Bad recruiting news
Nick Baumgardner reporting three commits wishing to look elsewhere.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/09/three_of_michigans_2015_commit.html
September 29th, 2014 at 4:34 PM ^
And they should. Some of them still may prefer Michigan, but at least part of that will depend on who the coaching staff is next year (and it almost certainly won't be the one that recruited them to Michigan previously).
These kids should look elsewhere. They should cross their t's and dot their i's. Most kids don't commit purely to a program, they commit to some combintion of program, school, coach, staff, scheme, and players. At least two of those things will be different next year. There are always costs of transition. One thing that is probably better under Hoke than it is at other times is that I think a large part of Hoke's selling point was Michigan. It was the program. He didn't sell kids as much on him as he did Michigan. Doesn't mean there won't be costs in transition, but no one can deny that Hoke loved to sell the Michigan program, and that may marginally help in this transition.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:52 PM ^
I would prefer they don't go anywhere that involves dotting an i...
September 29th, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^
but that would also involve playing school.
September 29th, 2014 at 7:06 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
Not selling himself may have been out of necessity rather than an affirmative choice. Apparently there is not much to sell when it comes to Hoke.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:09 PM ^
They won a BCS bowl their first year at Michigan.
They made one of the worst defense a top 20 defense in one year.
Both coordinators had national championship rings as coordinators.
The head coach also had a national championship ring at that school under the last coach to win a national championship at that school.
The RB coach also had a national championship ring at that school under the last coach to win a national championship at that school.
There was plenty to sell these players on, even after a few years in. Obviously that's gone now, as the shine has worn off. But still, it's always been a priority for Hoke to sell Michigan.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:16 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 5:50 PM ^
Is that the execution of technique and assignments has not nearly improved enough player-to-player as it needs to in order to compete at this level. It's not that players get worse or regress, I don't believe that necessarily to be the case for individual players (certain circumstances can cause regression, such as DG's beating last year), but from group to group and as a team as a whole they have not gotten to the point where the teaching of execution and assignments has translated to the players.
That, in my belief, is a huge fundamental problem for a coaching staff to have. There could be lots of reasons for it, but it just can't happen and at this point it shows no signs of improving.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
Can't Hoke just call them and say "this is Michigan, fergodssake, cumong" and get them to re-up? If all else fails, just remind them of his no-visits policy.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
Mods:
Can the site be locked down so that only people >1,000 points can post a topic and respond?
At least for a couple of days....too much emotion out there.
I realize that it screws people like myself, and there is the whole free speech thing, but the crazies are coming out and it is getting ugly.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:40 PM ^
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September 29th, 2014 at 4:44 PM ^
or SB Nation.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 6:24 PM ^
Next time say it with feeling.
September 29th, 2014 at 6:19 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 4:37 PM ^
Don't these guys know the meaning of commitment? Not wanting to drown in the icy April waters of the Northern Atlantic is no excuse.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:38 PM ^
How bad would this team be if we had Miami (NTM) level recruits up and down the two-deep?
September 29th, 2014 at 4:38 PM ^
Ironic that Taylor looking elsewhere, yet Hoke stuck with him, because its the right thing to do, after he blew out his knee.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
We're going to lose a few recruits until the new guy is in place. That's why Hoke needs to go now to get rid of the everpresent toxic atmosphere, and the new guy has to be announced on December 1st. The next guy will have a chance to flip some of the recruits back and maybe pick off a few from somewhere else (ala Meyer flipping Dunn back to OSU).
September 29th, 2014 at 8:20 PM ^
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September 29th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
that Clark is looking because of the uncertainty surrounding Hoke, meaning that when Hoke gets the ax, Clark is gone.
September 29th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
The positive is that it's supposed to be a small class in '15, right?
September 29th, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 6:55 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
All 3 looked young to me anyhow.
/too soon?
September 29th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
I tell my son that "you commit to a school, not a coach." How many head coaches out there will be around by the time a high school junior is a 5th year senior at that program.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
And not completely realistic. It'd be nice for it to be that way, but these players spend a lot of time with coaches, a lot of their academic support and programs may also be coaching staff specific. If you commit to Bill Snyder and Nick Saban comes in to coach your program, there is going to be some serious difference to the school you initially chose to commit to.
These kids should not commit purely to a coach. They also shouldn't commit completely to a school. They should commit to a program, as a whole, coaching staff and school. And when something changes outside of their control, they should reevaluate their options depending on how they weight what is most important for them (for instance, for Malzone, it may mean more to play for Michigan than anything else, but still, he should understand his desire to play for a new coach once they come in).
September 29th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^
is really a collection of people. You might interview with a company that's well thought of, has great products, etc. but if your prospective boss is an asshole you're probably not going to take the job anyway.
September 29th, 2014 at 6:00 PM ^
Tyrone Wheatley or are you just plagerizing him?
September 29th, 2014 at 6:11 PM ^
Recruits crave stability.
Look at Devin Gardner's case:
- #1 dual threat QB out of high school
- Sits behind Denard at QB
- Gets hurt
- Coach that recruited him is fired
- New OC converts him to WR
- He gets converted back to QB
- His OC is fired
- Next new OC puts him under center
- He gets benched
- He (fill in the rest of 2014 blank)
Can you imagine were he would be if he just had a stable coaching staff for his whole college career? Is is any wonder why recruits crave stability?
September 29th, 2014 at 5:01 PM ^
Sweet!!!
September 29th, 2014 at 5:20 PM ^
The Suck is about to begin. We are going to lose a crap load of these kids and i can't say i blame them.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:28 PM ^
This is the price you pay for a coaching change. You can expect current players to put in transfer papers as well.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:39 PM ^
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September 29th, 2014 at 5:43 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 6:13 PM ^
Better to rip the band aid off all at once now.
September 29th, 2014 at 5:48 PM ^
Maybe we can get Datbull 4 Lyfe Guy
September 29th, 2014 at 6:13 PM ^
Sucks to lose recruits, but in all honesty if I were a top notch HS player, I would stay as far away from Michigan as possible.
September 29th, 2014 at 6:16 PM ^
I am pretty sure we have these words immortalized somewhere.... "those who stay will be champions"
September 29th, 2014 at 10:02 PM ^