Repost of Fred Roh Statement
Note: Craig Roh's father posted this on the Scout free board. It will eventually fall down the memory hole if not reproduced somewhere more permanent, so I've placed it here. HT: Other Brian of Genuinely Sarcastic.
I am Craig Roh's dad and had the pleasure of experiencing first-hand the recruiting process and first summer with the UM program. I feel obligated to share with readers concrete evidence of the integrity and compliance of the Rich Rod program and staff. My son chose UM because it is one of the few schools in the country that has great football AND academics. He could have gone to UCLA, Cal, Stanford, USC..all great academic schools and he chose Michigan because it had the best of both.
He also selected UM because of the intensity and straight talk of the coaching staff. The first person he met was Mike Barwis. After spending an hour with Barwis, Craig turned to me and said, "He will make me the best I can be. That's what I want." When he met Rich Rod, he was further impressed with his openness and vision. Craig came here BECAUSE of the work ethic that was to be required of him. He WANTS to be pushed to the limits, not coddled and pampered.
He was recruited by Tony Dews. I am here to say that Coach Dews complied with every letter of the rules throughout the entire recruitment process, even the ones that seem senseless. He would not even give me a ride to lunch or pick up a $5 lunch tab because it was against the rules. He informed us of the recruiting rules over and over again. As I watched 35 schools recruit my son, I would put Michigan at the top of the integrity scale when it came to recruiting.
Let's talk about Craig's first summer. Again, Coach Dews made it abundantly clear what we had to pay for and what the school was allowed to pay for, what our responsibilities were and what the school's were. I was tired of hearing about all the rules. It was like dealing with the IRS. There was NO push to report to school early, in fact we were told that if Craig wanted to report to summer school early, it was on his dime and totally voluntary. Craig's summer was very balanced. He VOLUNTARILY asked to watch tape as much as he could. Nobody pushed him to do it or even suggested it. He had more free time than he wanted.
Lastly, I know for a fact that Craig missed workouts in the summer and even missed parts of at least three practices at camp so that he could attend class. He was excused with absolutely no repercussions by the coaching staff.
I am assuming that players who choose to come to UM under Rich Rod are coming here BECAUSE its hard. They want to become the best. They want to be pushed. They want great academics and great football environment. I detest the accusations made by the Freep. They think they are doing these kids a favor by easing up the workload and, in reality, they are undermining the very reason the kids chose UM!
Fred Roh
September 1st, 2009 at 9:12 PM ^
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 AM ^
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September 2nd, 2009 at 8:21 AM ^
As I watched 35 schools recruit my son, I would put Michigan at the top of the integrity scale when it came to recruiting.Huge. When it comes to parents speaking out in defense of Rodriguez, I now count: - Roh - Forcier - Warren - Ezeh - Stokes - Schofield Miss any? There are parents of guys recruited by Carr and parents of guys recruited by Rodriguez. Three offense, three defense. And we have direct quotes, unfiltered through the print media, because they've been recorded on the radio and they typed their own words. Parents speaking out against Rodriguez are: - Anonymous - Anonymous - Anonymous etc. etc. etc. None of them are quoted directly. Their words were heavily filtered through a writer with an agenda and we don't even know if they were "speaking out" against Rodriguez to begin with. Who's to say they weren't given the Stokes/Hawthorne treatment? This whole thing is crumbling like a house of cards. Michael Rosenberg has managed to ensure that as many parents as possible step up to strengthen the foundation Rodriguez is building on.
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September 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 PM ^
I am assuming that players who choose to come to UM under Rich Rod are coming here BECAUSE its hard. They want to become the best. They want to be pushed. They want great academics and great football environment.Or another way of saying this..."Those who stay will become Champions."
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