Detroit news article Trieu: New Michigan coaches already show their recruiting grit

Submitted by GoBlueInAlabama on
Interesting article on the impact of Michigan's new coaches on recruiting. The last paragraph is interesting: “They needed this,” Lorenz said. “My biggest thing was, I think they needed more grinders on the recruiting trail. There are more guys that are going to put in the seven-days-a-week type effort on the recruiting trail.” http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/201…

FauxMo

January 17th, 2018 at 9:30 AM ^

Who cares, man? That "meteor" we all saw yesterday? Yeah, that was the rapture. And as far as I can tell, we are all still here. We're fucked. 

Of course, and on the plus side, this means I am going to start coveting the shit out of my neighbors wives! WOO HOO! 

FauxMo

January 17th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^

While I agree that a little experience might be valuable, 7200 strippers seems to be going too far the other way. How about:

"7200 young ladies that have had more than one but no more than 10 prior sexual experiences, all of which were unsatisfying in some way, so that any inadequacies I may display are not readily apparent"? 

Chaco

January 17th, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^

Dennis Miller used to have a comedy bit where he'd say (paraphrasing) "I never quite got the 72 virgin thing.  Clueless and fumbling is good for the first few but eventually don't you want a woman who's not afraid to stick her finger [redacted]"

 

I hear it went over well with the audience.

mGrowOld

January 16th, 2018 at 11:25 PM ^

I'm 58 and from when I was about 30 till I was 45 or so I lived out of a suitcase being on the road 3- 5 days a week.  It was the life I chose (sales) but it was tough and definitely played in a role in my first marrage falling apart as you just cant be away from home for that long and still be an effective father or husband.  My career took off but my homelife suffered.

So the last couple of years I watched the satellite camps unfold and wondered how this was impacting the personal lives of our coaches.  It HAS to be hard as hell to be gone for that long and while it was the life they also chose (college coaching) I couldnt help but wonder how this was playing on their home front.  Virtually all of them have wifes, kids and a family.  Couldnt be easy that's for sure.

So when I hear we needed more "grinders" I wonder if we simply burned out our old grinders.  I wonder if, when given the opportunity to stay home, some of the coaches that have left over the past couple of years just said "fuck this - i'm stayng home for a change."  Not everybody is wired like Jimmy and I'll bet a small part of our recruiting issues are simply a function of the guys getting tired of being on the road all the time. Sometimes you want to be able to go to your kids Christmas concert or see them perform in a school play.  And being there for a birthday or two is pretty cool as well.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

January 17th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^

You better believe the HCs simply turn the page to the next year’s class in Dec after NSD. Guys like Urban and Saban focus on recruiting with every available minute outside practices and game planning. Relentless pace.

“Ok, we are 90% finished with this year and now we can get a jump on the juniors for next year and get ahead on the sophomores.”

The Fan in Fargo

January 17th, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^

Jim isn't a rare breed, there are plenty of us who aren't candy asses. We just don't have University of Michigan degrees. Give a blue collar guy like me some training as a recruiter and a coach under Harbaugh. I'll blow anyone out of the water. Three-six-five, eight days a week, burning tread. What I lack in skills and knowledge, I overachieve and defeat with ambition and perseverance. I'm the guy Ann Arbor(Gotham) deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

San Diego Mick

January 17th, 2018 at 2:59 AM ^

very much as a poster on this blog and understand what you're saying here but man, something about it really bugs me if this is the case regarding recruiting. 

Seems like excuses to me. I hope Harbaugh cuts it out with the overseas trips and I'm glad he can't do the camps anymore, focus on coaching the team, take some time off when you can and get away from the game, I dunno, something was amiss with the team this past season as coach didn't look like a happy guy who was having fun like he was the first 2 years.

I want to see a more passionate coach who doesn't look lifeless like he did so often last season, just my instincts talking here.

BroadneckBlue21

January 17th, 2018 at 8:47 AM ^

Please stop blaming the optics on the results. That’s like blaming travel study on bad grades the very next semester—five months later. It was a young team that won 8 games in the toughest division in college football, Top to bottom. It was a team with poor QB play and all youth at WR, after an undefeated Speight went down with a serious injury.

