Ohio DE comments on Michigan's academic reputation

Submitted by Ponypie on

From a Detroit News/Sam Webb article on Ohio DE Tom Strobel. An amazing expression of how people from that place are kept in woeful ignorance:

Strobel has yet to assess the respective depth charts in Ann Arbor and East Lansing. He is still at the "getting to know you" stage with both programs. "I didn't know (Michigan) was such a high academic school," he said. "Originally, I thought they were just like the other version of Ohio State. I had no idea that their academics were that high and that really made me look higher upon them. As far as Michigan, I really don't know that much about them.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110303/OPINION03/103030415/MSU--U-M-have-s… Strobel

Strobel also contended that everyone in Ohio favors TUOS.

Fortunately, he has had his eyes opened, and may yet obtain his freedom.

lunchboxthegoat

March 4th, 2011 at 1:21 PM ^

This was covered in the TomVH: Ifeadi Odenigbo thread. So I'll only give you a half demerit since, like, everyone should read every TomVH thread from start to finish at least once a day.

King Douche Ornery

March 4th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^

Why people don't know that if it's older than fifteen minutes ago, it has probably been posted five times on this board already.

But still, I'll give Stroble's comments four SIAPS until it dies here.

Bronco648

March 4th, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^

That is a sad statement.  One of the first things you should learn, when you're starting to venture out into the 'real' world (and high school is when that process should be underway or well underway), to to gather as much information as you can so you can make an intelligent, informed descision.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

elaydin

March 4th, 2011 at 2:18 PM ^

News flash #1:  Most recruits don't care about academics.  Most of the ones that say they do, don't mean it.

News flash #2:  Most football players take easy classes.  It doesn't really matter what university you're attending, when you're taking Kinesiology 101.

News flash #3:  If your football team was made up of nothing but kids who came to your school because of academics and placed an emphasis on their education, your football team would suck.

Feat of Clay

March 4th, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^

#4 You don't have to be a football player to be profoundly ignorant about colleges & universities and their academic quality.  You don't even have to be a high school student.  A staggering number of people don't realize how good U-M is.  Some of them hold elected office in our state.

Sure, you'd expect kids looking into colleges to be knowledgable, but even in that context a lot of them go about it half-assed and ill-informed.

chunkums

March 4th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^

THIS.  I had high aspirations for college, but I really had no idea about any kind of academic excellence for the schools outside of Michigan until I actually started doing my research Jr and Sr year.  This kid is just now entering that stage.  Think back to when you were 16-17 years old.  Did you research academic rankings of various universities around the country?  

Jasper

March 4th, 2011 at 3:25 PM ^

Agreed.  For every Stefan Humphries (http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fballam/aahumph.htm) there are at least a few guys who are destined to sell axles / ball bearings / whatever.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that type of job. It can be very fulfilling and lucrative. But, schmoozing is way more important than raw intelligence. Flash the Big Ten championship ring and start sellin'.) In that arena, Ohio State and Michigan are more similar than many would like to believe.  A "Michigan degree" will matter only if the player is aiming for medical / law / business school, etc.

APBlue

March 4th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." I've always loved that one, well, except the first time that I heard it. Doh! That stung. I have to say, though, all politics aside, I like George W.'s version best. I'm on my phone, so my laziness will not allow me to even paste the link to that video. Love it, though.

Pibby Scott

March 4th, 2011 at 2:22 PM ^

and you like movies like "MAC AND ME" and then some other distant day you're older and a little bit wiser and you realize the stuff you liked was actually complete garbage

 

 

every man woman and child in ohio has that moment. some take longer to realize it than others.

WolvinLA2

March 4th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^

Not an excuse. When I was Stroebel's age, I knew UVA and Berkeley were very good schools, even though I didn't live anywhere near them. I'm an admissions rep out here (in CA) for a couple high schools and they all recognize Michigan asa being much more than another state school. It seems crazy that a kid who grew up one state away and knew he would be going to college didn't know this.

BlueDragon

March 4th, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^

They really do try to brainwash you.  In a good-natured kind of way; I guess it's like PSAs or something.  Plus everybody and their mother has a relative or two who went to tOSU, and the low, low admission requirements and in-state rates are pretty darn tempting to a lot of folks.  I went to one of the best high schools in the state, and 2 people, including me, went to Michigan.  Over 50% of my graduating class matriculated at Ohio State.

That said...facepalm?  Facepalm.

tactical_facepalm

elaydin

March 4th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^

So it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that OSU is relatively cheap in state and Michigan is insanely expensive out of state?

I went to a good HS very close to OSU.  If anything, kids seemed to be brainwashed to go to Miami (NTM).  A lot of very good students did go to Ohio State, especially the honors college.  Considering it was bascially free (with some scholarship money), it was a much better value than Michigan.  Heck... lots of schools were better values than paying out of state tuition at Michigan.

BlueDragon

March 4th, 2011 at 10:46 PM ^

"Plus everybody and their mother has a relative or two who went to tOSU, and the low, low admission requirements and in-state rates are pretty darn tempting to a lot of folks. "

I came to Michigan for the music department.  I also got in to the Peabody Institute, but it's in the middle of the ghetto in Baltimore and I didn't feel safe there.  So value-wise I could have done better, but I wanted to go somewhere completely different from where I had been before and focus on music exclusively.  That said, I'm now engaged in a pre-med science-heavy curriculum with 20 credits this quarter, but I'll manage.  I'm glad I had the opportunity to become much more well-rounded at Michigan, ridiculous fees and all.

Space Coyote

March 4th, 2011 at 3:18 PM ^

For all those claiming "I always knew Michigan was one of the best colleges when I was looking at colleges", the kid is looking at colleges and now knows Michigan is one of the best colleges.  Before I looked at colleges I didn't know Purdue had a really good engineering program.  After I looked at colleges, I realized they did.  That's kind of the process and it would be best not to slander high school kids that have just started looking into the schools. 

Many of the recruits won't know the academic side of things until after they are told information pertaining to it.  That's usually how these things work.

\end_rant

bronxblue

March 4th, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^

I wouldn't bust this kid too much - he probably could tell you which schools were the best football programs in the country because that was his focus moreso than the best academic programs, and learning about them after-the-fact isn't necessarily bad.  I had a friend whose sister went to Miami during the era when they were MNC winners and had no idea they were any good at football when she applied.  She just knew they had a couple of nice programs (I guess they are decent at veterinary medicine), and figured it would be nice to live in South Florida with quick beach access.  She went to all of the games and loved it, but it wasn't information she really cared about beforehand.

Yes, you would hope that HS kids would pick a school because of its academics in addition to its athletics even if their focus is on playing football or basketball, but I won't fault a young kid for not knowing UM is a great institution especially when he lives in a rival state whose mantra is to dismiss and deride UM at every turn.

BlueDragon

March 4th, 2011 at 8:07 PM ^

"I won't fault a young kid for not knowing UM is a great institution especially when he lives in a rival state whose mantra is to dismiss and deride UM at every turn."

You're probably confusing OSU with MSU.  Wait...don't they have the exact same MO with respect to Michigan?  Coincidence? ...I think not.