Jalen Rose: "[UM does not] have a family-type atmosphere"
Submitted without commentary, Jalen Rose knocked UM for their treatment of former players:
“Every Michigan coach has left unceremoniously, even the greatest coach in the University of Michigan history, the only coach that’s taken the school to three Final Fours and well as won a national championship, Steve Fisher, and also the Fab Five – Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King – who played in two Final Fours and national championship games, two of the seven that the university has had since the 1900s,” Rose continued, his voice rising.
“So when you’re not able to have a family-type atmosphere where everybody feels welcome and feels like their contribution to the school is noted from a basketball and or football perspective, the relationships become fractured, and that’s something Michigan has to improve on. Michigan State, when you watch their games, it could be a guy that averaged two points, but the fans are going to celebrate him and treat him like he’s family. That’s why Michigan has lagged behind Michigan State in basketball, and frankly, right now, that’s why Michigan State has evened the playing field.”
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/01/24/jalen-rose-predicts-msu-victory-…
January 25th, 2014 at 9:51 AM ^
I hear that^^^^
I am so sick of all of the fab five talk. Yes they brought a certain coolness and popularity to Michigan basketball, but at the end of the day are a huge stain on the entire program. They also didn't win a damn thing. No big ten titles, no national championships, nothing. Jalen sounds bitter. I have watched the 89 special a few times, and that team deserves every bit of attention that the fab five gets. If anyone has some 89 game film, all youtube has is the national champioship game, I would love to see the virginia or UNC game in that tourny.
January 25th, 2014 at 3:01 PM ^
Let's watch the "didn't win a damn thing" talk - unless you're prepared to say the same about the 2013 team.
I agree 100% that they come off as self-absorbed, but they absolutely were great players and going to the title game two straight years is a hell of a feat.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
With Jalen having so much air time and saying so much he is bound to say things that in hind sight may not be the best. They are just words people. I'm sure other alumni will come forward to dispute the claims.
Jalen has done some nice things at UM (Rose Garden for kids comes to mind). Let's not hate a fellow alum for a few misguided words.
Just my take. Peace out.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
Jalen Rose comment; back when all the heat came down on the Webber thing, it really soured the Fab Five legacy. These kids were of course very talented and ushered in the playing of freshman at the D1 level in a big way. Following the revelations of money exchanging hands, head coach Fisher was discharged and his reputation remains sullied to this day. Unfortunately, the bad taste in everyone's mouth over the whole thing has never really gone away and the Fab Five moslty moved on to make millions in the NBA but now in retrospect want to blame the university for what happened. Hard to feel sorry for someone who earned his strips wearing maize and blue goes on to make more money than he ever dreamed of and now wants to further damage the reputation of Michigan's re-emerging BB program. Pretty sorry commentary on Rose and his character if you ask me.
January 25th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
And thusly...
Everyone got all shook up over the FAB5 scandal... subsequently as years have passed they have been slow to bury the damn thing. I would like to clean it up and get an official end to the posturing.
January 25th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
You can take the boy out of the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the boy.
I mean, look at his fashion statement on (1) College Game Day today and (2) the NBA Draft many moons ago.
January 25th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
January 25th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^
I would argue that even after the scandal with the Fab Five that the Fab Five are celebrated by many in the Michigan community. I understand Jalen's bitterness, but he doesn't seem to understand when to pick his battles....
January 25th, 2014 at 1:33 PM ^
But he's got a VERY valid point.
It's been a long time... And regardless of the scandal, what these 5 and Fisher had done for the University cannot be overlooked and should be celebrated. Fisher has been cast off and the school does need to recognize the $ influx and what the team had done for them.
On the other hand, he's definitely wrong with the current program under Beilein. They're as tight as you'd like to see and keep alumni around... See what they've done with CJ Lee, Merritt, etc. Celebrated Cazzie. He's a little too focussed on the attention he thinks his time with the university and not seeing what they're doing now.
With that said, he is mostly right in what I think he's getting at.
January 25th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
is erroneously referred to as the Fab Five scandal is different from Bo's decision to dismiss Frieder on the eve of the NCAA tournament in 1989?
Why doesn't Jalen comment on that issue from the standpoint of a "family atmosphere" context in the history of Michigan basketball? That was tough love from Michigan's resident Godfather.
There was doubt whether Fisher would even get a chance to coach the Fab Five if Michigan had faltered in the tournament.
Michigan responded to the scandal based on its core values, and sacrificed the great success achieved by the Fave Five in the process. And that hurts deeply. And it was especially hurtful during the years that followed.
You know I think Jalen has taken it upon himself to reach out and find ways to explain what happened with himself and those guys during their heyday.He helped produce a great documentary on the team. And he expected Michigan would reciprocate at some point. And because Michigan was embarrassed by that whole episode, it has chosen so far, whether rightly or wrongly, not to relive it in terms of recognizing those guys.
And those guys were largely blameless for the Ed Martin scandal which was primarily a booster problem that plagued many programs in college basketball including some schools that were championship titans like UCLA and UNLV, which either avoided NCAA problems or became the posterboys for them. Michigan fell into that trap and because of the notoriety surrounding the Fab Five image and the school's adherence to doing the right thing, we've seen the results.
The aftershock of all of that, which Jalen won't even address, is that out of the ashes of the Ed Marin case, which began with a traffic accident involving Michigan recruit Mateen Cleaves, is the emergence and ascendancy of the Spartan basketball program under Tom Izzo. It was a direct result. And Cleaves led the last Big Ten NC team in 2001.
So, Jalen needs to reconsider his POV based on the actual turn of events from his era to now, and not just look at them through the lens of his own experience before condemning the treatment of his team's memory at Michigan. We all loved the Fab Five and want to see them honored and welcomed back.
January 25th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
January 25th, 2014 at 5:20 PM ^
I don't ever remember JB embracing the past like was expected of RR. Could this be part of of what is bothering Jalen? I'm guessing that since basketball was in such bad shape when he arrived there was no mandatory asskissing needed and he could get to work building his program in his way with his players.
As a basketball junkie I've followed JB since his Richmond days and when he moved to Michigan I was thrilled.
January 25th, 2014 at 5:33 PM ^
Of course JB wasn't expected to embrace the past. He and Amaker were hired with the express intention that they would wipe the slate clean, that there would be no hint of a recurrence of the sort of activities that the department sees as a shameful time in its history.
Rodriguez's situation was entirely different in that regard. There was nothing embarrassing in the football program's past, no reason to put that past behind them.
I think the real issue here is that Rose doesn't agree with the assessment of '90s Michigan basketball as a shameful period. He completely ignores that piece of it when he makes his arguments. Why make the comparison to MSU, and not to some school that's faced a similar situation? He could say "look at UK--they retired Ralph Beard's number and nobody at Michigan ever did anything nearly as bad as Beard." But no, his comparisons are to schools that have never been through a scandal. Is that because he doesn't see anything particularly scandalous about the Martin saga?
January 25th, 2014 at 6:10 PM ^
and kudos to him for using his education classes to help him become a first-rate
NBA analyst. But Jalen left Michigan a long time ago and would not have a clue as to
what the "family atmosphere" was like at Michigan today.