New Morgan Trent - RichRod Allegations
Bobby Deren, a senior writer for the Rivals Rutgers site, scarletnation.com has published Draft Season: Four Months on the Clock in which he chronicles the experiences of Morgan Trent, Kenny McKinley, Frantz Joseph and Lydon Murtha as they prepared for the 2009 draft.
This bengals.com story reports that Draft Season contains some sharp allegations about RichRod's evaluation of Trent in his communications with NFL scouts.
At the end of the book, Deren describes the scene with Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan head coach that recruited him to Ann Arbor, breaking the news to Trent that current head coach Rich Rodriguez did him no favors.
“Rodriguez had bad-mouthed him to every NFL scout he could,” Deren writes. “Rodriguez claimed that Morgan was lazy, he had an attitude problem and he was a big reason the Wolverines finished with a 3-9 record…”
Trent admits the words were “jarring,” and they were hard to understand given that he was so serious about his career that he actually moved in with his brother and sister-in-law and their two small children while going to Michigan.
...
[Bengals defensive backs coach Kevin] Coyle heard the rumblings, but he didn’t talk to Rodriguez and put more stock in other people close to the Michigan program that had been there before.
“When there is a coaching transition and the team ends up not having success, you have to step back and try to decipher what the truth really is,” Coyle says. “There was a lot of heat on those people and there was some pointing of blame. Plus, the players were somewhat chagrined, so you had to look at everything.”
Presumably this information has played a part in Trent's willingness to speak negatively about RichRod and the Michigan football program.
Predictably, to date this story has only been picked up by the Freep (print version link).
Perception is reality. Trent thought he was better than maybe he actually was and RR thought he under performed and lacked a few things which maybe he did. At the end of the day I really don't care what he says at this point because someone with character and desire is going to make the best out of a situation. If your boss changes at work do you go sulk in a corner and not do your job to the best of your ability? Maybe he should've taken some notes from BG who came to play 110% every game of every year regardless of the coach. Some players come to play football for the sport it is and some are primadonnas.
sounds like Trent doesn't enjoy sausage
if you don't like sausage
get the fuck off my football team
And realize that the book in question was written by someone whose mom pleasures herself while listening to "Beyond the Sea" on repeat.
So, everyone is this guy's mom?
I would only hope that RR's evaluation of Trent as shared with scouts was the same as the evaluation that he gave to Trent. If he told Trent the same thing as he told the scouts, I don't see a problem at all. This could well explain Lloyds invovlement---"Look Trent, you're going to have to address these things if you want to be successful at the next level." That's good professional development.
relate this information to Morgan Trent, then I would say my esteem for him has somewhat diminished. I loved him as a coach and leader at UM, still do, but this just seems so petty and beneath him. Doesn't it?
I find it hard to believe that Trent would go on record as Lloyd having told him this if it wasn't true, but it is possible he made it up. Who knows?
What would Lloyd's motivation be for doing this? It doesn't help Trent as he was already beyond the draft. It certainly doesn't help Michigan, an insititution he professes to love. the only possible result of opening his mouth would be to embitter (further embitter) a player against his former coach.
Again, IF this is true, it really can only be explained by a lingering animosity from Carr about the circumstances of the RR regime changeover and would certainly hint there is is most certainly, not maybe, a rift in the AD with regard to the new coach and his people.
I am going to go and make my tinfoil hat now.
The Horror...nough said.
I would be a little traumitized the rest of my life too if I was at the healm for this. Cant fault Carr for being human.
as "Contributors" to his book. So right there I'm thinking he is prone to misrepresentation. I wouldn't assume Carr was disagreeing with Rodriguez's evaluation of Trent's senior season.
I'm not a football coach, but I've taught undergraduates for long enough. That talk Carr was giving Trent sounds very familiar. He's breaking the bad news about his evaluation. There are a lot of students with loads of talent who basically coast and then are upset when they don't get the grade they think they should get based on their potential. But grading isn't about talent or potential -- it's about buying into the class and doing the work. Usually, once you explain that, they get it -- it's not like they don't know they coasted, they just thought they could get away with it.
When those scouts call Rich, they're asking for a grade. I mean, how would you grade Morgan's senior season? I'd say a gifted athlete with a lot of potential who underperformed in games. Beyond that, I can't say -- that's why I'm not giving him a final grade. He's not my student. But anyone who thinks Rich should be giving everyone an A in order to not ruin their lives has never taught before.
I wish I had an MGoCryogenic chamber so I could freeze myself until September and avoid all these negative RR stories that come out like clockwork on a bi-weekly basis. I'm sure they already have a few more in the pipeline, ready for release on 5-22, 6-5, and 6-19.
Ehh Hemm. Is this thing on? Morgan Trent go fuck yourself!
This topic has been pretty well covered and I needed to get that off my chest.
