Michigan Football 2026: Rebuilding, Rebranding, How to Be What You are: an Elite Program.

[Shelton]

On 12/27/2025 at 11:07 AM, MichiganCardinal said:

I don’t see him as going rogue as much as I see him telling the truth. I take him to be a straight shooter. They named him interim for the bowl, that comes with a media circuit, he was asked hard questions, he answered with the hard truth. Play Where’s Waldo with The Regents and Warde, except it’s a transcript of Poggi’s comments and the game is Where’s the Lie.

If there was some media narrative line he was supposed to toe, he’s probably not the guy for the job. And all of that aside it’s not like Michigan was likely to do better than Whittingham (at least not from the moment Alabama came back against Oklahoma).

Poggi has said all the right things since not getting the job. I’m sure he won’t be on Whittingham’s staff, but I hope he lands on his feet.

Super weird biff poggi appreciation. 
 

I find it kind of gross for folks to claim they knew all along how rotten everything was. It’s fine that he is being forthright during his mandated news conferences I guess. But he also doesn’t need to go on garbage podcasts and talk ****.  
 

Anyway, good riddance, biff. And good riddance to everyone else. 

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, Shelton said:

Super weird biff poggi appreciation. 
 

I find it kind of gross for folks to claim they knew all along how rotten everything was. It’s fine that he is being forthright during his mandated news conferences I guess. But he also doesn’t need to go on garbage podcasts and talk ****.  
 

Anyway, good riddance, biff. And good riddance to everyone else. 

I Whittingham is the straight arrow he's being billed as, we'll find out how long a clean program that loses is viable.

[romad1]

7 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I Whittingham is the straight arrow he's being billed as, we'll find out how long a clean program that loses is viable.

The new rules would seem to make it possible to win within the rules.  I mean he's got a death star of money.  Unless OSU suddenly (and I am not trying to manifest this) becomes Peter Thiel or Elon Musk's favorite program.  You'd have to think having Larry Ellison of Oracle backstopping the program would be a nice guarantor of the budget. 

[Hongbit]

50 minutes ago, romad1 said:

The new rules would seem to make it possible to win within the rules.  I mean he's got a death star of money.  Unless OSU suddenly (and I am not trying to manifest this) becomes Peter Thiel or Elon Musk's favorite program.  You'd have to think having Larry Ellison of Oracle backstopping the program would be a nice guarantor of the budget. 

Remember this past year was on outlier.  The $21M budget for NIL spending went into place in July.  Many big deals were signed and preloaded before this time.   Lots of extra money got spent this summer.  It’s how Texas Tech bought a team for $28M.  Going forward all NIL above the $21M (includes all sports and not just football) will need to come from outside the program and be approved by a 3rd party clearinghouse.  They will also have to show some legitmate work that is commensurate for the payment.    Larry’s mysterious lady friend will have to find an actual job of some sort when she writes the check.   

[romad1]

49 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Remember this past year was on outlier.  The $21M budget for NIL spending went into place in July.  Many big deals were signed and preloaded before this time.   Lots of extra money got spent this summer.  It’s how Texas Tech bought a team for $28M.  Going forward all NIL above the $21M (includes all sports and not just football) will need to come from outside the program and be approved by a 3rd party clearinghouse.  They will also have to show some legitmate work that is commensurate for the payment.    Larry’s mysterious lady friend will have to find an actual job of some sort when she writes the check.   

Yeah, perhaps the enforcement of limitations will allow more latitude for the unscrupulous.   The Wild West works for the wealthy and powerful but when caps and limits are actually enforced they only help the lawbreakers who get away with it. 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

Going forward all NIL above the $21M (includes all sports and not just football) will need to come from outside the program and be approved by a 3rd party clearinghouse.  They will also have to show some legitmate work that is commensurate for the payment.    Larry’s mysterious lady friend will have to find an actual job of some sort when she writes the check.   

all of which are fair and good ideas but as per history in college football, programs will find ways to cheat like crazy - the money will just go back under the table. Again, if history is any guide enforcement will be both feeble and arbitrary.

Edited 7 hours ago by gehringer_2

[Mr.TaterSalad]

Now that Wittingham is in place as Head Coach, his first recruiting priority should be not to let MSU WR Nick Marsh leave the State of Michigan. They need to back up the NIL dump truck full of cash and bring him to Michigan. No reason whatsoever that Marsh should not be getting a call and a generous offer from Michigan. He's a native Detroiter after all.

