Inside The Fort (ITF): The Culture At U-M, Positive Injury Updates & More
This week's edition of Inside the Fort brings you what we're hearing regarding the Michigan Wolverines football team as it prepares for tomorrow's game at Rutgers. The futures of head coach Jim Harbaugh, staff members and key personnel are discussed inside, along with some key injury updates that will have U-M fans encouraged.
Juwan Howard's basketball crew is also talked about inside the article, specifically what fans can expect to see from a lineup standpoint on Wednesday night against Bowling Green.
We have also provided some background info on five-star small forward Caleb Houstan, along with some other key targets Howard is after.
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READ THE FULL INSIDE THE FORT HERE.
A sample of what's inside…
Starting with good news this week, which has been hard to come by in an injury-riddled, disappointing 1-3 (to date) football season …
We’ve gotten texts from many former players, coaches in other sports, even former head coaches at other schools about this year’s team and “what’s wrong” with the program. Most of them said the same thing:
“They look like they have broken culture.”
That’s something that’s really tough to fix. It takes great leadership from the top down, and sometimes that’s not even enough. There are seven captains on this year’s squad, and we know a lot of them (at least) care about the program and its success beyond their own.
It would be hard for them to leave next year given how the season has played out for him and his team, and one in particular won’t. This is a “free” year for the players scholarship-wise, and this guy is intent on coming back and making the most of one more year in the winged helmet. He wants to get the culture back to what it should be and go out on a winning note, and while he’s done his best this year, there are some still not getting it.
He'll make the announcement if/when he sees fit. Frankly, we hope he doesn't and just shows up back at work without any fanfare. That was once the "Michigan way."
Hopefully, they continue to find more like him on the recruiting trail. There are great leaders, and then there are some who talk a good game. Even some of the most vocal were waving the white flag in the second quarter of last week’s game, according to some on the other sideline, asking them to “dial it down” because “this game is over.”
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