Personally, I was never a fan of Morgan Trent. I never felt that he played up to his potential, and there was little doubt in my mind that he was not putting 100% in his game in 2008. I submit the performance of the secondary as evidence.
But, "Not so fast my friend"
I don't care how upset you are with your player, he's still your player. He didn't leave early, he didn't transfer, and no matter what you feel about his ethic during his tenure, no coach has any business bad-mouthing one of his players to anyone other than the player himself. A high school coach saying bad things to college recruiters or a college coach saying bad things to an NFL scout, they're both lowly and unbecoming of a good coach. As a coach, you owe it to your player to at least take the 5th no matter how bad your opinion of them.
I'm not going to jump ship of RR for something like this, especially given the 2008 secondary and the time he's had coming here, but if it's true, I hope he was just venting his frustration and doesn't make a habit out of saying such things. Its still no excuse though, and he owes Trent a huge apology if its true. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have hurt him too bad if at all getting into the NFL.
I'm not happy with Trent's performance his senior year either, but he's still a Michigan Man and I still wish him the best of luck in the NFL.
Exactly.
I agree with you. He could have said "Morgan is a tremendous athlete, possessing as much physical prowess at his position as anyone I have seen. I was really excited to work with him and have him in my secondary when I arrived, because based on his sophomore and junior years, he had a lot of potential, and we were expecting to build on that. His senior year, however, he seemed to struggle with the transition to a new coaching staff and defensive scheme. We were hoping for more leadership and consistency both on and off the field. He did make some outstanding plays for us and I believe he possesses the physical tools to play in the NFL in some capacity if he regains his motivation; his speed and strength could be an asset on special teams."
That would be a fair evaluation as a coach. You can acknowledge weaknesses. The professional way is to state them as areas to be developed, not directly as liabilities, and if there are any positives, you mention those too. Of course, it is highly possible that RRod did mention all the positives. For all we know, he could have said "Morgan has the tools to succeed in the NFL," it just did not get reported in the game of telephone.
To me, it's more telling that Carr heard from NFL scouts "what's the deal with RRod saying these things about Trent?" and then relaying it back to him. I'm not going to speculate without reading the book; and I'm not going to read the book. It sounds about as compelling as the autobiography of Omar Vizquel.
Do we have the full assessment/comments somewhere on record?
This is a profession, RR needs to provide player evaluations to scouts, he can't just 'no comment it'.
Remember that the 'assessment' is 4th or 5th hand at best and perhaps a very blunt version of what RR actually may, (or may not have, no one has really raised the possibility that RR never said anything of the kind) said. There may have been a bunch of positive things mixed in that would certainly not have survived the grapevine that this news traveled on to get to finally arrive at the ears of Morgan Trent.
Saying nothing is potentially worse, it says, 'I don't have anything good to say about this player, so draw your own conclusions.'
Lloyd himself was public about indicating several players who left early were not ready. Is that so different? Do you honestly think that a player in Lloyd's program that may have been a negative influence to everything he was trying to accomplish would have received a positive review or 'no comment' treatment? Specualtion on my part, but i would say, 'no way'.
Trent owed his coach buy-in and commitment first, if he didn't provide that, he shouldn't expect the same in return.
Again, is the assessment is accuarate, i have no problem with RR provide an accurate review.
For the most part, I'm with you. I do think there is something to be said for the fact that a coach has to be honest to the NFL in their references. There are no direct quotes, so there's no way to really make a judgement on whether he did it with the deference we would like.
My main issue with it, if I were Trent and being rational, would be if Rodriguez didn't bring this to me face to face. I would think the decent thing to do would be to tell him that the questions are being asked and he feels compelled to be honest. You would assume his work ethic and possible divisivness during the season were addressed head on during the season, so none of this should have been a suprise to anyone.
This kind of thing may happen more often than people think. Ty Law has accused Lloyd Carr of doing the same thing to him after he went pro in '95, and Ted Ginn Sr. has implied that Carr did likewise for Pierre Woods. Personally, I have no problem with a coach giving his honest opinion of a player to scouts. I would only have an issue with it if the coach had promised the players beforehand that he'd talk them up no matter what.
I can't wait til this hillbilly dumbfuck is run out of town after not making another bowl. He's a useless piece of gutter trash. That is easy to see when you look at his wife. Good ridance RR, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out of Ann Arbor.
You are nothing short of a Buckeye...may God have mercy on your soul
I get that you think Rodriguez is a terrible coach, a terrible person, and a complete idiot, but I'm confused at to where you're coming from. If you're a Michigan fan, don't you want to see your team win? And if you're a fan of State/Norte Dame/OSU/some other team that hates us, wouldn't you want to see this coach, who you think is awful, continue to coach the team you hate so that they will continue to suck?
way to contribute to an intelligent debate!
and thanks so much for helping to illuminate the general football knowledge, reasoned thinking and overall rationality of the average anti-RR mouth-breather, not to mention your, ehr.....literacy.
