pupil’s failures — it’s their job
to handle them properly.
And
if
Manuel
and
his
department
can’t,
they’re
the ones who should be held
accountable.
Winning
programs
don’t
excuse that.
Stoll
can
be
reached
at
nkstoll@umich.edu
and
on
Twitter @nkstoll.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, December 7, 2022 — 11
Despite second straight Big Ten
championship, Michigan’s focus lies on the
national title
SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Editor
drove me so much that this vic-
tory tonight doesn’t really feel like
anything,” McCarthy said after
the game. “That’s something that’s
really hard to come by. I mean,
back-to-back Big Ten Champion-
ships is amazing, but just that feel-
ing that we had last year, this is just
in the way of making sure that feel-
ing never happens again.”
It’s a difficult position to be in,
but it’s also an enviable one. For
McCarthy and Edwards, they’re
at a point where accomplishments
like Saturday night don’t mean
all that much to them. They want
more, the Wolverines want more.
Michigan just captured its 13th
victory, its most wins in a season
in program history. And yet, there
is no trophy for that accomplish-
ment, no banner to hang — it’s
simply what’s expected of college
football’s elite. It’s obvious that the
Wolverines want to be in the upper
echelon of their sport. Edwards
proclaimed that much to everyone
inside Lucas Oil Stadium, moments
after accepting the Big Ten title
game MVP trophy.
“I mean it’s kinda self-explana-
tory what our goals are,” Edwards
said. “I believe we’ve talked about
it all year. And it’s not really much
more that needs to be said. … Let’s
go do what our main goal is.”
Michigan’s goals have been to
beat its rivals, win the Big Ten,
make the College Football Playoff
and win the National Champion-
ship.
The Wolverines have been very
upfront about those goals all year,
they’ve worn them unabashedly
on their sleeve. But now it’s dif-
ferent. Now, they are on the
doorstep of their hearts’ desire —
they’re just two wins away from a
national title.
Michigan’s dreams of winning
a national championship are tan-
gible. And McCarthy recognizes
that.
“I love our chances,” McCar-
thy said. “Last year it was kind of
the bright lights, everything was
new, Big Ten Championship, Col-
lege Football Playoff. Going into
the offseason it gave us so much
momentum, and we knew that
we could get there, and we could
get back. Ultimately, this whole
offseason it was about winning it.
“Everything is great that hap-
pened today. But job is not fin-
ished. We’ve got a lot bigger plans
in mind.”
It’s really that simple. The
Wolverines want to win a
national championship, and they
believe that they can. Everything
that has happened over the past
year has just brought Michigan
closer to its end goal.
Maybe that’s a rematch with
Georgia for the national champi-
onship, maybe it isn’t. Just which-
ever team it plays, the Wolverines
hope that they aren’t, once again,
the team learning what it’s like
to play with the big dogs. Or
the team taking moral victories
instead of taking a trophy.
Michigan wants to be the team
celebrating. And if there’s one
thing to take from the Wolver-
ines, it’s that they unequivocally
think they will.
Sports
FOOTBALL
SportsMonday: Don’t let winning distract you from the athletic department’s failures
In sports, one thing is put
above all else: winning.
Excuses are made for cheat-
ers and gamblers on the tame
end, and domestic abusers and
sex offenders on the extreme
end. But as long as they help
your team win, it’s OK. Because
in sports, that’s all that matters,
right?
Right?
And Michigan is winning.
The
football
team
just
claimed its second straight
Big Ten Title — accomplishing
the feat for the first time since
2003-04 — and secured consec-
utive College Football Playoff
appearances for the first time
in program history. The men’s
basketball team has made five
straight Sweet 16s. The wom-
en’s basketball team reached
unprecedented heights, mak-
ing the Elite Eight in last year’s
tournament. The hockey team
made it to the Frozen Four once
again. The gymnastics teams
bring home banners, individual
wrestlers have claimed titles
and the suite of other varsity
sports have found great success.
That
success
across
the
entire athletic department has
been forged by hard work, dedi-
cation and — of course — moral
compromise.
Because who needs account-
ability when you’re winning?
First, turn your eyes to the
Big Ten Championship MVP
and sophomore running back
Donovan
Edwards.
After
retweeting antisemitic rheto-
ric, the athletic department
didn’t muster a very strong
response. Edwards eventually
apologized, only after saying
it was a “glitch” — an unlikely
scenario given the steps it takes
to retweet something. Universi-
ty President Santa Ono put out
this indirect statement, which
fails to address Edwards him-
self or his actual actions.
Beyond that? Excuses.
You don’t know Dono like we
do.
We heard.
Dono didn’t mean it.
They said.
Dono’s a great guy.
The line went.
But “Dono” helped them win.
That much is evident. So his
actions were brushed under the
rug.
Just this week, senior defen-
sive tackle Mazi Smith faced
felony gun charges. The inci-
dent dated back to Oct. 7, but
the charge was filed Wednes-
day,
and
athletic
director
Warde Manuel left this lacklus-
ter statement:
“We are aware of the charge
against Mazi from a traffic stop
back in October,” Manuel said.
