Hand To Alabama
Da'Shawn Hand chose Alabama over Michigan and Florida in an excruciatingly long televised announcement on NBCSN, citing the opportunity to major in civil enginering and the chance to win a national championship.
I've got nothing else. This month can't end soon enough. Please be civil in the comments, especially since it's pretty darn difficult to blame Hand given, you know, the state of things.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:17 PM ^
...to enjoy the fact that Michigan sucks at football. It's kind of funny when you think about it.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:23 PM ^
I don't enjoy that they suck, but I've certainly become apathetic to it. Lose games, lose to our rivals, lose recruits...whatever. Maybe its good to have our expectations finally meet the reality of the situation.
On to basketball season I guess.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:24 PM ^
no, it isn't, not even slightly.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
What it sounds like you're enjoying is lying to yourself.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
That said, I expected this. They're taking care of business and we aren't.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:07 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 2:11 PM ^
troll verb : to fish with a hook and line that you pull through the water
November 14th, 2013 at 2:11 PM ^
until you realize it's real life and this is really happening.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:17 PM ^
Can't blame him. Their program is winning NCs and developing players for the NFL.
In addition, if the reports that he was told he couldn't major in engineering and play football at UM are true (or even if it was just heavily hinted at to him) then it's even more of a no-brainer.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:22 PM ^
Where did those reports even come from? It seems like they just appeared out of thin air after he changed back from sports management to maybe engineering again. I don't necessarily believe them but if true, that is the biggest problem I've had with the staff thus far. Encouraging Hand not to do engineering and telling Adoree Jackson he couldn't run track freshman year are unnecessarily rigid. If Hoke were more flexible he could've had a much better chance at two high character consensus 5 stars.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:26 PM ^
I think the reports were simply citing the fact that its VERY difficult to play football at a major level AND major in engineering. So if the likelihood of your major being a significant factor is decreased, then things like sending players to the pros and winning championships should win out as a tiebreaker.
November 14th, 2013 at 8:32 PM ^
To which a not insignificant portion of the Stanford Football team replied, "F#ck that." "Leaders and Best," my ass.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:26 PM ^
I should say I have no idea if those reports are true, just that I've seen it repeated often enough that I thought it worth mentioning. Hand may have made his decision purely on a football basis for all we know.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^
I'm not sure anyone would have told him he can't major in engineering. It's just that engineering and football are both demanding and engineering is on the north campus, some distance away from where he would need to practice. Maybe it was more like telling him that it realistically wasn't feasible.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
that Hand appreciated so much from the engineering dept. Maybe he told him the realistic chances of an engineering degree and playing football were slim to none.
Don't give that guy a raise just yet!
November 15th, 2013 at 1:36 AM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 1:44 PM ^
Hoke being "flexible" isn't the same as not being realistic. Let's see if Hand actually majors in engineering at Alabama, or if he starts out, realizes the balancing act is incredibly difficult, and picks a different major. Lots of regular, non-athlete kids start off trrying to be engineers and move on when they realize it isn't a good fit or the work is too difficult. I'm not saying the academics had anything to do with his decision, but the idea that a coach telling a kid he will struggle to succeed both on the field and in a highly competitive major seems truthful, if a bit hard for a kid to hear.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
Would it be hard? Yes. The math and science pre-reqs are no joke, even if you're smart. But it's apparently possible, because several Michigan football players have majored in engineering. Garrett Rivas and Joey Burzynski (a biomed student, fergodsakes) are two recent examples. Yeah, a kicker and a former walkon, but there certainly does not seem to be a hard and fast "no engineers on the football team" rule.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
how does Hand expect to acheive a major in civil engineering while playing football at Alabama? I would get it if it was a post-football thing but now?
November 14th, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^
It can be done. I recall Stefan Humphries majored in Engineering at UM, then played in the super bowl and after the NFL went to med school and now is head admin at a hospital in Spokane. That was a few years ago, I know, but why not let the dude try?
November 14th, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^
I really don't think he is going to major in engineering. It got him interested in Alabama and that is all they care about but I really don't believe that he will be majoring in civil engineering in two years.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:52 PM ^
Yeah, a lot of kids (both athletes and non-athletes) say or think they are interested in engineering and then end up never doing it. Anytime I hear an athlete claim interest in engineering or pre-med I take a wait and see approach before heaping praise on them for their "focus on academics."
November 14th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^
Bama's degree requirments for Civil Engineering involve demonstrating that you can dig a hole and hammer a nail. I sure he will have plenty of time left over for football.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^
Alabama Civil Engineering 101: Your Ass and a Hole in the Ground: a Quantitative Analysis
CivE 125: Lefty Loosie
CivE 225: Righty Tighty
CivE 220: Basic Outhouse Construction
CivE 320: Advanced Outhouse Construction: The Roof Goes On Top
November 14th, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^
pretty sure you have to take righty tighty before lefty loosie.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
Best thread ever!