I take back previous statements to the contrary, there is such a thing as a Wal-Mart Wolverine and you sir exemplify that in spades.
Wal-Mart employs old/disabled people who can't do anything besides waive and they sell high quality Wrangler jeans at everyday low prices. While certainly there are things to dislike about the company, those are at least two positive things I could come up with. Associating them with this totally useless ass-clown is clearly hitting below the belt.
To Wal-Mart ;)
Sometimes I get passionate about M football and I don't know what I'm saying....
Couldn't help myself ...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CBIQFjAA&url…
Some of you guys were pondering "legal" remedies in some the mutliple pages of this waste of bandwidth.
If any of you do go to law school, in second-year Evidence, you will learn that this is a case of triple, and perhaps quadruple HEARSAY.
We have a blogger, who says that Morgan Trent said, that Lloyd Carr said, that one or more unnamed NFL scouts said, that Rich Rodriguez said, that Morgan Trent wasn't playing up to his potential.
Did you get that?
I'll break it down for you: One guy says that another guy says, that another guy said, that he heard from some other guys, what an original guy said. And at some point in that chain of hearsay, we don't even know who the alleged speakers were. Give me a fucking break. Only the Detroit Free Press would allow this bottom-scum internet rumor rise to the level of news. And even the Free Press would only report it under the cover of, "it has been reported elsewhere that..."
This story should die, unless and until somebody walks up to Lloyd Carr, gets about a foot and a half away from his face, and asks, "Coach Carr, did you tell Morgan Trent that Rich Rodriguez was bad-mouthing him to NFL scouts?" And gets an answer from our Senior Associate Athletic Director who by the way reports directly to Dave Brandon. AD Brandon? Did you hear that?
Rule 805'd.
I would +1000 this if I could. Thank you
I still think that website Joe McCoy is running touting his son JD is more likely to cause Rodriguez and the program problems than this issue.
care to elaborate or at least share a link?
D'oh! I used to watch that show too, shows how good my memory is.
For making it worth reading all the way through this thread...
Love the Friday Night Lights reference. I don't have DirectTV so I had to wait until just last night for the season 4 premier on NBC. Such an amazing show.
Just checked:
For those of us who do our TV watching online, Hulu has the newest episode -
http://www.hulu.com/watch/147825/friday-night-lights-east-of-dillon
I know some people have beat around the outsides of this idea but...has anyone actually thought that maybe Morgan Trent didn't get along with RR and actually WAS lazy?? He was kind of old to transfer at that point, so why not just coast out the last year, maybe get a degree from one of the top universities in the world, and then try to make it in the NFL. Seems somewhat likely that what RR said was the truth.
I'm sure Morgan would have gone top 20 in the draft if RR hadn't talked him down to NFL personel. With his resume, he's lucky to have been drafted. That's pretty low to try and blame RR for him sucking 90% of the time he was here playing. Whatever though, who gives a shit what Trent has to say, is what I say.
It's amazing to see how everyone will bad mouth Trent but RR is excused. When RR fails to make another bowl and downgrade this program even further I hope all of you choke on your own spit. Have a great Mother's Day weekend : )
Man, I hate it when that happens! You just cough and cough and sometimes your eyes even water, and everyone's like, "what the hell are you choking on?" and you just gotta say "my own spit, man! I need some water."
Don't wish that shit on me, cabron!
EDIT: This was a response to Dane telling us MGoFolks to choke on our own spit. Sadly, his poetry is apparently now lost to posterity.
After reading your above comment about Rich Rod's wife, I sincerely doubt that you have any respect for Mother's Day.
Edit: I musta forgot! This is a sweeeeeeeeeeet weekend to go jet skiin'!!!!! After me n' the boys git-R-done on the lake tomorrow, that goodfernothing wife o' mine better have sumpthin' great made for us to eat!!!!!! I luv mothers day!!!!!!!
Loser: someone who spends all of their free time on MGoBlog. That would be you, friend. I'm sure you wouldn't say half the ass brain stuff you do to people's faces. Probably none of it. If you'd like we can set up a meet and greet. What do you say, pussy? Have a wonderful day : )
I think this Dane guy is after your "Douche of the Year" award. Better be careful.
He's got a long way too go before he's as douchey as me. Keep working at it Dane, it takes skill to have this much douche.
I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that your posting days are numbered.
It's as if a million trolls cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I feel something necessary has happened.
It's all hearsay. It's hard to believe a savvy coach like Rodriguez would say that. Like him or not, that's a tough one to swallow from an experience standpoint.
Quite frankly I think that was the right evaluation of him. The guy had so much speed but got burned and owned the entire season.
Dwayne Jarrett agrees.
Howeva,in MT defense,there weren't too many db's that were able to contain DJ that year.
The memories of that parculiar game is still painful to recall...UGH!