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WTKA Roundtable 12/11/2025: About to Find Out

Thing Discussed: * Proportioning outrage: Sherrone, the maximum. Athletics department? Don't know but suspect people knew for a long time and didn't react until they got information they had to act on. * The assistant he had an affair with? We don't know—not exonerated but also let's be conscious that sharing her name and photo and history of an unfamous person irreversibly makes her famous for This, for life. It also has a chill effect on other women caught in illicit relationships with powerful men, and we have a public interest in making sure that math favors coming forward, not participating in the cover-up. * What is going on here that we don't have a control mechanism? Brian: I don't trust Warde in this situation because we saw the process for Mel Pearson. No faith this was handled appropriately. * Who lied to you Sam? Sam: for certain, Sherrone lied. That wasn't the only basis for his report. Michigan investigated or "looked into it" and they didn't have credible evidence until yesterday when the woman came forward. (He doesn't say this but I took it to mean she lied to the investigators originally).  * Brian: Warde Manuel has done nothing in 11 years but bumble from one crises to another. * Sam: A coverup did take place, between the involved parties. What could Michigan have done to reveal it? We don't know. What brought it to light was she came forward. * Argument with Craig over the Wilmer Hale report over Mel Pearson: Craig doesn't like the report, argues for due process; Brian and Seth found the report credible and included you-have-to-fire-him level offenses, and Warde sat on it for months. Other Thing Discussed: Candidates * Kalen DeBoer: If he'll listen. * Minter: think we can work around the show-cause, might not be able to work around the fact he's in line for NFL jobs. * Jeff Brohm: Proven coach, Louisville alum but would listen. * Jason Eck: Former Wisconsin OL and line coach who's a cultural fit, only been a HC for 4 years and only New Mexico for one year. Think he's a Harbaugh after 1 year at Stanford. * Wildcard: Jay Harbaugh. * Bad ideas are bad ideas. * Seth notes insanity is possible, e.g. John Harbaugh might come available. Also hiring a coach these days won't be on the AD; you bring in consultants for this sort of thing. It's a much better job than PSU right now, or the last 3 Michigan coaching searches when we were trying to replace Lloyd Carr without paying anybody, trying to find someone who will debase himself to work for Dave Brandon, or Harbaugh-or-bust with a program coming out of a Hoke low. Michigan job today is you get to pick your staff, maybe pick your AD, and inherit Bryce Underwood and a roster built for success with a top 2 or 3 (maybe even #1) NIL war chest. * Will DeBoer listen? Math has changed: Alabama fans are holding him to an unreasonable standard based on what Saban did during a time when Alabama had more advantages over Michigan than they did now. * Sam: Think DeBoer will listen. If not for that Playoff selection they were ready to run him out of town. People there are expecting him to have the success Saban had in a system that does not afford him the same advantages that Nick Saban had. * Brohm will listen too. * Sam: Loves Brent Key (also his alma mater), but how much of his success is Hayes King? Lea same thing; why not hire Diego Pavia. * Floor: Jedd Fisch, is fine, not a high ceiling, or might be. He's done what we would want to see at Arizona and Washington.

Michigan HockeyCast 8.11: Christmas S(Party)

1 Hour and 29 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/] is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  A discussion of Christmas decorations. Michigan played a strong defensive game to win the opener. Great shots from Spence and Park and Ivankovic didn’t have to do much else to nail down a shutout. Segment 2:  Michigan outscored MSU in the period they were dominated in and got outscored in the periods they played well in… that’s hockey! Michigan seems to be on an even level with MSU, which we would’ve taken before the year. A check in on the standings and national rankings. Not many past opponents played this weekend. Our outro discusses the WJC rosters and the Olympic rosters and which Michigan players may make either team    MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Sibling Rivalry" -- PUP * Ice Hockey (NES) theme

MGoPodcast 17.15: But Could He Dunk On A Wookie?

