pkatz

January 21st, 2016 at 4:06 PM ^

Maybe all the commits have figured out Harbaugh is just a sham and can't actually coach! /s

I'm sure there's a good reason why this happened, and we should probably trust that this staff knows which end is up.

(of course Donnie Brasco is openly cheering every time a decommit occurs)




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Albatross

January 21st, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^

that they were just handing out offers to kids before they figured out if they could play or not. We all expect Rashad Weaver to decommit too. He was offered as a 2 star prospect with no really offers to his name. Most ever other major college program didn't consider him a legitimate recruit, yet we offered him. And by the rumors we are hearing now, the staff is coming to the same conclusion that every other coach in America did when they didn't offer Weaver.

You have to wonder what the process will be for commits like Carter Dunaway, who was offered when he was a backup on his high school team and had an underwhelming junior year.

If you find that all part of some master plan, that is fine. To me is looks like a staff that starts off recruiting but throwing things at the wall and seeing what will stick. And then cleaning up the mess they made later.

pkatz

January 21st, 2016 at 6:03 PM ^

Players can decommit, right? And that's well within their right to change their minds. So how about coaching staffs? Can't they also change their minds if a recruit doesn't progress to a level necessary to make Michigan competitive?

College football is a real business - sometimes feelings get hurt at the expense of winning. I'm actually ok with that, as long as Michigan keeps things on the straight and narrow, and I haven't seen anything at this point that is illegal - some things may be unpopular or unfair, but not illegal.




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Albatross

January 21st, 2016 at 6:25 PM ^

between a player decommitting and a school pulling an offer. A player represents himself, and if wants he chooses to waffle and appear flaky (like Khalid Kareem) then it is his reputation. Plus a kid has one chance at getting it right, so the margin of error for a kid is far less than that of a college program. And he takes his reputation with him when he leaves the school.

When a coach is conducting business on behalf of the program, then it is the schools reputation that you are putting on the line. It becomes who you are as a program, and can be used for you or against you.

Also, in an age of waffling recruits, Swanson was a pillar of loyality. To cast aside a kid like that, who stayed with you through a tulmultuous time in your program is a bad look. And you can bet it will be used against us.

pkatz

January 21st, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^

Have you thought through the fact that Swenson committed to Hoke, and perhaps did not fit into Harbaugh's plans? Do we really know the details behind this, i.e. was Swenson forewarned this could be the reality but chose to stay the course longer than he should have? We know no details, but you are choosing to damn this staff.

And our competition will always look for an opportunity to negatively recruit against us... whether they know the truth or not, as well.




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wahooverine

January 21st, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^

"So many people decommitting".. only this one is unexplained so far.  We're gonna end up with a top 8 probably top 5 class. I think we'll be okay.  Sometimes people decommit. Bama recently lost a commit too.  It's fair to say the last two weeks before NSD are chaotic since, afterall, nothing is truly signed in ink before then.  

AlwaysBlue

January 21st, 2016 at 4:21 PM ^

but I can't rationalize this. When I read about Stanford I figured it was necessitated by admission standards. Now I just think it looks bad. I don't understand why these kids can't be courted, asked for tape, kept in touch, etc. without extending an offer. I especially don't understand the chicken-shit just not calling so they get the message.

Reader71

January 21st, 2016 at 5:05 PM ^

Does he demand excellence in communicating openly and honestly with recruits? Or does he just atop talking to them and hope they go away? Does he do that until very late in the process when the situation forces him to finally man up and tell the kid, and also pull his scholarship?

That's the debate. Even if all of those things are true, that's ok. But we should know what kind of recruiter he is. Harbaugh - demands excellence on the field from recruits, doesn't conduct himself excellently on the recruiting trail. Maybe.

Erik_in_Dayton

January 21st, 2016 at 5:24 PM ^

If they're true, it seems like Michigan gave Swenson reason to doubt whether he'd have a spot for at least several months.  But there also doesn't seem to be any reason to question the notion that they failed to explicitly tell him he was out until very recently. 

I'm on the side that says a recruit and a staff aren't on equal footing and that a staff has to be overt in its intentions if need be.  But I do feel a little bit better after today. 

Did anything you saw today change your mind at all?

Reader71

January 21st, 2016 at 6:53 PM ^

Yes. The news makes it more palatable. Harbaugh didn't just turn on the kid out of the blue. So it wasn't the worst case scenario. That makes me happy.

Buy I'm still unhappy because even though they had given Swenson some indication, they lacked the spine to be perfectly honest with him. It isn't hard. "Erik, we want to evaluate us at camp. If you do not come, we might not honor the offer." After he didn't show up, "Eric, because we weren't able to evaluate you at camp, we are rescinding our offer. We will continue to evaluate you. If you can show us some good tape during your senior year, we will consider having you in the class."

The problem is Harbaugh's method of cooling on a guy, distancing, going silent, turning the cold shoulder. I understand why -- it lets the kid know he isn't wanted without having to say it outright. Saying it might end up in the press, leading to bad PR. This gives the kid an out, and the school an out, and keeps it private. The kid doesn't want to tell the world Harbaugh thinks he is no good. This let's each side come out looking ok.

But fuck that. Harbaugh is the adult. Michigan is the powerful institution. They have a responsibility to act openly and honestly with the kid. And here, they pussy footed around, and it got them in hot water.

And this also makes the process of offering hundreds of kids before their senior year, before the coach is actually ready to accept an offer, look ridiculous. Not just Swenson -- look at all of the lower ranked recruits who are decommitting. It isn't fair to the kids. It is unbecoming of Michigan and it's head football coach.

Albatross

January 23rd, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^

An issue that is being ignored is the recruitment of these lower end kids that are dropping like flies from this class. Most of them are from the summer swarm camp tour. When Harbaugh was handing out offers to most of these kids, the more knowledgeable fans were scratching their heads. There was no absolutely no competition for of these kids. Some of the kid's offer list didn't even contain a single Power conference school on it, and yet we are offering them early in the process, only to systematically purge ourselves of them as the recruiting cycle continued.

If the rumors are true, we can expect a couple more of these camp kids to decommit. So these offers come across as disingenuous or just plain ignorance on the part of the staff. If we are talking about demanding excellence then we should expect our staff's evaluation of high school players to be at least as good as other Power Conference schools. But if you look at how these years class is taking form, you conclude that the staff thought kids could play when other coaches didn't, only to come around to the same conclusion as all the other coaches in American did.

The vetting process should be done before an offer goes out, but it seems our approach is to beginning the vetting process after a player has committed.

alum96

January 21st, 2016 at 4:45 PM ^

No.  I believe he was in here on an official right before dead period and it was announced he would not be an EE which earlier had been the plan. 

This came out of the blue to us at least -who knows what is going on inside the fort.