Rodriguez slander; Tom Luginbill edition.

A notorious local reporter, in a notorious local newspaper, prints this little bit of unsupportable slander:

“Brady Hoke’s got to restore and enhance some relationships within the state of Michigan that were damaged to some degree either on purpose or inadvertently by Rich Rodriguez and his staff,” said Tom Luginbill of ESPN Scouts Inc.

To my knowledge, there is no evidence to support such a hateful and hurtful statement.  The story as reported included no hard evidence to support the statement.  Recruiting class statistics support no such conclusion.

If anyone can verify Tom Luginbill with solid evidence, let this be your invitation.  Otherwise, I shall use this occasion to CALL OUT Tom Luginbill as a liar.

Edit. -

Wellll.... Isn't this interesting?  The Board's bugginess is letting me edit this OP, but not "Reply."

So here goes:

I'm a lawyer; I know what "slander" and "libel" are.  Tom Luginbill presumably said what he said to Mark Snyder's tape recorder in a phone conversation.  That spoken defamation, if actionable, would be slander.  Snyder's own written publication would be a libel.  And yes you can just call it all "defamation" and not haggle over the nomenclature.

Now let's get to Mark Snyder, shall we?  Snyder didn't just suggest that he or somebody else had some stray conversations with Michigan h.s. coaches.  Snyder actually suggested that bad relations with Michigan h.s. coaches were a factor in Rodriguez's being fired by Brandon.  Now, that can presumably be checked with Mr. Brandon.  Snyder didn't do that.  If indeed Snyder's outlandish allegation were true, and if indeed it really had served as a basis for such a substantial action as terminating the head football coach at the University of Michigan, we will be able to ask David Brandon about that.  My money is on the side that Snyder has no such evidence.  None at all.  Certainly not from Brandon.

But more than that, if the entire story were true -- that there were not just one or two coaches or one or two uncomfortable incidents involving coaching and recruiting in Michigan, but instead that there was a major unreported story about bad relations between Rodriguez and Michigan h.s. caoches -- there would bound to be some record.  Some serious, affirmable, documentable complaint.  Multiple stories, witnesses.  Specific things, with nameable coaches and players, and not merely limited to the Brandon Inner Circle.

So far, this miserable thread has not shown one single confrimed meaningful story.  Snyder gave us nothing.  Luginbill cited nothing in particular.  That silly Kalamazoo Gazette story linked below is a big pile of nothing.  I see two coaches quoted, and one of them said nothing other than that he liked Brady Hoke's press conference, and the other coach quoted his own kid who is not going to play football at Michigan, with that kid saying that he wouldn't want to play football at Michigan.

Let's be serious here, people.  Because I consider this a serious allegation against Rich Rodriguez, who will hopefully be soon interviewed for a very important head coaching job at a major university.  No one has as yet given us a single specific instance of Rich Rodriguez doing... what, exactly?  Disrespecting Michigan coaches or kids?  Who? When?  Where?  How?  Isn't this what real reporters are supposed to do?  What the fuck is Mark Snyder's real job?

So no, I didn't run away from this thread because people had better arguments.  I haven't seen one good argument yet in support of this despicable allegation against Coach Rodriguez.

Edit II -

MGoUser "LandonC" posts this, which is fascinating:

At this point, why don't we just be happy with pro-Hoke articles?  Hoke is going to need all the support possible to step in and be succesful, especially in a couple years when the base of the offense has moved on.  If that comes at the cost of bashing Rodriguez, even as a huge Rodriguez supporter, I'm ok with it.

I don't agree with this, but I'm very glad that LandonC wrote it.  Because I think a lot of people feel that way.  'Just move on.  Onward and upward.'

Not me.  I think the University of Michigan and the Detroit media have treated Rich Rodriguez badly.  I think that Michigan has discgraced itself with the treatment of Rodriguez and his staff.  I'll defend Rich Rodriguez because it is the right thing to do.  I have nothing against Brady Hoke, who may be a very nice guy.  But I won't place loyalty to Michigan above basic fairness to Rich Rodriguez.  My enthusiasm for Michigan's Athletic Department is at an all-time low ebb.  I am about to write a large check to the Athletic Department for my PSD.  I've never had such misgivings about doing that, as I do right now.  Don't ask me who I'd be rooting for if, purely hypothetically, a Rodriguez-coached Clemson team played Michigan in a bowl game in a few years.

Edit. III -

So OMG Shirtless cites "Antonio Watts" as support for this story.  "Antonio Watts hates Rich Rodriguez."  This Antonio Watts:

http://genuinelysarcastic.blogspot.com/2010/02/re-post-on-lawrence-thomas.html

No, I am sorry you are just going to have to be serious if you want to play in this thread.  We are not talking about whether one guy has this story or that story.  What we are talking about is the allegation that Rich Rodriguez was dismissed in part because of a large issue with his not being able to get along with Michigan h.s. coaches, and, don't forget, that Rodriguez's tenure led to such pronounced difficulties, that now Brady Hoke has to somehow repair the damage done. 

And I am calling bullshit on that!  It's not my story; I don't have to prove anything.  It's Mark Snyder's story, and it is Luginbill's quote(s).  I know well from past experience what sort of false and phony reporting Snyder is capable of.  So please, don't try to tell me that we need to trust Snyder and some anonymous sources.  And don't tell me about what somebody heard about a certain coach one time.  I want to know what is the basis for the claim that Rich Rodriguez caused major problems with relations with Michigan h.s. coaches across the state.

Edit. IV -

@"Blue_Sox":  You seem to think that I've gone over the top and that there is reason to defend this Snyder story: 

in the ultimate bit of irony, you have now put us in a position to do the unthinkable and defend the Freep because you are so far over the top. I hope you can live with your all-time backfire. 

What reason is there to defend this Freep story?  Snyder speculates -- he reports -- on Brandon's reason(s) for firing Rodriguez, without ever having interviewed Brandon and without a quote from Brandon.  Luginbill's quotes, for whatever they are worth, are unsupported.  What is there about this story that would get passing marks in j-school?  It's crap.  It's a couple of vague Luginbill quotes, worked into the Freep's favorite theme; that Rodriguez was evil.  All without a shred of evidence.