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Loading ...A Couple Clarifications on Yesterday’s Dorsey Post
There has been a somewhat overwhelming response to my post yesterday on the Demar Dorsey situation, and I just wanted to clear up a couple things that have repeated popped up in my email, in the post comments, and on other sites:
- I have made my stance on Rich Rodriguez very clear over the last couple years: I think he is still the best coach for Michigan right now, and I have no “agenda” in any of the comments I made about him yesterday. Given the version of events that was outlined to me yesterday, I concluded that Rodriguez was at the very least one of the parties that deserved some blame for the situation. I think it has become pretty obvious by now that there have been some bumps in the road on the administrative side as Rodriguez continues to learn what will and will not fly at Michigan, as compared to previous stints at places like West Virginia at Clemson. I don’t believe there’s any conspiracy on the part of the athletic department or the university as a whole against Rodriguez — there simply have been a few instances where they weren’t on the same page. This was one of those instances. I very much agree with what Brian Cook wrote yesterday:
As per usual, many people can take the hit. Rodriguez is one. Without knowledge of what he’s been told is kosher and what he’s been told is not—and how strenuously—how much is a guy working from assumptions built up after ten years at Clemson and WVU and how much is pure stubbornness from a guy who should know better isn’t clear. If there is someone on the staff who is supposed to be in contact with admissions and know which guys are borderline and which are no way—and I honestly don’t know if there is one—then it falls on that person. If there isn’t then there should be, and I expect that there will be.
- The one line that drew the most criticism from my source’s email was this one: “Three felonies aside, strictly for academics, the director of admissions, [U-M President Mary Sue] Coleman, and [AD Dave] Brandon all agreed that Dorsey had no place at Michigan.” Why? The Detroit News posted an article two days ago that contained this quote from Dave Brandon [HT: MGoBlog]:
Brandon balked at the suggestion he had anything to do with Dorsey not gaining admission.
“That’s ridiculous,” Brandon said. “Admissions is not part of my portfolio at this university. I’ve got plenty else that I’m doing.
“The misinformation is the athletic department is involved and there is some conspiracy involved. In this particular case, and, frankly, other cases, the admissions office concluded and made a judgment.”
I do not disagree with this statement — I trust that Dave Brandon is being sincere when he says that this was the admissions office’s decision. That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible that Brandon (and Coleman) sat down with the director of admissions to discuss what is a very high-profile recruitment of a football player who is a borderline qualifier. In fact, this is likely a very good sign: I want to hear that the athletic department and the admissions office are in strong communication when it comes to these situations, and it sounds like Brandon was simply doing his job by talking with admissions about Dorsey. I don’t think this is the usual process for reviewing and approving a recruit (I highly doubt Mary Sue Coleman gets involved in these situations often), but this has been an extremely unusual recruitment. Still, the final decision on Dorsey came down to the admissions department, and they made their decision.
I hope that helps to clarify some of what I wrote yesterday. I sincerely appreciate all the feedback — both positive and negative — that I have received in the last day. As was pointed out by “oldmancoyote” in the comments of yesterday’s post, it is important in these instances to remember one thing: we’re all Michigan fans, and ultimately we’re all on the same side here, even if we have differences of opinion. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by the blog, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
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This entire fiasco makes me realize that we aren’t going to see Michigan win another national title in football or basketball in my lifetime. The slow fade to irrelevance has begun.
What makes you say that, Sick Naban (great name, btw)? I don’t know how this has any connection to the basketball team, and I think we have to take a big-picture view of the football team: yes, we’re in a rebuilding phase, but every college football program goes through down years, and the great programs always seem to resurface in the national title picture (see: Miami, Alabama, USC, Ohio State, etc.). We can’t overreact to every story — beyond losing Demar Dorsey as a player, this has little bearing on what we’ll be putting on the field next year and beyond.
What your source could have told you is that admissions had these concerns for some time. There was no last-minute “pulling the rug out” from under anyone on their part; if minds were changed at the last minute, it wasn’t in the admissions office.
I would remind blog readers that just because something came to light on the web in the last week, doesn’t mean the information didn’t exist before then.
Someone hung on to hope for this kid for a long time, longer than was wise, and sadly longer than was good for Dorsey. But it wasn’t admissions who was stringing him along.
