Teddy Greenstein Went to Medill Comment Count

BiSB
via NYT
Noted Northwestern graduate and Chicago Tribune contributor Teddy Greenstein published a piece yesterday evening entitled "Jim Harbaugh Drinks the Blood of the Innocent," in which he bemoaned Jiim Harbaugh's treatment of Erik Swenson. But then finally someone pulled an article about Michigan's side of the story out from behind a paywall, in the person of Michael Spath. Spath's article cites sources that say that Michigan informed Swenson of his status months ago, and that this was in no way as out of the blue as had been suggested.

Greenstein could have just gone quiet, or could have recrafted his article as a more general statement on the woes of modern recruiting. But instead, he doubled down

As you probably know, I am not an insider, and to the extent I have information that is not already in the public domain, I do not plan to share. But in the interest of poking bad writing and logic with a stick, I thought I would share my thoughts on Mr. Greenstein's thoughts.

1. Much of the response was along the lines of: Hey, other coaches also dump verbal commitments. Why single out Harbaugh?

My response to that: I’m among the scores of college football columnists who have ripped SEC coaches for oversigning. What Harbaugh is doing, on this scale, is unprecedented among Big Ten coaches. And I cover the Big Ten.

First of all, what “scale” is this, and exactly what part is unprecedented? I’m guessing Teddy will fill us in on these things soon.*

*SPOILER: he doesn’t.

He began the practice at Stanford, using the shield of academics and the admissions office. Quarterback Kain Colter, who carried a 4.2 grade-point average and later led the fight to unionize college football at Northwestern, was dumped after he injured his throwing shoulder.

Does Greenstein have a problem with a team “dumping” a player for injury reasons? I can’t wait to find out.

Harbaugh is now dropping verbal commits when he thinks he can upgrade to a better player. Or a healthier one.

The circumstances of the departures vary widely, and the latest insisted his scholarship offer had not been pulled. But we’re talking about eight players. Eight. More info here in Mark Snyder’s Detroit Free Press piece.

Got it. So when a recruit (in this case Enis) comes out and explicitly says “my scholarship wasn’t pulled,” and no one contradicts that statement, he still gets the “the kid insists his scholarship wasn’t pulled” treatment, with the implication being “but we should be suspicious and can’t just take him on his word.” But when a kid comes out and says his scholarship WAS pulled suddenly, even when it is contradicted by other sources, we’re required to take it at face value.

Moreover, the suggestion that Michigan has pulled eight scholarships is just weird. He’s lumping the likes of Antwain Richardson (who from all indications the Michigan staff wanted), Vic Viramontes (who Michigan wanted, and who the MGoStaff REALLY wanted), and Matt Falcon (whose knee asploded several times), as well as situations where, to be tactful, qualification was an issue.

In one instance, a player coming off multiple knee injuries was told he could either retain his scholarship as a student or go elsewhere to play football. Some people have a problem with that. I don’t.

But wait, you just lumped him in with the eight. EIGHT, I say. Also, what about Harbaugh casting Kain Colter adrift in a life boat with a tiger because of a bum shoulder?

Harbaugh declined to comment Friday. A university spokesman emailed the Tribune to say "we won't be commenting at this time due to NCAA rules."

Couple of things here. First, this line was not in the original article that ran. It was added to subsequent versions, with no mention of a correction. Second, you'll note this was Friday, while the original article ran Thursday. Did Greenstein even ask for Michigan's side of the original story? There's no mention of it if he did. Also, keep that "NCAA rules" part in mind for later.

2: As I wrote, Harbaugh is taking advantage of a flawed system. For years players have decommited before signing day, “upgrading” and reneging on commitments. If you’re a Michigan fan, you might use that to justify Harbaugh’s methods.

But if Erik Swenson (much more on him below) was your son, would still feel that way?

If I’m Swen Swenson, (a) I have an awesome name, and would monogram everything I own, and (b) I would want my son to have the absolute best in everything. That’s how parenthood works. I’d bet my late father would have wanted me to receive multiple D1 offers. But I was 5’9” coming out of high school, and the world is a tough place.

You can argue about the relative merits of the current recruiting system all you want (and it’s a valid and important conversation), but when you write two articles using the word “Harbaugh” a total of 30 times, make no suggestion of any other coaches doing anything similar, use words like “mockery,” “greedy,” and “Nixonian,” and make a reference to Deflategate (which, still? Really? Do they not teach the Ideal Gas Law at Northwestern?), you have to say something that is specific to Harbaugh.

3: The most honest response to all this came from the Twitter feed @cubbygeorge: “GO BLUE whatever the costs!!!”

This is some next-level ad hominem shit right here. You don’t just attack the person rather than the position, you attack the person defending that person. One random person. With 33 followers. Who voluntarily roots for the Cubs.

4: The most interesting response came from Harbaugh’s Twitter feed, his only tweet since Sunday: “‘They said’ artificial sweeteners were safe, WMDs were in Iraq and Anna Nicole married for love ‘... ‘They said’”

So apparently we should not believe “they” … whoever they is.

That… that’s not even an argument. That’s just the weirdest retweet ever.

5: Let’s review what Swenson, an offensive lineman from the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, told the Tribune’s Bob Narang....”

In the interest of space, I'll just sumarize. You have all heard Swenson’s position; that he had NO indication that anything was amiss until a couple of days before the proverbial hammer dropped. Let’s remember that for a bit.

Also: “I was kind of taken back in the beginning, but that’s how those coaches are. There’s nothing you can change about them. They believe that’s how you should run the university and what’s best for the team. I was taken back. I fully intended to play there. I was nothing but loyal and was committed over two years. I helped them recruit several guys that are still there. I just felt used.”

This is where I am reminded how much this whole thing sucks. It has played out really poorly, and it left a kid who by all accounts LOVED Michigan without the opportunity he dreamed of. I feel bad for Erik Swenson. I just don’t know if he’s doing himself a service here.

6: A story that ran Friday on Michigan’s Rivals.com site, The Wolverine, included this:

"We have also been told by multiple sources (though admittedly one of those sources on the Michigan side) that the Swensons were told back in November that he no longer held a committable offer.

We were also told by a source out of Downers Grove that the Michigan coaches asked Swenson to camp at U-M over the summer so the staff could properly evaluate him (he refused) and we were told that it was understood that Swenson’s senior year would serve as an evaluation period because this coaching staff had never seen him in-person and wanted to know if he was a good fit for the program."

[ED: omitted additional unflattering comments from area coaches, for space and relevance]

So we have unnamed sources bashing Swenson OFF THE RECORD. ("Off the record," by the way, means not to be published. "On background" means you can use the information as long as it’s unattributed.)

This is where Teddy just loses me. There are very specific claims from Rivals, who is unquestionably a legitimate outfit with legitimate sources. Those claims are as follows:

  • Swenson was told back in November that he no longer held a committable offer.
  • Swenson was asked to camp at Michigan and refused.
  • The same Free Press article Greenstein links above contains a quote from Swenson’s OWN COACH who said, “we got some red flags three weeks ago, just comments made from coach encouraging Erik to make all five official visits (to other schools). That was the first indication it wasn’t heading in the direction we thought it was going.”

Greenstein’s entire rebuttal to this argument is that these sources are off the record. Not that they are wrong, or biased, or drunk. He doesn’t seem to recall that, as he mentioned like 500 words ago, Michigan *cannot* comment about him on the record. It’s an NCAA violation. Besides, not everyone is off the record on background (ed: sorry, I did not go to Medill). Swenson’s own high school coach contradicts his story that Michigan lurched from the shadows like Brutus attacking Julius Caesar and metaphorically stabbed him in the back.

And Greenstein doesn’t want to believe this. Which, okay, I guess. There are two sides, and you can choose to believe whomever you want. But if Rivals’ sources say Michigan told Swenson months ago (and, FWIW, they are NOT the only ones saying so), and it is empirically true that rumors have floated on insider boards for weeks, and Swenson’s coach claims he knew something was up weeks ago, you have to at least TRY to explain why you reject all of that information in favor of the story of the recruiting equivalent of a jilted ex. Everyone knew but him, and none of these other conversations ever happened. His high school coach never mentioned it. None of his classmates or teammates or fellow recruits saw this information and passed it along so Erik could ask Drevno what was up. Occam, noted non-Medill graduate, is confused.

