Sports

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.

Student-athletes face unique pressures, both on and off the field. 

But research has found athletes are far less likely than other college students to seek help for mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression.

Jevon Moore wants to change that. Moore joined Stateside’s Cynthia Canty to discuss his efforts to shift the culture of college athletics and increase awareness of mental health resources.

Do not let a spinal cord injury get in the way of achieving your goals. 

For Cheryl Angelelli, that meant expressing herself through ballroom dancing. Now, she is leading the growth of Para Dance in this country by helping others who live with physical impairment discover the sport.

It's been called the fastest growing sport in America, and it could be coming to a park or gym near you.

The name of the game is pickleball. It was invented in the Pacific Northwest, popularized in the Sun Belt, and has been growing in Michigan for years.

So what is it? The hybrid sport borrows from tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. It's played with a wiffle ball, and is known for its inclusive and friendly community.

John U. Bacon joined Stateside to discuss his thoughts on the $500 million settlement between Michigan State University and 332 survivors of abuse by former sports doctor Larry Nassar.

Bacon very closely covered Penn State University as it worked its way past the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

He came to the studio to compare the two universities, and the different ways they dealt with their unfortunate predicaments.

New Lions head coach Matt Patricia has found himself at the center of a Detroit News story that reported: he'd been arrested in March 1996 and indicted for aggravated sexual assault. 

The case collapsed when the accuser decided not to testify.

Week after week, month after month, year after year, John U. Bacon has brought his take on sports to us here on Stateside.

Talking sports with Bacon has revealed his straight-talking gift of cutting to the heart of the story, of making people understand the struggles, stumbles, and triumphs of those people on the field, the court, and the rink. 

For Michigan baseball fanatics, a visit to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull - the site of the original Tiger Stadium - is almost a religious pilgrimage. But there is another baseball field roughly five miles away in Hamtramck that has its own historical significance, and yet is rarely recognized.

Mark Harvey, state archivist with the Michigan History Center, and Gary Gillette, an author, founder and president of the non-profit Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium, joined Stateside to discuss the stadium’s historical importance, its afterlife as a community sports center, and why rehabilitation efforts are so important.

She's the pride of Michigan's running community, and today she's basking in the glow of being the first U.S. woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years.

Desiree Linden trains with Hansons-Brooks in Rochester Hills. She plowed through wind and rain to finish in 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 54 seconds.

This is the Season of Our Discontent. Or it would be, if you attached your happiness to Detroit’s professional sports teams.

Let’s start with the Pistons.

When Bill Davidson bought the team in 1974, the Pistons were bad and getting worse. But Davidson patiently rebuilt the team with the right leaders, and won two NBA titles. Then he hired new leaders, and did it all again, and won another NBA title in 2004. Along the way, they won nine division titles.

Spring in Michigan doesn’t just mean baseball. It also means soccer – or, for purists – “football.”

This weekend, Detroit City FC kicks off its season with some international friendlies on this year’s schedule.

Also of note: Last week, Major League Soccer (MLS) officials were in town, as Detroit continues pressing its case for an MLS team.

The Freep Film Festival opens on Wednesday with a documentary that takes us right into the heart of one of the most compelling stories in sports history anywhere: how the players who became known as the Russian Five came to the Detroit Red Wings and helped power the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups.

The Russian Five is the first feature-length documentary from Port Huron’s Joshua Riehl. It's getting its world premiere this Wednesday night at a sold-out event in Detroit.

John U. Bacon, Michigan Radio sports commentator, joined Stateside today to discuss what the Red Wings should expect in the draft lottery, what the main difference was between watching the Frozen Four and Red Wings games, and why the Pistons have "stalled."

The Michigan basketball team beat Loyola last weekend and made it to the NCAA finals. That was a minor miracle in itself.

The team had almost no stars – with maybe one future NBA draft pick. They started slowly, with very weak defense, playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules.