Dale Harvel Isn't Helping Dennis Norfleet
[Adam Glanzman]
Dennis Norfleet's murky situation has blown up into the first real PR crisis of the Harbaugh administration. Unfortunately for Michigan, it's one they're legally prohibited from saying much of anything about. FERPA restricts their ability to say much other than "he is on the team" or "he is off the team." Right now Michigan isn't saying either. They've gone with this:
A Michigan athletic department spokesman told The Detroit News that the situation was "an internal matter."
All right then.
As a result all the talking is coming from Norfleet's high school coaches. One seems like a reasonable gentleman. The other is showing his ass. Here's King head coach Dale Harvel:
Harvel added about Norfleet's situation: "If only one kid out of 120 is missing class, they must be the No. 1 program in the country (for football players' academic achievements)."
Harvel has repeatedly said things like "we're not going to let him be a victim," outed private conversations he had with Fred Jackson, publicly bemoaned his decision to switch away from a Cincinnati program on the verge of hiring Tommy Tuberville, and generally done everything in his power to make academic standards like "go to all your finals" seem nefarious. Usually when high school coaches blow up like this it's because their kid has seen his scholarship yanked for a dubious reason, or none at all.
It was Harvel who leaked the apparently erroneous information that Norfleet was gone, which turned the story from message board rumor* to something that every local news organization has dedicated big stories to. It was Harvel who went full steam ahead with the information that Norfleet was not doing things expected of him in the classroom. He is the #1 reason this is a thing. Because Norfleet is a "victim."
I mean, you know me. I just about challenged Brady Hoke to a fight about Norfleet's misuse during his tenure as head coach. But if Norfleet is no longer on the team because he missed several classes and did not attend at least one and possibly more finals, that is on one person: Dennis Norfleet.
And Jim Harbaugh cannot be concerned with just Norfleet here. It's his first semester as head coach and he's just going to let that slide? What kind of message does that send to the other 84 kids on scholarship? Is that likely to improve or degrade the overall academic performance of the program?
The answers to those rhetorical questions are obvious to everyone except Harvel. Privately resolving issues with the head coach—and there have been a number so far that have been so resolved—is more likely to create a positive outcome both in the short-term individual player level and for your relationship with a major school of interest to your players. But Harvel has decided that grandstanding without information that is, you know, correct is more important.
I hope Norfleet makes it back. His coach isn't helping.
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*[Albeit one that was more credible than your garden-variety internet rando mutterings since it had the backing of John Borton, an editor at Rivals. It is not hard to trace the path here: Borton names Norfleet, Nick Baumgardner starts checking it out, hits upon the King coaches, and then the tempest takes over the teapot. This is why I don't report on potential transfers anymore. I would rather not spend a week with my head in an alligator's mouth, thanks.]
I'm in no way plugged into the SE Michigan high school football scene, but if you believe the rumors out there, this coach's overriding concern is not Dennis Norfleet, but rather making UM look bad and ensuring his other players don't go to UM (and most presumably MSU instead).
Or maybe he's related to Michael Rosenberg or has a Freep subscription.
Plenty of info out there for those looking for it. Har-vel has a Hard-on for MSU.
pride and emphasis on academic performance from the flurry of tweets over the past week or so of all the players with great grades. If Norfleet has found himself on the opposite end of that continuum, then he's in the Atomic Doghouse.
We couldn't take Burbrige because his grades were insanely low. He magically took some summer classes at MSU and become "eligible" Safe to say there is a point where Michigan will not accept a commit, Norfleet was above it and Burbridge was below it.
I'm willing to bet that the coach won't issue any type of apology. Typical bitching and moaning.
...I'm not sure how you're helping the young man by bringing all this to the public's attention. My understanding is that many a Michigan football player over the years has found himself at some sort of crossroads at which he needed to either change his behavior or leave. These moments should not be publicized.
As the #1 source of Michigan football information, Brian has a journalistic responsibility to present correct information. Especially when that information clarifies an earlier post. Seeing as the original post was only made when it seemed that the actual player involved had confirmed the story.
I was criticizing the coach, not Brian. I agree with Brian and think he was right to post this.
Fair enough.
+1 to both of you for a very reasonable and adult disagreement. Bravo!
all the time as a motivational tool. If they fixed the problem and showed they wanted to be back on the team, he let them back. It wouldn't surprise me at all that, Harbaugh being a Bo-disciple, might employ the same tactic here to send a message to Mr. Norfleet. Back then, you almost never heard about it. Today, with social media, Internet, and the absurd scrutiny paid to major college sports teams, it's easy to see how a "story" like this gets blown out of proportion. Aside from that, the King coach needs to let his ex-players take care of their own problems and keep his mouth shut. By the time someone is an upperclassman, they need to be able to take responsibility for their own actions and work through the problem.
They will support their players (current, former, or prospective) to a fault. And they have shown an ability to not be as concerned about grades. They backdoor athletes in there that fail the school's entrance exam, steer kids to the right classes to keep their GPA up and make sure their core class grades are just passable enough. The only place they don't have any control are the standardized tests.
I assume this kid probably skipped the exams because he was ready to transfer and received awful guidance, probably from Harvel.
Some of these things are supposedly why Lavert Hill is there and not at Cass Tech anymore.
he needed the shady assistance alluded to in the above post? Or that Cass Tech proliferated this alleged behavior?
Meaning Cass Tech is a very good school with strict standards and King is more tolerant of whatever a standout football player wants to do.
I am not as familiar with Detroit High Schools as those around here so wasn't sure to which Magnus was alluding.
They're not all angels at that school.
This is not just in football. There's a reason why their girls basketball team makes it to the state finals all the time. Plus King's reputation academically has fallen in the last 15 years, while Cass and Renaissance (more and more becoming a producer of Division 1 athletes) has held steady.
That's a shame about King. High School success != Collegiate success. If they are not successful academically at the next level, we know to whom to look.
Appreciate the insight!
I missed a final once. It was the second semester of my Jr year and this was back in the prehistoric times before smart phones & electronic calendar reminders. So I had my final exam schedule up on the wall of my fraternity house room and for reasons unknown simply F'd up one of the times/days of the exam. It was a 400 level geology class that i had been getting an A in so it's not like I was trying to dodge anythiing.
Anyways, on Wednesday morning of finals week I start getting ready to being studying for Geology, thinking the exam was Thursday afternoon for some reason when I ran into one of my classmates in the library who asked "where were you on Monday?" I asked what was he talking about and he told me the final was Monday afternoon and my absence was noted by the prof. After I restarted my heart I sprinted to his office to plead my case for stupidty and poor scheduling skills and hoped like hell I wouldnt get a 0 on the final exam and completely destroy my grade in that class.
I think he was pretty sceptical of my story but I reminded i did have an A and it was several days later - why would I do this on purpose? So he agreed to let me take the final - as a verbal exam - right then and there in his office. Remember I hadn't studied yet for this one so I think I got something like a 60 on the final (better than a 0) and ended the year with a B.
Missing finals is bad.
If you don't skip exams, you can get a bigger boat and better seats at Cleveland Browns games.
Remind me to never tell you the story about my golf cart at the marina.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
I forgot to mention furtherance in the wife department. Don't let the avatar fool you folks, she's a smoke-show.
Logged in just to upvote this because you used the word "furtherance". Also, I am bored at work.
Shouldnt you be out looking for a one-armed man or something?
I kicked the shit out of him on an elevated train after he shot the janitor from Scrubs.
Kimble!
So this is yours???
Cool. Yet in the days of smartphones, where it seems like every kid is checking a color-coded Google calendar every time they're asked to as much as schedule a trip to the bathroom, it's pretty much impossible to do this. I see it just about every day with my students. There's no way Norfleet just absentmindedly forgot when his final was, or when he was supposed to go to class. This is on him.
Norfleet is a very bad student. He doesn't care about school at all and often gets other students to do his work for him. I am in no way surprised by this news, nor do I have any pity for his situation.
You know this how?
Former walk-on. I know him, I know his friends, I'm friends with some of his friends. He's a very nice guy, but only ever cared about half of the student-athlete gig.
The choices people make are their own business and no one else's. But, if there is a chance they shed a negative light on the program, people deserve to know who is responsible for what is going on. The only person responsible for Dennis being suspended, asked/forced to transfer, or dismissed is Denns.
Or is this the reason why he seemed so "under-utilized"?
I don't really have the information needed to answer either of those things.
34 years now after I graduated, I still have nightmares like your story, and that never actually happened to me! But, at least you got a B.
I used to make a weekly class schedule on graph paper and hang it above my desk. One year I forgot to add one of my classes and didn't attend for two and a half weeks. I totally panicked and ran to the professor's office. He asked me to drop. Shit happens.
I too have dreams about this that freak me out and when I wake up and realize I'm not in school anymore it feels sooooo good. I never missed a final but I did miss a midterm once for some god awful 300 level electrical engineering class...two weeks later it was removed from the computer engineering curriculum, how lucky was I?
Yeah it's well-documented that King's staff aren't in cahoots with the Michigan program. Harvey is just using this as a chance to lambast us publicly, even though the player in question most-likely deserves what he is getting. Guess how much Jim cares though...
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