• Ryan Perrilloux scoffs at your poverty. It's not exactly the staggering sum once claimed by the wayward LSU quarterback, but Michigan did dig deep for Rich Rodriguez during his 3-9 debut: The university's (self-sustaining) athletic department forked over $6.6 million to the coach in his first year, most of it to cover the $4 million-plus buyout after Rodriguez's messy exit from West Virginia. His "salary and other compensation," though, still added up to more than $2.5 million, roughly quadruple what Michigan's president and athletic director make combined.

Fortunately, prosperous and industrious Michiganders will continue to express patience and well-wishes in this season of abundance and renewal across the state. Either that, or Rod might consider working pro bono for year or two.

• Thou shalt sustain thy brother. And would it kill you to watch him swim just once? I knew when I linked to it Wednesday morning there would be more than meets the eye to the critical budget shortfall that threatens to eliminate jobs and possibly entire programs at all-sports powerhouse Stanford, and the San Francisco Chronicle's Ray Rotto has since 14 years and counting), Rotto says football is not pulling its weight to keep the more successful "non-revenue" sports in business:

What is the problem is the Cardinal's continuing and actually growing inability to convince people to attend their games. Even allowing for their crowd counts, which most objective folks agree tend to be on the generous side, the $100 million Stanford Stadium upgrade has provided no help at all. The announced (yet unverifiable) attendance has dropped from 41,742 per game in 2006, the first season of the building, to 39,332 in 2007 and then to 34,258 in 2008. That's more than 18 percent of vaporized attendance since the Cardinal left the old stadium.
[...]
In other words, the problem was more than the old stadium, and more than the bad results. The problem is systemic, is going to get worse as the economy goes through its gyrations, and, in time, staff reductions will become sport reductions.

This is true: Despite the expensive stadium upgrade and a more competitive team, Stanford's total attendance declined last year to its lowest level of the decade, even below that of the wretched 2006 outfit that was lucky to win a single game -- and this in a season following upsets over USC and Cal in 2007 and an exciting season-opening win over Oregon State, for which the school actually offered a money-back guarantee. The result then was the pathetic photo you see at the top of the post, taken at halftime with the score 17-17, and matters hardly improved.

The real miracle is that Jim Harbaugh is still going to be around despite the apathy and the numerous overtures from the NFL. He still hasn't signed a contract extension, but if there's one person you can't blame for the mess, it's Harbaugh: As I said Wednesday, at $700,000, in this coaching market, he's a steal.

• Lawless in Seattle. Oh, those dirty recruiters at Washington:

John Morris, the school's senior associate athletic director for compliance, said the school had two violations of an NCAA rule regarding simulating game-day environments during visits this weekend.

Specifically, he said UW violated the rule by renting a fog machine to pour out fog and playing its siren while recruits ran out of the tunnel, simulating how they might be introduced were they to become Huskies. Morris said an allegation that the recruits also received personalized jerseys is "100 percent'' not true.

The Huskies will self-report this horrible transgression to the Pac-10 and the NCAA and likely receive a letter of admonishment on top of some kind of rules training for coaches. Out of principle, I hope these prospects decide to go elsewhere for reasons completely unrelated to arcane NCAA regs: I remember as a student being forced to jog out into a completely empty stadium with music blaring for various morale-building purposes, and even though I was never a football recruit, under any circumstances this act is lame. Any recruit who falls for it deserves to go 0-12.

More ominously for Washington is news that Jake Locker is "ready to become a pro-style QB" upon his return to the lineup this fall. Seeing as Locker's legs were the only thing the team had going for it the last two years -- seriously, would the offense have suffered any more if Locker had played the last eight games without attempting a pass due to his busted throwing thumb? -- Steve Sarkisian's efforts to USC-ify his scattershot passer portend more growing pains.

Quickly ... Ex-Longhorn, NFL linebacker and noted alligator wrestler Shane Dronett was found dead in his home Wednesday, possibly related to a brain tumor. ... SMU has offered a scholarship to a 6'7", 270-pound Estonian discus and shot champion with no football experience whatsoever, and can only be better for it, really. Margus Hunt has been enrolled and training at SMU since 2007; his personal blog is here. ... Tim Brewster picks an old Denver Broncos colleague to become the new offensive coordinator at Minnesota. ... A couple ex-Cornhuskers and their younger brother, a potential Nebraska walk-on, were arrested on charges on making "terroristic threats" Wednesday at a bowling alley. ... Air Force coach Troy Calhoun signed a five-year extension to stay on with his alma mater. ... New Mississippi State boss Dan Mullen has plucked ace recruiter Tony Hughes from Southern Miss, completing Hughes' tour of the Magnolia State's "Big Three" schools within a three-year window. ... Ball State's new defensive coordinator returns to campus and is shocked to find Muncie no longer besieged by industrial stank. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? ... And Ed Zaunbrecher's career track doesn't seem to be going in the right direction: The former offensive coordinator at Florida, most recently off a rocky stint at Purdue, will run the offense for Rice next year. Although, to be fair, a pair of relatively high profile transfers from Alabama (QB Nick Fanuzzi) and Michigan (Sam McGuffie) on top of a stunning 10-win season means Rice probably has better short-term prospects than Purdue.