1 hour and 42 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing [https://undergroundshirts.com/custom-t-shirts?callout=mgoblog] for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com [http://undergroundshirts.com/]. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management [http://peakwm.com/mgoblog], Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender [http://www.realtorandlender.com/], Ann Arbor Elder Law [http://www.annarborelderlaw.com/], Michigan Law Grad [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/], Human Element [https://www.human-element.com/], Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning [http://sharonsheating.com/], The Sklars Brothers [http://www.supersklars.com/], Champions Circle [https://givebutter.com/thosewhostay?utm_source=mgo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=cfp-championship-mgo&utm_content=keep-team-together], Winewood Organics [http://winewoodorganics.com/], Community Pest Solutions [http://www.pestfreemi.com/], Venue by 4M [https://www.experience4m.com/venue/] where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery [https://www.drradecki.com/], and Long Road Distillers [http://www.longroaddistillers.com/]. 1. Michigan Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at :51 A very silly debate not worth publishing preceded the actual intro of this podcast. A split against Michigan State is a very fair result, the whole series was intense. The first period of the Saturday game was an onslaught that Michigan relatively survived, Jack Ivankovic has been solid. How many first and second rounders were in this game? The answer is in the double digits. Is the Big Ten the best hockey league in the world outside of the NHL? Most of the time this team looks dominant but looking back on that Wisconsin series and the first period against MSU on Saturday shows some concerning trends where Michigan can't get out of their own zone. Minnesota is surprisingly not what they've been in the last few years.  2. Men's Basketball vs Rutgers Starts at 26:05 Michigan is putting up demolitions not even predicted by Kenpom. If Michigan puts up a reasonable number of 3s there's just no way to beat them. What did Rutgers even do... get to 41% from 2? Well Michigan shot 72% from 2. They've played the 8th hardest schedule in the country, what even is there to say? Morez Johnson is shooting 3s now. Michigan had more offensive rebounds than misses from 2. Cadeau had an alarming turnover rate earlier in the season and most of those have gone away. Is Yaxel the alpha guy for scoring? Do you need one when you win games by 40? Roddy Gayle is rounding into the guy we originally thought he would be. The floor on this team is so high, if they shot 15% from 3 they'd probably still win by 10. The only teams that look mildly threatening on the schedule are Michigan State and Purdue. USC is also spicier than we thought. Michigan is now favored in every single game on the schedule.  3. Hot Takes, Football Offensive Recruiting Class Starts at 54:31 Takes hotter than Curt Cignetti walking off the field after beating Ohio State 13-10 to win the Big Ten Championship and reacting in NO WAY WHATSOEVER. Savion Hiter is the number one running back in the country and he has the tape to back it up. Brady Smigiel and Tommy Carr come in at QB, they won't see the field for a while but then you could have a redshirt sophomore starting after Bryce leaves. It's nice to see Michigan recruit like they have 105 guys in a class. Michigan loses a wide receiver but picks up Travis Johnson, also Brady Marchese and Jaylen Pile. Would've been nice to get a slot guy but nice to get a few receivers. They're all early enrolees. Matt Ludwig comes in at tight end and is the number one player in Montana, close enough to Idaho. Michigan should get tight ends from American Samoa and Alaska. Mason Bonner comes in from Colorado, keep an eye on him down the road. Malakai Lee is the headlining offensive lineman out of Hawaii, Bear McWhorter is an all-name nominee. Marky Walbridge is a quintessential under-scouted player.  4. Football Defensive Recruiting Class Starts at 1:20:32 Carter Meadows is the #6 overall player in the class, he could be the first overall player in the draft if he projects how he's supposed to. Taco Charlton comparison? Tariq Boney is the other edge, described as a violent high motor style. Titan Davis is Chris Wormley shaped but could move to defensive tackle, McHale Blade might be the most underrated guy in this class. Alister Vallejo, the Mason Graham comparison! He's a lot of peoples' favorite player in this class (a class with two five stars). Could he help next year? Many linebackers, mostly flyers and not an instant-impact class. Do not trust AI in your recruiting history research. The defensive back class is a little light, all four stars though. Jordan Deck is a Makari Paige kind of guy. They get a kicker who kicks and a longsnapper who long snaps, yay. Kerry Coombs comes in as special team coordinator.  MUSIC: * "Train Love"—Yor Old Droog * "MAGIC"—Vince Staples and Mustard * "I Need a Lover"—John Couger * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

WTKA Roundtable 12/4/2025: What's the Dog Number

FOOTBALL v OHIO STATE * Offense had some neat ideas in the run game, not so much the passing game. * Problem with not running read options all year is Bryce blew too many of them. * Sherrone is a run guy, had some great run tweaks, but it ended up costing them in the passing game as Bryce was cold—gotta throw on early downs if you're going to be a successful passing team. * Defensively it was worse when we looked. "Only 27 points" is because they only had nine possessions and one of the killed the game in the 3rd and 4th quarter. * Wink: Not great. Felt mailed in, no interesting ideas, and the ideas he did have were bad ones, like delayed blitzes that won't get to Sayin until it's too late, or showing his hand. Sayin was never confused: he read out what he planned to. * Sam not a fan of spot-dropping. That was most of the defense this game; in the past Michigan's used a lot more switch and poach coverages. Wink is too easy to see coming, and that's not going to change. We're ready to move on, hope he is as well. * Differences aren't all on Wink: Ernest Hausmann was a big loss, and a big difference last year. Josiah Stewart was and The Gifts were a big deal last year. Getting off the field on 3rd & 3 is when those playmakers have to do something, and Michigan didn't have those guys. SIGNING DAY * Got interesting yesterday. Big money plays at Zion Robinson, Travis Johnson and (from UNC) Julian Walker. Michigan is either getting Zion Robinson (who got a big offer from Syracuse) or Georgia commit Brady Marchese—if Calvin Russell is serious then they'll work that out separately. * Julian Walker is deciding today; his connection to Michigan in the first place was his dad, isn't sure he wants to leave home, which is understandable. If he goes to UNC it's just money. * Hiter was just a misunderstanding when his contract came and they got it cleared up eventually. * Underrated guys in the class: Alister Vallejo (we love), McHale Blade (fell too far after his injury) and Tommy Carr (we think he's better than Brady Smigiel, not better than Bourque).

Michigan HockeyCast 8.10: New England Thanksgiving

1 Hour and 18 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/] is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  NBA Cupdates and Thanksgiving food debrief. Michigan largely hammered Harvard in the first game, scoring early and often en route to a comfortable win. Nick Moldenhauer has elevated as a playmaker and Josh Eernisse continues to score. So does Will Horcoff. Hobey? Decent special teams night, just a ho-hum win Segment 2:  Different game script from the first one, Harvard came out much more energetic. Michigan kept them to the outside for the first two periods and kept Ivankovic’s eyes clean, while cashing in on high-danger chances the other way. Harvard did control play and finally broke through when Michigan’s dumb penalties gave them too many looks. Horcoff redeemed himself after terrible 3rd period penalties. Okay with an OTW to achieve the sweep. Still 3rd in NPI. Many of our old friends took the week off… should Michigan take Thanksgiving week off? Huge clash with MSU this weekend, a team riding the Porter Martone and Trey Augustine wave but looking for depth scoring.    MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Smarter Than You" -- The Undertones * Ice Hockey (NES) theme