7: What’s interesting about The Wolverine piece is that it ignores stories that ran on its own website. From September to December, it ran two stories on Swenson.

Oct. 16: “Swenson is a Staple” … 743 words without a hint of any negative vibes from the coaching staff...

Nov. 13: “Swenson with the Scoop” … 401 words, again without a hint of any negative vibes from the coaching staff...

Does this sound like a player who was informed by coaches over the summer that his offer was conditional, that he was subject to an “evaluation period?”

Behold, the bait and switch. Rivals didn’t know in mid-November that Swenson’s situation had changed, therefore there was no way Swenson knew it had changed. And if you think about that for more than two seconds, it doesn’t pass the smell test. If you get a questionable performance review at work, that doesn’t get published in the company newsletter. If you’re failing, say, Journalism 100, no one issues a press release. For the kids who Michigan loses because they don’t qualify, Rivals didn’t run weekly updates on their Algebra scores.

The fact that Michigan didn’t bash Swenson publically is both logical and “ethical,” if we want to use that word. Teddy, you asked before how you would feel if you were Swen Swenson, to which I reply (a) monograms, and (b) I’d rather not see a Rivals headline saying “Michigan Questioning Whether Swenson Can Cut It,” both because it would be cruel and because it would taint him for other schools.

8: If Michigan was souring on Swenson in the fall, Harbaugh should have sat him down, looked him in the eye and told him exactly how he felt.

Dear reader, I ask you to go re-read point #6. The same point #6 that Greenstein brushed off, and made NO effort to contradict. According to Spath’s sources, Michigan sat Swenson down in the fall, looked him in the eye, and told him exactly how they felt.

9: I hope Harbaugh remains at Michigan for another 20 years because college football is way more interesting with him around. I also hope he realizes that the way he’s acting is unseemly. A great school deserves better.

One could say the same of a great publication. But sometimes people end up places above the level at which they can reasonably compete.

We can debate the merits of how Jim Harbaugh, or Michigan, or any school handles recruiting. But You have to start with the facts. 

Comments

IlliniMichigan

January 22nd, 2016 at 5:41 PM ^

I live in Chicago and read the Tribune. Teddy Greenstein (aka Teddy Purplestein) is a complete Northwestern fan boy. Virtually all of his articles fawn over Fitz and everything NU. It's embarrassing how bad he is. Not surprising he's going after Harbaugh now after we put a beat down on his beloved Kitties last fall. (He hates all things Illinois as well but that is irrelevent for this board.) He's infuriating but the Tribune has always been run by a bunch of NU grads and they allow his cheerleading.

Brimley

January 22nd, 2016 at 6:31 PM ^

I love the Trib generally and David Haugh rocks it in sports.  Teddy's coverage of the Big 10, however, has bugged me for awhile.  I know I'm a homer, but he has shown great disdain for Michigan for a long time now.  After JH was hired, he let up a little on how much we suck, but now has jumped back in feet first.

lou apo

January 22nd, 2016 at 5:42 PM ^

In the old days, you didn't recruit guys to play for you as much as you recruited guys to NOT play against you.  It was as much a defensive move as an offensive move.  Those poor kids never had a chance, the big name schools would recruit them just to deplete the available talent pool for everyone else.

charblue.

January 22nd, 2016 at 5:50 PM ^

we have been previously warned could happen with this coaching staff, and now it has. The fallout is exasperating but when we didn't know certain mitigating circumstances surrounding the staff's handling of this Hoke recruit, we were just as critical with a caveat about discovering the other side of the story.

This seems like a case where the kid was afraid to hear bad news and didn't want to challenge himself with a fresh talent evaluation by a new Michigan football staff, perhaps fearing he wouldn't makle the cut, and then by not agreeing to it,  found himself off the prospect list.

Accentuating the one apparent fact here that there was a certain failure to communiate or clearly recognize or understand the message being conveyed, both sides are to blame. 

 We have to accept not every Harbaugh story or take is a happy one nor does it need to demonstrate that our coach isn't subject to criticism or challenge when his moves aren't universally accepted. This will only increase as his success grows at Michigan and those looking for an opportunity to question, probe and challenge, do so with gleeful pleasure.

