On Feagin and the Ethos of Michigan

Thanks. I really like the guy, but as you point out with Harrison, Carr certainly did have his share:

http://www.geocities.com/DAVETGC/Scandals_Michigan.html

EDIT: That link page is pretty crappy. Sorry, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Didn't Super Mario sit out a game for smoking pot? What about Arrington slapping around his girlfriend? And there were other non-starter offenders of late who got booted as well.

As you point out, these dudes are merely rent-a-tough-guys. We'd all love to play make believe and dream that many of our star players carry 3.8 GPAs, having been accepted to medical school while simultaneously crushing some QB's skull. Nope.

This will blow over in a few days. Onward we march into the season!

...is "innocent," has a great sob story, or both. It's up to the football coach to assess whether or not any kid with red flags will be a criminal when he gets to school. While Feagin had been arrested in HS, he apparently had no convictions, so I'm sure he was easily able to "explain" why "the 'man' was trying to hold me down" or "it wasn't my fault" or "I'm not that person anymore" to the satisfaction of RR and other coaches who recruited him.

RR guessed wrong: big fucking deal. He did the right thing by booting Feagin from the program. Those looking for "wrongdoing" on the part of RR are way off base. As the firemen might have said after putting out Burke's fire:

"Move along; there's nothing to see here."

I haven't been a Michigan fan or followed Michigan football for as long as most people on this blog. Occasionally something comes along where I realize I still don't fully relate to the common culture shared by Michigan fans. This is one of those occasions.

I don't understand why we need to defend this incident, or more to the point, Rodriguez's handling of it. Don't get me wrong, obviously this incident isn't good, but does it signify anything unusual? To me, no. The football team has ~85 young men on scholarship, many of whom come from a much rougher background than your average Michigan student. Although I may be wrong, I don't feel like I run in a particularly sketchy crowd, and yet I've seen plenty of illegal transactions in my time in Ann Arbor. So having one kid of 85 refer someone to a drug dealer for a $600 deal doesn't strike me as anything particularly shocking, especially when a lot of these kids come from rougher backgrounds.

The reasons behind these violations of team rules incidents often become public, but I think it's only reasonable to suspect that having an incident a year of this severity is the rule, not the exception. It seems like a lot of people here are committed to defending U of M as a school that is, in fact, exceptional in regard of character. I have no such delusions.
The one qualm I think is reasonable to have with the handling of this whole affair is that Rodriguez could have done a better job getting references for Feagin's character, but let's be fair- Feagin had never been convicted of anything and Rodriguez HAD to have a dual threat quarterback. sidenote: Doesn't this make you wonder what BJ Daniels' story was? Personally, I think this whole thing is an entirely forgivable offense. But I guess that's also what tells me I still don't fully get it.

"Lloyd Carr was and is a uniquely gifted and genuine man whose priority has always been the peak mental and emotional acuity of the players under his watch, and I know I am not alone in expressing my gratitude for his immaculate representation of a university that likes to think of itself as superior to all others.";

but not so much with the idea that RR only duty is to coach a football team. The latest board posts about the possibility of a meeting to ban players from the bars, while a good step if things were out of hand (and it sounds like a few players were/are)adds even more fuel. So does Wemers. So does Boren.

Don't get me wrong, I have made fun of Boren, Wemers, etc, for being giant pussies. And, they deserve it. But, if the "family atmosphere" and "type of players" means that its strictly business with no off field mentoring -- Houston We Have A Problem. I'm not suggesting that's the case. I am emphasizing it's critically important.

The Feagin boot shows that RR understands the necessity to discipline. It was the right move. I hope it came from him before it was suggested from the admin. Either way, I am confident that he will continue to react in a way that disciplines players appropriately.

And, while this has and likely is happening at other schools right now I, for one, am a little concerned that we may have some kids on the team who take for granted the position they have been given. I don't know why, or frankly even if it's true. But, at a minimum, that is the impression.

Feagin came from Fla, with a golden opportunity to play and contribute at a top college football program where he could earn a degree that would benefit him his entire life. Instead, he tries to do someone a "favor" by setting up a cocaine buy. I mean, seriously, did Sherri Acho and her staff leave out the "no drug dealing, shady character hanging around" part of the freshman speech? I don't think so.

And though Adrian Arrington had his problems, Lloyd Carr went out of his way to help the kid. Which, like, you know is how you teach kids to grow up, mature, be a better person, and a better football player, and hence, build a better football program -- or so it would seem, anyway.

I'm not sayin RR isn't willing or able to do that. The poor guy is coming into his second season after presiding over arguably the worst season in Michigan Football history. I'm just sayin' that his job is more than to "merely coach", and that this is more than just a "sport", and that the impression on August 10, 2009 is not a good one.

There's no suggestion by me that any of this Feagin, Boren Wemers, bar banning, etc. compares to the basketball probation, but the last thing that we need is a plethora of Tom Osborne style bullshit in Ann Arbor.

Fortunately I'm relatively confident that if you ask Bill Martin, Mary Sue, any academic advisor, and hopefully RR, they will all confirm that this job is more than about coaching football players. It's about teaching kids, winning games, and continuing the Michigan Tradition. More than simply winning games.

About it casting doubt on RichRod... that doubt was cast in Brian's post after the hiring was made official:

Maybe it's unfair to tar the coach when a couple of guys he got through school turn out to be world-class knuckleheads, but the idea of a Pacman Jones or a Chris Henry at Michigan is unsettling. It's not like Michigan's team is full of Mother Theresa's -- indeed, this year the team racked up arrests at a near-Zookian pace -- but there are some limits. Rodriguez also availed himself of JUCOs and academic risks that might not fly at Michigan. Though he dismissed academic concerns at the press conference by citing uniform NCAA standards, Michigan likes its high graduation rates and excellent APR numbers. If those start to come down he'll catch heat.

