The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? and truly had a great time here in Ann Arbor." In addition, Russell noted, he didn't have any trouble buckling down and getting after the home- work. "I got the best grades I'd ever got- ten," he said, with a knowing nod. "For the first time, as I tell people, my money was on the line. I came up, and I paid for it myself. I just needed to make that happen, for myself and for my family." Russell called it "a reckoning." He's ex- perienced a few of those in connection with the University of Michigan, even though he might not have realized it or la- beled it so at the time. Michael Campan- ella Russell emerged from Pontiac Central High School in 1971, a slick-scoring 6-8 forward coveted by many. His timing wasn't the best, since the year after he enrolled at Michigan, freshmen became eligible to play basketball. But Russell insisted the seeds for future success were sown on that freshman squad in 1971-72, with players such as C.J. Kupec, Chuck Rogers, Joe Johnson, Wayman Britt and others. They merged into a team that was supposed to be a power- house in 1972-73, but it didn't quite work out that way. "They had us rated No. 1 in the country, and we just bombed out as a team," Russell recalled. "A lot of that had to do with relationships. If you don't have relationships with your teammates, you can't be good." Despite Henry Wilmore averag- ing 21.8 points per game and Russell accounting for 18.4 on average as a sophomore, the Wolverines did in- deed sink like a boul- der in the ocean. They plummeted to a 13-11 overall record, and a 6-8 mark and sixth- place showing in the Big Ten. Orr, in his fifth year a s M i c h i g a n h e a d coach, was feeling the heat. He'd not yet won the Big Ten, and featured pedestrian records aside from a 19-7 mark in 1970-71. Russell and others felt he was a good coach, and that things needed to change. "If you look back at the history, that team really saved Johnny Orr's job," Russell opined. "They were after him because we, as a team, bombed out. It didn't have anything to do with Johnny. It had to do with us, as young men, being very selfish." Russell clearly recalled a meeting with Orr right after the conclusion to that misery, a 102-87 home loss against Ohio State. "They were about to throw Johnny Orr under the bus, or out of the pro- Russell, who spent 10 seasons in the NBA, came back to U-M to finish his degree at the age of 48. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN