Forcier’s brother, Rodriguez disagree on injury

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said Tuesday he doesn’t think quarterback Tate Forcier’s injured shoulder is a problem, even though Forcier’s older brother, Jason, told the campus newspaper, The Michigan Daily, that it is a big issue. Jason Forcier told The Daily for Tuesday’s edition: “His shoulder is more injured than I think the public realizes. It’s the same thing (Oklahoma quarterback) Sam Bradford did. Maybe not as severe, but an AC joint is an AC joint. Once you injure it, it’s hurt for the rest of the year.” - Detroit Free Press

Rich Rodriguez may use MSU bulletin-board quotes

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said today he might use bulletin-board material to keep his players’ attention, especially during a rivalry week such as this one with Michigan State. MSU defensive end Trevor Anderson said Tuesday that he feels the U-M players don’t respect the Spartans. – Detroit Free Press

Michigan taking terrorist warnings seriously

The University of Michigan said it’s banning purses, diaper bags and all other bags of any size from Michigan Stadium as a security measure. The school said today that it will require the “written permission of a medical professional” before allowing bags of any kind into the stadium for Saturday’s game against Indiana University. Binoculars will be allowed, provided they are not in a case. Non-pocket seat cushions, cell phones and clear, sealed water bottles also will be permitted. Any permitted items brought to the stadium are subject to search. A recent arrest in Colorado related to a terrorism investigation has touched off national warnings. – Detroit Free Press

Did Wolverine throw punch at Irish Player?

Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez says he didn’t see linebacker Jonas Mouton throw a punch at Notre Dame lineman Eric Olsen. Rodriguez faced questions as video of the incident during Saturday’s 38-34 Wolverines victory spread on the Internet. Mouton appears to swing at Olsen’s chin after getting up from the turf after Olsen fell on him. Rodriguez says an official would have called any infraction and says Mouton won’t face discipline. – Los Angeles Times

Michigan AD in Hot Water Over Loans to Rich Rodriguez, Others

Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez and seven of his assistants have received $3.3 million in mortgages and lines of credit from the bank founded by U-M athletic director Bill Martin, records show. Basketball coach John Beilein received his mortgage at Bank of Ann Arbor too, as did another basketball assistant; men’s swimming coach Mike Bottom has a line of credit there. All told, the 11 coaches have secured more than $4 million in loans from the bank where Martin is a shareholder and chairman of the board. The disclosures raise questions about whether Martin can be objective about the coaches’ performance at U-M when their dismissal could affect their ability to repay the bank. – Detroit News

Time for Charlie Weis to Go?

Improvement from the offense amounts to very little when the defense is a sieve. Ditto the special teams. Absolutely brutal. Weis must be judged on the aggregate total of his coaching duties — not simply in the vacuum of his offensive output. And though the officiating was as awful as I’ve ever seen, that’s to be expected with Big Ten refs — particularly in Ann Arbor — but that’s another matter altogether. The bottom line is, ND had a talent advantage at nearly every position, yet Weis somehow managed to bungle another game — a game Notre Dame had to win. An experienced head coach would have recognized the advantage Michigan had by playing at home, with essentially their very own refs; but Charlie did not learn from prior mistakes. An experienced head coach would have run out to a big enough lead, mitigating the home field advantage the Wolverines enjoyed… At any rate, this is year five for Weis. Rodriguez is in his second season, and his program was more vulnerable than I have ever seen a Michigan program, e.g. off-the-field issues, transfers, depleted depth on roster, etc. But then again, Ara Parseghian said it best when recalling the importance of having prior head coaching experience before coming to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is not a training ground for coaches to learn on the job, e.g. Faust, Davie et al. The loss to Michigan is wholly unacceptable. And the game against Southern Cal promises to be ugly. A loss to the Trojans will bring Charlie to 0-5 against Notre Dame’s only rival. That is unacceptable, but then again, losing to the Washington Generals…er, Navy ought to be as well. Notre Dame Nation must not embrace the lowered expectations coming from the administration. Notre Dame Football is quickly becoming a Disneyland-like attraction: take the family for an enjoyable afternoon and see the the beautiful sights on campus — just don’t pay attention to the current results on the field, for they are ancillary to the experience of your visit to the Notre Dame Museum of Lore. – Irish Central

Charlie Weis: Michigan officiating ‘left a lot to be desired’

Charlie Weis didn’t want to spend his Sunday press conferencediscussing the part officiating played in Notre Dame’s 38-34 loss to Michigan. “What you don’t want to do is come out after a game that’s hard-fought by both teams and use the officials as a scapegoat.” But, you know, about those refs… “I have to be careful when I say this — I have Big Ten officials coming in this week again,” Weis said Sunday. “But that game left a lot to be desired.” – Chicago Tribune

Loss Puts Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis on Hot Seat - Again

It’s hard to say this because Notre Dame didn’t lose the game — Michigan won it. But Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis might need to start worrying about the security of his job. In a make-or-break year for Weis and his future as the head coach of the Fighting Irish, it’s advantage break. When you’ve got 490 yards of total offense and a quarterback who passed for three touchdowns and you lose, a lot of blame will likely fall on Weis. Even if he doesn’t agree. – Detroit Free-Press

Investigators Descend on Michigan

Independent investigators, in cooperation with NCAA enforcement officials, scurried around the University of Michigan this week. They were securing evidence in the probe of the football program, lining up face-to-face interviews with current and past players, coaches and athletic administrators and obtaining files and correspondences among university and athletic officials involved in one of the most-storied programs in the history of college football. The efforts are the routine, early steps in any probe of alleged NCAA violations, according to participants in similar investigations. They say the work, like investigations by law enforcement, can be complex, exacting, tedious and utterly unpredictable. – Detroit News

Rich Rodriguez partnered with banned booster

University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez forged a business partnership with a Clemson University booster who was banned from the program and recently was charged with five felony fraud counts, records show. The booster, Clegg Lamar Greene, a businessman from Gafney, S.C., had a misdemeanor conviction on his record when Rodriguez and three other men partnered with him in a proposed condominium project near the Virginia Tech football stadium in Blacksburg, Va. The project never materialized and the group defaulted on the loan, according to a federal lawsuit filed last month. – Detroit Free Press

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