These days, just handing over a scholarship isn’t grandiose enough. The University of Michigan wolverines decided to use local police to give their walk-on the surprise (and scare) of his life.
Michigan men’s basketball senior walk-on Andrew Dakich was awarded a scholarship by coach John Beilein at Monday’s team meeting. However, before the celebration erupted, there was a moment of terror. Coach Beilein had local police call out Dakich in a team meeting with a pretend warrant for his on campus conduct before revealing the good news. Watch:
Today’s 〽? meeting was full of suspense ?, surprise ? & happiness ?… especially for @daycheck3
See what @JohnBeilein had up his sleeve: pic.twitter.com/bKSJAlzFG3
— Michigan Basketball (@umichbball) January 10, 2017
The hoax, along with the accomplishment by Dakich, brought some much-needed relief to the Wolverines, who are under a bit of duress after the team recently lost in two Big Ten games. At this point, Michigan needed a moral booster and scaring the shit out of this walk-on was the perfect distraction.
Later reporters caught up with Andrew to get a full reaction to the good news:
Andrew was a good sport about it all. Later tweeting:
“Things that were racing through my mind when I see two officers interrupt Coach B during a team meeting, my goodness. Beyond grateful.”
The 22-year-old will spend his final semester at Michigan, for free, courtesy of a program he helped for three-and-a-half years. The not so good news, however, is that although he was awarded a scholarship he’s not actually a participating member of the team.
Dakich is redshirting this season. He plans to leave Michigan after this school year and find a new home. He’s hoping a lower Division I program offers a scholarship, bringing him in as a graduate transfer so he can get the playing time he’s hoping for.
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