SIAP: Michigan Daily Take on Forcier

Submitted by My name ... is Tim on

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/tim-rohan-forciers-gone-his-own-terms?page=0,1

“I really wanted to stay. I was not giving up on Michigan, but in the end, it was made clear they had given up on me,” Forcier wrote.

How so?

A few weeks earlier, he was on a plane flying home early from the Gator Bowl, away from his teammates. He was academically ineligible even though, as he told the Detroit Free Press days before his departure, “You really have to try to flunk out here. All you have to do is go to class, it's not that hard.”

I know that this is almost old news at this point, but I thought this article nailed exactly how I felt about the thing. I was extremely irked by the "Michigan gave up on me" quote during a "press release" that attempted to portray Tate as someone who was taking responsibility for his actions. Frankly, it's something that he never did while he was here. He was an exciting player for sure, and I hope he pulls everything together down the road, but if that press release was any indication, he's got a ways to go still.

 

bronxblue

January 27th, 2011 at 9:52 AM ^

I wish the kid the best, but frankly it doesn't really surprise me how it ended.  Mike Forcier has a reputation for being a bit of a meddler, and this press release definitely reads like it was from someone trying to sell his son's exploits for the next stop.  I don't blame them for their take, but given the track record of the Forcier's and colleges this really doesn't shock me either.

johnvand

January 27th, 2011 at 10:31 AM ^

Agreed.  Given the fact that this is now the third Forcier son to fizzle out and transfer...  Given the absurd website that the parents keep where articles praising Denard are "Wall of Shame" material....  Given the whole being a bad teammate & losing wings fiasco last summer...

I have a hard time feeling sorry for somebody begging for a second chance when they've already been given a fifth chance.

I really hope Tate gets his act together and makes  a good life for himself.  It's a shame those parents tried so hard to groom all of their children into Quarterbacks, and only Quarterbacks.  I hope they had a backup plan.

Yost Ghost

January 27th, 2011 at 10:57 PM ^

What I think is sad about this whole situation is that it's not Tate's fault here it's Mike Forcier. The guy has let his kids down as a parent and taught them that when the going gets tough quit, run or hide. It'a a character flaw, that unfortunately is rampant in our country. We as parents have failed to properly mentor our children. We try to be their friends or we try to travel the path of least resistance and avoid discipline or tough love because it's hard and in the end they pay for our failures. If you don't discipline your children to be accountable for their actions then someone else will and they may not do it with the proper motives. So shame on you Mike Forcier you could have a family full of kids that are talented winners but you've taught them how to be quitters.

Yost Ghost

January 27th, 2011 at 11:03 PM ^

What I think is sad about this whole situation is that it's not Tate's fault here it's Mike Forcier. The guy has let his kids down as a parent and taught them that when the going gets tough quit, run or hide. It'a a character flaw, that unfortunately is rampant in our country. We as parents have failed to properly mentor our children. We try to be their friends or we try to travel the path of least resistance and avoid discipline or tough love because it's hard and in the end they pay for our failures. If you don't discipline your children to be accountable for their actions then someone else will and they may not do it with the proper motives. So shame on you Mike Forcier you could have a family full of kids that are talented winners but you've taught them how to be quitters.

HermosaBlue

January 27th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^

The Michigan Daily has the most in-depth and even-handed coverage of Michigan sports in the State of Michigan, followed by the DetNews.  If it was printed in Michigan, The Columbus Dispatch would be 3rd on that list.

The Freep did not place in the top 372.

BlueVoix

January 27th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^

This comment gave me a hearty, hearty laugh.

Beavis, they go after everyone.  And most of the time, their facts don't line up.  We don't have a journalism department and the Daily in it's current form is a pretty glaring result.

jblaze

January 27th, 2011 at 9:58 AM ^

Denard and Devin are here so I won't play kind of thing or a Michigan makes me study and I don't want to because I want to hang out kind of thing?

I couldn't figure it out. Mike Forcier and Tate's brothers seemed to have the reputation of backing down from competition on the football field, not failing classes.

Michigania

January 27th, 2011 at 9:59 AM ^

hoke would say that forcier is being selfish and not accountable to his teammates..

and hoke would be right.  its a shame, because i liked forcier but he was about himself over the program.  which leads me to bellomy who seems like a very high character kid, and im wondering why people here arent ecstatic about landing bellomy like i am.

Bosch

January 27th, 2011 at 10:07 AM ^

It's a damn good thing that I wasn't high profile enough to have people care too much about what I might have said or how I might have acted in my late teens and early 20's and during periods when my emotions were in turmoil.

Kudos to you for being a saint.

