March 6, 2024
By Remi Williamson and Lindsay Budin
Good morning,
Welcome back from Spring Break! We hope you enjoyed the week off and rested up. We want to start off this newsletter by introducing a new section: Women’s Month Spotlight. The Daily sports section produces a special collection of features highlighting female athletes at Michigan in honor of Women’s History Month, so for the next few weeks we will be showcasing these stories.
We both can personally attest to how important Women’s Month is to the sports section and how valuable the stories are. Make sure to give them all a read and keep an eye out for the special website launching on International Women’s Day this Friday.
Lila Turner/Daily.
On Sunday, Michigan coach Juwan Howard made history — but not in a good way.
In the Wolverines’ 84-61 loss to Ohio State, they tallied their 22nd loss, tied for the most in program history. The abysmal season and continuous losing is certainly concerning, but what’s even worse is the state of the program as a whole.
To sustain success, you need a program with a foundation. Howard has provided none.
“Regardless of the final outcome this season — even if the Wolverines were to string together a couple wins in the Big Ten Tournament for instance — all signs point to a program that can’t handle losing and can’t sustain winning,” Daily Sports Writer Paul Nasr writes. “When Michigan wins, be it winning games or strong strong seasons, it isn’t building momentum off it. And when it’s losing, it shows no real way out. The program has no sustainable aspects to work off of, and it shows in debacle after debacle throughout Juwan Howard’s tenure.”
The latest example of how flawed the program is five years into Howard’s tenure is the departure of strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson.
Prior to his resignation, Sanderson had been with the Wolverines for the last 15 years, and was the most durable asset for Michigan. What’s so concerning about his resignation, though, is not that the Wolverines are losing a key member of their coaching staff, but why he left: culture issues and dysfunctionality.
Much of this traces back to Howard.
That’s been exemplified in this historically-atrocious season, and in the fact that he’s trended downward over his time at Michigan. And unless something changes, it’s something that will hold the Wolverines back from bouncing back next season.
Sarah Boeke/Daily.
‘It came back into a circle’: Connecting the dots of Will Rogers’ journey to Ann Arbor, reuniting with Tracy Smith
When Michigan coach Tracy Smith and former assistant coach Ben Greenspan recruited junior catcher Will Rogers this offseason, it wasn’t their first time doing so.
When Rogers was in high school, Smith and Greenspan won him over, leading to his commitment. Only, it wasn’t at Michigan — it was at Arizona State. But before the three could unite, Smith was dismissed, leading Greenspan to depart from the Sun Devils as well.
Though Rogers stood firm in his college decision and put on the Arizona State uniform, he became stuck in the depth chart behind an All-American catcher after his freshman season.
“Rogers was caught in a pickle,” Daily Sports Writer Eli Trese writes. “He loved Tempe, enough so that his parents decided to move to Arizona so that they could watch their son play baseball just down the street. But they never got that opportunity.”
After his sophomore year, he decided to seek a different school. That brought him back to the coaches that recruited him the first time around.
And that brought him to Michigan.
Women’s Month Spotlight
Holly Burkhart/Daily.
Diving into the costs the Michigan women’s club hockey team faces with pay-to-play setup
Hockey is expensive. Cleats, pads, sticks and, not to mention, ice time can put a serious financial strain on any aspiring player. For varsity programs at the collegiate level, those costs no longer fall on the players.
But the Michigan women’s hockey team isn’t at the varsity level.
“It takes hard work and dedication to be a student-athlete,” Daily Sports Contributor Mikaela Lewis writes. “It is difficult to find time to complete assignments while having some commitment – grueling practices, mandatory lifts and demanding travel schedule for games — to hockey five to seven days a week. Now imagine on top of that, you’re working a job to cover the costs associated with your sport.
For athletes on the women’s club hockey team, this is their reality.”
Despite competing against Division I opponents, the Wolverines’ club designation precludes school funding, equipment and athletic scholarships. That adds up. Ice time can come in at around $40,000 a season and travel costs around $65,000. The Wolverines’ only option is to fundraise and pay to play themselves.
The lack of funding not only affects the players, but their coaches as well, who don’t receive any compensation. Although Michigan is known as a hockey state, the club label has made women’s hockey incredibly inaccessible.
And without the funding or varsity status, Michigan will have to carry the weight of the costs on its own shoulders.
Women’s Lacrosse: Michigan beats Colorado, 13-8, remaining undefeated
Women’s Gymnastics: Season high on bars not enough as Michigan falls to No. 1 Oklahoma
Holly Burkhart/Daily.
Hitting inconsistencies plague Michigan in Judi Garman Classic
When the Michigan softball team left the Judi Garman Classic, it did so on a high note. Scoring 10 hits to tally 10 runs against No. 13 Florida, there was certainly a lot to celebrate in the final game of the tournament.
But that was the only thing the Wolverines had to celebrate. Because with sparse hitting, they lost the four previous games.
“While the Wolverines have shown they have a lot of offensive fire, the key remains controlling the burn,” Daily Sports Writer Alina Levine writes.
“Michigan’s batters started off against Texas A&M left-hander Emily Kennedy, who boasts a 0.87 ERA on the season. Against the Aggies, the Wolverines began strong with junior outfielder Ellie Sieler rocketing a single to center field. Yet, Michigan was unable to capitalize as its subsequent batters popped out and struck out — the beginnings of an emergent trend.”
Not only were the Wolverines struggling to get on base, but when they finally did, they couldn’t get runs across the plate. And that stood in the way of Michigan claiming victory in any of its first four games.
Sure, the Wolverines ended on a high note. But it was also the sole high they saw.
Jenna Hickey/Daily.
Maynard Street Moments
Caitlin Clark Breaks the NCAA scoring record
And just like that, Iowa guard Caitlin Clark shattered another college basketball record; but this one involved men, too. Against Ohio State, Clark passed Pete Maravich to become the NCAA’s All-Time Leading Scorer as she sank the pivotal point to break the record from the free throw line.
Back to the grind after a restful spring break? The Michigan Daily has you covered with any news you may miss while you’re hitting the books. Subscribe to more of The Daily’s newsletters to stay in the know.
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