Stupid Person Feelingsball: The value of players opinions
The Elliot Mealer muggle thing has sparked a lot of conversation around here, and I have seen both positives and negatives. I can see how "muggles" can be taken as a derogatory term (as it is basically used as one through Rowling's stories). During my time as a student-athlete, we generally announced to the non-athletes who didn't understand that "I'm D-1, you don't know." Right or wrong, morally justifiable or not, this was the attitude taken by myself and several of my peers.
I guess where I am going here is that it is hard to make an argument that a student-athlete knows whats best for an athletic department, notably not many student-athletes have significant (if any) experience on the administrative side.
That being said, how much value should the player's opinion on a coach merit? Unless all the other people that have played for Brady Hoke and spoken out about their love/appreciation/confidence in his abilities as a coach are just doing so because of loyalty, it seems that they are some of the few still in his corner.
Should the opinions of the players factor in when picking a head coach? We have seen coaches fired for "losing the team" (Charlie Weis, who one time held a practice without the seniors to "develop future talent"). Should we write off these opinions as quickly as we condemn them for thinking they know how an athletic department should be run?
November 5th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^
It has become a bit difficult lately. There's so much going on and everything is so NOT black and white like people feel it should be; there's a lot of grey and very few align in their opinions on what shade of grey they're in.
November 5th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^
Player opinion on their coach(es) does matter. It's not the only criteria but it is a point for consideration.
I think it's too convienent to say that player opinion on coaches and their Michigan experience doesn't matter in consideration of how this season has gone.
Michigan can't afford to alienate a young team during a potential coaching transition.
November 5th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^
To answer your question. Generic football players' opinions should be given greater weight than the average member of the public, at least when it comes to on-field success. However, individual players' or groups of players' opinions should not be given any weight if they cannot remove their individual biases.
Ideally, your current players should never want a coach fired. It's a bad sign even if the current coach really should be fired. Current players and coaches should be on the same side moving the team forward.
I think your problem is that, in your own words, "all the other people that have played for Brady Hoke and spoken out about their love/appreciation/confidence in his abilities as a coach are just doing so because of loyalty." I don't think it's a question of whether Hoke's players/former players are doing so because of loyalty. I think it is absolutely so, it's just that some are unable to recognize that their loyalty has blinded them to reality.
November 5th, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
I'm still hung up on the choice to use the word "muggles" to begin with. I had no idea that some word from Harry Potter has penetrated our daily vernacular.
I felt like I was the only person who had to google, muggles to figure out what Mealer was talking about.
November 5th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
I think they should be taken with suitable weight, with the understanding that everyone's voice should be heard in some capacity. But I've always felt that non-student-athletes tend to view the athletes with a mixture of awe and a bit of derision; the usual refrain I heard when I was a student was that most of the football/basketball players couldn't have gotten in without athletics, so they were "dumb jocks" to an extent. So when a former athlete basically tells the "nerds" to be quiet and let the athletes figure it out, it feels offensive.
Personally, I didn't have an issue with anything said by former players. I'm just a guy on the internet, and while that shouldn't devalue my opinion about issues, the current and former players probably should be given a bit more of a voice simply because they have to live with the decision.
November 5th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^
dumb jock comments have been made forever. I'm reminded of a passage from 3 and Out where Mark Huyge talks about not wanting to be recognized as a football player in the naval engineering program I think because of both the poor performance of the team and to avid the dumb jock perception. I may not remember that correctly, but this will always be a source of tension in college athletics.
I would disagree slightly with your view that former players be given more weight "because they have to live with the decision" They live with the decision in the same way that all those who aren' current players have to live with the decision. Yes, it's moe personal in that they're identified as former player. But they aren't working with the coaching staff on a daily basis any more.
November 5th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
November 5th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
"I guess where I am going here is that it is hard to make an argument that a student-athlete knows whats best for an athletic department"
what? I think exactly the opposite of this, and it seems very obvious to me. the players are far more informed of the day-to-day goings-on inside Schembechler Hall than we are. we, as the less-informed, have a responsibility to listen to them and value their perspectives.
November 5th, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
[I can't wait for someone to make the argument that the paying customer's opinion matters most of all... with no appreciation of the irony in that very 'Dave Brandon' way of thinking]
November 5th, 2014 at 6:48 PM ^
So we should all shup up..everything is fine.
Yep.
November 5th, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^
I want any Michigan player to be 100% behind the MIchigan coach as long as he or she is coaching.
Maybe it is reassuring for some people to believe that there are a bunch of players out there who sorry they're in this current program, disappointed in their coach, wishing someone else were at the helm. I'm not in that camp.
Whatever I and/or the general fandom thinks about the coach, I want a team who is all in, totally with the program, following the coach that we have in the position right now.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:12 AM ^
That's not realistic because that's blind faith and blind obedience. Players should at their level, have an inkling of whether their coach is a good person and an idea of the coach's general competency. Kind of like how veteran troops know if their commanding officer is an idiot or not.