Penn State scorn versus Michigan State scorn

Exactly. ADs are leaking that they want sanctions. Privately, they have already counted on a playoff payday.

 

Check out this article from Detroit Free Press:

Michigan State AD Alan Haller reportedly calls out Big Ten "hypocrisy" over Michigan scandal

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...-michigan-football-sign-stealing/71431449007/




Wherever George Perles is these days, he must be flipping in his grave to hear one of his recruits and protégés, Alan Haller, whimper and whine about how scared he was that big bad Meechigan was going to hurt the poor delicate sparties.

Perles was certainly a meathead in many ways but he never, ever, ever would have publicly whimpered he was afraid that big bad Michigan was going to hurt his poor little players.

(Much less threaten, as MSU reportedly did, not to play the nationally televised game against Michigan in protest of Harbaugh's alleged misdeeds, a threat that had it been actually carried out, would have instantly resulted in massive megamillion dollar fines and penalties from the conference, probably including suspension if not expulsion from the league.)

Oh yes and hand wringing about the B1G "rushing to judgment" over the tunnel incident would be a lot more effective if it hadn't turned out the MSU players were all dead-bang guilty (including some convicted on criminal charges) in instigating the incident.

 

Did the Big Ten TV deals ever get signed? They hadn’t been as of the summer. I’d wonder if Michigan State pulling out of that game would trigger some clause in there that voided them. Sports rights aren’t going for what they were even a year ago. I’m sure someone in East Lansing was told plainly what the ramifications would be if they pulled that nonsense.

 

I'm sure, after COVID, all conference TV deals have very specific performance clauses outlining precisely the circumstances under which televised games can be canceled or postponed, and I suspect the penalties for missing those games are quite severe.

They have to be, or else you'll have schools threatening to refuse to play games every two or three weeks over real or imagined or concocted offenses by other schools. Boo hoo I don't like Bret Bielema's deodorant, we're not gonna play this week; Tom Izzo is wearing those argyle socks I hate, we're not taking the floor.

 

Plot twist?

 

Very interesting

Sources: MSU AD eyed Tucker split in preseason

This is an issue because Tucker submitted his response to Tracy's allegations on March 22, at which time he admitted to engaging in the conduct in question.

Under his contract Tucker was being paid approximately $700,000 per month.

As athletic director, Haller also holds the administrative title of vice president, as a result the only people who could directly order him to act as the story describes would be:

1) the university president

2) a member of the board of the trustees acting on the assumption they have the authority to speak for a majority of (or the entire) board

The university president was in fact an interim figurehead who has already declared she has no intention to seek or accept the job permanently, and therefore has no real authority to tell anybody what to do beyond ordering paper clips. So that narrows the field significantly.


Hmmm

https://statenews.com/article/2023/...-in-leak-probe?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_latest

 

I was listening to the latest Yahoo CFB pod with Forde and Wetzel, and they said that it was pretty well known among the B1G coaches that Michigan was stealing signs last season. TCU actually put in replacement, fake, and decoy signs to screw up Michigan in the playoff. Looks like it worked pretty well, especially considering how Michigan only got a minimal advantage from knowing the other team's signs.

 

In all seriousness I think the best punishment for Michigan would have been to require them to disclose all their offensive and defensive signals to their remaining opponents, in addition to supplying the opponents with their ready lists of plays to be used in the games, and have the conference appoint a panel of three veteran coaches/scouts to watch the games in progress from the press box, and assess unsportsmanlike conduct penalties if U-M ran any plays which were not on the ready list.

 

What if they tried having players shuttle the play calls in between plays?

 

https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/tom-farden-out-as-head-gymnastic-coach-at-university-of-utah/

Seems coaches of women's teams are getting hit with this more and more frequently - and Utah is a top gymnastics program. This isn't a "sex" thing - just general coaching. Don't know where you draw the line between "motivating" and abuse. I don't think coaching has changed, but I do think expectations from athletes has.

 

That came about right after a lengthy WaPo story that looked at several schools, including North Carolina and LSU.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/20/utah-gymnastics-tom-farden-ncaa/

As for the Utah guy, even the gymnasts who backed him up acknowledged he occasionally got angry enough to throw things like a cellphone, stopwatch or scraper brush.

 

Always a classic scene.