During today's football press conference, when asked about the difficulty of recruiting this year in contrast to the the past, Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez brought up the topic of negative recruiting. Negative recruiting, characterized by insulting other schools as a means of promoting one's own program, is something that is consistently present in only one school in the Big Ten, according to Rodriguez. When asked what school he was referring to later in the press conference, Rodriguez wisely responded, "I'm not gonna tell you." He then retracted his statement with, "You mean the one in the Big Ten?", he paused and smirked, "I'm not gonna tell you."
So who was it? Currently there are 9 possibilities, as Rodriguez was adamant that he was not talking about Ohio State. Too bad... there's always room for more bad blood in that rivalry. Nonetheless, there are still nine candidates to think about, and with some common sense, it's plausible to narrow it down.
Rodriguez claimed that he heard about this school recruiting negatively through the recruits that he was pursuing.And if Michigan was in the running for the same recruits as this other school, then the program must be decent. Let's face it- Michigan doesn't exactly recruit along the same lines as Indiana, Illinois, and Northwestern.
Down to 6.
There are two other clues:
1) The first, and it's an admitted stretch, is that Rodriguez, based on his hesitation and simply the fact that he brought up the topic of negative recruiting, seemed like deep down he wanted to tell the media who the school was, but knew it wasn't in his best interest. And if he wanted to tell the media, then he probably had negative feelings toward this school.
2) Rodriguez mentioned later in the press conference that there are "guys" that complain that he's trying to steal guys that are already committed.
Conclusion: Purdue
Purdue is a solid football program that has been at odds with Rodriguez ever since he "stole" Roy Roundtree from then Purdue head coach Joe Tiller in his first recruiting season with the Wolverines. Not to mention the incident last November when head coach Danny Hope approached Rich Rodriguez at midfield after the football game and confronted Rodriguez for being responsible for getting one of his players suspended.
A good program + negative feelings on both sides= a likely candidate
Please feel free to theorize any other schools that coach Rodriguez was targeting by posting your ideas in the "comments" section.
I narrow it down to Purdue and MSU as well. MSU may not recruit on the same scale as UM, but it's a direct battle for the same players. I just don't see Dantonio doing it though. I have an underlying feeling it's Purdue as well. Newer coach who's definitely done some trash like talking on the field. It would make sense.
ReplyDeleteI don't really recall recruiting too many players - if any - who were seriously considering Purdue. I'd say the much more likely candidate is Michigan State. They've already demonstrated a penchant for poisoning high school coaches against Michigan, and I've talked to at least one MSU commit who had nothing nice to say about UM, and I KNOW it wasn't all his idea. The Little Brother complex is strong in them, and I'm almost positive the negative recruiters are the Spartans down the road in East Lansing.
ReplyDeleteDantonio doesn't need to negatively recruit... he's got some shills in the PSL that talk a lot of sh*t about Michigan... PSL coaches and administrators who actively push student-athletes towards Moo U. or anywhere but Michigan.
ReplyDeleteGood brief and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you as your information.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting insights, very good work.
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