Edited 6 hours ago by Mr.TaterSalad

[buddha]

2 hours ago, Hongbit said:

Remember this past year was on outlier.  The $21M budget for NIL spending went into place in July.  Many big deals were signed and preloaded before this time.   Lots of extra money got spent this summer.  It’s how Texas Tech bought a team for $28M.  Going forward all NIL above the $21M (includes all sports and not just football) will need to come from outside the program and be approved by a 3rd party clearinghouse.  They will also have to show some legitmate work that is commensurate for the payment.    Larry’s mysterious lady friend will have to find an actual job of some sort when she writes the check.   

dont worry hongbit, michigan's money train - and usc's - will keep on rolling just fine.

lsu already has a $30 million budget.  the money game will continue, no "clearinghouse" will stop it or even slow it down.

[gehringer_2]

49 minutes ago, buddha said:

dont worry hongbit, michigan's money train - and usc's - will keep on rolling just fine.

lsu already has a $30 million budget.  the money game will continue, no "clearinghouse" will stop it or even slow it down.

The thing I don't get is how the people running the programs in college football resolve the basic contradiction. If you have go out and raise a ton of outside money to be competitive, what makes anyone think the enterprise is ever going to be profitable for the institution? They are all in an arms race where the income never catches up to the outgo.

The only answer I've come up with is that the schools are being had. They are spending their own, their alum's and their student's money plus everyone else's they can fund raise from so that a bunch of other people - athletes (to whom the designation 'student' has never applied less), media, PE guys, coaches, can get rich.

OK - I know it's not happening but I've never wished more my school would wake up and get off the treadmill that's only benefiting all the leeches out there.

Edited 5 hours ago by gehringer_2

[buddha]

46 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

The thing I don't get is how the people running the programs in college football resolve the basic contradiction. If you have go out and raise a ton of outside money to be competitive, what makes anyone think the enterprise is ever going to be profitable for the institution? They are all in an arms race where the income never catches up to the outgo.

The only answer I've come up with is that the schools are being had. They are spending their own, their alum's and their student's money plus everyone else's they can fund raise from so that a bunch of other people - athletes (to whom the designation 'student' has never applied less), media, PE guys, coaches, can get rich.

OK - I know it's not happening but I've never wished more my school would wake up and get off the treadmill that's only benefiting all the leeches out there.

football and men's basketball are profitable (at michigan).

every other sport is not.  that's the problem now for the schools.  how do i pay for women's sports?

Edited 5 hours ago by buddha

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, buddha said:

football and men's basketball are profitable (at michigan).

every other sport is not.  that's the problem now for the schools.  how do i pay for women's sports?

No, they really are not once you include the fundraising you have to do to get to even as as starting point. And even that is only at a minority of schools (as you note). Basketball maybe - way lower overhead to run roundball.

Edited 5 hours ago by gehringer_2

[gehringer_2]

I suppose with academicians the easiest myth to sell is 'you are in the top of your class', i.e. you can join the lucky few schools that actually do make money even if you never have before. Live the dream, be Indiana!

Edited 5 hours ago by gehringer_2

[MichiganCardinal]

11 hours ago, Shelton said:

Super weird biff poggi appreciation. 
 

I find it kind of gross for folks to claim they knew all along how rotten everything was. It’s fine that he is being forthright during his mandated news conferences I guess. But he also doesn’t need to go on garbage podcasts and talk ****.  
 

Anyway, good riddance, biff. And good riddance to everyone else. 

Wasn't really meant to be an appreciation post. I don't know Biff Poggi from Adam. If he's not a good human being, I don't know that. I know he's hedge fund rich, so he's got that going against him. At least he hasn't killed a kid like Brian Kelly. I hope he lands on his feet just like I would hope Wink lands on his feet. Or any random person suddenly out of a job. I just thought the Twitter crucification was over the top for a guy who ostensibly was calling a spade a spade in front of a microphone. 

The part I bolded is definitely fair criticism. Standing on shore and watching the bubbles rise from a sunk ship while claiming "I knew it was going down" is a self-indictment if you can't also point to concrete steps you took to better things. AFAIK, he didn't.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

The part I bolded is definitely fair criticism. Standing on shore and watching the bubbles rise from a sunk ship while claiming "I knew it was going down" is a self-indictment if you can't also point to concrete steps you took to better things. AFAIK, he didn't.

Or he's just enough of a mensch that he doesn't feel the need to justify himself in public for what he did do in private during a period which is best put in the rear-view mirror. We have no idea either way.

Edited 4 hours ago by gehringer_2

[romad1]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Or he's just enough of a mensch that he doesn't feel the need to justify himself in public for what he did do in private during a period which is best put in the rear-view mirror. We have no idea either way.

 

3 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Wasn't really meant to be an appreciation post. I don't know Biff Poggi from Adam. If he's not a good human being, I don't know that. I know he's hedge fund rich, so he's got that going against him. At least he hasn't killed a kid like Brian Kelly. I hope he lands on his feet just like I would hope Wink lands on his feet. Or any random person suddenly out of a job. I just thought the Twitter crucification was over the top for a guy who ostensibly was calling a spade a spade in front of a microphone. 

