Mike Farrell Sports

College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Michigan Forsook Its Phony “Values” Over Ohio State Envy

Michigan has become what it used to hate by changing its philosophy on cheating and the lengths they take to win

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Dec 2
Dec 2

By Rock Westfall

From 2001 through 2019, the Michigan Wolverines scored only two wins over the hated arch-rival Ohio State Buckeyes (2003 and 2011). Buckeye fans are quick to remind you that in 2011, they had an interim head coach, tarnishing that year’s result in their eyes.

In most years, “The Game” revealed that Ohio State was the dominant program. The most memorable of the rare close calls was in 2016 when Michigan lost at Ohio State 30-27 in overtime. That loss at The Shoe featured a controversial spotting of the ball and measurement in Ohio State’s favor on a 4th and one rush by JT Barrett that proved to be the difference. Ohio State won the game on the next play when Curtis Samuel ran 15 yards for the deciding score.

The 2016 version of “The Game” was among the greatest in its storied history. Debates have raged on ever since and will continue into eternity. But one thing is indisputable. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was never the same.

In the years that followed, Harbaugh developed a zombie-like demeanor on the sidelines, seemingly lifeless and passive. It was as if Harbaugh punched a clock and worked the assembly line at one of the nearby auto plants. Harbaugh will tell you his stoicism was because the Big Ten ordered him to knock off his sideline tirades. But a lot of Michigan fans at that time became concerned that Harbaugh had lost enthusiasm for the job.

By 2020, Michigan and Harbaugh had resigned to a life as Ohio State’s whipping boys. At that point, all agreed that change was necessary.

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“You Can’t Beat the Cheaters” – The Collapse of the Michigan Man Mantra 

By 2019, Michigan was humiliatingly being dominated by Ohio State. Meanwhile, the SEC was firmly ensconced as the dominant conference. Harbaugh was not meeting the expectations of national, or even conference championships touted upon his arrival in 2015. In fact, his program seemed to be regressing. Thus, needing an alibi, Harbaugh whined, “You can’t beat the cheaters.”

Harbaugh’s comments were derived from the Michigan Man Mantra of supposedly being elite, honorable, and doing things “the right way.” This role and image were taken directly from their fight song, “Hail to the Victors,” where the words “The Leaders and the Best” are sung with pride by everyone in maize and blue.

Even though Michigan’s self-image was not nearly what they professed, it served as a convenient excuse for routinely getting hammered by “football factories” like Ohio State, which cut corners to “win at all costs.” Michigan claimed to be far above such uncouth behavior. 

Michigan had long used “ethics” as an excuse to calm frustrated fans and to get out of jams, such as in 2020 when it canceled “The Game” rather than allow Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day to “Hang 100” on a demoralized 2-4 Michigan team at the Shoe.

In the offseason of 2020-21, Michigan and Harbaugh covertly decided that to win, they had to “lower” themselves to the ethics of Ohio State and the SEC. And it worked. 

Michigan Tradition – Coverups and Unplausible Deniability  

After finishing with the nation’s 22nd-ranked recruiting class in 2018, Harbaugh and Michigan knew they had to step it up to have a chance against Ohio State. Michigan finished in the national Top 10 in three of the next four annual recruiting cycles.

We will never know why the recruiting ranks improved, but we do know that the results were better. At the same time, Harbaugh replaced his coaching staff with much younger assistants. Among them was Connor Stalions, a US Naval Academy graduate and professional US Marine code breaker.

To this day, Harbaugh denies knowing what Stalions was up to on the Michigan sidelines. Apparently, Harbaugh was the only person who did not know. Opposing coaches began contacting each other about Michigan stealing signals. As it turned out, unplausible deniability returned in the grand Michigan tradition.

The late Bo Schembechler, a former Michigan coaching great, created the Michigan Man Myth and Mantra. Schembechler is famous for his quote about how leaders of an organization either know everything going on or are too dumb, incompetent, or dishonest in their professed ignorance. Thus, according to the Gospel of Bo, Harbaugh has no excuse regarding Stalions.

Yet, while preaching accountability, academics, and discipline, Schembechler remains accused to this day of looking the other way at the hideous practices of Dr Robert Anderson, who sexually molested countless athletes, including Bo’s players.

One of Bo’s sons, Matt, said that when he told the coach of Dr Anderson molesting him, Schembechler became physically abusive in an explosive tantrum. When players made similar complaints to Schembechler, he told them to get over it and toughen up.

When the coverup finally blew, Michigan was forced to settle cases for almost half a billion dollars. Schembechler could have led the charge to end Dr. Anderson’s practices. But he did not. Schembechler’s football program was more important to him and to the University of Michigan.

For Harbaugh and his hero Bo, who he played for, it was more important to protect the lie of Michigan’s Mantra than do what was right. 

The Shame of Losing is Now the Humiliation of Hypocrisy   

Michigan football began to click in 2021, winning three Big Ten titles, beating Ohio State three times, and winning the 2023 national championship. But now, all of that is tainted. Harbaugh blew off COVID recruiting protocols, angering his fellow coaches who had better ethics and followed the rules. At the same time, Stalions broke codes.

Michigan shamelessly decided to lower itself to the level of Ohio State and the SEC. It forsook the façade of being “The Leaders and the Best.” Through its despair and desperation, it no longer pretended to be elite and superior to all others.

In 2012, then-“disgraced” former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel was carried off the field in glory at Ohio Stadium to a screaming and standing ovation in front of a sellout crowd at “The Game” against Michigan. In response to the ceremony, Michigan fans went apoplectic about what shameless filth Ohio State was and how it had no standards.

In Week 1 of the 2024 season, Michigan will welcome back Jim Harbaugh to Michigan Stadium. Harbaugh will undoubtedly arrive to a hero’s welcome at the Big House, emblematic of Michigan’s fall from its faux moral superiority. Indeed, the same Michigan fans who went nuts over Ohio State honoring Tressel will be the first to hail Harbaugh.

By getting its brains beat in by Ohio State for two decades, Michigan’s culture went through a fundamental transformation. Michigan is now a win-at-all-costs culture that would make Urban Meyer and Kirby Smart blush. Michigan fans are taking delight in giving College Football Nation the finger. It is as if they are proud of what led to their national championship that will always carry an asterisk, if not literally, then at least figuratively. Michigan fans are feeling the joy of being unleashed from a stodgy, foggy past.

Michigan’s jealousy and envy of Ohio State broke its culture. It is shattered into a billion pieces and can never be repaired.

Michigan is now the same as the programs they used to sneer at with arrogance and conceit. Ironically, Ohio State and the SEC look ethically superior in comparison. The college football world has flipped upside down.

Michigan has conquered the world at the cost of its soul.

Hail to the Hypocrites! 

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