Dave Brandon "Sets Record Straight" on Brock Mealer
In his most recent blog post Dave Brandon mentions that the uncertainty surrounding Brock Mealer is untrue. He says Hoke personally called Mealer to make sure he knew he was welcome.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/brandon/spec-rel/012111aaa.html
January 21st, 2011 at 9:10 PM ^
to Hoke? My recollection is that the article was peppered with quotes from Brock that he was uncertain if he'd be welcome under the new regime.
Not slamming Brock here. I think that was natural after the effort and affection RR, Barwis and the staff showed him - and he probably thought that these people who helped him walk were getting a raw deal.
I think it was a story worth pursuing by the media. They went directly to a direct source with attribution. I dont recall if they attempted to reach Hoke, Wellman or the AD for comment prior to the story, which I think would have been the appropriate thng to do, but I did not perceive this as a media jihad like practice-gate, shred-gate, number-1 jersey-gate, buyout-gate, shady real estate-deal gate, demar-doresey gate, justin feagin gate, etc. Rather, it was a legit human interest story for all the M fans that became emotially invested in seeing Brock's amazing march toward walking.
In short, it is one of the few things the media ever gave Rodriguez credit for and it was a legit story to follow to the end. Amidst all of euphoria at Rich Rod being run out on a rail, talking to the one person who was going to miss Rich Rod was fair game.
I am the first to criticize the media when it acts in a biased manner, but just not seeing it here. If anything I would have expeced them to not run it because of the MSM animus to RR and his "WVU cronies."
January 22nd, 2011 at 2:05 AM ^
If I remember the story correctly, the quotes from Brock were all of the "I don't know what will happen" variety. But what's he supposed to say when some newspaper guy calls out of the blue a couple days after Barwis is let go? It was the newspaper writer's choice not to contact the AD or the new staff, which suggests he had already decided where he wanted the story to go and he figured that getting a denial from them would derail it.
January 22nd, 2011 at 6:29 AM ^
if you think Brock is the only one who is going to miss RR. There may have been euphoria when everyone thought JH was coming not so much for Brady Hoke. One of the students at our MS had been fighting cancer for 18 months until Wednesday when he passed away. The family raved about RR and the treatment they got from him when they were in AA.
I'll miss RR, the offense, and what could have been this recruiting class had he stayed. It'll be interesting to follow the guys we would have landed and see how they perform. If he would have been left a little more IMHO he would still be here. I for one am not looking forward to a return to Lloyd ball when there was little excitement and we had the quietest 100,000+ stadium in the world. Here's to 9-3 next year with our schedule and 19 returning starters that is my expectation.
January 21st, 2011 at 9:15 PM ^
This is good to hear. This would have been the most disappointing thing DB has done if it turned out that he pushed Brock away. For me this would have been even more disappointing than the crappy handling of the CC.
January 21st, 2011 at 11:15 PM ^
It was strictly a Toledo Blade story.
If you are predisposed to thinking, "They couldn't possibly turn their backs on Brock, could they?", you might want to blame the Blade for going too far with this story.
If you are predisposed to thinking, "Yet another Brandon Administration foul-up," then you ought to be wondering where was the Free Press on this story.
I'm in the middle. My guess is that the departure of Barwis might have left the Mealers feeling left alone. And it was a case of mere inadvertence and inattention at Michigan. The Blade got the quotes, and did the story. I'm not so certain that there was any malfeasance on the part of the Blade's reporter. As far as I can tell, it was a fair, straight-up interview with Brock Mealer and others. All quoted, openly, on the record. (cf., the Freep.)
This sort of seems eerily like the Braylon/#1 jersey kerfuffle. Confusion that might have been cured with an early preemptive phone call was instead turned into a media controversy that had to be walked back.
Meanwhile, I get the powerful impression that our pals at the Free Press are no longer actively looking for stories with which to hurt the Head Football Coach of the Michigan Wolverines. With no more Rodriguez to attack, the Free Press is looking for different stories now; warm and fuzzy, with lots of former Michigan player/coach happy "Hoke" stories rolled into them. After all, there's only so much complexity that the average Freep reader can handle.
January 21st, 2011 at 10:02 PM ^
I'm glad to hear that the program is addressing this issue. Brock's story was a high point and it's nice to think the relationship will continue. But amongst all the turmoil and transition where does Brock Mealer fit in terms of priorities? Executive leadership 101: You can't have 20 different top priorities. And considering the timing of when that story hit, unless Dave Brandon is on tape telling Brock to F-off and turn in his locker key - there's just no story there.
I'd expect an executive to be out hiring the best people, mending fences, and seeing to it that student athletes had resources to cope with the transition. If Brock had to wait a few weeks - oh well - all signs are that DB was taking care of business.
January 21st, 2011 at 11:49 PM ^
correct.
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:14 AM ^
These media sources were just spewing out BS to make Michigan look bad. Thats what media does. And once again DB is smacking people around with his pimp hand. I read his clarification post as "STFU all you people that don't know anything about what's going on in my program!"
January 22nd, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^
DB also should have reached out to Brock himself and asked what he could do. It would be prudent for Dave Brandon to get in touch with Barwis and Wellman both and see if they could work something out to allow Brock to continue his rehab here....or continue here until Brock is able to continue elsewhere if he chooses.
Above poster nailed it, Brock was asked about things and in the transition Brock is obviously upset. He didn't slam michigan but he feels Rich and company got a raw deal and the fact that this transition has not gone on even a month yet it is way to early to start calling out michigan at all in this