Junior Colson feels angry, blindsided by Brown firing
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:18 PM ^
Fire a coach soon after signing day. Gotta love CFB.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:26 PM ^
I'm completely with you on this thought. But ... it has gotten murkier - especially this year - with the early signing period so close on the heels of the end of the regular season. You generally want to allow a respected person like Don Brown to finish out the season before bidding him adieu. Unfortunately, that puts you right into the early signing period and the situation M finds itself in now. I'm not sure there is a good answer other than to let players that feel like they have been truly misled out of their LOI.
December 23rd, 2020 at 2:31 AM ^
Every school goes through this. I remember Ohio State went through this with Mike Weber / Stan Drayton and their response was basically, “Toughen up, buttercup.”
He did. And by all accounts, I would say he is pretty happy with the way things turned out.
December 23rd, 2020 at 7:51 AM ^
That was dirty because he lied and told Weber that he was staying, and as I recall it was a big factor that swung him to choose OSU. Then he chose to leave, he didn’t get fired. So he knew that he was lying the whole time.
I read an article where the recruit said Don was very honest with him. He said that he wanted to be here next year, but didn’t know if he’d get that chance or not.
December 23rd, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
The difference is Don Brown or Jim Harbaugh didn’t promise the recruit that DB would be back like they did with Weber the night before signing day.
December 23rd, 2020 at 8:24 AM ^
They get a free transfer now, so no loss of eligibility. He also can ask to be released from his NLI, which I can't imagine Michigan would say no to. The days of them punishing kids for a coach leaving seem to be in the past.
December 23rd, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
Except for if schools take someone else at their position instead. People do so much shitting on kids for de committing but the reality is they get fucked in this process
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:21 PM ^
If you are committing to a coach rather than a school you shouldn't be signing early.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
I hear ya, but a recruit should be informed before signing day if a coach is going / not going to be retained. Surely the powers that be knew Brown was gonna get canned.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:40 PM ^
If that kid plans on enrolling early, needs to sign early.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:06 AM ^
Right. Tell the kid it’s a secret. That usually works!
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:48 AM ^
Should a prospective medical student be told that the Assoc. Dean of the med school is leaving?
December 23rd, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
The Assoc Dean of the med school isn't going to be directly involved with the kid's day to day learning and instruction plans, nor will he be involved in determining what type of education the kid will undertake. Terrible analogy...
December 23rd, 2020 at 9:47 AM ^
No, but the PhD student who is coming to a program because it has an elite researcher in their field of interest who is going to be their doctoral advisor should probably be told that said professor is leaving. Better analogy. Take a lap.
December 23rd, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
This is the right analogy. It happened to me (almost), and I had to choose between school and advisor. I was prepared to choose school and then my advisor happened to stay anyway, but it was just a grown-up decision I had to make. I didn't feel he baited me into coming to the school even though he had to have known the possibility of him leaving was on the table. It was an amazing opportunity for me to go to an amazing university (after graduating UM) to pursue my goals. The same opportunities are still there for these guys coming in.
December 23rd, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
Haha, that's exactly what happened to me at Michigan. But it worked out better in the end.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:55 AM ^
If he watched Michigan football this season, he should have known Don Brown wouldn’t be coaching the defense next year. It was either Don or possibly the entire staff.
December 23rd, 2020 at 10:32 AM ^
Hell he should have seen that DB wasn't coaching at all this whole year.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:08 PM ^
There’s no way this blindsided anyone in the fold. Seems like maybe he was directly lied to at some point. We all had a pretty good idea what was happening with decommits and whatnot.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:46 PM ^
Enough with this bs. People are commiting to the coach usually. It's this attitude that annoys me with Michigan fans... The we can never lose because... Michigan.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:38 AM ^
This is one of those super shitty situations.
I think if you announce you’re firing your defensive staff a week before signing day you might be the one coach nobody would ever hires again. It’s a dereliction of duty.
Now you speak to each kid and explain the decision and the plan and try to get them on board. These decisions were fluid and abrupt and the timing was a challenge.
Your ultimate goal is to make the program better. That includes making it better for the kid.
December 23rd, 2020 at 1:59 AM ^
Maize - you never been recruited
December 23rd, 2020 at 7:19 AM ^
Lol what? People here can twist anything to show UM never does anything wrong.
December 23rd, 2020 at 9:10 AM ^
December 23rd, 2020 at 10:13 AM ^
The early signing period is effectively the signing period now though.
It's a bum deal. Bad situation for the player, unavoidable by the staff... If it's not a good fit now that Brown is gone, let the player off the hook.
