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Loading ...Kurt Wermers Transfers, Needs a Nap
Kurt Wermers has transferred from Michigan to Ball State.
Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Kurt Wermers has decided to transfer from Michigan to Ball State. This is all well and good — a lot of players transfer. However, Wermers also talked. Take it away, Kurt:
“I really didn’t get along with the new coaches,” Wermers is quoted as saying by nwi.com of Munster, Ind. “They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd.”
Wermers (6-foot-5, 290 pounds) is from Crown Point (Ind.) High School. The 2008 season was his first at Michigan — also coach Rich Rodriguez’s first in Ann Arbor — but he would have been initially recruited by Lloyd Carr’s staff.
“Coach Carr’s staff was a whole different ballgame,” Wermers says in the report. “It was like a family. But when Rodriguez came in it was a whole different feeling. It was more of a business. I figured I’d get out while I could.”
There are a multitude of problems with this. Allow me to list them, in no particular order:
- “…bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd.” Way to throw your old teammates under the bus, Kurt. I have no idea what kind of “crowd” Kurt Wermers is comfortable with, but by all accounts the players Rodriguez has brought in are good, upstanding student-athletes. I can’t imagine that Wermers couldn’t find at least a few teammates he was cool with, and to just throw a comment like that around is not only petty and uncalled for, it is open to the type of interpretation that can be dangerous.
- As pointed out by John Borton ($), and as stated in the above quote, Wermers never actually played under Coach Carr and his staff. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure coaches, as a general rule, are a lot nicer to you when they’re recruiting you than they are during practice. I know there are some differences between Carr’s staff and Rodriguez’s, but Wermers does not have any experience with Lloyd Carr, coach, only Lloyd Carr, recruiter.
- Wermers had a chance to change schools after Carr retired and Rodriguez took over. Nobody forced him to put his name on that Letter of Intent, and he knew exactly which coach he would be playing for when he did so. If he felt that Rodriguez and Co. managed the team like a business, and preferred Carr’s “family” style, then why not go looking for another school prior to signing the LOI?
- My biggest issue: Regardless of the legitimacy of Wermers’ feelings towards the coaching staff, he had the opportunity to leave the University of Michigan, a great school that had paid for a year’s worth of his tuition, with class and dignity. Instead, he chose to take a parting shot at essentially the entire football program. It already speaks volumes enough that you are transferring, Kurt. There’s no need to go to the media and blast the school you’re leaving. Say something good about your experience at Michigan, if you can, or simply express your excitement for your new school, or just leave in peace. Take the high road.
This is major college, Division I-A, Big Ten football. Coaches aren’t always going to be nice — that comes with the territory at any program. If you can’t handle it, Kurt, do us all a favor and grab one of these:
I heard this goes really well with a blankie.
I wish Kurt all the best at Ball State. Really, I do. However, I think he left Michigan in a decidedly un-classy way, and as a fellow student, I don’t feel bad criticizing him like I’m sure many others do. Hopefully he’ll grow up and flourish at Ball State, and stick it out as a player, but I also don’t expect Stan Parrish (former Michigan offensive coordinator and current BSU coach) and his staff to be a whole lot nicer than Rodriguez and his staff. I will say this: after reading Wermers’ comments, I’m glad he decided to move on to another school. I’d rather have another open scholarship available for a player who wants to play at Michigan than an unhappy guy taking up space. Real talk (© R. Kelly).
Attrition happens at all schools, at all levels of play. I realize Michigan has had more transfers than usual under Rodriguez, but that is completely natural when a new staff with such a different on-field strategy takes over at a school. I’m sure there will be more transfers in the near future. However, I hope they are handled with more maturity than this one.
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I totally agree with you…Transfers are always going to happen when a new coaching staff comes into play but most times that opens doors for more scholarships and more players who fit that style. Take a look at Tennessee, how many players walked away from that program when Kiffin came to town? A lot, yet they have had one of the best recruiting classes in the nation…so has Michigan! Keep your feelings to yourself Wermer! You left a prestigious school to go play for a MAC team…Dont get me wrong, im a MAC fan, alumni of Western Michigan University, but the MAC is no BIG TEN! Best of luck to you but for future reference, learn to be a better sport
Way to go and smash a 18 year old about an out of context comment. If you had paid attention to all that Wermers said in the newsaper quote, you would see that he also said…”I loved the school and my teamates, but if I don’t wake up happy every day that I am there, why am I staying.”…
You do not need to take his comments as a personal attack on Michigan. He stated that it is a great school. He also said that he loved his teamates.The fact is, the just didn’t mesh with the new coaching staff.
also, in case you haven’t noticed, he is not the first Michigan player to dislike Rodriguez’s way of doing things. Others have commented that he runs things like a business….Maybe all these players aren’t being babies, they are just stating facts
Wringky — How can you not take those comments as an attack on Michigan and the football program? He can say he “loved his teammates” as much as he wants, but his other comments completely throw them under the bus. There’s no way to take his quotes out of context.
Also, I’m sick of hearing that 18-year-olds can say whatever they want to newspapers without reproach. First, he’s a fully fledged adult (and actually 19, but that’s besides the point). I’m 21 years old. He gets to say whatever he wants, bash the football program I support, and I’m not allowed to criticize him because he’s too young? I’m sorry, he went to the media, and he is not exempt from criticism.
As for your last point: for every player leaving the program, there are ten sticking around and supporting Rich Rodriguez and his staff. The same thing happened when Bo Schembechler came in. Yesterday we saw a perfect example of two players leaving with class: Marell Evans had nothing but good things to say about the program, but he wanted to find a school where he could get more playing time. That is a perfectly good reason to leave a school, and he had the coaches’ blessings when he left. Wermers flunked out, transferred, and bashed the school while leaving. There is a right way and a wrong way to leave a school in a classy fashion: Evans stands on one end of the spectrum, Wermers on the other.
The only thing I believe he said that was wrong was about the teammates, not that you are disappointed with the program. If you were recruited under one coach, but he leaves and a well-known coach comes in, of course you probably will give it a shot, regardless if it is a new offense.
As far as leaving a large program for a smaller one, Michigan will take a while to get back into prominence, and the smaller conferences have shown improvement.
Thought you may be interested to know that after all of this drama, Wermers has now decided to not play football at all and will stay as a student at BSU…
Thanks for the update, Pat. I can’t say it surprises me that Wermers has decided that Division I football is not for him. Hopefully he’s doing well at Ball State and can keep making progress academically.