Gymnastics Hire article from The Michigan Daily
I really don't think this is something the moderators should be locking and preventing discussion of.
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/sports/rhonda-faehn-joins-michigan-womens-gymnastics-coaching-staff
[Ed-Seth: yes we are leaving this one up and comments open. I removed the other because it was locked after 2 comments]
January 12th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
Wonder if they did any vetting at all before this hire?
January 12th, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
Of course they did. It’s a small tight knit community. They knew exactly what they were getting. This is terrible optics, made no better by the fact they were backfilling for a coach who was caught having sex with one of his team members. Have to question the judgment of any one involved in this hiring decision.
January 12th, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
Hello Warde, WTF!!!
January 12th, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
Too busy eating and taking orders from Norte Dame.
January 12th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
That first thread should have never been locked.
And this hire is clearly a stupid hire made through contacts. It has no upside only downside.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:27 AM ^
Im baffled as to why the first thread was locked.
Is it simply because it presents a bad optic on the University? If so, i dont think shutting down a discussion on the matter is right at all.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:28 AM ^
I was too. This is something that should be discussed. Very quick to lock it, and without much explanation.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
No explanation.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
I saw it after it was first started and came back to check on it about 30 minutes later and it was already locked. At first I thought that maybe they had deleted a bunch of flaming and arguing, but then I realized there was no way for that to happen in such a short time. It would make sense to lock it if it went off the rails, but to do it preemptively seems a step too far.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:43 AM ^
Reading through the mod sticky, seems like there's a lot of pretty swift and final decisions being made lately...
January 12th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
Yeah there is a new mod who hasn't really identified himself here as a mod.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:20 AM ^
MgoWill has generally done a good job. This one today was probably an unnecessary hair trigger, but he's been Swift and appropriately merciless. I don't know that his joining the mod team was ever formally announced, but at least he has that ? designation for identification purposes.
January 12th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
+1 for this, and another vote of approval for MgoWill. He's shown himself to have little tolerance for trolls, fools, and the like, and he's quicker at brooming them out. It's appreciated.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
Agreed. We should be above that kind of crap.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
mgowill locked it and notified me. Our policy with stuff like this is leave it unless the comments are so out of hand and out of whack with reality that we need to remove comments and leave the thread, but he's still getting his bearings and did the right thing by erring to safety and contacting me. Locked =/= taken down.
January 12th, 2019 at 12:28 PM ^
mgowill has been a welcome, timely hammer.
January 12th, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
Sounds like this was a learning experience. I'm sure he won't be so quick to pull the trigger in the future. I mean there were only 2 or 3 comments in the thread and nothing happened yet...
January 12th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
I see my post suggesting that some careful thought needed to be given this and that was taken down? C'mon, you guys are bigger than that.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:34 AM ^
maybe trying to avoid someone defending the decision and starting some sort of flame war? trying to avoid having to send people to Bolivia preemptively? who knows...
January 12th, 2019 at 10:34 AM ^
Not a good look for U of M. The she is with the team statement without any sort of official announcement also looks bad given her background.
Also not sure why the mod locked the thread. I will give benefit of the doubt and say it was early in the morning and they made a mistake. That being said, seems like we all should have picked up on the idea that limiting discussion of these types of issues is bad
January 12th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
Exactly. Leaders and Best means we can talk about this issue, and do talk about this issue, instead of just quickly locking and hoping it goes away without too much fuss.
This is an awful look for the university, an unforced error which deserves condemnation.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
Unforced error indeed.
How could Warde et al have such a tin ear?
This move turns my stomach.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
Based on nearly every thread on this board, we are NOT capable of having "discussion". Any disagreement is immediately met with "maizen" or troll comments, regardless of subject. Unfortunately, too many people go right to have calling and yelling.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Why should MGoBlog be any different than any other discussion forum on the internet? Or anywhere else for that matter? Contempt for anyone outside our tribe is the rule of the day.
January 12th, 2019 at 12:34 PM ^
Ironically enough, a board full of people who wine to mommy to ban anyone they don't like turns a thread about a gymnastics coach into a thread about locking threads and over-moderation...
America--WHAT A COUNTRY!!!
January 12th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
Never announcing the hire until the Daily spotted her makes it so much worse.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
After a couple days of positive news...... lets do something incredibly stupid and make an indefensible hire.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
Is Warde in charge of hiring gymnastics? Or would it be the gymnastics coach makes recommendations.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:41 AM ^
I would assume each head coach hires for their staff, but the AD has veto authority.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:41 AM ^
I would expect Warde has “final say” but it’s likely nobody in the Athletic Department had any idea of who,what, and why.