 

My name ... is Tim

January 27th, 2011 at 10:24 AM ^

First of all, no one forced him to publicly blame the university. When he did that he opened himself up to criticism. He's not a toddler.

Second of all, while I was no saint at that age I (and most people I knew at Michigan) at least took accountability for my actions. College kids mess up, frequently, but most will acknowledge it after it happens. Blaming the university for two incomplete grades when no one else on the team appears to have had such a problem is nothing short of acting like a crybaby.

cjffemt

January 27th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^

Very well put.  I do wish him the best of luck, where ever he ends up, but I am not sad to see him go.  M does not need a self centered and selfish kid on this team.  He was one that spoke all season long about how this team was a family and how close they all were.  Then to find out he did not care one bit for them, if he did he would have done what he needed to do in the classroom.  It has been all about Tate from the start and well it has not changed.

Bosch

January 27th, 2011 at 1:15 PM ^

did he blame the University?  If you read his complete statement, you would have seen that he did own up to his indiscretions.  You seem awefully quick to jump to the conclusion that he is passing off blame when you could interpret his remark about Michigan turning its back on him as no more than suggesting that he wanted another shot but didn't feel like another shot was there.

Unbunch your panties

BlueVoix

January 28th, 2011 at 12:36 AM ^

You could try doing the same thing, but I doubt it'll change the position of where your head is on this.  Forcier "owned up to his indiscretions" in the statement?  I must have missed that when he said he worked hard on the field, in practices, and in meetings.  Or was it when he said he worked hard to catch back up in the last 8 weeks (lulz, Tate, this isn't fucking high school)?  How about when he said he really wanted to stay?

Your interpretation is that Tate didn't see an opportunity and that is what he meant by "the University wasn't there for me."  You're right.  That makes perfect sense.  Brady Hoke said to Tate, you will never start here.  When Hoke looked at his roster and saw 3 QBs on scholarship, he thought, shit, I need to run off one of these guys.

Bosch

January 28th, 2011 at 7:30 AM ^

he actually said it....

"I realized that it was my lack of accountability and maturity and not to pass blame."

You are right.  My position on this won't change.  I'm not going to cry about the decisions of a 19 year old.  However, I would prefer that you don't try to read more into my comment than what is in front of you.  I never said Hoke tried to run him off.  I said that Tate didn't feel that an opportunity was there. 

I go back to my original comment in this thread.  19 year olds are fickle and emotional.  And that's just average 19 year olds, much less those who start at the winningest college football program as a true freshman.  People need to stop acting like they would make all the right choices and say all the right things if they were in Tate's shoes.

 

Blue_Bull_Run

January 27th, 2011 at 10:26 AM ^

Is weird. Basically nobody really knows what happened, and nobody really cares, either. Also, what ever happened to spending a semester at CC and then coming back?

I would have loved to see him get his act together, come back, and succeed at Michigan, but alas it appears that won't happen.

bluebyyou

January 27th, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^

After the article in the Detroit News(?) awhile back, I thought perhaps Tate had started growing up, although transformations normally take more time than half a semester.  Never the less, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  It turned out to be the same old story.

Tate was brash, arrogant and full of himself. Then he blames Michigan for his problems.  Give me a break.  Contrast that to Denard, who busted his butt, and while leading the Heisman race earlier in the year, was humble and noted his success as attributable to the other 10 guys around him. 

Thank you Tate for your efforts, and I wish you the best, but please don't blame my school for your problems and lack of maturity.

CAwolverine

January 27th, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^

I guess I am in the minority on this one. I don't understand why people have to read into a comment and put their spin on it. Could it be as simple as, he really wanted to be here but Michigan didn't want him here? He is not blaming anyone but stating what caused him to leave us Michigan.

michiganprof

January 27th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^

"His father, Michael, said that Tate didn’t fail his classes, but instead was ineligible because he had two incomplete grades. He said that all Tate needed was a “chance” from at least one professor to make up the work."

Well, I've given a few incomplete grades over the years, and the dad's remark doesn't sound right. Giving someone an "I" involves the understanding that the grade can be converted. Presumably what he means is that Tate got a couple of F's because he didn't complete the required work. 

The U has very explicit policies on assigning "I" instead of "F". In particular, it has to be cleared with the professor *in advance*. Profs are not supposed to just give "I" grades if the deadline for grading has passed and work just hasn't appeared. Now it does happen that profs will cheat a bit, and give someone an "I" instead of "F" if the student seems to be going through personal troubles, or has been putting in a good-faith effort but has just screwed up, That's the reasonable and understanding thing to do, and it is simply humane to allow people to recover from troubles that come from familiar undergraduate stresses and mistakes. But this is against the letter of the rules, and generally comes as a bit of sympathy and human understanding toward a young person who has let things get out of control. If someone just blows off the work, and makes it clear that they couldn't care less, then I am not going to be enthusiastic about violating university rules to allow them to recover.  

