Happy Tuesday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. As of me writing this, John Beilein is still the head basketball coach at Michigan—and hopefully that’s the way it stays. We try our best to ignore the possibility that he may leave (if you’re looking for Beilein coverage, check out Rian’s column for the latest), so we’re focused mostly on football this morning.
Let’s get to it:
Two earn All-American honors for men’s tennis. A pair of Michigan seniors were recently named Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Americans. Runhao Hua and Alex Knight are the 23rd and 24th All-Americans in program history, according to a University press release. Hua went 25-8 in singles play this season for the Wolverines, while Knight went 25-7. Michigan’s season recently came to an end with a loss to No. 2 UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen.
Buy tickets for members of the military. I think this is a new one from the University, or at least I haven’t noticed the program in the past. The military appreciation game will be held with the Wolverines play SMU this fall (I believe this was the Air Force game last season), and the athletic department is giving fans the opportunity to buy tickets for active duty personnel and veterans. You may do so HERE. Looks like tickets are $55 and the first 250 are matched by Toyota.
Two Wolverines on CFB Hall of Fame ballot. Jumbo Elliott and Steve Hutchinson represent Michigan on the CFB HoF ballot this year. Both Hutchinson and Elliott, who’s real name is John, were top-notch linemen for the Wolverines. Both were two-time All-Americans, with Elliott making his name in the late 1980s and Hutchinson doing the same in late 1990s. Elliott was taken in the second round of the NFL draft and played 14 seasons in the league, while Hutchinson was taken in the first round and played 12 season.
Want to watch Don Brown tell a bunch of campers he needs more violence? Yeah, me too. Or, at least that’s what it sounded like he said to me. Brown was with Jim Harbaugh and others at the Grand Valley State football camp this past weekend, and he broke out some of his wisdom for the campers. Personally, I can’t get enough of Don Brown coaching so check out the link above and this one and this one.
A quick look (via @PFF_Cam) at the 2019 NFL Draft class at cornerback, in coveragehttps://t.co/nIcvdwqDqD pic.twitter.com/nghvIKG6hF
— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 4, 2018
Remember when most of us were worried about the youth in the secondary that was going to be tasked with filling the shoes of Jourdan Lewis,’ Channing Stribling, and others? Yeah, good times. As we know now, Michigan’s secondary was again among the best in college football last season. Lavert Hill and David Long, who PFF College ranks among their best 2019 draft-eligible corners will anchor a stout secondary that will look to again be among the game’s best this fall. How good are Hill and Long? Check out the full article from PFF above.
The disparity in salaries between the Michigan football coaching staff and Michigan basketball coaching staff is too wide.
— Freep Sports (@freepsports) June 3, 2018
John Beilein and his staff deserve whatever they want, writes Nick Baumgardner.https://t.co/XXyrXefU0X
Perhaps this is the whole point of John Beilein talking to the Detroit Pistons, but in a recent column Nick Baumgardner says Michigan must pay John Beilein and his staff “whatever they want.” To be honest, I largely agree. Beilein is in the Top-10 nationally as far as head coach compensation is concerned, but I wouldn’t argue with the guy getting a raise after last season. The bigger deal, though, is his assistant salary pool. Michigan checks in at $675,000 for assistant coaches, while Ohio State is at $1,000,000 and Michigan State is at $800,000. As far as I’m concerned, Yaklich, Washington, and Haynes have earned raises—and if that’s what it takes to keep Beilein in Ann Arbor, I say do it.