The part I bolded is definitely fair criticism. Standing on shore and watching the bubbles rise from a sunk ship while claiming "I knew it was going down" is a self-indictment if you can't also point to concrete steps you took to better things. AFAIK, he didn't.

Ironically under Harbaugh and later Sherrone Moore, they referred to the program being a submarine. 

[romad1]

3 hours ago, buddha said:

football and men's basketball are profitable (at michigan).

every other sport is not.  that's the problem now for the schools.  how do i pay for women's sports?

there is a lot to the notion of sports spending being an arms race for no real benefit besides to those who benefit from the money in the first instance.  

I've always been a person who thinks this stuff provides an incalculable public benefit.  I remember on the old board doing the calculations to what Magglio Ordonez' 2006 Game 4 ALDS home run was worth.  It was worth how much in terms of public good.  There was some sort of insane multi-attribute garbage analysis going on but the idea was to quantify the qualitative.  

[Hongbit]

4 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

The thing I don't get is how the people running the programs in college football resolve the basic contradiction. If you have go out and raise a ton of outside money to be competitive, what makes anyone think the enterprise is ever going to be profitable for the institution? They are all in an arms race where the income never catches up to the outgo.

The only answer I've come up with is that the schools are being had. They are spending their own, their alum's and their student's money plus everyone else's they can fund raise from so that a bunch of other people - athletes (to whom the designation 'student' has never applied less), media, PE guys, coaches, can get rich.

OK - I know it's not happening but I've never wished more my school would wake up and get off the treadmill that's only benefiting all the leeches out there.

I read somewhere that applications from outside the South are way up at all the SEC schools.   Kids from North and Midwest are flocking to these schools like never before. They attribute the success of football and the social atmosphere it creates do driving it.    It would appear that football is the new marketing arm of admissions.  

[buddha]

4 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

I read somewhere that applications from outside the South are way up at all the SEC schools.   Kids from North and Midwest are flocking to these schools like never before. They attribute the success of football and the social atmosphere it creates do driving it.    It would appear that football is the new marketing arm of admissions.  

maybe.  Those southern schools are giving a lot of tuition discounts to northern kids.  alabama takes a lot of kids from chicago by offering them in-state tuition.  that means a lot when places like michigan and wisconsin are charging unbelieveable amounts for out of state tuition.

when i went to illinois law school out of state in 1998, tuition was $18k per year.  its now over $60k.  michigan all in out of state is almost $90k for undergrad.  illinois in state is almost $40k and they give you nothing.  suddenly $20k from alabama or lsu doesnt look so bad...

applications are up all over the place too.  the common app makes it much easier to apply to multiple schools.

[romad1]

15 minutes ago, buddha said:

maybe.  Those southern schools are giving a lot of tuition discounts to northern kids.  alabama takes a lot of kids from chicago by offering them in-state tuition.  that means a lot when places like michigan and wisconsin are charging unbelieveable amounts for out of state tuition.

when i went to illinois law school out of state in 1998, tuition was $18k per year.  its now over $60k.  michigan all in out of state is almost $90k for undergrad.  illinois in state is almost $40k and they give you nothing.  suddenly $20k from alabama or lsu doesnt look so bad...

applications are up all over the place too.  the common app makes it much easier to apply to multiple schools.

U Chicago bombarded my son with glossy mailers ever since his PSAT came out and ultimately it was all a circle jerk to up their application numbers and lower ratio for the admittance numbers.

I'm relieved my daughter is very interested in in-state Virginia schools.  She's not about that stress.  She's been told that she won't get her inheritance unless she graduates with an actual brick and mortar 4 year undergrad degree (plus she has to spend a night in a haunted house).  If she can accomplish that and get an actual university education without killing my retirement so much the better. 

[gehringer_2]

23 minutes ago, buddha said:

maybe.  Those southern schools are giving a lot of tuition discounts to northern kids.  alabama takes a lot of kids from chicago by offering them in-state tuition.  that means a lot when places like michigan and wisconsin are charging unbelieveable amounts for out of state tuition.

when i went to illinois law school out of state in 1998, tuition was $18k per year.  its now over $60k.  michigan all in out of state is almost $90k for undergrad.  illinois in state is almost $40k and they give you nothing.  suddenly $20k from alabama or lsu doesnt look so bad...

applications are up all over the place too.  the common app makes it much easier to apply to multiple schools.

Yeah - I don't imagine a typical B10 school exactly covets students that decide where to apply based on the football team. 

The other thing to keep in mind about those 'list' prices is how few people actually pay them. 

OTOH, everything that can't go on forever will end. Schools like UM have been stealing admissions from the 2nd tier schools all around the state. Eventually those places are going to find a way to make themselves more attractive again or they will be out of business.

Edited 57 minutes ago by gehringer_2