This forum raised this issue to a point that it became a story longer than the average news cycle for recruiting

UMProud

January 23rd, 2016 at 8:54 PM ^

Greenstein is yet another in a long line of media types trying to help their shitty careers by grabbing at Harbaugh's jockstrap. This hit piece was not even well written and uses logic and fact weaving that an 8th grader could improve on. No one will remember this guy's name in a week.

turtleboy

January 22nd, 2016 at 6:02 PM ^

I appreciate the rebuttal, BiSB. I felt bad reading Swensons reaction, naturally, but it feels much dirtier hearing hack reporters and radio shock jocks ignoring facts and inventing whatever narrative they want about this to sling muck and get attention for themselves. It was refreshing to see someone intelligent join the discussion and methodically pick through the horseshit.

tspoon

January 22nd, 2016 at 6:05 PM ^

Now that we've learned the dad's name is Swen Swenson, the pendulum has swung again and I'm officially pissed at Harbaugh. He passed on that kind of awesomeness? Jim just doesn't get it.

kevin holt

January 22nd, 2016 at 6:17 PM ^

No shock that Teddy has no idea what he's talking about since he covers Chicago sports/Northwestern football. He called oversigning "over-recruiting or 'Colter-ing'" and I'm not sure if he made that up just then or not. Either way, what?

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 22nd, 2016 at 6:35 PM ^

One of the main reasons I started reading MGoBlog was the high-quality fiskings that Brian used to dole out on the regular to people who deserved it.  Hasn't been much of that lately.  Feels like good old times again.

Mr. Yost

January 22nd, 2016 at 7:22 PM ^

Some follow-up thoughts to my Jim Harbaugh column, which ran under the headlines “Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh shows his true colors – and they’re ugly” and “Ethics no obstacle to Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh dumping verbal commits.”

1. Much of the response was along the lines of: Hey, other coaches also dump verbal commitments. Why single out Harbaugh?

My response to that: I’m among the scores of college football columnists who have ripped SEC coaches for oversigning. What Harbaugh is doing, on this scale, is unprecedented among Big Ten coaches. And I cover the Big Ten.

He began the practice at Stanford, using the shield of academics and the admissions office. Quarterback Kain Colter, who carried a 4.2 grade-point average and later led the fight to unionize college football at Northwestern, was dumped after he injured his throwing shoulder.

Harbaugh is now dropping verbal commits when he thinks he can upgrade to a better player. Or a healthier one.

The circumstances of the departures vary widely, and the latest insisted his scholarship offer had not been pulled. But we’re talking about eight players. Eight. More info here in Mark Snyder’s Detroit Free Press piece.

In one instance, a player coming off multiple knee injuries was told he could either retain his scholarship as a student or go elsewhere to play football. Some people have a problem with that. I don’t.

Harbaugh declined to comment Friday. A university spokesman emailed the Tribune to say: “We won’t be commenting at this time due to NCAA rules.”

2. As I wrote, Harbaugh is taking advantage of a flawed system. For years players have decommited before signing day, “upgrading” and reneging on commitments. If you’re a Michigan fan, you might use that to justify Harbaugh’s methods.

But if Erik Swenson (much more on him below) was your son, would still feel that way?

3. The most honest response to all this came from the Twitter feed @cubbygeorge: “GO BLUE whatever the costs!!!”

4. The most interesting response came from Harbaugh’s Twitter feed, his only tweet since Sunday: “‘They said’ artificial sweeteners were safe, WMDs were in Iraq and Anna Nicole married for love ‘... ‘They said’”


So apparently we should not believe “they” … whoever they is.

5. Let’s review what Swenson, an offensive lineman from the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, told the Tribune’s Bob Narang: He verbally committed Nov. 25, 2013 to then-coach Brady Hoke, becoming the first member of Michigan’s 2016 recruiting class.

When a new coach comes in, he sometimes opts not to honor previous commitments. Harbaugh was hired Dec. 29, 2014.

Last month, according to Swenson, offensive line coach Tim Drevno told him: “Get ready to play for us and keep working and getting stronger and faster. We’re looking forward to you playing for us.”

