Bielema thinks Meyer is a dirty recruiter

Submitted by go16blue on
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/01/wisconsins-bielema-questions-urb… Apparently Bielema doesn't like some things Urban has done with recruiting. I can't say I'm surprised, quite frankly. Most B1G coaches probably feel the same way, but Bielema is the only one willing to say anything. Sorry if the link doesn't work, I'm on mobile so you might need to copy-paste.

Ball Hawk

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:19 AM ^

whats your definition of "dirty"? I think every coach is a little dirty to some extent. I dont like Meyer but I cant be butt hurt over his style. After all, the kids have to make the choice.

BucksfanXC

February 2nd, 2012 at 10:10 AM ^

We OSU fans still have no clue what NW did to piss Tress off, but they were the only team he would ever run the score up on. He had bigger margin of victory against NW than he did against most MAC schools. They must have rejected him on prom night in high school or something.

befuggled

February 2nd, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^

That was the last Northwestern victory over Ohio State (33-27) and their only victory over Tressel. The scores before 2004 were reasonably close (38-20, 27-16, 20-0) but afterwards the closest game was 45-10.

Randy Walker was still alive then so we (probably) can't even blame Fitzgerald.

Seth

February 2nd, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^

Players pull this ugly shit all the time, on every team.

It's how the coach responds to it afterwards, and whether the same player is doing the same stuff again while still with the team that I really look at. Sadly, and this goes for some past Michigan coaches as well, I am usually disappointed by the coaches' reactions.'

In this case Kamoku was just a special teams guy who never really was known for anything like this before. Their next game was Indiana, and he played. Bielema said he "handled it internally," which is coach speak for he ran extra laps. That same coachspeak has been used to handle dirty plays by confirmed saints (Carr and Bo), by former saints (JoePa), by accused dickholes (Rodriguez) and by a confirmed terrible human being (Dantonio). Bielema's bad handling of this does not alone disqualify him from speaking about class, unless being a college football coach in and of itself disqualifies you from this.

I don't think Bielema is talking about losing an Ohio kid to an Ohio school here. I think he's hinting at and overblowing stories that have been circulating without any kind of proof the past few months about Meyer's recruiting tactics. 

Mitch Cumstein

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:21 AM ^

Say what you want about "sour grapes" and him being a "meathead", but Bielema was also the only b10 coach to publically call out Tressel for being a cheater, while Hoke was avoiding the question and Mark D was calling him a "tragic hero".   

Bielema might be the only shot we have at a coach telling the truth publicly.  

CRex

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:24 AM ^

The sour grapes over losing the one kid is dumb.  If you're going to call Meyer out, call him out for taking 25+ when he only had room for 23.  Then pruning his roster for violation of team rules *wink wink*.

dothepose

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:25 AM ^

but I don't disagree with anything he said in that article. Sad thing is, which I think we all saw with the recent weak penalties on OSU, is that OSU gets preferential treatment. So no one is going to crack down on OSU or Meyer for any illegal recruiting tactics. All we have to do is show him the spread option doesn't work in the Big Ten and recruits will stay away.

Lionsfan

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^

This quote is telling:

"[The agreement] has been between the coaches," Narduzzi said. "Jim Tressel and Mark Dantonio would never call or talk to each other’s commitments"

I would have to say that's because Ohio didn't want a bunch of 2 and 3 star players and could get anyone they wanted

Lionsfan

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:56 AM ^

...Basically, Dantonio had a former colleague and benefactor at OSU, and now he doesn't

Which is hilarious to watch play out on the Message boards. All the Sparties on ESPN are acting like they're a great program and that OSU had better watch out....whereas the Bucknuts there are just like "Who are you guys again?"

 

Bronson

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:33 AM ^

"The battling is here to stay, on the field and off. Meyer brings an SEC raid-everyone's-commit-cupboards mentality. Hoke brings an old-school devotion to trench warfare. And Dantonio remains an unflinching fighter. He was especially irritated by the Buckeyes' poaching of one-time top Spartan commit Se'Von Pittman, something his mentor, Jim Tressel, wouldn't have done.

"They've got a new coach, and it's different," Dantonio said. "I would say it's pretty unethical, in the end." 

 

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120202/OPINION03/202020361/Backyard-recruiting-brawl-back-between-Michigan-Michigan-State?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE 

big10football

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:47 AM ^

It isn't unethical at all to recruit a verbally committed player. Especially when you are a new coach and haven't had the opportunity to offer or recruit anyone.  What else are you going to do? It isn't like he recruited these players, lost the recruiting battle and kept recruiting them. He came in fresh; he's allowed to give one good shot at already committed players.

If he is using unethical tactics, that is another issue. But the fact of a new coach contacting committed players is perfectly reasonable.

Wendyk5

February 2nd, 2012 at 10:56 AM ^

I'm not outraged. I wouldn't expect anything less from UM, but I do think it's in bad form. It's one thing to vy for recuits before they've committed. Or for a commit to change his mind and contact another university. But I think raiding another program's cupboard, promising all sorts of things and talking bad about the other program is below the standard we should expect. I know it happens all the time (didn't we just turn Dennis Norfleet?) but I still expect better. 

M-Wolverine

February 2nd, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^

And if he switches, he obviously didn't really want to go to the place he committed to.  And I think you're taking a step saying you're recruiting guys who have committed to saying it involves promising them things or talking bad about the other program.  I doubt with Norfleet it required any promises or bad mouthing Cinncy to get him to want to come here.  if they decide they want to come here, isn't that what's in the best interest of the student?  What we're always saying when someone pledges somewhere else? "Hey, don't knock a kid for doing what's best for him".  He can do it on his own, but he may never know if he isn't pursued and exposed to it.  (Like Kalis).

I don't have any problem with Meyer going after recruits, even if they're ours (and yes, he's doing it).  To have a different mindset is to ignore that possibility and chance losing guys at the last minute.  BB seems to be saying that Meyer was doing something else considered "dirty/illegal"...which I don't doubt much either.  THAT I do have a problem with, and if he knows something, he should come out with it instead of throwing out nebulous accusations. You play to the bell, you recruit to the bell.  If a kid doesn't want to be swayed by you, he won't. All 25 of our guys at the bell stayed.

COB

February 2nd, 2012 at 12:07 PM ^

Meyer promised hookers and gold, PT freshman year and that he bad mouthed MSU.  He probably offered a scholorship and Pittman took it.  It's not like Houston taking away a 5* from ND, this is an Ohio kid that changed his mind.  No reason to assume crazy promises were made in order to get his commitment or that there was anything negative about the process, that's just absurd bias unless of course you have some facts to back that up...? 

Puckcoach3

February 2nd, 2012 at 11:14 AM ^

He was verbally committed to UCinn.  We swooped in and stole him in the 11th hour.  Hoke dirty ??

No way -- he wanted Michigan as much as Pittman wanted OSU.  If anything, our timing was waaay worse than Ohio's -- no chance/time to recover for UCinn.  They took Stacey with plenty of time for us to regroup and focus more on Diamond/Kozan/Garnett ...

detrocks

February 2nd, 2012 at 9:59 AM ^

Narduzzi and Dantonio's comments show that either they don't know how recruiting works or that they're living in some fantasy world in which the MSU is somehow above getting poached.  

I can't see anything in the recruitment of Pittman that was unethical.   At least Bielema had the foresight to see that Dodson might move to OSU.   MSU seemed genuinely shocked that an Ohio kid that had been an OSU lean prior to Tresselgate, that (depending on who you talk to) tried to commit to Michigan, and that never seemed to be all that excited to go to MSU would leave them.   And that Meyer was unethical even to ask?  Give me a break.  

Sparty sees the handwriting on the wall.   The gentlemen rules that were in place when Tressel were there (assuming these even existed-- who has MSU recruited that OSU would want?).   Hoke and Meyer are going to eat their lunch in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and the rest of the Midwest.   Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska are going to take their share of kids in the western part of the Big 10.   And Penn State will be back someday.  MSU will be left with the rest of the conference to fight for the second tier of prospects in the Midwest and supplement with their "national" recruiting plan.   I'd say their ceiling in recruiting ranking in the Big 10 is fourth.

If you talk with State fans, they'd say they're fine with that.  Dantonio will coach up those 3 star players.   We'll see how that works in the long-run.

 

jmdblue

February 2nd, 2012 at 10:12 AM ^

I can't deny what dantonio hasbeen able to do with recruits with middling reputations, but I don't think it will last much longer.  He certainly benefitted from the RR era where we were both losing and recruiting a different style of athlete.  The joke, as you point out is this bullshit "national" recruiting strategy.  Going to Georgia or Florida or Texas to snatch players that couldn't attract offers from UGA, Fla, or UT doesn't constiute a strategy.  It's desperation.

GoBlogSparty

February 2nd, 2012 at 10:25 AM ^

You guys talk more MSU football here than the RCMB does. A post about a Wisconsin coach calling an Ohio State coach a dirty recruiter warrants an in-depth discussion of MSU's recruiting pipelines. Love the analysis.