Drew Sharp: A Look Back At Michigan Football Columns
Longtime Detroit Free Press sports columnist Drew Sharp tragically passed away on Friday, so we’re looking back at what he said about Michigan football.
We lost a Detroit media staple today. Drew Sharp, 56, passed away at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on Friday morning.
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Sharp was a columnist at the Free Press since 1999, and in that time he had a lot to say about the Michigan football program. Since I am in no position to give a recount of his life accomplishments, I decided it might be appropriate to re-hash some of the words he had written about the Wolverines over the years.
The last column from Sharp dealing with the Wolverines asked, in part, if Michigan’s 78-0 defeat of Rutgers was classless.
"If the defeated are ticked off that second- and third-stringers kept playing hard and kept putting up points on the board, then there’s a simple solution.STOP THEM!!!"
In early August, Sharp, like the rest of us, wrestled with the lofty expectations facing Michigan.
"But all the talk and stunts won’t matter once the season begins and the only true big victory for Michigan would come from something the program hasn’t experienced in a decade.A big win in a game that matters."
When Michigan hired Warde Manuel as its permanent athletic director earlier this year, Sharp applauded him for being “a pro in the art of sports diplomacy,” noting that his main job was to avoid becoming Dave Brandon.
"Manuel is wired correctly for his new responsibilities. That doesn’t make him a pushover. It just means he’s not pushy. He learned how to properly conduct business outside of the limelight at Connecticut where his most prominent head coaches — men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun and women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma — were microphone-shy and often conveyed a public air of arrogance."
In 2014, as a guest on the Dan Patrick Show, Sharp went after Brady Hoke, Dave Brandon and the rest of Michigan following the incident in which quarterback Shane Morris was allowed to stay in the game vs. Minnesota despite clearly being hobbled and concussed.
“Miscommunication has been a problem with not just the football program, but the athletic department over the last couple years,” said Sharp.
He then dropped this nice quote:
“Miscommunication is what the block ‘M’ stands for.”
Then there are the classics—the stuff you can’t find on a dot com.
My favorite that I found was from Jan. 2, 1999. In that season’s Citrus Bowl, Michigan scored 21 points in four minutes to beat Arkansas. Sharp was amazed by the toughness of Tom Brady.
"But Brady didn’t yield to the surging pressure. He put his head down and charged forward, oblivious to the risks.On this third-and-10 desperate race to the first-down marker, Brady stumbled over his lineman but didn’t fall. He got nailed by an Arkansas defender two yards shy of his objective, but he still didn’t fall.He got the first down and the prize was a big, red welt that wrapped around his throat."
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I’ll leave you with a quote from Sharp that comes from his Free Press bio: “My story is no different than many others: Either you define yourself, or others will define you.”