Thursday Morning Brews: Colors on the Street

Happy Thursday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. Today we’re talking about the Grant Perry situation, which saw some movement yesterday. Perry took a plea deal, and I weigh in with my thoughts below. We also take a look at just how successful Michigan Athletics have been over the past year, and we wrap up by getting to know a little bit about the new Men’s Lacrosse coach. Also, due to the sober subject of our first story, I didn’t insert any music references into this morning’s Brews other than the title. It should be pretty easy, so fire away with guesses in the comments.

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Grant Perry Pleads Guilty to Felony and Misdemeanor

Yesterday morning Grant Perry accepted a plea deal in the latest chapter of his ongoing criminal justice saga. In return for having his two misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct charges dropped, Perry pled guilty to felony resisting and misdemeanor assault and battery for attempting to “wriggle away,” in his words, from a police officer after the incident. Perry will be sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, meaning that if he completes his sentence without incident the charges will be sealed and removed from his record.

Describing the incident in court, Perry told the judge that he and two friends had cut the line outside a bar and restaurant in East Lansing. When a woman complained, Perry said that he got into an argument with her, told her that MSU “sucks,” and shoved her. The woman offers a different version of events, alleging that Perry pressed himself up against her and groped her groin and buttocks for three or four seconds. Perry’s attorneys continue to assert this did not occur.

According to the Lansing State Journal, Perry will be sentenced August 2nd. However, the bigger question that looms rather large is what his status with the team will be. As an observer, I personally expected a plea but I didn’t expect a felony plea. On the other hand, my understanding is that being sentenced under the HYTA is essentially pre-trial diversion and, assuming satisfactory completion of the sentence, it will mean that Perry technically has never been convicted of a felony. Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel have a tough decision to make.

On Perry’s status with the team, Warde Manuel said, “We will allow the judicial process to be completed before making a final determination on his status.” At first blush, the circumstances of this particular incident seem to fall well within the category of a young person doing something stupid - which would likely warrant a second chance. However, Perry’s course of conduct and resulting penalties are outside the scope of what is acceptable for a representative of the University of Michigan. Perry has gotten right up next to my personal line of where I think someone should be kicked off the team. Reflecting that, I think Perry should be suspended for at least an additional four games to start the 2017 season (keep in mind, he was already suspended for two plus the bowl game in 2016).

Did I get it right? Weigh in below and down in the comments. Given the nature of the accusations, I’m going to keep a tight leash on the comments relating to this story.

Michigan Athletics has had quite the year, and that on-field success has translated into 29 Wolverines being selected in professional sports drafts. Michigan is the only school to have players selected in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NPF, MLS, and MLL drafts. Michigan is also the only school to have players selected in all of the four major North American professional sports drafts (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL). Other highlights from the 2016-17 athletics seasons are Brienne Minor’s NCAA Singles Championship in tennis, Elodie Van Dievoet’s individual B1G Championship and 18-footer to send Women’s Golf to the NCAA Championships, and Women’s Basketball winning a program-high 28 games this year and the WNIT Championship in triple OT.

Michigan Men’s Lacrosse recently found their new head coach, the second in program history. Kevin Conry takes the helm of the Wolverines from John Paul, who oversaw the program for the past six years as it made the jump to an NCAA team. The Wolverines had seen progress in recent years under Paul but he was ultimately unable to make the team competitive in conference play, accumulating a disappointing 2-24 record in the ECAC and then the B1G over the past six years. Conry spent the past five seasons at Maryland as their defensive coordinator and associate head coach. For an interview with the new head man, check out the link above.