Burke and Michigan Football’s Upcoming Head Coaching Search

Les Miles, the head football coach at LSU, is one of the early favorites to be Michigan’s next head coach

For once, it looked like the Michigan of old.  In its last game of the season with a bowl game and Coach Hoke’s job on the line, Michigan took the ball on its own five yard line and executed a masterful 95 yard drive that ended in a touchdown.  14-7 Michigan.   From there, things went downhill, and Michigan lost (again) to Ohio State, 42-28.   Michigan finished the year 5-7, and this all but guarantees that Coach Hoke will be fired.   Michigan will soon be conducting its third coaching search in seven years, and it can’t afford to make another mistake.  This is a pivotal time for Michigan Football, and there are many different opinions on who Michigan should hire as its next head coach. The early favorite is Jim Harbaugh, who is right below God for a lot of Michigan fans.   Other favorites include: Les Miles, David Shaw, and Greg Schiano.  With all of these candidates and the differing coaching genealogies each one has, what would Edmund Burke say?

What Is The Best Way To Format A Class?

This year is my first experience with the beta system of GradeCraft. GradeCraft is an online grade system which incorporates the idea of Gamification. Gamification is the use of video game mechanics in something non-video game related. This year two out of my four classes are done through the GradeCraft system; and I have to say I have mixed feelings about this system.

Present-Day Machiavellians?

In 1991, five freshmen stepped onto the University of Michigan and throughout their two years together, transcended basketball culture on and off the court. You could probably guess who they were right?

Steve Fisher and the Fab Five used to be all smiles

Well of course it’s the Fab Five! The team made up of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. Who doesn’t know about them?

Now ask a person who was the guy at the sidelines barking instructions at those five players and the answer may be harder to come by. Steve Fisher, despite his notoriety as the head coach of the infamous Fab Five as well as successful tenure pre-Fab Five, is not a name thrown around loosely in Ann Arbor. Someone with his track record should be glorified just as much as Michigan legends such as Bo Schembechler, Lloyd Carr, and even current basketball coach, John Beilein. So why is it that the Fab Five is so famous (or infamous), but their own leader is little known outside the realm of basketball fans? 

Priority Check

As a freshman at the University of Michigan, I feel pressure to apply to the Ross School of Business. I find myself surrounded by thousands of freshman, all of whom–whether they admit it or not–are angling for admission to Ross.

I have visions of walking into the sleek orange and blue building that is Ross and feeling like I am a part of the #4 undergraduate business program in the nation. I can see myself ordering a morning cappuccino in the Starbucks in Ross’s lobby while hurrying to a lecture where everyone will be wearing a fancy suit and carrying a designer label suitcase. There’s only one problem with my dream of Ross acceptance…I’m not interested in studying business.

The B-School sure is quite a sight to behold.

I like studying history, writing, government, and the humanities. Those have been my favorite subjects  since the beginning of high school. It would make sense for me to want to major in political science, English or public policy among other subjects. Yet, I rarely consider these academic focuses as my first choice–I desire to gain acceptance to Ross. A degree from Ross in finance sounds successful.

See, I, like many others, equate acceptance into Ross with success. Success is defined as “the accomplishment of one’s goals”. Yet, if I’m not actually interested in studying and learning about business, why am I so attracted to Ross? There is a wide-spread social and cultural dilemma at the core of my affection for Ross.