If you decided to ignore the possibilities because of optimism, I won't blame you. But to pretend our coach has a spotless record of character evaluation up until now is wrong. I believe in RichRod as much as anyone else here... but he's earned my criticism in this instance.

Feagin is off the team, and that's that. But what does it say about Appy State for taking him in? Will anyone get on their case?

As a coach, all you can do is handle it, and Rodriguez did. I'm one who thinks if you got 85 people in almost any room, there's a few who sniff the coke and smoke the drugs, beat their spouses, abuse their kids and do all kinds of things that we would like to sweep under a rug. If they get sniffed out, you get rid of them.

And college kids who have access to drugs? WHO KNEW?!

Edit: thought better about spouting off...

What we fail to understand is where these kids are coming from. They are 18-22 year old kids. They all make mistakes, just as all kids do. THe only difference is that when these kids mess up, its national news. Feagin messed up, but he's gone now. We should move on. Michigan is not the perfect place and no other college is either. Rich Rodriguez kicked him off the team, which I don't see what else he could have done. Close the case and move on

Rich Rodriquez gave him a chance late in the recruiting period. Obviously he didn't take advantage of his oppurtunity and messed up, and is now off the team. Sadly things like this happen at all colleges and we just have to move on.

all the time. RR was...get this...WRONG about this one. HOWEVA, he did still kick the kid off the team. The real problem to me would be if we had a coach that turned his head when kids screw up.

Please to all the chicken littles who think the sky is falling, it is not. Unles this becomes a regular occurrence, I'm not worried about this incident except in the 'raised eyebrow/awareness' sense.

Let's all remember that Pac Man and Chris Henry weren't problems until they left WVU and were held in check by RR and staff while on the team.

Let's be real. Not every recruit has a squeaky clean record and even when talking to people about their background and such, you aren't going to get the full story. Could there been a hint of a problem to RR in doing a background check? Yes. But if you rejected every prospective athlete with a whiff of trouble you would have a VERY limited recruiting pool indeed.

Did RR take a risk on a kid to fill a slot at a position of need late in the recruiting process? Very likely. He also was probably confident that he could manage him much the way he did in the past with other players that presented the potential for these kind of issues.

Would peope have crucified him if he had not taken that risk and we ended up in a situation last year where we needed Feagin and he was not there? Most certainly, and RR would have no way in which to explain to people why he took a pass on the kid and would have to do what he is doing right now, sit there and take a caning by his own fans and the MMM about his character and decision making.

By all indications he was involved and trying to help Feagin make it at the program regardless of talent level. Kudos deserved, none given.

The bottom line right now, the only poor judgement on display is that of Feagin. Feagin was offered an opportunity that he chose not to take advantage of and made decisions that resulted in the loss of that privilege.

RR did exactly what he should have done. He was trying to help a player adjust and make the most of his time at UM. When that player showed some extremely bad judgment, RR dismissed him from the team that day. No cover up, no mitigating, just gone.

I, for one, will applaud RR for his actions in this incident and will wait and see if this should turn out to be pattern.

For all of you out there piling on and jumping to conclusions/judgements, the real truth is that only time will tell and you will simply have to wait to determine if there is a long-term, endemic lack of character in RR and his players. There is a plenty of evidence that a high standard of character is expected, I would simply ask you to consider all that evidence with the same weight and to assess this type of event from a somewhat objective viewpoint before picking up your torches and pitchforks.

would just happen more often it wouldn't be as much of a surprise.

Is this a uniquely awful revelation that casts doubt on the ability of Rich Rodriguez to properly evaluate character? Yes.

It's one player. Lloyd Carr recruited William Peterson, who attended four high schools in four years, and went on to also get busted on drug distribution charges (in addition to multiple other crimes) at U-M. Are you prepared to make the same argument against Lloyd?

I think coaches take a lot more chances on players than any of us are willing to admit. Most of the time, those chances pay off. Occasionally they don't. That's life.

http://freep.com/article/20090810/SPORTS07/90810064/Michigan-State-reins...

I guess I can't make fun of OSU fans anymore for Maurice Clarett, and MSU fans for Jeff Smoker, because they can give it right back to me now.

Other than that, not a big deal. RR gave him a shot, he failed, and now he's gone. End of story.

When a kid gets kicked off the team, especially this late in the summer, do they still get to go to school, and get to keep their scholarship? Or does that all go away immediately?

Feagin would get run out of Columbus for being too much of a Boy Scout.

It is not a uniquely awful revelation. RR's record is fine by me so far. And Lloyd was no better as far as you can compare his career to RR's short stint.

Some paid attention to RR even before he came to Michigan. I recall watching him flounder in the biggest game of his career -- when he lost at home, to Pittsburgh, a team with a losing record, in a game that would have sent his WV to the national championship. RR's spread mustered 7 pts. RR looked like a deer in the headlights on the sideline. Seemed like a performance deserving of a multi-million dollar contract + $3M buyout + attorneys' fees for the defense of a defenseless litigation. Not.

Say what you like about Mallet -- I'd rather have seen him running RR's famed spread than Threet/Sheridan, neither of whom was comfortable in that role. If RR is such a special coach, he should be able to deal with primadonnas and find roles for nationally ranked players, particularly those who are already on his roster.

And when it comes to Mallet, Threet, and all the rest of the players that have left on RR's watch, RR could have the decency to say "Good kid. Another team will be lucky to have him." How hard is that? Instead, all we get is, "I only talk about guys that play at Michigan."

Give me a break. These kids are 18 years old, and RR is making MILLIONS on their backs. The guy could show a base level of respect. If you think that concept is outdated, you need to get out there on the field and get your bell rung a few times.