“Mazi was honest, forthcoming
and cooperative from the very
beginning and is a tremendous
young man. He is not and never
has been considered a threat to
the University or community.
“Based on the information
communicated to us, we will
continue to allow the judicial
process to play out. Mazi will
continue to participate as a
member of the team.”
The
Wolverines
would’ve
been hurting without their star
player and team captain in the
Big Ten Championship game. Of
course he was going to play.
I know that Smith was in the
process of getting his concealed
carry license and the other facts
of the case. I’m not here to say
whether he is guilty or not. I’m
here to say the athletic depart-
ment failed to give substantive
reasoning why a player charged
with a felony wasn’t suspended
even a game — instead being
lauded in the press release — or
why the news wasn’t disclosed
sooner.
Had the athletic department
known about the incident since
Oct. 7, this becomes all the
more complicated and all the
more damning. There’s no way
to know, but the past doesn’t
look favorably on the athletic
department’s track record.
Another star athlete — for-
mer point guard Zavier Simp-
son — also faced charges after
a vehicle incident with police
in 2020. Simpson, unlike Smith,
was suspended one game. The
issue in his case wasn’t the sus-
pension, but the way the athlet-
ic department failed to properly
address Simpson lying to police
that his name was “Jeff Jack-
son,” how he was driving a vehi-
cle owned by Manuel’s wife and
how bodycam footage indicated
an impaired state of mind.
Winning took priority over
teaching lessons and molding
young athletes — over being the
“leaders and best.”
But passing over serious inci-
dents doesn’t end there.
In former Michigan hock-
ey coach Mel Pearson’s case,
there was a slew of disgusting
infractions that Manuel and the
department had known about
for months before firing him
earlier this year. It took pub-
lic outcry before the facts of
the case were deemed severe
enough to result in action.
Because Pearson was a win-
ner. His players were top pros-
pects at NHL squads and the
Wolverines were in the Frozen
Four. Firing Pearson would
likely result in a rough year for
the Michigan hockey program.
That simply isn’t enough to
excuse inaction — and there’s
really no other explanation for
it.
Really, this feigned igno-
rance and false moral high
ground stretches much further
back than the past couple years.
Look at what’s happened with
Bo Schembechler and the chill-
ing accusations, corroborated
by his own son, levied against
him.
Still, Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh praises him, and
his statue still stands outside
the hall given Schembechler’s
namesake on athletic depart-
ment grounds.
Why?
Because he was a goddamn
winner.
And that should not be
enough to pardon any kind of
behavior.
Not every incident needs a
suspension, firing or sweep-
ing
address,
but
athletes
and coaches need to be held
accountable for their actions.
It’s not Manuel and the athletic
department’s job to cover up its
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan earns No. 2 seed, to play TCU
in Fiesta Bowl
JARED GREENSPAN
Managing Sports Editor
For the second consecutive
season, the Michigan football
team is headed to the College
Football Playoff.
On New Year’s Eve, the sec-
ond-ranked
Wolverines
will
take on No. 3 seed TCU in the
Fiesta Bowl. The winner of that
semifinal will advance to the
national championship against
either No. 1 Georgia or No. 4
Ohio State.
The game will mark Michi-
gan’s second ever appearance
in the College Football Playoff.
Last season, the Wolverines
earned the No. 2 seed and lost
to Georgia in the Orange Bowl,
34-11.
Michigan is in the midst of a
historic season, having won
13 games for the first time in
program
history
following
its second straight Big Ten
championship, a title it cap-
tured with a 43-22 win over
Purdue Saturday night.
The Horned Frogs, mean-
while, sit at 12-1 and will look
to rebound from a 31-28 loss
to Kansas State in the Big 12
Championship Game.
FOOTBALL
KATE HUA/Daily
KATE HUA/Daily
NICHOLAS STOLL
Managing Sports Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — At this
point, it’s a moment you’ve prob-
ably seen before.
The confetti raining down in
Miami Gardens, the best season
the Michigan football team had in
almost two decades coming to one
somber and unceremonious end.
Red populated Hard Rock Sta-
dium as Georgia’s players, coaches
and faithful all stuck around to
soak in a dominating Orange Bowl
victory. All of the Wolverines had
left the field, except for a few who
stood off to the side, watching the
Bulldogs celebrate what Michigan
so desperately wanted.
That contingent included two
then-freshmen: quarterback J.J.
McCarthy and running back Dono-
van Edwards.
Fast forward to now, and the
scene after the Wolverines cap-
tured their second straight Big
Ten title was quite different: Play-
ers were grinning, the confetti
was maize and blue, but one thing
remained the same.
McCarthy and Edwards once
again stood right next to each
other. Although this time, it was
at the podium after the tandem of
budding stars carried Michigan
to another Big Ten trophy. They
shared bright smiles, but some-
thing about their celebration felt
hollow.
The memory of last year’s
Orange Bowl still lingers.
“I feel like (the Georgia loss)