Earn the trips

Submitted by calichrome14 on December 29th, 2018 at 5:37 PM

I enjoy the kids to go abroad to other countries.  Great recruiting tool, but need to pay the players.  After they commit, charge them for the trip and make them earn/win the games.  Fair trade... tickets cost me a fair amount and I work for them. Thoughts? 

btn

December 29th, 2018 at 5:43 PM ^

The trips abroad are one of the best things Harbaugh has done, glad to see the basketball team following suit....and it’s a shame more schools don’t do it.

These kids are here to get an education, football limits what they can do.  Plus they make the school far far more than the trips cost.

I hope this continues long after Harbaugh is gone

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

December 29th, 2018 at 7:51 PM ^

Agree. These trips are really a clear statement that the college experience should be more than just football.  The only animosity toward the trip must be fueled by envy or pettiness, because a week-long trip with education mixed with tourism is a perfect fit for a global university like Michigan.

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

December 29th, 2018 at 5:43 PM ^

Honestly in Year 1, Harbaugh had the team in the dorms with no air conditioning, basically trying to kill someone to toughen up the team.

In Year 5, guys are going on million dollar first class trips.

I am in amazement how Hoke's loser players were toughened up so much, and Harbaugh recruited players are absolute pussies.  

TD Billy Taylor

December 29th, 2018 at 9:54 PM ^

I agree that this team seems a bit soft with its seeming inability to ever overcome any adversity (aka, any two or more score deficit in a game), but this is just dumb. If anything, it seems like Harbaugh is now riding these guys maybe a bit too hard, what with the long practice schedule and him basically benching guys who get injured (Nordin, Hudson, Solomon, etc.)

TD Billy Taylor

December 29th, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^

IMO, may be a case where you have to say "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

I hate colloquialisms, but I think it's kinda true here. Yes, the recruiting trips seem pointless when we can't beat OSU or win a bowl game since 2016, but they're great for recruiting and I think it helps the players bond.

Now, if recruiting starts to suffer and we see these trips aren't worth their hefty price tag, then maybe it's time to re-visit it. But this whole idea of cutting out everything for the players besides practices feels counter-intuitive.

Think about it, if your employer started cutting your lunch break in half every time you made a mistake, you'd just end up starving and resentful. In this case, I think we may see more players transferring or choosing not to come here if they think such punitive punishment systems exist.

calichrome14

December 29th, 2018 at 6:05 PM ^

This is just brutal for Michigan.  Stars were aligned for them to be a CFP team this season, and instead they deliver these last two performances.  OSU in transition, PSU losing a generational QB, MSU with offensive issues.  HAS to happen next year, doesn’t it?

 

- “John u bacon” retweet

 

UofM626

December 29th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^

Dumbest thing posted ever on here. Charge the players to travel! Is that really going to help to cover the QB who just ran all over us, is that going to turn the light on w a certain O Coordinator and shed light on on how he has 3 Ferrari’s as WR’s but still wants to dump off and drive the Toyota Corrola up the middle on every other play. Wake the fuck up

Perkis-Size Me

December 29th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^

So you want to pay the players, but also make the players pay the institution that’s paying them?

Yeah, this is all making sense.....and I’m already several drinks deep.....

jmblue

December 29th, 2018 at 7:10 PM ^

No one ever objects to basketball going to Europe, which it does every couple of years.  

The trips are awesome, the best thing Harbaugh has done at Michigan.  I love that U-M gives its football players this opportunity.  

Michwolve21

December 29th, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^

How bout we scrap the trips? Do you honestly think the players are looking forward to the upcoming trips? South Africa, Brazil, Cuba? Would you have wanted to go there when you were 18-22?

UMHX1992

December 29th, 2018 at 9:55 PM ^

Disagree. If class after class is going to lose to Ohio State all four years and also lose to ND, good teams fielded by PSU, Wisconsin, and Iowa...might as well emphasize the student- in student-athlete and give them an edifying experience.

GoBlueSPH

December 29th, 2018 at 10:06 PM ^

I’ve said this in many threads the past 2 years. The trips are a recruiting gimmic. Michigan hasn’t won anything in a long time, so Harbaugh is looking at creative ways to lure top notch recruits. First it was the camps, then they got shut down. Now it’s the trips. It’s an added bonus for our team.  Something that lures players, since we haven’t won’t any sort of title in a long long time. 

It doesn’t make the players soft. No one is taking a down off because they are taking a trip in a few months. There are many valid criticisms of Harbaugh and his coaching staff, but this is not one of them.