The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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8 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MAY 2024 D ial it back to the miserable winter of 2020, for a moment. Imagine insisting to a hardcore Michigan fan that not far down the road, his or her favor- ite college hockey and football squads would reel off three straight Frozen Fours and three consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, culminat- ing in a football national championship. Said fan might have laughed in your face, and not with a smile. Not so long ago, those two major sports at Michi- gan were teetering on the brink. Football was headed toward a COVID-shortened 2-4 season and the seemingly imminent departure of head coach Jim Harbaugh, with some wondering if that might be best. Hockey labored through a barely above-.500 campaign, with a head coach- ing change on the horizon and two NCAA Tournament appearances in eight years. Now both sports have reclaimed a his- tory-endorsed spot at or near the pinna- cle of college competition. Now Michi- gan football fans — suddenly regretful that Harbaugh made good on his per- sistent NFL dreams — remain brimming with optimism over new boss Sherrone Moore. After all, Moore already features an all-time perfect record as a game-day head coach against Ohio State and Penn State (2-0), and a national title ring as an architect of dominating offensive lines. Hockey under second-year coach Brandon Naurato hasn't known any- thing but the Frozen Four, despite working through a period of midwinter discontent. The Wolverines just kept getting better this season, and they swept the well-chilled denizens of Yost Ice Arena along for the ride. The season highlight for Michi- gan hockey heading into the April 11 Frozen Four involved the NCAA Re- gional championship game, the sixth showdown of the season between the No. 10-ranked Wolverines and No. 4 Michigan State. The Spartans had piled up a 4-1 record against Michigan to that point, including a 5-4 overtime victory for the Big Ten championship in East Lansing. In the regional final, the game stood frozen in a 1-1 deadlock through two periods, and at 2-2 with only 10 de- cisive minutes to play. That's when Naurato's crew put to- gether arguably its best 10 minutes of hockey on the season. Three straight goals — including one set up by the sea- son's signature moment — brought the Spartans' national championship hopes crashing down and extended a Michigan season on the upswing. You already know the moment. Af- ter junior forward Dylan Duke scored to give Michigan a crucial 3-2 advantage, the Wolverines came flying down the ice only 12 seconds later for the crusher. Sophomore forward Frank Nazar III — a magician with a stick — led the charge down the left side. He paralyzed an MSU defender ready to block a shot on goal by slipping the puck deftly back- ward through his legs, then reached back without hesitation to slide a perfect pass onto the stick of sophomore forward Gavin Brindley. Brindley buried the puck in the net, burying the Spartans as well. Nazar's feed made national news. It's the sort of highlight reel jaw-dropper you can show your friends who don't watch hockey. They'll still express amazement over the sheer skill and ath- leticism of this Best-of-Gretzky mo- ment. It called up echoes of Mike Legg's lacrosse-style goal a quarter of a century earlier and reminded all who witnessed it of the gripping drama of playoff hockey. It also reminded everyone that Michi- gan hockey still pulls tremendous talent and isn't going away anytime soon. As for football, a season of massive questions lies ahead. Who will play quarterback, and is he even on the pres- ent roster? Can a completely new set of offensive line starters hold its own? Can the Wolverines somehow navigate a murderer's row of opponents in an expanded Big Ten, giving themselves a chance in the first year of a 12-team College Football Playoff? Nobody knows, at this point. But don't tell players like junior offensive lineman Andrew Gentry that his team faces a big falloff. Collectively, the Wol- verines wave off that sort of thinking. "Everybody would agree with me here — our standard hasn't changed," Gentry said. "We're expecting to be on top of the college football world and keep that national championship here. We're not willing to let that go. That's the plan, to have it stay here in Ann Arbor." * * * The plan for new men's basketball head coach Dusty May looks obvious. Win now, and win big. If that appears overly optimistic for a roster nearly wiped clean and a coaching staff getting its feet under it, too bad. The following pages detail at length the huge progress May's made in a very short time since his hiring. That includes the imminent hir- ing of Mike Boynton, Akeem Miskdeen and May's former Florida Atlantic assis- tant Kyle Church as Michigan assistants. May is also working overtime to bring in a host of talent for next year. When the dust clears, he just might have himself a competitive squad out of the gate. Either way, it won't be long, for someone who took the Owls to a Final Four in 2023. ❑ WOLVERINE WATCH ❱ JOHN BORTON Full Steam Ahead On Many Fronts Sophomore forward Rutger McGroarty's 16 goals and 36 assists this season have helped the Wolverines return to a third straight Frozen Four. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @JB_Wolverine.