At the same time, if you feel your new hire will be a good fit for the player, try to resell the player on the new plan.
December 23rd, 2020 at 10:14 AM ^
Double post. Oops.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:21 PM ^
i was under the impression Brown had been telling recruits that he wasn't sure if he was coming back?
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:29 PM ^
Ditto
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^
Also, if you're a recruit I would think you'd be vaguely aware of things going on with the program you're signing. Not sure how anyone would think Don Brown was staying, regardless of whether Harbaugh stays or not.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
Yes, this has been reported to be the case recently. I also find it interesting that we had multiple defensive flips on signing day to lesser programs which means there had to have been some knowledge of this in advance
December 23rd, 2020 at 9:57 PM ^
I've heard the same - people praising him for being honest with the recruits and telling them he probably wouldn't be back.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
Just imagine how he’d feel watching a 2 star CB from New England getting torched by Garrett Wilson for the 8th time in a game.
December 23rd, 2020 at 7:25 AM ^
This is all beside the point. It was time for Brown to leave. But ...
"... 2 star CB from New England ..."
Right -- because there are a bunch of those on the team. (There actually aren't any ...)
This "recruiting New England too much" for Brown and Harbaugh brings back memories of how "DickRod" recruited only "5-foot-8 dreadlocked midgets from Florida." Neither really maps to reality.
Let me guess, MgoBlowww. You think we need to "RECRUIT OHIO!!!" Right?
December 23rd, 2020 at 7:45 AM ^
It isn’t that serious champ, it was a joke that obviously went way over your head.
December 23rd, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
Vincent Gray might not be from New England but he is a 2 star CB who gets torched over and over again.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
Wasn’t Brown telling the recruits he wasn’t going to be here next year?
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:38 PM ^
That is my understanding as well. In the Don Brown thread ,a tweet was posted essentially saying that he contacted the recruits and encouraged them to maintain their commitment to Michigan while promoting the university. Something got lost in translation. Either this didn't happen or they forgot to tell Junior Colson. Good question for Matt Dudek I'd say.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:42 PM ^
They probably called the wrong Colson.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
Aubrey Soloman situation.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:50 PM ^
Thanks for that summary. Just saw your post a few down as well.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:39 PM ^
There had to have been some knowledge of it given the defensive flips on signing day to lesser programs
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:38 AM ^
I tend to agree with you. Here comes the however part. We dropped one prospect and had two defensive flips according to Seth's front page article on "Stargazing". They are:
Quintin Somerville: appeared to decommit due to Nua's eventual departure and stayed out west with UCLA. (signing day flip)
Casey Phinney: Per Seth - "I kept the data so might as well update it. I figured there might be a drop when he got dropped from Michigan's class and flipped to BC, but he's been basically ignored."
Brandon Jennings: A guy that flipped to us from Florida State that then flipped to Maryland (signing day flip)
So I guess what I'm trying to articulate is that two signing day flips with our horrible season is not unfeasible. The harder part to ignore is the elephant in the room. Lack of defensive players committed. That is a failure of coaching and recruiting from top to bottom.
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
Title is a lot worse than his actual comment. All he says is that he didn’t know about Brown being fired and he’s going to have to think about sticking with Michigan or asking for a release from his LOI
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:37 PM ^
Feelings are justified. If I'm him, I wait to see who is hired as the new DC, have a conversation with them and then make a decision.
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:36 AM ^
Then don’t sign early
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:57 PM ^
What the hell are you talking about? The title literally corresponds to what the Colson said -- that he felt angry and blindsided:
Four-star linebacker Junior Colson, who signed a letter of intent with the Wolverines last Wednesday at the start of the early signing period, told the Free Press on Tuesday that he was surprised by Brown's firing. "I was not pleased with the news about (Michigan) firing (Brown)," Colson said. "I didn’t know anything about it, but I already signed so there is nothing I can do."
When Colson was asked if he still planned to enroll early or if he would ask for a release from his letter of intent, he said, "I don't know yet."
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:02 PM ^
Not pleased =/= angry. And the "there's nothing I can do" comment sounds kinda indifferent actually.
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:41 PM ^
I do not see the words "angry" or "blindsided" in those quotes
December 23rd, 2020 at 1:12 AM ^
The article’s headline says angry and blindsided. The context of the article, from the report who spoke to him, clearly says he feels pissed and blindsided. Saying you didn’t see it coming and had no idea is literally the same meaning as blindsided. You’re just splitting hairs.
December 23rd, 2020 at 9:42 AM ^
Freep gonna Freep