Sports

When U of M men’s basketball coach John Beilein announced he was leaving Ann Arbor for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, I was as shocked as anyone. But once the dust settled, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel had to make the most important decision of his four-year tenure.

Usually in this business we hear rumors, feel tremors, or flat-out get tipped off that big news is about to break. Not this time.

When University of Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein signed a five-year deal to coach the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers Monday morning, I was as surprised as you.

The Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs again this year – the third year in a row. Not that big of a deal, except the team had just come off a 25-year streak of playoff appearances – the third longest in NHL history. During that streak they won four Stanley Cups. Nobody won more.

Qualifying for March Madness is a milestone for many college basketball programs, but if your team is still playing in April that’s really something. Michigan State is one of the four teams still alive in the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament. The Spartans will take on Texas Tech Saturday night in Minneapolis.

Plenty of pundits have raged about the soaring salaries of college coaches, and rightly so. 

Over the past three decades, the average football coach’s salary increased tenfold to $2.5 million. That’s about 25 times more than the average college professor earns, whose salary has merely kept pace with inflation. Today the highest paid public employee in 39 states is either a basketball coach or a football coach.

When we last checked in with the Michigan football team four weeks ago, the Wolverines had just lost to 12th-ranked Notre Dame, then crushed Western Michigan.

But the Wolverines still had more questions than answers, especially after coming off a disappointing 8-5 season the year before.

Two weeks ago, Michigan football was ranked 14th. Michigan State was ranked 11th. The Detroit Lions were supposed to improve with a new coach, and Eastern Michigan was expected to slide back to mediocrity ways.

As summer begins to wind down, the fall football season is firing up. 

Michigan State will kick off its season this Friday at home against the Utah State Aggies. On Saturday, Michigan heads to South Bend for its season opener against Notre Dame. 

Discovering a passion -- and chasing that passion -- can change your life in profound ways. Just ask Michigan State University student Khalilah Smith of Detroit.

She discovered horses as a young girl, and then she discovered rodeo.

It's been a lot of fun discovering the unique summer festivals happening around the state, celebrating everything from baby food to bologna.

This weekend, a festival in Muskegon will celebrate a sport that most people don't associate with the Great Lakes: surfing.

A couple weeks ago, I reported on the Big Ten Media Days, the annual event when every coach tells you what a great off-season his team had – in the weight room, the classroom, and yes, the community.

About the only news that seemed to come out of those two days of interviews was Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s short, simple answers to exceedingly silly or annoying questions.

But we didn’t realize the big story had just been planted under our noses. The first night of the conference, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer fired one of his assistants, Zach Smith.

Ohio State University has put head football coach Urban Meyer on paid leave while the school investigates whether he protected former assistant coach Zach Smith, who was fired last week.

Michigan Radio’s sports commentator John U. Bacon is back to the grind after enjoying a much-needed summer vacation.

Bacon joined Stateside to talk about the long-awaited induction of Detroit Tiger greats Alan Trammell and Jack Morris into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and much more. 

This Saturday, thousands of fans will pack Michigan Stadium for a rousing game of football. And it doesn't involve any Wolverines.

The game will pit two superstar English soccer teams in the International Champions Cup — Manchester United versus Liverpool — against each other.