wolverines

'The Wolverine State' without any wolverines

Stateside Staff — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:03:11 +0000

We've got the nickname "The Wolverine State," and of course, the University of Michigan and the Wolverines are forever linked.

But the wolverine never called Michigan home.

The wolverine population in the United States is anything but big. An estimated 250-300 wolverines live in the lower 48 states.

One of the experts who devotes herself to protecting the wolverine is, in fact, a "Wolverine."

Bridget Fahey is a 1997 graduate of U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment.

These days, Fahey is the Endangered Species Chief with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the mountain prairie region.

She joined us today to talk about wolverines.

Listen to the full interview above.

Big money pushing kids out of the Big House

John U. Bacon — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:39:52 +0000

A 'seat license' is a fee fans pay just to reserve the right to buy the tickets.

They call it a donation, even though every single one of us apparently decided to donate the exact same amount, or lose our tickets. But that allows us to call it a tax deduction.

It's hard to call that honest, or cheap.

In fairness, Michigan was the last of the top 20 programs to adopt a seat license program, in 2005.

It started gradually, and left endzone fans alone.

But this week, Michigan pushed the seat license for the best tickets up to $600, and even people in the endzone will have to cough up $150 per ticket, just for the right to buy them.

In the past decade, the total cost of my two tickets on the ten-yard line has more than tripled, to over $1,700, which makes you wonder just how we got here.

Wolverine football great Jim Mandich dies

Steve Carmody — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:56:24 +0000

Jim Mandich was the captain of Bo Schembechler's 1969 squad that shocked Ohio State. He went on to star on the Miami Dolphins 1972 team that went undefeated. Mandich died last night after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 62.

U of M Director of Athletics Dave Brandon says Mandich was a Michigan Man "in every way."

"“Captain Jim Mandich led a team that changed Michigan football for decades to follow...He was a legendary player and an even better person. He will be missed."

The following is from U of M's press release announcing Mandich's death.

Wolverines lose NCAA hockey title game in overtime

Steve Carmody — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:51:10 +0000

The University of Michigan men's hockey team fell in overtime to Minnesota-Duluth in last night's NCAA championship game. The Associated Press reports:

U-M Wolverines in men's hockey championship

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:02:36 +0000

How’s your bracket look?

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is over, but the men’s hockey tournament is still going

And the Wolverines are in the final

UM's football coach inks lucrative contract

Steve Carmody — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:18:37 +0000

Brady Hoke signed a six year contract Monday, that could average out to $3.25 million a year. The Associated Press reports Hoke will be paid $2 million in the first year of the contract:

Hoke will be paid $2 million this year and his base salary will increase by $100,000 each season. Hoke will earn a $1.5 million "stay bonus" after his third year and another $1.5 million "stay bonus" if he is still leading college football's winningest program in the sixth season of his contract.

The Associated Press also quoted U of M Athletic Director Dave Brandon expressing confidence in Hoke.

"It's a big job with a lot of expectations and we feel very good about how much we're compensating him to help us reach those expectations."

Brady Hoke replaced Rich Rodriguez who lost the Wolverine head coaching job after three lackluster seasons and an NCAA investigation. Hoke was an assistant coach under Lloyd Carr before becoming a successful head coach at Ball State and San Diego State University.

Hoke issued this statement on his new contract:

The contract was handled by my agent and the University. My focus has been on the football program and will continue to be on making this program the best in America. I couldn’t tell you what’s in the contract other than my signature. The University offered Laura and I an opportunity to coach at Michigan and that’s been my dream. Nothing will change my focus.

MSU fans wearing Spartan green & white this St. Patrick's Day

Steve Carmody — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:04:24 +0000

The Michigan State Spartans tip off their 2011 NCAA Men’s basketball tourney tonight in Tampa against the UCLA Bruins. The tenth seeded Spartans stumbled into the tourney compiling a 19 win-14 loss season. The seventh seeded Bruins posted a slightly better 22 and 10 record.

Poll numbers slip for Rich Rodriguez (yes, they have a poll for that)

Mark Brush — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:30:22 +0000

It's not just sitting president's who have to worry about their poll numbers, apparently head football coaches do to.
Public Policy Polling gathered information on a subject that really doesn't have much to do with the general public or policy.
Their robot callers ("we can reduce interviewer bias to zero by eliminating the live human interviewer") got responses from 1,224 Michiganders on the subject of Rich Rodriguez.

NCAA penalizes the University of Michigan's football program

Mark Brush — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:00:04 +0000

Update 4:15pm: Here's the University of Michigan's response to the NCAA's announcement. Athletic Director David Brandon says
"There were no surprises and there will be no appeal, because there is nothing to appeal. Effective today, this process is over and done and we can focus all of our time and energy on the future."