November 14th, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^
Not at all. You need to disassemble the old outhouse before you can build a new one.
'Bama CivE 350: Static and Dynamic Analysis of Cinderblock Construction
Sample Exam Question: Darrell and JimBob are attempting to modify Darrell's 1968 Camaro. They will support the vehicle using columns of standard cinderblocks. How long before the Camaro sinks into the swamp?
CivE 425: Advanced Single Wide Design: Tornadoes Are Not Your Friend
November 14th, 2013 at 3:02 PM ^
Hails of derisive laughter, Bruce!
November 14th, 2013 at 3:13 PM ^
I think it's "howls" with the Ozzie accent, but + a million for the pull.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^
Didn't take long for the BAMA is a redneck school comments to come out did it? The only problem with showing your jealousy this way is it makes you look like an idiot. You do realize you are saying your school was unable to get a top recruit from a school you say has a bad engineering school and outhouses for bathrooms. It doesn't really help your point but I guess it makes you feel better since you can't face the truth which is your coaches suck at recruiting. I'm replying to your specific post simply because you were the first to show your insecurities but notice after you many simple minded UM fans jumped on board. So predictable but so sad at the same time.....
I also noticed most of the post on this site are actually very good and honest but yours ruined the rest.
Roll Tide!!!!!
P.S I was very happy this fine young man picked the tide but to be honest I thought he should pick Stanford. Apparently the football side of his decision was a little bit stronger than the academic side. If we are all honest with ourselves any NFL caliber athelete should base his decision this way simply because if he can go first round in 3 or 4 years and get a 15 Million signing guarantee that will last much longer than a 100K a year engineering degree. Financially its a no-brainer.
November 14th, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
Flat out, Michigan academics dwarf Alabama academics. Sorry, but it's true. Which is probably what annoys most of us about this decision - it's obvious that if he sincerely cared that much about academics, Michigan was the obvious choice. But with Bama running the NFL scout team, he won't major in engineering.
I support this young man in his aspirations. It was disappointing, but I support him.
And frankly, we did get Jabrill Peppers, and he's extraordinarily talented as well.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^
I'd make an Alabama Engineering joke but I just found out they had one.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
Lost another one to Ditech!
November 14th, 2013 at 1:19 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^
Exactly. He has a decent chance at a national title, instead of playing in some weedwhacker named bowl game. We crapped the bed this year, and made the choice for him.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:50 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 9:49 PM ^
I was not fooled at all. He, like many of the recruits, were under the impression that Michigan was on the upswing, heading back to relevancy and perhaps even towards being elite. The gap between us and Bama and the other elite programs is just too wide this year for him to turn a blind eye.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:19 PM ^
this is precisely how i feel about michigan football right now
November 14th, 2013 at 1:20 PM ^
Aside from the 70's and 80's (if that), this school was never truly elite in the past half century
November 14th, 2013 at 1:25 PM ^
The 1997 NC team was not elite?
November 14th, 2013 at 1:30 PM ^
winning an NC in '97 and Rose Bowl trips in the 2000's isn't elite??? Are you smokin Walter White's meth????
November 14th, 2013 at 7:45 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
Well, and 1997. And 2006. And the early part of the 2000's when the team was a veritable NFL factory.
Alabama has been less of an elite team over the past 20 years than UM; they are just doing well now. UM's overall strength as a national team is there, but it is more cyclical now than it used to be.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
Bama at their peak in the past 20 years is better than us at our peak in the past 20 years.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
This I'll agree with, but also you have to concede that multiple-sanctioned Alabama's bottom is worse than UM's one 3-9 season.
November 14th, 2013 at 4:09 PM ^
Let's drink.
November 14th, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^
Not to mention the that before "the past 20 years" were the Bear Bryant years and several more NCs. Not so much for Michigan who won about 50% of the Big Ten championships and lost a lot of the bowl games they did appear in.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
"Alabama has been less of an elite team over the past 20 years than UM;"
That is just wrong. What is elite to you? To me it is 2 losses or less in a year. The "NFL factory" teams you mention often lost 3 or 4 games a year. That is not elite. Not close to elite. Esp considering the talent coming in. Even the 97 team (which was elite) was surrounded by 3 or 4 loss seasons.
Bama has had a much better 20 year period, how you can say that is beyond the pale. Any team with 3 NCs in 20 years did better than UM.
I did an analysis of elite "blue blood" programs the past 20 years and the only team less elite than UM is Notre Dame. Michigan has become a dinosaur. It has a flash in 2006 but other than that has not done much in 15 years.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
If you go just outside of this 20 year window, you know what you find? Another national title for Alabama (1992). Us? Go back to the late 40s. Bo came close many years, but even he had his fair share of tough 3-4 loss seasons. We've been a consistent program, not elite. Elite for Michigan was probably the 70s and the period from the late 80s to early 90s (1988-92).
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