OT: Negative Recruiting

As a whole, I liked today's presser, particularly the handling of DFP. I'm somewhat surprised that with all the sh*t involving DFP that UM doesn't restrict media access to only a handful of reporters. That's pretty common with other schools, especially down south. However, my comments are less related to that and more related to his insinuation that there is a negative recruiter in the B10. While this will sound bad, but I wish that RR would have just lied and said he was unaware of negative recruiting going on. I think negative recruiting is something that has been going on since the beginning of college football and will likely continue till the game passes. However, openly acknowledging that a single - only 1 - B10 coach is a negative recruiter is just going to create a giant sh*t storm of accusations, false reports, etc. I could be wrong, but it seems like he may have created an unnecessary story for the media to pick up on.

While I'm usually against negative recruiting, there is a fine line when it comes to making a case about a coach possibly leaving. For example, a couple of years ago Billy Donovan down at Florida basically went to coach the Orlando Magic, thought better of it, and returned to Florida. Now, if I'm trying to recruit a kid against Donovan, I might mention that, hey, the guy basically left once and you never know if he'll leave again if a new/better situation arises. Same with Kiffin jumping around - I would mention that while "USC is his dream job" might sound nice in the presser, he also said that at Oakland and then at Tennessee. So while you shouldn't attack a school/coach with hearsay or false statements, pointing out that a guy has a history of jumping ship doesn't seem right. Now here, it sounds more like a guy making up a story, but then again Meyer retired, then only took a sabbatical, then returned, now might take a break again - all in about 2 months. So yeah, pointing that out isn't necessarily as bad as "I hear RR is going to be fired."

Minnesota