The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? solid true freshman campaign un- der Ellerbe. Even with Gaines and Crawford starting at the guard spots, Groninger subbed in to average 24.0 minutes and 7.1 points per game, con- necting on 37.5 percent of his three- point shots. That campaign proved his best at Michigan, despite more opportunity through Crawford's suspension and departure. Soon enough, the coach who brought Groninger into the pro- gram wouldn't be around himself. Michigan finished a disappointing 10-18 overall and 4-12 in the Big Ten during Groninger's sophomore year, and the handwriting was on the wall for Ellerbe. Groninger recalled getting summoned to a meeting with then- Michigan athletics director Bill Martin late in the season. "Once that happened, talking to the players, you kind of knew what the case would be," Groninger recalled. "That was right before the Big Ten Tournament. Going into that tourna- ment, we all had a pretty good clue a change was coming." His sophomore season spun out of control, setting the stage for changes that were to affect everything in the days to come. Groninger tried to fo- cus on the positives, amid doubt that included talk of eventual sanctions. "That second year was a different experience," Groninger admitted. "There were things going on in the program, and as teammates, you tried to stick together. I'd talk to Coach [Scott] Trost, who was the guy who recruited me, to try and grasp what was going on. "After that went down, we went into a new program. The thing that was good about that was being coached by two different coaching staffs and seeing the similarities and differences with Coach Amaker 's staff." Players always wonder about their role when a new coach comes to town. To his credit, Groninger doesn't blame Amaker for him not emerging more in his final two seasons in the program. Amaker, he noted, provided an opportunity. "For some players, it can be diffi- cult," he acknowledged. "I was ex- cited, knowing his lineage and that he came from Coach [Mike] Krzyzewski. The first coach that I met with was Billy Schmidt. "He came in and put us through the morning workout. I loved his work ethic, and it carried over with Coach Amaker. I felt like they did a really good job getting us prepared for the next season. "Obviously, there's always the worry with the new coaching staff coming in that they're going to play guys they recruit, but they sent me on the Big Ten Foreign Tour. I played that summer, and they came and watched me practice. I felt comfortable with the staff." The storybook ending would in- volve Groninger rising up to become a starter in his final two seasons. He did start 10 games as a junior for Amaker, but never found the consis- tency he sought and began to doubt himself at times. "Obviously, being a player and