Hoke Statement On Morris
For what it's worth:
“The safety of our student-athletes is always our top priority. We generally never discuss the specifics of a student-athlete's medical care, but Shane Morris was removed from yesterday's game against Minnesota after further aggravating an injury to his leg that he sustained earlier in the contest. He was evaluated by our experienced athletic trainers and team physicians, and we're confident proper medical decisions were made.
The University of Michigan has a distinguished group of Certified Athletic Trainers and team physicians who are responsible for determining whether or not a player is physically able to play. Our coaches have no influence or authority to make determinations if or when an injured player returns to competition. The health and welfare of our student-athletes is and will continue to be a top priority.”
September 28th, 2014 at 9:50 PM ^
Btw...I'm not saying this because I'm pro-Hoke. I'm just asking, because there IS such a big difference between the implications of leaving a player in with a leg injury vs a head injury. Honestly, I'd like to get Morris's take on the situation before passing judgement. I know this might not be the popular approach with all the outrage right now, but I'd feel pretty bad if I was calling for Hoke to be fired because of this, if the wobbliness was due to leg pain, not head pain....and Morris would know the answer to that.
...and if it was dizziness, then I completely agree he should have come out. Heck, if there was even a question, they probably should have called a timeout. However, if it was completely because of his leg, I see this a little different. Not saying he shouldn't have come out, but players do play with pain all the time.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:01 PM ^
You're kidding, right?
Go watch the video on the post before this. The kid couldn't keep his eyes open. He stumbled and had to be held up by Braden.
Even if it was just pain from the ankle, it still LOOKS like concussion symptoms. When something LOOKS like concussion symptoms, especially after he was hit in the head, it is the duty of the HC and medical staff to pull him off the field for evaluation. There is NO wiggle room in that.
And even if you can forgive them for screwing that up and making the kid stay out there for another play, there is absolutely no logical explanation they can give for not only "letting" him go back out to when Gardner lost his helmet, but "making" him go out to do it. Bellomy was standing on the field, with a helmet on, and was sent back to the bench so Morris could go back out. That is absolutely indefensible.
September 28th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 12:04 AM ^
How many times can it be said that it doesn't matter what caused the symptoms? As soon as he showed the symptoms after taking a hit to the head, he HAS to be removed and examined. This isn't up for debate. It is an NCAA rule.
Also, if you've had you "bell run" you've probably had a concussion.
September 29th, 2014 at 6:56 AM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
Thats the thing though, whether you think it could have potentially been a leg issue that made him lean on his lineman or not, there was a question. When there is any question about a head injury the player should be removed.
At no point when Gardner was getting beat to a pulp last year was there ever any sign that he sustained a head injury. Whether you believe Shane sustained the head injury or not, there was enough of a question that he should have at least come out to be looked at.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:12 PM ^
You raise some good questions -- it wasn't clear to me that Morris was hit on the head -- it could have been in the general upper body area. Even after watching the replay numerous times it's hard to tell. And if it's that hard to tell watching a day later, you can start to understand how difficult it woudl have been to process as it happened.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:59 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:29 PM ^
Entrenchment. Predictably.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:30 PM ^
Wow. Some people wanted RR gone and voiced it. But never, and I mean NEVER, was the angst as to the point that we are now at with Brady Hoke. This is blowing my mind. But then again it really shouldn't. The media shenannigans was one thing, but to actually see it first-hand that he has absolutely no idea what's going on is beyond ridiculous.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:02 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:31 PM ^
YES OR NO: DID SHANE MORRIS SUFFER A CONCUSSION?
September 29th, 2014 at 2:05 AM ^
That statement was as close to a YES as you'll see - if it was a NO, they would have no qualms about saying so and laying the issue to rest.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:33 PM ^
I still believe Brady Hoke is a good man but a company man to a fault which is why he was hired over more qualified prospects.
This is just an awful statement and no comment till Monday may have been better this fluff.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:34 PM ^
There is ZERO integrity in that statement. This is getting to be beyond disgusting.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:35 PM ^
Remember all that tradition talk from a few years back.. "traditions, traditions traditions, blah, etc"
The first things I think of when I think of Michigan traditions are the marching band and winning games....
but...
...Tradition is 100k+ attendence from people paying for tickets, Tradition is never losing 3 games in September in school history, Tradition is never being shut out on the scoreboard in 30 years
Tradition is a coach that will scream and yell, throw their headset (ahem), but NEVER put their players into a place where they could suffer a career or life threatning injury due to gross negligence.
Those are the traditions we should have been concerned about a few years ago.
We don't have a Michigan Man, We have a Michelin Man.
September 28th, 2014 at 11:33 PM ^
Best post in this thread-would have been better had you left out the ad hominem but hey, it's still good.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:36 PM ^
under the bus after being thrown down there by Dave Brandon and the University of Michigan's lawyers in an effort to cover asses and deny, deny, deny.
Gee Dave, can the trainers crawl out now?
What a fucking disingenous dipshit.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
You're close. Shane's brain is in his left calf. That's why they mentioned his leg in the press release.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
But surely the coaches have influence as to whether certain players should be checked out or not, right? Is the medical staff's role to run to coaches and say, "get that player off the field"? This is such a copout. I would like a quote from "the medical staff" who in all likelihood was tending to someone else at the time and not watching the field to search for players who need to be evaluated.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:38 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^
I think what infuriates me the most is that this statement remains so frustratingly true to form of the Dave Brandon Athletic Department:
1. An incident is followed by justified and intense fan frustration and media attention.
2. Incompetence is exposed by initial Athletic Department voices' reactions to event.
3. Late in the evening, after the print press has gone home for the night, a statement is issued saying it's all a misunderstanding, with the strongly implied undertone that they know what they're talking about, and the fans and media critics don't.