Was there a background check?
Maybe nobody has seen the headlines the last couple years out of East Lansing???
Edit: After reading the article it sounds like she notified the proper channnels but needed more urgency and determination. She’s probably a good person who failed a really bad situation. (How McQueary never kicked the shit out of Sandusky is beyond me).
January 12th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
There is absolutely zero chance that the AD didn't know exactly what they were getting here. Zero.
January 12th, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^
There is definitely a chance he did not know. However, not knowing is probably an even bigger failure on the part of the AD.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
He would be in charge of a head coach hire and that person would fill out their staff.
warde could definitely tell them not to hire a person though, it might just result in the head coach leaving. But I’d prefer the head coach leave than hire anyone from the fucking trash organization that USA gymnastics proved to be
January 12th, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^
In absolute agreement with your thought process.
January 12th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
People have been unfairly critical of Warde for basically anything they can attempt to make up, but this is an area where even if he is not the prime mover in the hire, he is involved with it and should be aware of the potential publicity. It's his job to be involved with and aware of this stuff.
He should be the one to be up front and deal with the ethical and public issues that come here. He's already dropped the ball a bit here and there needs to be some sort of press release / press conference by end of day Monday.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
Pretty fucking stupid decision.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
This is the sort of thing where fans should send emails to the ad letting them know there are more important things than winning.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
Fantastic hire for UM Gymnastics, and if UM hadn’t hired her, I was going to hire her tomorrow!
@MSUPresEngler
January 12th, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
If i was an accountant at Author Anderson or worked for Enron, should I never be allowed to work anywhere again?
I don't know the facts, but if she wasn't committing the atrocity, nor witnessing it, nor overseeing the person committing the atrocity, where does culpability end? Follow this to its logical conclusion. We are all within seven degrees of separation from Nassar. Are we all guilty?
January 12th, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
No. If you have a connection to the Nassar cover-up, no, you should not be coaching at Michigan while the controversy continues to be mishandled up the road at Michigan State.
And furthermore, if this is such a great and worthy hire, why would Michigan do nothing to publicize that it happened?
Bad look, bad timing, bad idea.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^
not saying she should be hired or that the university is doing anything smart. I'm trying to prevent an internet shaming before facts known.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
Internet shaming? Faehn's actions in the wake of the Nassar allegations were all well documented and reported. This isn't anything new, aside from Michigan ignoring virtually all of it to quietly hire her onto the gymnastics staff.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
If this is the case, then I tend to agree. It is difficult for me to understand all the facts. This should be a place of healthy debate and discussion.
January 12th, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^
The facts are known she fucked up and shouldn't be hired. Don't let your lack of knowledge of the situation dictate what facts are. They are real things and they exist even if they aren't in your sphere of knowledge. You could also follow the old adage don't speak on something you know nothing about.
January 12th, 2019 at 11:04 AM ^
Fair enough. What was I thinking, I'm on the internet. Let emotions and virtue signaling rule!!!
January 12th, 2019 at 11:29 AM ^
You didn’t know the facts so you tried to slow others down. Others knew the facts though. You’re making it seem like people are getting carried away solely because you didn’t take the time to inform yourself. Nobody else is virtue signaling. In fact, you are by trying to be the “let’s slow our roll” guy
January 12th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Who is virtue signalling? Stop using dumb fucking internet buzz words please use language that people use on a daily basis. No one uses that term in real life only people who live on the internet talk that way. What emotions as well? The emotion that someone didn't do their job correctly and therefore should no longer be considered for another position that could lead to people being hurt without proper reporting? I mean Jesus Christ man you talked out of your ass got called on it then doubled down with ridiculous internet language when all you could have said was.... Didn't know the whole story and talked out of turn. Is that so hard to do?
January 12th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
I see things differently than you do. I'm glad, however that we are discussing in the open. I believe that a well informed fan base prevents win at all costs behavior that plague universities and provide an incentive to sacrifice ethics and virtue for dollars and winning.
There are reports that she did alert through the proper channels. She was put in a terrible position. I empathize with her until facts don't allow me to continue.
That said, I understand where you are coming from and don't think your side is wrong logically until people are wrongly fired from earning their livelihood.
Not asking you to see it my way. Just food for thought. Happy blogging and go Blue
January 12th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
RedRum, What are you thinking??? You did not immediately get your pitch fork & flame out to join the outraged mob! So then you must be ignorant and attacked also!
January 12th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
In all fairness not many here practice the advice you offer