As an NCAA investigation looms amidst a sign-stealing scandal that has taken the college sports world by storm, everyone’s getting their jokes out at Michigan’s expense, while they still can.
This past Saturday on College GameDay, we saw Pat McAfee joke that former Michigan staffer Conor Stalions was behind a 10-second technical difficulty that saw Kirk Hernstreit temporarily lose audio on his microphone.
On Monday, the head coach of Oakland University Golden Grizzlies — a Division I program that last played in the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament in 2011 — was the latest to take aim at Jim Harbaugh’s program.
Oakland, which is located in Auburn Hills, Michigan, is a suburb that’s just over an hour outside of Ann Arbor. The Golden Grizzlies played their first game of the season on Monday and fell 79-73 at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Now, we imagine that Ohio State’s disdain is larger for Michigan than that of Oakland, but that didn’t stop coach Greg Kampe, who entered his 40th season on the job, from getting off some jokes at the expense of the Wolverines.
“I think one of their frustrations was we know everything they were gonna do,” Kampe said. “Oh, I could make a comment right now for Michigan, but I don’t think I will.”
"I think one of their frustrations was we knew everything they were going to do, oh I could make a comment right now for Michigan"
Oakland's zone caused problems for OSU, they're coach says it's because they knew the Buckeyes offense well.
It got a good laugh: pic.twitter.com/6D6XZnb2KW
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) November 7, 2023
Notably, the postgame press conference erupted in laughter, as several reporters chuckled at Kampe’s subtle mention of the program’s sign-stealing scandal.
“My staff did a hell of a job scouting ’em,” he added.
Well, not as good as Stalions, otherwise the Golden Grizzlies wouldn’t have lost by 6.
While it’s two different sports, the men’s basketball program is 1-8 all-time against the Wolverines, losing by 10 points in a Nov. 2020 bout. Maybe the next time the two teams face off against one another, we’ll know by then what the NCAA’s punishment for Harbaugh and Co. will look like.
For now, it’s a bunch of conjecture and a lot of laughs.
Editors Note: A previous edition of this article included mention of the next time Oakland University and the University of Michigan face off it would be at The Palace, the home of the Detroit Pistons. The Palace at Auburn Hills was demolished in 2020; the Pistons have called Little Caesars Arena in Midtown Detroit their home since 2017. We regret this error.
