. He believes that Michigan will continue working on the area it struggles the most and that it can be fixed. Weiss thinks the recipe for success is there.

“Absolutely,” Weiss stated. “I think we have a great offense, and the recipe is there for us to be successful in every area. And so far, we’ve been successful in most areas. Obviously, in the last game, those two drives, for various reasons you go to play level. But we ended up kicking field goals, we want touchdowns. And that’s something that we’re that we’re focused on. And we’re blessed to be in a position that we don’t have many things to do, to work on. And we’re blessed to be in a position that we can fix all these things while we’re winning decisively.”

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football has very few problems thus far, and some things others consider problems aren’t particularly a concern for the offensive coaches.

Everyone knows the Wolverines need to be better scoring touchdowns in the red zone, and that appears to be a focus. But for co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, he doesn’t see any issues with the passing game: The offense is more taking what defenses are giving.

On Wednesday, Weiss discussed the state of the offense, what he’s seen from quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and why he feels he’s ahead of schedule, what the team needs to do to be better in the red zone and more.

Here is everything he had to say.