Perhaps the no. 1 reason for such tremendous success in recruiting
Who among us has ever witnessed a coach that seemingly hates their job more than any other person than one Mark Dantonio who resides in a city somewhere in Michigan. It appears, based on the words of an MSU alum, he approaches recruiting in the same manner he does gamedays. Following are his words:
¨Brady Hoke walks into the school and acts like he's your buddy,¨ a high school coach recently told us.¨He will put his arm around you, act like he's known you forever: he's just a very personable guy. When Mark Dantonio walks into your school, on the other hand, it feels like your players are being recruited by a graphic calculator.¨
-Unnamed MSU Alum/athlete, current high school football coach-
I can name two other coaches who recruited in the manner Brady does and their names are Bo and Woody. The separation has, obviously, begun in earnest and the results will mirror those after the MSU timekeeper gave Smoker an opportunity to go into overtime without the benefit of a time game and not allowing UM to do the same.
January 27th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
Finally, an explanation for why Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, Duke, Syracuse, and Temple, have such strong football programs -- they clearly get their success from being the winningest basketball programs in the country!
January 27th, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^
"I can name two other coaches who recruited in the manner Brady does and their names are Bo and Woody."
Um, let's not go all revisionist history here. Bo and Woody did not recruit like Hoke does. Times were very different. They would not sit for 2 seconds through a Hat Dance press conference by a 17 year old. They were not "player's coaches". They were more "parent's coaches" or "High School coaches' coaches" if anything.
Times have changed and I love the way Hoke, Mattison, and Borges can recruit. Let's appreciate them at face value. Not everything good that hapens is a throwback to the legacy of Bo or Woody.
January 27th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
A lot of interesting comments - some of which are influenced by a variety of other agendas.
Your point is exactly right. Bo and Woody were from a time when winning the kid's parents over was the most important thing and playing later on in the NFL was just an after thought. Charming mom and dad and assuring that their kid would get a good education and that someone would keep an eye on their lad were the big selling point. The coach as the ultimate loco parentis father figure was a major selling point back then.
Both of them (it could be confidently stated) would have pulled an offer from any kid who did a hat press conference thing. Neither really liked recruiting and would usually close the deal after a lot of leg work by their assistants. High school coaches I believe had longer tenures back then - so Bo and Woody could actually know the coaches of the top 25 big high school in Michigan and Ohio.
Today, some of the parents are the ones egging the kids on to think about which schools could help them get ready for the NFL. The role of non-traditional advisors also is huge now. There is now Twitter, Facebook, the Big Ten Network and the UM has its own video presence via the web and there are places like MGoBlog.com.
Different times, different styles and different methods!
January 27th, 2013 at 10:28 AM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
Dantonio spends too much time laying in the weeds to be a good recruiter.
January 27th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 12:01 PM ^
I see two main factors for a spike. First of all, there aren't any "Michigan men" telling HS coaches not to send their players to Michigan. Second, I think players perceive a great opportunity for playing time as Hoke retools the team for his style of football.
Ulitmately, though, the Michigan name is always going to be attractive; Michigan is one of the few schools capable of pulling in top ten classes on a regular basis without offering illegal perks. It's amazing what can happen when a coach has the full resources of the program.
January 27th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
Remember, he was the Defenisve Cooridinator at OSU during the Robert Reynolds choking Jim Sorgii incident. He refused to punish Reynolds and esentially condoned the play, which is still one of the most despicable and cowardly things I've ever seen done on a Div 1-A football field.
Dantonio has no class or integrity of any kind. He runs an undisciplined, "inmates run the asylum", WIN AT ALL COSTS program. He is the anthesis of what Michigan is. I'm hard pressed to come up with more than a handful of coaches I would want here LESS than him.
January 27th, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^
He also didn't punish Tommy Gholston and made the B10 do it after the head twist/throat punh game. I remember MSU fans loved it because he "stuck up for his players" because Lewan was racist and was grabbing his facemask.
Dantonio is a perfect fit for that fanbase if you ask me.
January 27th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 2:18 PM ^
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January 27th, 2013 at 2:11 PM ^
January 27th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^
Yeah, many of you will slam me for this, but I think the whole obsession over recruiting is overrated. You don't know until you see them play against others on this level. The recruiting rankings are completely overrated. I am glad Michigan got Green, but I would like to see him actually play before doing a happy dance all over the place. And trusting what rivals.com says is like trusting what ESPN has to say. There are agendas abound there and I just don't buy what they say. Good luck to the kid, I hope he excels, but I know people who actually lose sleep over recruiting season - and I think that is silly.
January 27th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^
Well, you could be in the middle. I follow recruiting, I get excited when we have (for what seems like in the moment) success, and I am able to not lose sleep over the process.
People do take it too seriously (see the adults who tweet/interact with recruits), though, so that's definitely too much.
January 27th, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^
This isn't slamming you, but there have been good analyses posted recently showing that the recruiting services seem to be predictive of success at both the college and NFL level. So while, you're right, that many highly-recruited kids won't pan out, the odds of a 5-star panning out are considerably higher than a 4-star player, and they're much more likely to pan out than a 3-star player.
January 27th, 2013 at 5:06 PM ^
What bothers me is what if Derrick Green just turns out to be a good player? What if he is not an All-American? Are some people going to take shots at him? Call him a failure? I am sure some will, and that's unfair to him. Some of these guys are so completely superior to who they play against in high school that it makes scouts drool, but until they play against guys that are just as big as they are, that have the same relative speed they do, and with the spotlight of national TV and 110,000 watching in person, we just don't know. There are so many "busts" and it's because there almost seemed to be a competition in building someone up rather than evaluation what they are. I know there is always going to be a ratings system, but I just wish we'd all stop looking at it like it's some kind of word of God measurment (and I am an atheist). And it works the other way too. Jake Ryan was a very under-the-radar type of recruit, wasn't he? That guy was not supposed to be fast enough. He may not win in too many foot races, but damn if he is not the fastest reactionary player on the defense. Again, I wish Mr. Green well. I hope he is as good as some think and I hope he represents the school well in his personal life and attitude, but I don't have any expectation of him - he is righ tin the middle of the scale to me because he has yet to prove anything.
January 27th, 2013 at 6:06 PM ^
Even an average saleman can sell water in the desert.