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.]
"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."
Valdez Showers to Michigan confirmed?
I can't wait until Harbaugh pounds the shit out of Harvel's Spartans.
In no way is this the "first real PR crisis of the Harbaugh administration."
A kid is having trouble with his academics. The school and the team have said nothing, because they can't.
Where is the crisis?
Sports writers, including this here blog, reported some information that was incorrect. This happened because a high school football coach turned out to be an unreliable source with a dog in the fight. This all happened during a slow news period.
That is all.
The NCAA violations committed by Harbaugh and his staff are. /s
I heard whoever the morning guys on CBS radio joking they needed to give Harbaugh 10 years for these horrible, horrible violations.
Why the hell is a high school coach still so involved in a student-athlete once he graduates and moves on to a different program? It seems to me Harvel should know enough about being a coach that you don't muddy the waters for your player's new coach by continuing to meddle in a kid's affairs/being his public spokesperson.
If I'm Harbaugh, even though a recruiting relationship with Harvel is important, I'm telling him "he's my player now. If you want to send him a Christmas card, go ahead. But leave me to manage my players's success."
That's what I keep coming back to throughout this whole thing. I get that he cares about the kid, but he has to know where the line is.
I'm not fully aware of Norfleet's situation, but you have to think that a lot of kids who come through Harvel's program have unstable home lives - no dad, no mom, neither parent, grandparents raising them, etc. I don't find it questionable why a high school coach might still be involved. For some of those kids, the high school coach might be their father figure and only adult advocate.
At the same time, I don't think Harvel is doing anyone any favors by being public about this.
That's a good point and it can be a good thing for a coach to remain a part of the lives of some of their former players in need of a father figure. Of course, this guy seems like either a shitty father or a delusional one. Norfleet isn't going to the NFL and he's going to need an education. Hell, even if he makes it to the league, it won't last forever and Norfleet has a chance to do a lot better than Sibley's...if he gets a real education.
I did consider those possible scenarios that you outlined. In my eyes, it still doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't be doing all of this in the public eye. How could he think he's doing Dennis any favors by playing this out in the media? As others have said, this should have been an internal matter between the school (including athletics), and Dennis (if Dennis sought Harvel's assistance, fine).
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Yep. I play basketball over the summer with my former players who come back from college, I text them occasionally, they ask me for recommendation letters, etc. That's one of the reasons some kids play sports (for the male leadership) and one reason coaches coach (for the relationships).
Yeah, I don't doubt that Harvel want's to protect and help Norfleet, but I do wonder if this isn't a veiled attempt to embarrass UM for some reason.
This coach may very well be an ass but this post kind of seems hypocritical.
With the full knowledge that situations are different, it sure looks like blasting this coach (again, it may be warranted) while holding up other coaches who defended their kids (Weber, Dean) as altruistic, is solely about which program you root for and not necessarily the coaches behavior.
I truly believe that if Weber had committed to UM and the exact same thing happened the reaction on this board to the coaches comments would have been different.
Yes, you would have people saying that it sure doesn't look good and you hope the kid wasn't lied to (as you did on 11W).
BUT, I think you'd have a lot more that would point out how not a month later that same coach was posing with the NC trophy at your school and how his bluster was much ado about nothing and there is nothing to see here.
I dunno if Weber was lied to or he was just a one of a ton of kids who always thought the coaches wouldn't change. I don't know if Norfleet is a giant idiot who is not going to class and got himself in trouble or there is something else going on.
Having said that, If I was Norfleet and the coach was leaking all this info w/out my OK, I'd be pretty pissed myself and I do agree with Brian that it isn't helping Norfleet any.
The tone just seemed hypocritical to me and maybe not even from Brian so much as just compared to other posts I've seen on here.
"With the full knowledge that the situations are different", is it really surprising that the reactions are different?
Weber was a victim of being lied to, was still enrolled in HS, and his coach was lauded for defending him.
Norfleet created his own problem by not attending finals, is 3 years removed from HS, and his coach is being blasted for putting any semblance of blame for the situation on Michigan.
Different situations warrant different responses, and I say that with my maize colored glasses off.
A little.
No one knows at all if Weber was lied to. The assumption is out there but no one knows what was actually said to the kid. Hell he could have assumed that Drayton would be there the whole time on his own (kids have been known to do that) and was upset when he left. He may have been lied to but he may not have.
For the record, if he was told that Drayton would be there, or they knew in advance he was leaving and just never mentioned it, I'm against that.
I think Magnus above has a good point about coaches involvement in their players lives that may make the 3 years removed a non-issue.
I agree completely that this situation (whatever it is) appears to be one of Norfleet's making and he should take the fault if so.
To the extent that you have suggested a journalistic criticism of Brian, I think this is a good example of why his model of unabashed, biased fandom is actually a huge positive for his journalistic credibility.
When you read Simmons (to grab a recent hot name), you KNOW he is going to have a positive spin on everything Brady/Belichick/Patriots, and you keep that in mind. If you read crazy stuff about the Pats and want the fan's perspective, you check Simmons and evaluate with a Bayesian mindset; i.e., here's what one side says that is supposedly unbiased, and here's what the clearly biased side says, what are the underlying arguments, etc.
Same thing with Brian. He obviously would prefer that Jim came out of this smelling like roses. However, his crticism of coaches and administrators at U-M should also lend some credibility to his objectivism. In the end, he isn't deceiving you about the possibility he is being a hypocrite, which is more than can be said for most reporters, let alone most folks.
I agree with what you wrote.
I've been dropping by here for 2-3 years so I believe I know what to expect from him. At times I think he is really good, other times a homer, but I'm sure the same can be said for all of us.
In my first post I thought I made it clear that it was less from Brian and more from posters I've seen on here.
In retrospect I should have been clearer that my issue is more with the posters who are all gung ho about Brian's post and don't seem to have a problem with bashing this coach but have taken other coach's at face value in the past.
Such a weird situation, but it's one that can setup Michigan well to continue moving forward as the program that will build a team on the field and ensure academic achievement as well. If King and MSU want to be the shining light for academic failure, so be it. Dantonio never had a problem coddling criminals, so why shouldn't he team up with a high school enraged that a student should have to appear for final exams. They recruit based on "you don't have to go to class" and that's about the opposite of what Michigan should stand for.
In the long-run (maybe even medium), this will out work out well for Harbaugh and our recruiting in Detroit. In the short-run, maybe we lose a few kids to MSU...such is life.
In the Freep article about this case, Coach Harvel says:
"Dennis had a 3.0 average and he had 90 credits, but they weren't toward any major,'' Harvel said. "No psych courses, no math. He wants to be a special education teacher and help kids. My problem was the credits he had weren't toward a major.''
I know from my work at the U, that NCAA rules have regular checks that students are actively progressing towards their degree in order to be eligible to play - this includes the milestone of declaring a major by their Junior year. Of course, I have no knowledge of Norfleet's specific information, but the coach's comments seem impossible.
I think there coach is creating a bunch of smoke to mask a different fire.
BTW, I graduated from UM with no psych or math courses, so there is also that....
Yeah, I didn't get that part either. The university and the NCAA both require some declaration of a major; otherwise, players would just take every 100-level course they could.
As Brian said, this should have been handled behind closed doors. Why his former HS coach is trying to drag it out in public is kinda crazy.
Guess what, Harvel? It isn't your problem. Spewing half-truths he knows the University can't refute under FERPA, and doing absolutely nothing to help Norfleet in the process.
It's sad, really.
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