Ring And Run, Kurt Wermers, Ring And Run Comment Count

Brian

The doorbell rang and now I'm sitting outside here with no one to talk to except a burning bag of what I'm sure is poop. How are you doing, poop? Well? That's nice to hear. Would you like to spend the next four years lifting until you explode? Oh. Ok then.

Fun day to be out of pocket, as I missed another offensive lineman burning his bridges on his way out the door:

"I really didn't get along with the new coaches," Wermers said. "They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd. Coach Carr's staff was a whole different ballgame. It was like a family. But when Rodriguez came in it was a whole different feeling. It was more of a business.

"I figured I'd get out while I could."

I especially like the last sentence, which conjures up images of a daring midnight escape from Barwis wolves. Elliot Mealer stumbles fatally, falling a step behind. From the shadows, a flash. Mealer finds himself pinned to the ground, left to think about what awaits him…

…"Save yourself," Mealer cries weakly. "Get out while you can." In the dusky background, there is the shimmer of metal and a faint cackling. The last thing Wermers sees before tearing into the night is Mealer being hooked to a squat rack; both men's eyes fill with tears.

Passing through the thick foliage, Wermers vows revenge. I'm going to find someone from the Northwest Indiana Times, he thinks. And then we'll see what the score is.

But seriously folks: there were hints of this on the premium message boards when Wermers' departure was announced. One of Wermers' uncles, who had provided updates on his recruitment and was therefore established, posted a long thing about how Wermers felt the program was too hard and wouldn't let him do what he wanted to academically and that this was very bad. That went over about as well as you might expect.

The overall theme from "it's more of a business" and the uncle-based complaints: the program asked too much from Wermers, especially if he wasn't going to be on the two-deep, and he'd rather boot to a MAC team where he can see the field and enjoy Ball State's fine programs in broadcast journalism or whatever.

And, really, okay. If the program's too high a bar for some guys who signed up for a different coaching staff, that's fine. The academic complain is hard to reconcile with Patrick Omameh, engineer and future starting tackle. The "not my kind of crowd" reference is pure red meat for rivals, but can we like, you know, wait for any of these supposedly bad kids to rack up a single Fulmer Cup point before we run screaming from them? Yes, their dreadlocks are very scary. No, that doesn't mean they're evil. And I have heard Ohio State recruits cite "it's more of a business" as a reason they picked OSU.

I understand some bitterness is natural when you end up in a program you didn't really sign up for and don't like the new guys. But you'll have to do better than some references to Those People and veiled complaints that things are too hard to impress at this point. I will start getting concerned if players Rodriguez recruited start leaving the program or Michigan makes anything more than the tiniest one-point dent in the Fulmer Cup.

Comments

RayIsaac91

July 16th, 2009 at 12:19 PM ^

The best athletes want a program that can develop their talent and get them into the NFL. In other words, they want the best job training available. The days of playing for the colors are long gone.

Don

July 16th, 2009 at 12:20 PM ^

This implies that Mealer wants to join Wermers in leaving, and that doesn't jibe at all with what I've read about Elliot. A big ol' WTF? for this one.

Blazefire

July 16th, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^

Somewhere out there, a Columbus journalist is sitting on a piece he wrote waiting for the inevitable day when everything falls apart at Michigan, and 23 kids leave on the same day.

I do believe most of them think this is true, and it's only a matter of time.

Big Boutros

July 16th, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^

I don't want to make unfounded accusations or assumptions about Wermers' comments, but whether his "kind of crowd" comment was referring to offensive scheme or taste in music or help me god my teammates are violent criminals, it did not come across as particularly tasteful when I read it.

Logan88

July 16th, 2009 at 12:39 PM ^

$20 says he pledges K (appa) K (appa) K (appa) at BSU.

Note: This is a joke. I don't know if he really loves the KKK or not. Apologies to anyone who may have actually pledged Kappa Kappa Kappa in college, but I needed it for the joke. Have I covered my ass sufficiently? Do I need one of the MGoBlog's resident lawyers/law students to proofread my disclaimer statement?

Erik_in_Dayton

July 16th, 2009 at 12:30 PM ^

First, they look funny. I mean, have you seen these guys? Are they rappers or something? Second, they talk funny. They have accents that I don't always understand and they use slang that I've never heard (what does it mean whens someone says "Let's bounce"?). Next, and I don't mean to get vulgar here, but these guys hang out with some pretty fast women, if you know what I mean. I'm not even sure if they've accepted Jesus as their personal savior...Anyway, I just don't like the cut of these guys' jib, and, after all, if you can't judge a book by its cover, then how the heck do you judge it?

M-Dog

July 17th, 2009 at 1:41 AM ^

I think there is an instruction manual out there somewhere.

Don't be scared off at first. Yea it's really thick, but that's mostly because it's written in Spanish and French as well as English.

Bryan

July 16th, 2009 at 12:42 PM ^

I saw a fellow at the art fair yesterday with dreadlocks, he looked rather personable, but I am sure evil lurked underneath the well dressed facade.

Seth

July 16th, 2009 at 1:02 PM ^

Maybe Barwis made him cancel his World of Warcraft account.

I heard that doesn't always go over well.