In short, we have eyes. We see things that are concerning. Then they have the audacity to tell us we're all just blind.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:45 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:59 PM ^
"Brando" and the athletic department are though. This is a classic, old school crisis control move that politicians, businesses, and others that have done wrong have done for years. This department who bathes in it's "This is Michigan" and "Most wins" propaganda still feels it works which is why it came out when it did. Having Hoke discuss it tomorrow in the presser would have been better and just like their Coke give away the athletic department made a bad situation even worse. Hoke will get even more shredded tomorrow and that take place live, in front of national media that go beyond sports.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:01 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^
It's the spirit of the thing, right? Public Relations 101: If you want something to get ignored, put it out after 5PM on a Friday. Athletics does this all the time. This game finished yesterday at, what, 7PM EST? This statement couldn't have taken a lawyer more than about fifteen minutes to draft. It was probably done by 11PM last night, if not 11AM this morning. Yet they sat on it until 9PM on Sunday night.
It's classic. Sure, the print media deadline isn't really a thing, but that doesn't mean the move is any less transparent. They wanted this out at an inopportune, if not inaccessible time for most folks.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
And you know ABC asked them for comment.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:07 PM ^
I think it's worth noting that even Chengelis, who is usually a purely straight reporter with some mild snark thrown in, tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/chengelis/status/516390044224208896
And then retweeted this:
https://twitter.com/McCannSportsLaw/status/516394487799902208
September 28th, 2014 at 11:35 PM ^
Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin' eyes?
September 28th, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^
Potential commenters -- please be aware the dissent is no longer tolerated on this Board. Unless you are criticizing Coach Hoke or calling for his dismissal, your comment will be deleted. Similarly, comments seeking to provide some context around the Morris issue will also be deleted.
This is a sad day in this Board's history.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:51 PM ^
Does it make you feel better to post this? Glad you are such an outsider, standing against the mean old oppresive masses on a website.
Someone posted a comment earlier in this thread saying they have a friend on the athletic training staff saying he did not actually have a concussion. His post does not seem to be getting deleted, but I suppose that doesn't fit your narrative nor does it allow you to feel good about yourself for standing up against the "herd" or "hivemind" or whatever other word you may choose to use. So again, kudos for being so well informed and better than everyone else here, congrats.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:56 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:57 PM ^
it might have been all the superfluous "bros" in your post. which clearly violated the 1-bro-per-post board limit.
bro.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
Dude you are like the anti-vaccination morons that make enough noise in the vacuum of the internet to get actual journalists to pay attention to their moronic views. Nobody is limiting your ability to spread your moronic views on the Morris situation. The mgo population is just mocking your out of reality perception of this situation.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
Dude you are like the anti-vaccination morons that make enough noise in the vacuum of the internet to get actual journalists to pay attention to their moronic views. Nobody is limiting your ability to spread your moronic views on the Morris situation. The mgo population is just mocking your out of reality perception of this situation.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^
Good point -- hard to tell from where I was watching whether the contact was actually with the head or was with the general upper body area.
September 29th, 2014 at 8:27 AM ^
Um, that's a female pictured.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 29th, 2014 at 12:47 AM ^
Even if the hit didn't get him in the head, his head slamming into the field turf could have caused a concussion. His head hit pretty damn hard.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:46 PM ^
It's pretty clear that Morris took a shot right in the chin. His head snapped back wildly.
The coaches don't get the benefit of fortunate hindsight, dude. That's just stupid.
September 28th, 2014 at 9:50 PM ^
Actually, I just watched a replay of the hit and it looks to me like the contact was with the general upper body area -- but I agree with you, hard to tell. Either way taking a hit like that couldn't have helped the situation with his ankle.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
Does not matter at all whether he is concussed or not. The point is there was a very real chance that he was. The guy could not stand and he could not keep his eyes open (which is not a symptom of a leg injury, fwiw) after a shot to the chin. Even if you want to make the asinine assumption that no part of the contact reached his head, that still doesn't matter. The contact jerked his head back and he hit the ground pretty hard. I don't give a shit what he had in hindsight. When that happens you get the player out of the game and do a damn concussion assessment before that player sees the field again. The fact that Hoke was oblivious to what happened and doesn't even seem to care from his comments is what has people pissed off. This is a fucking embarrassment for the university and we are (rightly) going to get lambasted all week by the press.
September 28th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
September 28th, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^
Were you one of the medical personnel on the sideline examining him?
September 28th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
No. That's the sad thing. You can see it on the TV broadcast. But somehow Hoke couldnt see it from the sideline.
What is really making me angry with some people on the board is assuming that most people are mad because Hoke left Morris in for one play after the hit to the head (I'm going to ignore the people for now saying his head never got hit). Yes, that is pretty messed up and IMO inexcusable especially when taken in it's context. However, what has really gotten me upset is almost literally everything he has done since then. Not taking Morris' helmet away, letting him back in the game and refusing to call a timeout even though he had already given up on the game and the ref looked at Morris and asked Hoke if he wanted a timeout, not knowing Shane was carted off the field, saying he didn't know if Morris had a concussion (and not sounding concerned at all), saying Shane would have pulled himself out if he didn't want to be the QB anymore, and now this shit tonight.
Hoke is not the only one to blame here, but he is the head coach and I believe that it all comes back to him. His actions the last two days are not consistent with what I want from the coach of Michigan. And yes I want him gone tomorrow because head injuries are a much more serious thing than a broken bone in a foot and he doesn't seem to have any clue that is the case. I usually try to avoid swearing on this blog, but I have been losing my grip on my control somewhat this weekend. Hoke does not belong at Michigan. That is my opinion.
Then again, the hipsters will tell me my opinion is only mob mentality so it's not really my opinion. I'm only part of the hive. Whatever.
Comments