That’s just the way the paradigm of everything has shifted … Now, with everything the way that it is, there is nothing that is really secret.”

For Sports Illustrated columnist Michael Rosenberg, a University alum and former Daily editor, his seven years covering University athletics for The Detroit Free Press showed him the days of secrecy haven’t vanished with the advent of social media.

Rosenberg said while both professional and collegiate programs can range from accommodating to nearly impossible to access, the University Athletic Department tends towards the latter, a tradition bred in the days of Schembechler.

In 2009, Rosenberg and his Free Press colleague Mark Snyder, also a Daily alum, broke the story that Michigan’s football team had committed multiple NCAA violations, most of which concerned rules about exceeding practice time.

After hearing about possible the misconduct, Rosenberg and Snyder spoke with multiple anonymous sources, including parents and athletes, who independently confirmed the allegations.

Rosenberg said the sources were scared to talk for fear of retribution and thus asked to remain anonymous.

Upon approaching the University Athletic Department for any documents or evidence that could prove the sources wrong, the department said they had nothing to say. The Free Press ran the story. A year later, the department admitted to four of the violations.

While Rosenberg said he received pushback from coaches and fans for reporting the violations, he never had hesitations; he was confident in the truth of the reporting.

“If you cover any institution, whatever it is, you have to cover it as objectively and fairly as you can, and that’s what we try to do,” Rosenberg said. “I love the University of Michigan … (but) if you’re going to cover it, you have to cover it the right way.”

Openness not only ranges across programs, but across sports, coaching staffs and administrations.

“Football coaches tend to be a little bit paranoid and controlling, and that’s just the culture of the sport,” Rosenberg said. “It’s almost a militaristic kind of structure.”

He noted that the NHL, NBA and MLB are often more open to media interactions since they tend to have a looser, less rigid culture.

But because Michigan athletics have such a formidable fan base, administrators don’t feel pressured to generate as much publicity or be open with the media.

“There’s nothing wrong with the program a few crowds of 60,000 can’t cure,” Rosenberg said. “You can see where they won’t benefit from it because they’re selling the place out anyway. At Michigan, people will care regardless of what they do with the media.”

For example, Rosenberg said while he admires Michigan head football coach Brady Hoke, he gives very little to the media. In comparison, Rosenberg said Michigan State University tends to be more open as they try to build more excitement about their athletics, adding MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo would tell you his whole life story if you let him.

For Rosenberg, building relationships with coaches and athletic departments is key to developing a quality toolkit of sources.

“I think you should build relationships and build trust over time,” Rosenberg said.
“You can’t go over there and expect to have a bunch of great sources giving you stuff in a month, or even a year. You just have to be patient and get to know people.”

With that relationship, journalists, spokespeople and administrators gain a respect for each other’s motivations, he said.