Here’s the rest of what Swenson said Wednesday: “They called me up last week saying I should reopen my recruitment and take other visits. My family and I were shaken back by it. That’s when the whole mess started. It was so out of the blue, me and coach Drevno usually talk every week or so, just to see how I’m doing and everything is always positive. It was the exact opposite a couple of days ago. I thought it was going to be another great phone call. I called them back a couple of days ago, and asked if I still had scholarship. They didn’t answer and just said ‘maybe and for now.’ I called them (Tuesday), and I was told that there were no spots left by coach Drevno. I tried to talk to Coach Harbaugh, but he didn’t want to talk to me.”

Also: “I was kind of taken back in the beginning, but that’s how those coaches are. There’s nothing you can change about them. They believe that’s how you should run the university and what’s best for the team. I was taken back. I fully intended to play there. I was nothing but loyal and was committed over two years. I helped them recruit several guys that are still there. I just felt used.”

6. A story that ran Friday on Michigan’s Rivals.com site, The Wolverine, included this:

We have also been told by multiple sources (though admittedly one of those sources on the Michigan side) that the Swensons were told back in November that he no longer held a committable offer.

We were also told by a source out of Downers Grove that the Michigan coaches asked Swenson to camp at U-M over the summer so the staff could properly evaluate him (he refused) and we were told that it was understood that Swenson’s senior year would serve as an evaluation period because this coaching staff had never seen him in-person and wanted to know if he was a good fit for the program.

And this:

As we always do with Michigan recruits, we talk to opposing coaches for a feature and when we spoke to Swenson’s opponents we were told off the record that the coaches were surprised by how less aggressive the 6-5, 300-pounder was and how their defensive linemen no longer feared playing him.

We’ve been told the same from our sources in Downers Grove, who said it was a major frustration for the coaches this year that the kid played not to get hurt instead of playing to show that he was dominant and the best player in the state.

So we have unnamed sources bashing Swenson OFF THE RECORD. ("Off the record," by the way, means not to be published. "On background" means you can use the information as long as it’s unattributed.)

7. What’s interesting about The Wolverine piece is that it ignores stories that ran on its own website. From September to December, it ran two stories on Swenson.

Oct. 16: “Swenson is a Staple” … 743 words without a hint of any negative vibes from the coaching staff. Swenson said he enjoyed the role of recruiter: “I was giving all the guys a tour in the museum after the game. Everyone was really interested in the history of the program and I can tell them a lot about that. The coaches use every advantage that they can get and I've been able to be a part of that. They seem to be pretty thankful for me and I'm really thankful for them. We make a good team when it comes to this kind of stuff."

Nov. 13: “Swenson with the Scoop” … 401 words, again without a hint of any negative vibes from the coaching staff. A line from the story: “He is now working as a recruiter for Michigan and will have a huge task when he returns to Ann Arbor for the Ohio State game.”

Does this sound like a player who was informed by coaches over the summer that his offer was conditional, that he was subject to an “evaluation period?”

8. If Michigan was souring on Swenson in the fall, Harbaugh should have sat him down, looked him in the eye and told him exactly how he felt.

9. I hope Harbaugh remains at Michigan for another 20 years because college football is way more interesting with him around. I also hope he realizes that the way he’s acting is unseemly. A great school deserves better.

[email protected]

Twitter @TeddyGreenstein

Mr. Yost

January 22nd, 2016 at 7:25 PM ^

But I was just able to take this information off of Greenfucks site.

I'm no computer wiz...but all I had to do was:

  1. Open the article in Google Chrome.
  2. That box/paywall thing pops up - so close the article.
  3. Reopen the window and quickly hit (x) for the page to stop loading
  4. Right click in Google Chrome and go to "View Page Source"

In there I found the article in the plain text...

...I just came back to MGoBlog, switched to plain text editor and pasted it in there.

Easy enough. SUCKAS!!!

Wolfman

January 23rd, 2016 at 1:17 AM ^

doen't matter in this instance. One person is right, the other is wrong. i'm siding with the 5'9" guy, not because we have the same height as a commonality. Simply because the other has nor more credibility than the man who went before him, Rosenberg. Despite everything he attempted to bring disgrace to this program, he found out what Harbaugh has been preaching, "What gos around comes around." If you are digging for bull shit in an area where cattle have never grazed, you will never realize your goal.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

January 22nd, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^

It's really irrelevant whether Swenson understood the situation or reasonably refused to camp or just degraded as a player. The relevant matter is Greenstein and others to react so impulsively and naively to the situation.

