Urban Meyer's Take on How Michigan Can Make People Forget Scandals is Spot On

The Wolverines have been in the news for a lot of poor decisions in recent years, but with a new season of football here — Michigan can make people forget.

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Despite winning two national championships in the last three years, the University of Michigan has been under fire for what's unfolded in the athletic department. Between Connor Stalions' sign-stealing scheme, staffers being fired from the football program, Sherrone Moore being fired for an inappropriate relationship with a staffer, and Warde Manuel resigning at the end of the calendar year — the Wolverines are constantly in the news.

Now, Michigan is on the search for a new athletic director, and until Michigan can right the ship of wrongdoings, these constant mistakes will continue to resurface in the news.

However, appearing on The Triple Option podcast, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer believes Kyle Whittingham can make people quickly forget about any wrongdoings in Ann Arbor. He believes if the Wolverines can get through three-fourths of the season undefeated, all of the past will be forgotten.

"Well, we're talking about sports," Meyer said. "So, remember — coach Whitt comes out of the shoot 7-0 or 8-0 and people are going to forget. They have a new basketball coach. The new basketball coach gets it — catches fire. So again, you win, all good. You lose, they'll keep coming back to this. If you win, you won't hear about this again, I would imagine."

Can the football program make people forget about the past?

It's an interesting sentiment that Meyer has regarding the football program. Most of the issues Michigan is currently going through stem from the football program itself. Between Stalions and staffers, Matt Weiss' computer hacking crimes, and coach Moore's poor decisions — there has been a bad light painted on the Wolverines.

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However, Michigan has gone through a complete reset on the program after hiring long-time head coach Kyle Whittingham from Utah. Whittingham has run a successful program that is never in the news for poor decisions. It was a hire Warde Manuel may not get enough credit for as he is out after the calendar year.

Michigan is a football school

Regardless of how well the Michigan basketball program performs, at the end of the day, football rules supreme in Ann Arbor. It's still summer; the Manuel news is outperforming any current football story, and people are catching fatigue from the situation.

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But once football season comes, fans will be locked in on the Wolverines, hoping to see Michigan crash the College Football Playoff party. If Whittingham outperforms expectations this season and can go through a daunting schedule nearly unblemished, it's quite possible people quit bringing up the past scandals at Michigan — aside from rival fans.

Recency bias typically comes to the forefront of athletics, and a 7-0 or 8-0 Wolverines' football program would be the talk of the national community — not what Stalions did from 2021-2023 or Moore's firing.