MSM Column re: Decommitments, very negative on RR
The Chicago Trib has a column today regarding the many decommitments of Football recruits this year. It is very negative re: RR. His take is that what goes around comes around: if coaches can "decommit" from contracts and promises, we shouldn't expect more (or less) from High School kids. He writes,
It's not right (decommitments), and it needs to stop.
And I'll go along with that just as soon as coaches honor the contracts they sign. I'll go along with that just as soon as coaches agree not to bolt for other jobs after declaring to recruits their undying loyalty
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-06-morrisseyfeb06,0,59…
While as a UM fan I don't blame RR for leaving WVa for other reasons (lack of institutional support, one time opportunity to coach at Michigan), there are some points to the columnist's analogy. The ultimate proof will be in how long RR sticks around UM. If a few years from now he has some success and then bolts, a la Pitino or Saban, the columnist will be found correct.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:53 AM ^
A coach leaving for a new or better job is in no way comparable to decommittments. Coaches work their asses off for a team to succeed, then enjoy the fruits of their labor by taking a new, better paying job. They indeed committed to the school and worked. The better anaogy would be for a player transferring schools after playing for a year or 2. Even then it's not fair because the player is often led to leave by personal circumstances, family reasons, or a failure to connect.
For a coach to act like a decommittment, he would have to verbally commit to coaching a team, hang around till about July, then bolt right before the first game. Verbal committments take up a spot, scare others away, and create expectations about who else to recruit. Further, the analogy is still no good because this hypothetical coach is putting in time and effort into coaching before leaving...and he would never do this but for the most extreme of circumstances because other teams would e VERY wary of hiring him. Kids can break off a verbal after contributing 0 to the team and suffer no consequences whatsoever.
I'm not saying kids should suffer consequences for decommitting or that all coaches should bolt on jobs. I'm just saying that analogy is terrible. And lazy as all hell. I should not be able to pick apart their shit reasoning ability this easily.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:07 AM ^
To add to what you are saying, a better analogy to decommitments is Billy Donovan backing out of the Orlando Magics job.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:05 AM ^
Where will he bolt to? Saban went from the University of Toledo to MSU to LSU to the NFL and now back to a top program in Alabama. His movement was not lateral at all. Same thing with Petrino, Louisville to the NFL back to Arkansas, a decent to good program in a well respected conference. Both realized real quickly that the NFL is not for them and went back to college. Unless Rich Rod goes to the NFL, which I doubt because his offense will not work in the big leagues and because he can see that college coaches don't have much success in the NFL, I can not see him going anywhere else. Any other move he makes in the college ranks is either going to be lateral, say go from UM to LSU, which won't happen, or he gets fed up with all the pressure to win and goes to a lesser program such as Louisville (like a Tubby Smith).
February 6th, 2009 at 9:33 AM ^
First, Alabama contacted Rodriguez; RR was not searching around the country for a school to move to. If you're at WVU and Alabama calls, you're going to talk to them.
Second, It's telling that this assclown doesn't mention Urban Meyer. RR was at WVU from 2001 through 2007. One school. During that same period, Meyer was at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida. Funny, it's RR that gets slammed.
How about Dennis Erickson? From 2001 through 2007, Erickson was at Oregon State, San Francisco, Idaho, and Arizona State. Funny, it's RR that gets smeared.
And as Sedieso mentions, Nick Saban has hardly been the embodiment of program fidelity. From 2001 through 2007, Saint Nick has been at LSU, Miami, and Alabama. Funny, it's RR that gets criticized.
Finally, WVU coaching legend Don Nehlen himself told Rodriguez that he'd be a fool to not look seriously at the Michigan job. Funny, this isn't mentioned.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:39 AM ^
USC had like 6 decommitments this year according to the article linked over in mgolicious. Florida even had a couple. Color me apathetic about Michigan's decommitments being the sign of anything more than general trend + 3-9 season.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:11 AM ^
I would take this guy's point a little more seriously if Coach Rodriguez had complained about players decommitting. He didn't. He knows it's just part of the game, so to speak...One of the things I really like about Coach Rodriguez is that he doesn't whine.
