How will Hoke ever be able to effectively recruit again?
Ignoring whether you are furious at Hoke or not over this, and assuming he hasn't been fired by the time I finish posting this, how is Hoke ever going to effectively recruit again? How are parents going to feel good about sending their kids to him after what happened yesterday? You don't think every other coach in the country is going to use this to massively negative recruit against Hoke and Michigan?
Negative recruiting about playing time or winnning or any of that can be counteracted. But how do you counteract negative recruiting where they are basically telling a player's parents that they don't want to send their kids to Michigan because you can't trust the staff not to get your kid seriously injured, because the head coach just isn't paying attention? Parents aren't going to play around with their kid's health. That will be a non-starter.
I see this as a recruiting disaster, regardless of whether you think Hoke is completely to blame or whether you think the whole thing was just an unfortunate misunderstanding. I tend to fall more in the former camp, but even if I didn't, the public perception of the incident is so terrible and widespread at this point that it has done real, serious damage.
September 29th, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^
maybe a little soon. But funny...
September 29th, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^
Mr. Grow Old, would you be kind enough to post a link to a bigger version of your avatar picture? It may be the only thing to save me from this grief.
September 29th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
You're looking at the next DL coach at New Mexico.
September 29th, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^
Coordinate with no headset, it would be an amazing sight to see.
/s
September 29th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
The most egregious part of all of this was not that Morris was put back in, that can be excused if medical personnel gave the OK. The most egregious part was that Shane got drilled, his head bounced off the turf and he laid there for a while, he then got to his feet and had to be held up by team mates who were waving to the sidelines for help. Right then he should have been taken out, there is absolutely no excuse for leaving him in there another play. I don't care if Shane waved them off, it is 100% the job of the coaches to take the kid out when he can barely stand on his own, regardless if it's from a leg or from a hit to the head they might not have seen. You take the kid out, period!
Imagine if on the pass that he threw on the next play Morris had again been hit hard and hurt further. He was not able to safely play football at that point in time and the coaches ignored his teammates' pleas to get him out of the game. Then when he does leave the game Hoke was right there to greet him, he had to know something was wrong with Shane, yet then he puts him back in in order to save a time out.
September 29th, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
tp the OP's question:
Mark Dantonio literally played someone who died on the field and justified it by saying he had the "wind knocked out of him." And, on top of that, recruiting improved at State.
Where was the indignation over that? Oh right, there wasn't because MD was winning games.
Link? Link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AZsok00Pio
September 29th, 2014 at 4:02 PM ^
Incredible.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^
Dantonio is playing the undead.
Considering that while he was at Ohio State, Dantonio intensly protected players who attempted to kill other people on the field (see Reynolds, Robert), I've never exactly seen him as a paragon of player safety. But I guess you are right, he is still able to recruit despite these things.
September 29th, 2014 at 3:39 PM ^
He's losing and the fans are upset and wanted him gone already. That's what the players see more than anything else.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
will always be a good recruiter. One on one, people love him. Head Coach is another issue.