This team lost games in October and November, not September or April. If you think going to the Vatican and meeting the pope made them lose a close game to MSU, then you have real problems. Harbaugh has given these kids an educational experience, and it was coming after a senior laden team was all out the door to the NFL.

1VaBlue1

January 17th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^

Thank you for saying this.  I feel the same way - Rome had NOTHING to do with anything the team did (or didn't) do on the field this last season.  

You can make a case for the coaches getting a little burned out with the summer camp tour, but not much of one.  If they aren't camping, they're crootin'...

Hail Harbo

January 17th, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^

They won eight games, yes.  But not eight games in the toughest division.  In fact they only won three games against the three teams with losing records in that division.  In the seven team division they were right smack in the middle losing to the toughest teams in the division and beating the worst.  So yeah, mediocrity and it doesn't matter what division or conference they were in.

No, it isn't just optics, it's about distractions and it's about hubris.  Look at us, we're so damn good we can go to Europe and frolick in the fountains.  The team reflects leadership, and if leadership is telling the team it's all about going on European Vacations, should we really expect better results because of it? 

Reader71

January 17th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^

To your last point, there’s a 100% chance that people would have been complaining about his antics had he acted as “passionate” during games while losing 5 of them and fielding a historically bad passing offense.

It’s the losing that bothers us, his demeanor is just where we project our anger.

Kevin13

January 17th, 2018 at 9:15 AM ^

But, it is what the job calls for. It can burn people out and we love to think at UM it just recruits itself. But, we had reached a place where we had fallen behind some programs like Alabama, Clemson and OSU and if you want to reach the top we needed to out work everyone. Work still hasn't come to fruition, but a good season in 2018 and we might start reaping the benefits of all the work.

I don't think these guys were working that much more then other schools or gone a whole lot more. When we did Satellite camps other schools coaches were also on the road recruiting it was just a different beast. The camps were definitely a grind though the days they put in.

Seems they have landed some coaches though willing to really put in the work and do what is needed to bring in top recruits.

BlueKoj

January 17th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^

I think the term football widow applies to CFB and the NFL where there is no "on the road" recruiting. One can be absent from family just by being at the football facility 20 hours/day. Recruiting can't help, but this is certainly something wives/families must deal with.

True Blue Grit

January 17th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^

As another 58 year old who helped raise kids, that kind of lifestyle would have been way too hard for my wife and I.  And I'm fortunate and glad that I was able to avoid jobs where there was much travel.  Recruiting today has gotten to be a hard grind for these coaches - way harder than the 70's and 80's when it was a lot more regional in nature.  Bo and his coaches didn't have to venture much outside the 5 state area here.  I would not be surprised at all if there are coaches out there including on Michigan's staff that have tired of it.  

EconClassof14

January 16th, 2018 at 11:42 PM ^

Classic offseason new coach take #45; they're recruiting harder now becuase of course. Right up there with practices/film sessions are longer and the S&C coach is meaner 

AZBlue

January 17th, 2018 at 1:47 AM ^

but there was talk that outside of Partridge, Mattison, and both Harbaughs the rest of the staff was more iterested in coaching than recruiting.

You need a good mix, but in college i think the "Jimmy's and Joe's" are nearly as important as the coaching acumen of the staff (yes MSU blah blah blah) and M was lacking a bit.  Losing Wheatley hurt us in '18 and the new guys are all known as ace recruiters as well as up and coming coaches.

There is a reason "Bama made a run at Partridge and I suspect his LB coaching ability was a secondary concern to his ability to nab top talent from NJ and the South.  If he could do that well at M, imagine what he could do at "Bama = particularly with kids from GA and FLA.

Rabbit21

January 17th, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^

That's Lorenz' point boiled down and one he's been making on the 247 podcast for awhile now. Maybe some of the other coaches burned out, maybe not. But the fact was that it was becoming apparent that there wasn't a good distribution between the good recruiters and the coaches who preferred the game Day aspects. Frankly, Michigan has come up short or gotten overtaken at the end too many times to make me think that all was well with recruiting anyway. Hopefully the '19 class gets back on track, I actually like the '18 class a lot and think at the end we're all going to be happy with how these young men turn out, but recruiting is also about momentum and Michigan needs to get it back.