My major takeaway from reading all of this is that there are still far too many questions than answers, even if the picture is slightly a little less murky than it was last week.
My major questions after reading this:
- Who funded the tickets? There is no way a school employee making $55k a year is paying for all of these games out of pocket. Is there credible evidence to suggest a paper trail where he is being reimbursed? If so, is anyone employed by the program reimbursing him? If it's someone outside of the program, you might have an easier chance to explain it away.
- Has Stalions been to any games himself or are the people he transferred tickets to involved with the program? If no to either of those questions, then now you're arguing against an ancient rule that doesn't have any set punishments with so many loopholes you can punch through. The rule is incredibly vague and if someone was taping that wasn't involved with the program the *technicality* suggests they're not doing anything against the rules.
Now, obviously, if there's a direct link to anyone higher up in the program (thinking Jim Harbaugh) then you're in deep trouble, you can't defend that. For now, it sure seems like it's still a lone-wolf operation
However, with the NCAA rules now stating that a head coach cannot use ignorance or being unaware as an excuse, all violations are assumed that the head coach was aware. The further evidence will show whether anyone else is linked or Stalions acted alone.
No matter how you spin this, it's a terrible look for the program. On top of that, it's incredibly stupid that any ticket sales can be linked back to you in the first place. To be so brazen in you're thinking is moronic, to say the least. Being a moron isn't an NCAA violation, though.
I think the big thing that still hasn't come out yet is what the video evidence shows. If he's not there and the person in his place has no link to the program, then that makes it somewhat better. Doesn't mean it's good. The next one is the obvious paper trail of funding for tickets.
If both of those can be answered with a logical response, then I think Michigan will be somewhat in the clear.
I am not going to rush to judgment just yet and say the program is "screwed" for the future. We still have to let some further facts come out.
I don't know what a suitable punishment is because we still truly don't know how deep this goes yet, which I suspect we will know soon enough.
My major questions after reading this:
- Who funded the tickets? There is no way a school employee making $55k a year is paying for all of these games out of pocket. Is there credible evidence to suggest a paper trail where he is being reimbursed? If so, is anyone employed by the program reimbursing him? If it's someone outside of the program, you might have an easier chance to explain it away.
- Has Stalions been to any games himself or are the people he transferred tickets to involved with the program? If no to either of those questions, then now you're arguing against an ancient rule that doesn't have any set punishments with so many loopholes you can punch through. The rule is incredibly vague and if someone was taping that wasn't involved with the program the *technicality* suggests they're not doing anything against the rules.
Now, obviously, if there's a direct link to anyone higher up in the program (thinking Jim Harbaugh) then you're in deep trouble, you can't defend that. For now, it sure seems like it's still a lone-wolf operation
However, with the NCAA rules now stating that a head coach cannot use ignorance or being unaware as an excuse, all violations are assumed that the head coach was aware. The further evidence will show whether anyone else is linked or Stalions acted alone.
No matter how you spin this, it's a terrible look for the program. On top of that, it's incredibly stupid that any ticket sales can be linked back to you in the first place. To be so brazen in you're thinking is moronic, to say the least. Being a moron isn't an NCAA violation, though.
I think the big thing that still hasn't come out yet is what the video evidence shows. If he's not there and the person in his place has no link to the program, then that makes it somewhat better. Doesn't mean it's good. The next one is the obvious paper trail of funding for tickets.
If both of those can be answered with a logical response, then I think Michigan will be somewhat in the clear.
I am not going to rush to judgment just yet and say the program is "screwed" for the future. We still have to let some further facts come out.
I don't know what a suitable punishment is because we still truly don't know how deep this goes yet, which I suspect we will know soon enough.
