TomVH (and MGoBlog) kind of a big deal

Submitted by BiSB on

The Detroit news ran a piece in this morning's paper about the effect of the CC on recruiting. 

http://detnews.com/article/20101220/SPORTS0201/12200313/Rich-Rodriguez-says-U-M-recruiting-steady--analysts-not-so-sure

It's mostly the usual stuff, and doesn't contain much new info.  However, what was interesting was their choice of learned recruiting analyst:

A lot of in-state kids usually end up committing to Michigan because they're lifelong fans," said Tom VanHaaren, recruiting analyst for MGoBlog.com. "An important in-state recruit in this class, who most likely would have already committed to Michigan had the stability of the program been in order, is Anthony Zettel (West Branch Ogemaw Heights lineman). Anthony has said openly he will wait to see what happens with the coaching situation at Michigan before deciding.

There is quite a bit more from Tom in the piece.  So while I'm not sure how willing I am to share our own personal recruiting guru, it's nice to see him getting some MSM love.

Michigan Shirt

December 20th, 2010 at 9:43 AM ^

Mac: It's like cream always rises to the top.

Charlie: Dude, and you're like made of cream, dude, and you're cream is all over his face, man, you know what I mean?

Mac: That pisses him off.

Charlie: And he hates that shit, dude. He hates that shit.

Mac: I'm always putting my cream all over his face and it pisses him off.

Charlie: Dude, you're like all up in his face.

Section 1

December 20th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^

it is also interesting to note the significance of Angelique Chengelis, the News' beat-writer for Michigan sports, choosing to quote Tom.

I suspect that it will be a cold day in Hell before Detroit's other newspaper seeks quotes from anyone associated with MGoBlog.

Six Zero

December 20th, 2010 at 8:56 AM ^

Book it-- one day we'll all be watching mainstream media sports programming and saying 'yeah, I used to blog with that dude.'

Congrats, Tom... just keep doing what you do.

CleverMichigan…

December 20th, 2010 at 11:00 AM ^

A friend of mine had this huge shepherd mix and named him Odin and I know how much it sucks having an uncommon first name*, so I wouldn't use it for a kid. But I could see Thor as a good middle name. 

*side note: My mom is no longer allowed to name things. Not because she made my initials spell BEEF on purpose (thanks Mom!), not because she made my little sister's spell AS IF, but because she named the dog Rio. Yes, after the Duran Duran song. 

MGoLiteral

December 20th, 2010 at 9:02 AM ^

Maybe Tom wouldn't mind sharing his experience doing this interview with us. How did the DetNews contact him? Is Angelique a big fan of the blog? Does she visit the site for breaking news/fan reactions? Will the DetNews continue to source mgoblog for news stories? (What took them so long?)  

profitgoblue

December 20th, 2010 at 1:27 PM ^

If Tom is going to be out and about chatting with the press, maybe we should ask him to sign a limited confidentiality agreement or some sort of agency agreement that requires him to break all important news about Michigan on MGoBlog first.  I'll draft something for your review this week . . .

True Blue in CO

December 20th, 2010 at 9:30 AM ^

We all need to make some donations this holiday season to keep MGoBlog prominent and pay our respect to TomVH and the others that provide us with the most current Michigan sports information and related entertainment.

ChalmersE

December 20th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^

FWIW, I think Brandon's decision to defer his decision on Rodriguez hasn't had the impact that I thought it would have on recruiting.    There were a couple of commitments this month; virtually none of the possibles have gone elsewhere; and for the rest of the period through the bowl games, contact isn't permitted so there won't be any major changes -- if Rodriguez is retained.  If he's not, all bets are off.

BTW, separate topic:  remember all the angst there's been about de-commits.  I noticed in Tim's B10+ recruiting roundup that there were six decommitments around the Conference just last week.  This should serve as a reminder that we're not the only school that loses multiple commitments every year.

LB

December 20th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^

was using the word commit to describe this process. If it had been termed the "another somewhat gifted and talented 17 year olds early take on here is what I am thinking for this 5 minutes, I'll make up my mind later and  sign that paper thing, and oh by the way,can I take another trip somewhere" it would be a lot harder to quote. I long ago stopped thinking of these as commits. I have found balance.

I'm not picking on the players. If I had the opportunity, everyone would hate me by the time I signed. This is the fault of the media and the fan base. We take 'em to the circus, and then twirl when they get excited by it.

TomVH - I never get excited until TomVH tells me it is safe to get excited. Good work, Tom.