As a fellow nerd, I mourn this loss. When I came to U-M, we had just learned that Peter Jackson was going to make the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and, being a big Tolkien fan himself (especially his work at Oxford on Anglo Saxon cognates), Lloyd was getting us all really pumped. I remember me and Stephen Baker and like 20 guys named Brackins or Brackens (we hates Brackinses) marching through the rain, arm in arm, to see the latest Star Wars.

Those guys are all gone now, the last of the Lloyd Carr book club and Mike DeBord's Thursday night DnD parties graduated this past spring.

Now there's nobody on the football team as stoked for the new Harry Potter as I am. These guys all wanna see "Bruno" and "The Hangover" and "Big Man Japan." It's a totally different crowd.

Seth

July 16th, 2009 at 3:39 PM ^

That was Jeff Smokevich's catch-phrase for those evil Nashvillains, the Brackins brothers. Later, Tim Bracken (no relation) was added as an honorary Brackins.

None of them (except Smokevich, and still, probably no) would know me from Adam, btw. I just loved the line and remembered it forever.

DCBlue

July 16th, 2009 at 12:47 PM ^

So, let me preface this by stating that I am a Rodriguez fan and would be satisfied with a 7 wins this year, and another significant leap forward the following year. BUT...what the hell are we all going to be saying if he ends up with 4-5 wins this year, and then goes like 6-6 his third year? What if he continually loses recruits in the next two seasons? I mean, I'm all for WLA-type allegiance. But what type of entry will Brian write (or how will our comments change in theme) if this whole m-f'er implodes in the next two years? And don't give me a line about "needing to be optimistic" and all that shit. Seriously, in the words of the Wolf, "Let's not go sucking each other's dicks just yet." I'm fucking scared shitless for this season and the next, and I'm a guy who openly pined for Rodriguez on haloscan in the diahrrea hurricane days of the coaching search. Bring on the "look what he did at Tulane and W. Virginia" comments.

Garvie Craw

July 16th, 2009 at 1:25 PM ^

Okay. What if you just calmed down instead of asking what "we" will write in the event that bad things happen in the future? No one knows. Relax. Let it play out, and don't worry about things that may or may not happen.

cfaller96

July 16th, 2009 at 2:10 PM ^

What if RichRod only gets 4-5 wins this season and only 6 the season after?

Well, things will turn to shit, that's what will happen. Recruits will lose interest, fans will be clamoring at the doors of Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork, and Bill Martin will be wringing his hands wondering if he should pull the trigger and fire RichRod.

There. That's what would happen. Did you really need someone to say that out loud? Is this really that hard to imagine?

What everyone else was doing was rejecting the premise of your question, because it's (in their and my opinion) an absurd hypothetical. The schedule this season virtually guarantees 5 wins, and RichRod only needs to hunt for one more win among the remaining 7 to get to 6-6, which will be good enough to relieve the pressure. The season after will probably be a little better, with a more stable depth chart on defense and an experienced and somewhat talented offense. So this seems like needless fretting to me.

Spread_Offense

July 16th, 2009 at 2:52 PM ^

What if we go -1 and 99 next year? What if Forcier gets hit by a truck driven by a feisty Irishmen with a Buckeye and Spartan copulating in the back seat? What if we get 0 recruits for 2010 and start having the golf team play starting positions instead? Well there is always hockey right?

Stop freaking out. kthx.

Garvie Craw

July 16th, 2009 at 12:50 PM ^

So Kurt has gone home to hang with some Indiana boys on some Indiana nights. Cultural diversity just ain't his thing. I wonder if he took his hood off for the interview.

emmekel

July 16th, 2009 at 1:13 PM ^

"They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd."

Kurt may not appreciate EA for his likeness in the new 2010 game where I believe he is black.

Thought that was pretty funny.

Tim Waymen

July 16th, 2009 at 1:19 PM ^

Did Grady's arrest not add any points to the Fulmer Cup? I don't really know how the rules work.

Regardless, RR does a really good job of running a tight ship, and I am very pleased with the higher GPA for the team. I think that this highlights the difference between what RR actually does and how people see him. Some people like to see RR as an unsophisticated hick and/or one of these big-shot coaches who are willing to recruit thugs and win at all costs (Miami or Florida State), a departure from Uncle Lloyd (as much as I like him). When RR was hired, some fans were even gloating, "this is what I want: finally, a coach who is willing to win at all costs."

RR's style is surely different from Lloyd's--more drill sergeant and tough love rather than father figure (which can also work)--and he admits to being less scholarly, but he still has standards and is good at getting his players to follow them. And there is some family dynamic too, I guess. While some are embarrassed about last year's mess with WVU, one thing that I especially appreciate about RR is that he DOES NOT TAKE POT SHOTS!! Seriously. Look at Lane Kiffin, Spurrier, almost every other coach in the SEC, old man Leavitt, classy Dantonio, June Jones, etc. RR does not take shots at other programs or coaches. That's just being professional. The only time I can think of him referring to another team was when he said that Beanie Wells was definitely a 1st rounder.

Brian

July 16th, 2009 at 1:27 PM ^

Fulmer Cup only runs in the offseason so in-season malfeasance doesn't get caught, but Michigan hasn't had any. Grady did count, but he is not "the new crowd" or whatever, as Rodriguez didn't recruit him.

Farnn

July 16th, 2009 at 1:45 PM ^

Grady isn't one of his players, so I don't think you can really hold that against him. So far I don't think we've seen any run-ins with the law from any of the players RR recruited.

edit: damn it, Cook'd!