What disturbs me is the notion that offers can be given to students, LOI written and scholarships slots filled past the signing deadline and then they are rejected by the Admissions office even though they are cleared by the NCAA. This happend with Adrian Witty last year and now Dorsey. Not all of the best athletes will have 3.0 averages or top out on their ACT/SAT scores. When signing day comes, recruitment should be a done deal and not dragged out until the summer months. Students need to “know” where they are going in the fall, and Michigan needs to “know” who they have coming in. I am sure that every D-1 school has some degree of uncertainty with a student now and then, but two kids in two years means that there is a defect in this process somewhere and the president and the AD needs to see that the Admissions office and the Athletic programs work this out and get it right. Dorsey may have been illiterate as far as we know, but he didn’t deserve to be strung along like this, and there still needs to be a better means of evaluating potential prospect’s academic ability “before” they are offered. The staff needs to do their homework and grade out a student’s probability for admission before they are offered. If a student can’t read, or is pulling a “D” average, don’t offer him or at least wait until the smoke clears a little. I am concerned that the average student athlete will shy away from Michigan because they want to avoid this type of problem. I also believe that there is enough blame to go around for everyone.
Well Ace, Michigan is a low talent state with two BCS conference programs operating in it. Michigan’s high school football talent has dropped a lot since the 70s and 80s, while Ohio’s has increased. The competitive advantages that Michigan had for all of my lifetime have been greatly reduced by the proliferation of televised games, the population shift to the south, and the specialization of football players. With all of that in the background, the AD and admissions *has* to act proactively and start taking bigger risks. Miami, Alabama, USC and OSU take riskier kids (Katzenmoyer, Edge James, etc.), and all of them are in more talented areas.
I thought that hiring Rodriguez was an excellent sign that the AD grasped that it isn’t 1971 anymore, and that other programs are catching or even have caught up. This kind of fiasco makes me think different; Brandon wants to be Stanford, an athletic program that “you can be proud of” that will never again win a national title in football or basketball.
Well sport, there are “risks” and then there are “foolish & needless risks.” If the reason why Admissions has not admitted Dorsey, et al, because they cannot read or write, then our coaching staff should get a clue and not offer them. However, if there are other reasons that preclude them from coming to Michigan even though the NCAA can clear them then Admissions and the Athletic Department need to talk. I don’t have any problem with RR recruiting average or borderline kids, my concern is when these kids are jumping through hoops and going over hurdles to get into Michigan only to have the rug pulled out from under them by our own Admissions office then like the astronaut said, “…we have a problem.” Again, my point is, that there should be a system, better communication, both the Admissions and Athletic programs should be on the “same page” when it comes to offering prospects. I understand that the Michigan economy has been so devastated that families have left to go to other states which effects the quality of talent in the state. I also agree with you that this may mean that RR may have to take “risks” or use his snake oil and wizard’s hat more. However, it’s counter productive when his efforts are twarted by his own Admissions office. As quoted in the scriptures, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” That is my point. I am not against the need to take risk, only against taking costly, senseless and foolish risk if it is clear that admissions will not let certain students [for whatever reason] into the university. Both entities need to be clear what those “whatever reasons” are.
I also still believe that RR is an excellent signing, and if we are patient then we will see Michigan win games in a fashion in which we have never done before.
Your story contains a number of inconsistencies or downright ridiculous claims. The first is the idea that somehow the coach must obtain clearance from Admissions in order to get the go-ahead to offer. This is total nonsense. Many of these offers go out to students before their test scores and final grades are even determined yet, what on earth is admissions supposed to base their decision on? An offer is just a worthless piece of paper. If it turns out later that this kid would have no chance of qualifying, the compliance department, which monitors SA eligibility, would say so and the recruitment would cease long before the student would sign the LOI.
Next is the idea that Rich Rodriguez is supposed to be the one who communicates with Admissions. This is simply not true. All notification of incoming prospects to Admissions is done by the Academic Success Program. The ASP notifies Admissions of the recruit, then Admissions notifies the ASP of the admissions status. Then ASP gives updates to the coaches.
Third, you write that Rich never checked with anyone before having him sign a letter of intent. Again, incorrect. Letters of Intent must be requested from Compliance via the NLI Request form. Compliance would have had to sign off on it.
Fourth, the idea that Michigan didn’t know his grades and test scores before he signed, which you imply by “Had Rod ever checked with anyone, he would’ve gotten a firm ‘no’,” is again, not possible. One of the requirements of obtaining an official visit is a copy of transcripts and test scores from the high school and testing agency, respectively. This must be approved by compliance 5 days prior to the official visit. Dorsey took his official visit on January 15th, meaning Michigan would have had access to his grades and test scores for a full 4 weeks, at least, before signing day. A month is more than enough time to mull it over and give a yes or no decision. And yet he was allowed to sign anyway.
All this information can be obtained from the compliance department’s website and the documents provided on it. What’s funny is you write what is essentially another condescending “Rich Rodriguez has a lot to learn” hit piece without even bothering to check whether what you are writing is consistent with the policies that Michigan has put into place. And then you qualify that with “I still support Rodriguez.” Nice.