With no journalism training or movement beyond my sofa, I could have written a moralist piece on par with Greenstein to take a shot against the system or man (JH is an easy substitute).

Journalism is basically dead. BiSB > Greenstein. Go to press.

Mannix

January 22nd, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^

Wayne puts it all in perspective:
Stacy: Happy anniversary, Wayne.
Wayne Campbell: Stacy, we broke up two months ago.
Stacy: Well, that doesn't mean we can't still go out, does it?
Wayne Campbell: Well, it does actually, that's what breaking up is.




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

SGBlue

January 22nd, 2016 at 11:12 PM ^

So, I'm guessing that Jim turned Teddy down for one of his "Let me name drop who I played golf with articles." Actually, I was fully expecting that Greenstein was going to insert one of his "Big House Blunder" call-outs in this article. I think that I've seen that fucking phrase in every article about Michigan that he has written since the event that shall not be named. I expect to see a TM next to it every time. All it did was convince me that we denied him admission and he has carried that resentment with him for years. Which makes him just another form of Sparty.

But reading this article yesterday morning, with the obvious one sidedness and not one indication that there was an attempt to report the whole story, finally put Teddy into Drew Sharpe territory for me. Even though he is the lead writer for my local paper on the sport I love best, he is now dead to me. DEAD, I say...




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Don

January 23rd, 2016 at 9:03 AM ^

That was PJ Fleck's first season as Broncos head coach. I wonder if Greenstein wrote an article about this:

"One of Fleck's first actions as head coach was to rescind scholarship offers to incoming players who had verbally committed to Western Michigan. The withdraws occurred weeks before the national signing day, and left players unable to arrange other Division I scholarships as slots were already filled at other schools. "I know if it was me, I would be ticked," Fleck said of the players who had scholarship offers pulled. "I also know if it was me, I would have showed up in the office of the head football coach, telling him I was dying to still be here." Fleck started his position during a dead period when recruits are not allowed to have face-to-face contact with coaches."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Fleck

http://usatodayhss.com/2013/new-coach-no-scholarship-im-sorry-we-dont-w…

Archibald Meatpants

January 23rd, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^

 

I could be way off base on this.  But, this feels more like an opportunity for the media to bash Harbaugh than to stand up for a poor abused recruit.  If the kid truly got screwed then it's all on Harb's.  I'm guessing this falls 50/50 between him and Swenson.  But, the media has followed every camp, home recruiting visit & tweet with glee.  Everything he does is national fodder.  Now comes the inevetable backlash. 

FUCK 'EM! 

I'm actually glad this is happening at a time when Harb's can't directly respond.  He has better things to do. 

 

 

lmgoblue1

January 23rd, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^

But when people ignore the facts nothing can help them. And this Greenstein dude is willfully ignoring the facts.A lie goes around the world before the truth even puts its boots on.( credit to the original writer whoever that is).

McGonzo

January 23rd, 2016 at 12:54 PM ^

I decided to wait and gather as much info as possible before slandering Harbaughs and UofMs reputation. Now that we have a little info from the other side, the truth is beginning to surface. The thing that Harbaugh did wrong was not pulling the offer earlier. The thing is, its starting to look like he tried to let this kid know that he lost his spot on the team without, actually, rescinding the offer. Pulling an offer is more harmful to the player than the school. It makes other interested schools wonder what they're missing and costs other offers from other schools that were previously interested. You could look at it like he was trying to help this kid out by not pulling the offer and letting him decommitt, shining the player in a much more favorable light. The kid forced Harbaughs hand and lost. Now he wants to be upset because he didn't listen to the message they were giving him.

As far as unnamed sources, people not wanting to be mentioned because their livelihood could be hurt shouldn't be completely dismissed. Every person that's let their name be added to the story has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Harbaugh was still wrong here but his intentions were not what we all first believed, or that some will always believe, regardless of the truth. I'm sure, next time he will put UofM first instead of looking out for a recruits best interest.