But that said, I have no idea what the actual facts of the case are, beyond what the father has said, and Tate's on-the record pronouncements about just needing to show up.

A word of advice to all you young 'uns out there: if you might find yourself hoping that a professor will violate UM policies in order to cut you a break, calling his/her class a joke in a widely distributed newspaper is unwise.

robpollard

January 27th, 2011 at 11:55 AM ^

I've dealt with plenty of parents at the high school level (e.g., in Ann Arbor) and unfortunately some parents think that when a student misses and assignment/test for no good reason, and thus gets a zero, they should just be able to make it up, even if the term is over.  That's not how it works - the class work was "incomplete" in their minds ("Hey, I just need to turn that 10-page paper in that was due 2 months ago") but in reality, there's nothing "incomplete" about it.  You got an F for that paper.

Granted, an instructor can have a system, particularly if it's laid out in the syllabus, for how to make up and get partial credit for missed work, but they don't have to do that, esp. if someone is just blowing off the class, which from Tate's quotes to the News, he was very likely doing.

I wish Tate well, but he made his own bed.

aaamichfan

January 27th, 2011 at 10:38 AM ^

I like the majority of Michigan Daily articles, but this one sucks. That lead in about the kid named Hussein was pretty terrible.

Marvin

January 27th, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^

I'm suspicous about the two "incompletes." If a professor gives a student an incomplete, there must be a good reason for it, and the student and prof. must have an agreement about how the class will be finished etc. It doesn't make sense that somehow he was not allowed to finish his incompletes and therefore was not treated fairly.

 

On a different note, did Nader Furrha leave the team? I can't find him on the roster.

Soulfire21

January 27th, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^

The article was a little harsh, not specifically about Forcier, but in the assumption that football players have it "easy", "much easier" than other students.

That could potentially be said about their classes they take, and it would probably, in most cases, be correct.

But to deny the fact that football at a university like this is not a challenge, and does not make life rather difficult at times, is, at the very least, a hasty judgment.

markusr2007

January 27th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^

Learned to live with it because I have news for you:  There's a whole generation of "But it's not my fault!" and "I'm a victim of soycomestance!" growing up around us.  They'll be taking care of us when we're in our 60s and 70s.  Scary as hell, I know.

I'm sure Tate will eventually get his head screwed on straight and gain some wisdom from this experience and become the responsible tax payer we all expect. That's the best one can hope for at this stage anyway.

 

BlueVoix

January 27th, 2011 at 3:17 PM ^

"There's a whole generation of "But it's not my fault!" and "I'm a victim of soycomestance!" growing up around us.  They'll be taking care of us when we're in our 60s and 70s.  Scary as hell, I know."

 

What is perhaps even funnier is that people have been saying this exact line for generations.

markusr2007

January 27th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^

at the end of the class duration is...an incomplete, and potentially a deferred or yet-to-be-issued zero.

I "fail" to see how the failure to complete the required coursework is not a "F" itsefl, unless the student aced everything else prior and suddenly fell ill or had major extenuating circumstances (health issues, personal issues, etc.) that have been explained and accepted by the prof.

Just sayin....

repole

January 27th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^

I know it's common place to say "he's just a twenty-something year old kid," but hell, I'm just a twenty something year old kid, and if I acted the way he's acted no one would be making excuses for me. I'm sorry, but being a college sophomore doesn't excuse Tate from being who he is. I know this goes right up the slander alley, and will get me negged to bolivian, but the number of parties I've seen him trashed at, the complete and utter arrogance I've seen him act with, it just doesn't leave me feeling very bad for him.

Bosch

January 27th, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^

That you are giving a verbal BJ to one athlete in your signature tag while bashing another for letting the attention and status quo get to his head.

In the end, It didn't work out here for Tate.  Part of it is his doing.  Part of it is circumstantial.  I prefer to take the high road and wish him well wherever he lands and remember him, not for some perceived need for an attitude adjustment, but for two of our few memorable games in the Big House over the past couple of years..... ND 2009 and Illinois 2010.

LSAClassOf2000

January 27th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

This topic has sort of been beaten  to death now, but for the record, I find it difficult to feel terribly bad for him in the end. He wasted opportunities here, and while I wish him nothing but success in his travels through Division 1, I have to believe that his attitude will not get him very far. It seems like he wanted Michigan football to be "The Tate Forcier Show", and that flies right in the  face of "The Team!".