Dex - I laughed a lot at your Greatification of Michigan posting.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:18 AM ^
Clearly - the MSM meme is that RR = bad, so what can they do to prove it:
1) OMG decomitments;
2) OMG, Dantonio Rulz the State because RR is ignoring players from Michigan (but of course the MSM would never be satisfied with a mediocre team made up of the all Michigan players either);
3) OMG RR didnt adapt his system to the players
4) OMG RR losing loser to ever lose at Michigan
At the end of the day - the MSM has decided that it collectively has it out for RR and will come up with memes to prove its point. In short, RR is the Israel of college football.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:46 AM ^
Who would that make the Palestine of college football?
February 6th, 2009 at 5:07 PM ^
Dantonio
February 7th, 2009 at 9:14 PM ^
Will you stand idly by as Michigan murders, rapes and robs Michigan State? Will you so-called liberals ignore that poor, innocent students at Michigan State are STARVING by the day because MICHIGAN has shut off supplies of food!
-Blaine Coleman
February 6th, 2009 at 5:34 PM ^
Right. ORRR you could've just stopped at "memes to prove its point" and not make a really dumb analogy to a serious matter like war.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:01 PM ^
F. make your point and move on without being an asshat and bringing incredibly serious issues into it.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:46 PM ^
Rick Morissey is a Jerk. The analogy fails in most ways.
However, if a coach says, "I'm here for life. I'm not going anywhere" and then next week, it's "C-YA. Couldn't pass this opportunity up." it stinks.
It also bugs me that RR fought the buyout clause at WVa for so long. Just pay the money and move on.
Now, I want RR to stay a long time. I want him to have a lot of success at Michigan. I want him to stay until he retires or becomes AD. But that doesn't mean I have to like how things played out here.
At the least, I feel bad for kids who sign up for a certain style, for a certain coach (cf: Mallett) and then have everything change. It actually could have been worse at UM: at least Lloyd let people know his plans early enough. But it stinks that Mallett had to sit out a year.
If coaches want more flexibility,if they want to keep their options open to possibly move on to greener pastures, than do a new contract every year. If you want a multi-year (or open ended) contract with more security, than the NCAA shouldn't penalize kids who want to transfer out when the coach bails unexectedly, and the coach should be penalized more severely.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
When it comes to millions of dollars, very few people are going to "just pay the money and move on."
If it was a parking ticket, I'd agree with you.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:04 PM ^
Does anyone have a list of all the decommits and what the impact was on the overall class?
If one guy decommits and he is replaced by an equal or better recruit, how is that a bad thing?
February 6th, 2009 at 8:06 PM ^
Losing Graves & Jones had a significant impact. We have no depth whatsoever at DT.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:47 AM ^
Our decommits didn't really affect the class too much overall. We don't have much DT depth, but I thought Jones was overrated (and a bit of a head case). I thought Graves would be good, but that's only one guy.
Newsome and Beaver were replaced by Robinson.
McNeal was replaced by Stokes.
Campbell was replaced by Campbell.
Barnes decommitted, but from what I gather, that was kind of a mutual decision. The coaches seemed to cool on him and stopped calling him, so Barnes got the hint and moved on.
February 8th, 2009 at 2:31 PM ^
It really sucks we couldn't get Mingo (not a decommit I realize)and Graves, that would have sealed the all name team for sure. And as Brian said before, the Mingo jokes would've been awesome for years to come. I am sad.
February 8th, 2009 at 2:53 PM ^
That's one reason why I'm hoping to get Daniel Easterly. I think he could develop into a strongside linebacker who can cover and rush the passer.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:14 PM ^
...before the end of their contract? Both parties sign the contract, after all.
Stupid shit like this really annoys me. No, a contract is not sacred. Typically they have something written into them to protect both parties in case the other violates it. In the case of a college football coach's contract, it's usually money paid to the university if the coach quits or paid to the coach if he's fired. An athlete has to sit out a year if he transfers to another school. There's no reason why a university should not be able to fire an unsuccessful coach, or a coach should not be able to change jobs, or an athlete should be unable to change schools.
It's not like it's new, either. Lou Holtz did it back in 1985 when he exercised the Notre Dame clause in his contract to quit the Minnesota job. Holtz did not coach the Gophers in their Independence Bowl win that year.
Edit: I should have added that there's even less reason to keep kids from changing their minds about what school they want to go to until they sign on the dotted line.
February 8th, 2009 at 12:14 PM ^
last years record. This would be resume material for a job at the Freep.