johnthesavage

November 6th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^

I disagree and believe that a crappier-than-expected season will harm your recruiting, but regardless -- these issues are all related and certainly affect each other. If the team didn't suck, the coach wouldn't be on the way out the door.

Joined: 03/30/2013

MGoPoints: 2112

blueday

November 6th, 2014 at 8:10 PM ^

The big picture will be obvious someday. Actually kids going to UM now don't even get it so why is this surprising. Very sad but set sail young man. The blue wind is at your back and that is great by me.

Joined: 11/04/2014

MGoPoints: 6493

Buccaneer_9

November 7th, 2014 at 8:45 AM ^

^This

How many "Top" recruiting classes has Hoke had, with zero results on the field?

Good for them that they're smart enough to stay clear of this soup sandwich.  NSD is a long way away...who knows how many will come back into the fold, should we hire "the best available" coach, per Schlissel.

I personally have no issues with Hoke or his staff.  They're just not getting it done on the field.  I feel like it's time to move on.

Joined: 12/19/2008

MGoPoints: 97

tolmichfan

November 8th, 2014 at 6:43 AM ^

Hokes first recruiting class was a cobbled mess that I would blame on Brandon. Hoke's only two Oline that are juniors and seniors are jack miller and Glasgow. A walk on and a three star guy who have both been coached up to the point by Funk that they have out performed reasonable expectations. We have a senior and redshirt senior class that graduates 9. 2 of them are kickers so we have 7 position players and one is Joey Bruzinski (sp). So now we r down to about six contributing 21 to 22 year olds, out of a two deep that consists of 44 players. We have 13 total red shirt junior, senior and red shirt seniors on this team. A team like MSU who does a great job of player retention over the last 9 years because they haven't changed coaches 3 times has 28 red shirt junior,senior and redshirt seniors. If you look at the "star" rankings of those three player levels either we r pretty close or MSU is ahead. Our talent is in the freshman and sophomore classes, and if I'm a coach I'm takeing the team that has older talent then the one who has younger talent. OSU has about 15 guys in that range so while they are better than us, they have also been under the same offensive and defensive scheme for 3 years. Also you could argue that if Michigan played OSU's schedule, even with the mass amount of injuries we have, we would have only lost two games to this point in the year. Rutgers cause we lost and probably Va Tech.

Joined: 11/26/2010

MGoPoints: 1433

Mr. Yost

November 6th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^

And the panic on the QBs wasn't bad because we all knew Rich Rod would find his guy (and he did)...but maybe in number I can see what you mean.

Of course we don't know now, but I guarantee in 3 years when you compare the two, this class of decommits will be much better than Rich Rod's were. They're more highly touted now and they're not system specific players like many of Rich Rod's.

Thing is, if we get a great coach and replace those guys with guys who can be at least "solid" as juniors and seniors...then every person in their right mind would trade that crop of recruits for a great coach and some Mike Martin, Will Heininger, RVB, Novack, Stu Douglas, Jordan Morgan type players. 

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

chatster

November 6th, 2014 at 10:19 PM ^

Hi (INSERT NAME) . . . I’m Jim Harbaugh. I’m the new head football coach at the University of Michigan. . . . I understand that you had been interested in coming to Michigan to play football. . . . I’m looking for some tough, smart, excellent athletes for our 2015 recruiting class. . . . I hear that you might fit that profile.  If you think you do, I’d like to meet with you to discuss your possibly coming to Michigan in 2015. . . . Would you be interested in that?

I suspect that it has to be very difficult for Michigan's coaches to be effective recruiters right now. They honestly can't know whether they'll be coaching at Michigan after December 1, 2014.

QUESTIONS FOR MAGNUS AND OTHER RECRUTING EXPERTS

  1. If the 2015 recruiting class gets down to Alex Malzone, Jon Runyan, Jr. and Andrew David before the next J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach is hired, would that be the first set of phone of calls that the new coach makes?
  2. If not, would the new coaching staff be stuck close to the signing deadline trying to either (a) flip highly rated-prospects from other schools or (b) settle on some low-rated prospects, just to fill out the class?
  3. Or, woud it be better to hold those scholarships for both (a) transfers who have some Power Five Conference playing experience, are of the caliber of Ty Isaac and who could enroll at Michigan in January or May 2015, and (b) a larger recruiting class in 2016?

Joined: 09/14/2010

MGoPoints: 27008

chatster

November 7th, 2014 at 8:32 AM ^

You get my upvote. . . . . Now, who do I call for answers to my questions? . . . Dr. Peter Venkman? . . . Dr. Raymond Stanz? . . .  Dr. Egon Spengler? . . . Winston Zeddemore? . . . Janine Melnitz? . . . CPA Louis Tully?

EDIT: Of course, the right answer always is MAGNUS!

Joined: 09/14/2010

MGoPoints: 27008

Magnus

November 7th, 2014 at 8:27 AM ^

1. Yes, I think a new coach's #1 goal would be to keep the current commits intact. It's a small class, but it's tough to rebuild from scratch. I've never seen a team literally get down to zero recruits upon a coaching change. At least a few of these guys are bound to stick with the program.

2. I think a new coaching staff - unless it's an absolute, slam-dunk hire - would have to settle for getting some low-rated prospects (Purdue commits, MAC commits, uncommitted guys, etc.) to sign. Harbaugh might be able to bring in some highly rated guys, or keep several of the current commits in the fold. Stitt would probably have a lot of work to do.

3. I hate the idea of banking scholarships. Ideally (for football competition's sake), you want to either a) oversign and kick kids off the team or b) have a bunch of small class, which means you're retaining your players, redshirting freshmen, etc. Since option A is stupid and classless, we should be trying for option B.

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166237

chatster

November 7th, 2014 at 9:07 AM ^

So, if all the four-star commits besides Alex Malzone decommit and go elsewhere, it looks like hopes for the 2015 recruiting class would have to rest on some last-minute commits from high school seniors who can give Michigan decent contributions like they’ve gotten from Matt Wile, Blake Countess, Raymon Taylor and Frank Clark, some of the last-minute commits from the Class of 2011?
 
Or maybe a punter from Australia and a few graduate transfers who have NCAA eligibility left from places like Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt and the Ivy League?

Joined: 09/14/2010

MGoPoints: 27008

ilah17

November 7th, 2014 at 12:05 AM ^

How can someone decommit from a school and not even consider them again? I don't get it. I know the coaching situation is a question mark, but still. Suddenly, he won't even consider going here anymore?

Joined: 12/15/2011

MGoPoints: 4185

Manballsblue

November 7th, 2014 at 6:15 AM ^

They are kids...They have a right to go where they want...etc. But I agree with your question. I then follow that up with glad you left then. I won't consider Michigan means they never intended to play for MICHIGAN. Go play for another coach that might leave or get fired. We'll be fine with and without you.

Joined: 01/01/2014

MGoPoints: 176

saveferris

November 7th, 2014 at 7:30 AM ^

I suspect that not all high school prospects enjoy the college recruiting process, so once they reach a decision, they don't want to revisit it.  It has to be tough for these kids who have completed their research, taken their visits, and done their soul-searching, and were feeling come level of comfort that their decision has been made and they didn't have engage in the process anymore only to have the rug jerked out from beneath them.

If you're shopping for a car, you don't want the salesman to continue giving you his pitch once you've made your decision.  Then imagine how pissed you'd be if you were told they didn't have anymore of the model you wanted in inventory and you'd have to start over.

Joined: 07/02/2009

MGoPoints: 24841