Recruiting is about effort not bagmen
There has been a number of comments on this blog about how we simply cant compete with Ohio State because they use bagmen and have lower academic standards etc. However, the real problem IMO is a lack of effort on the part of the coaching staff. We had little trouble bringing in recruits in 2016 and 2017 where we got a combined 12 top 100 players and 3 5 stars ans presumably weren't using the bag. We dont have a single DT committed in 2020 and at a place like Michigan you should at least be able to find a 3.5 star player with massive potential for playing time.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
you know what actually is a matter of effort, though?
posting
December 4th, 2019 at 10:19 PM ^
Queue the NEGBANG!!!
December 4th, 2019 at 10:23 PM ^
i'm cue with that
December 5th, 2019 at 9:50 AM ^
When effort is even, the team with the biggest bag of money wins
December 4th, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
Yep, Alabama and OSU are the only schools whose coaches give effort recruiting. Makes sense -- especially since half of OSU's defensive coaching staff was on Michigan's coaching staff last year
December 5th, 2019 at 12:37 AM ^
Schiano has an interesting comment today. When asked what he learned from working under Urban he said that he previously thought he worked hard at recruiting but found out it wasn’t even close to what Urban required. When you hear what they are expected to do every day it’s unimaginable. Personally texting dozens and dozens of recruits every day, the calls, the travel. Bye weeks are the worst. More expected, multiple flights to see recruits play Friday night games etc. I’m not saying others don’t work as hard, but nobody can claim the life of a coach, even a rich one, is easy.
December 5th, 2019 at 1:13 AM ^
If you told me that since the year 2000 or so, that Ohio has given more effort and focus on recruiting than Michigan, I would absolutely believe you
December 5th, 2019 at 7:08 AM ^
Let’s be honest, they just want it more.
?
December 5th, 2019 at 5:08 AM ^
I truly believe that is one of the reasons Jim has gotten younger with each new hire. You have to have energy and you have to be able to relate. 21 is looking good, and the ground work is there for 22.
December 5th, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
I don't doubt what you say but I do doubt that is the whole story - aka $.
December 5th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
Why do you think we can get better players/recruits than schools like Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, etc?
December 5th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
Because we have better facilities, a better brand, a bigger fanbase and are more relevant.
December 6th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
And a better chance to get to the NFL, which is the goal of most college players when they choose a school.
December 5th, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
Hugh Freeze worked really hard for a couple of years. That's how he brought in those 5 stars that Ole Miss had never seen before or since.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:18 PM ^
December 4th, 2019 at 10:18 PM ^
The new coach shine is off Harbaugh and he hasn't won anything noteworthy. It's not just effort, it's a lack of results.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:27 PM ^
Yep. Everyone thought we would have been in the playoffs and beating OSU by now.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:59 PM ^
Exactly! When we hired Harbaugh, we were all like....
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Now after 5 years and no wins against THEEEEEE ohio, with the average loss being by 19 points, no B1G nor division titles, and no CFP appearances, at least I am like....
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December 5th, 2019 at 1:35 AM ^
I like Harbaugh. Yet this post is still awesome. +1 :)
December 5th, 2019 at 7:26 AM ^
That is why the 2016 screw job by those Ohio fanboi officials was such a huge impact game.
If those corrupt officials don't screw UM out of the victory they earned, Harbaugh and UM would have beaten OSU in Harbaugh's second season and, likely, won the Big Ten championship while securing a spot in the CFP. UM's recruiting probably would have gone through the roof for at least two seasons after that.
That one game, decided by cheating officials, dramatically changed the course of UM's program under Harbaugh.
December 5th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Um..... also decided by turnovers, dropped balls, and giving up big runs on 3rd and long. But continue to tell me it was the refs.
December 5th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
Congratulations! You are the 100,000th person to make this stupid fucking comment.
Just because we made mistakes doesn't mean the refs can't impact the game. We would've won despite our mistakes if it weren't for the shitty refs. Ohio State made some mistakes. Why do they only have 5 penalty yards, or whatever the fuck?
December 5th, 2019 at 9:11 PM ^
Congratulations! You're the 100,000th moron to blame the refs! Take care of your own business and the refs won't determine a game. You're probably that whiny asshole calling foul every time you brick a layup at village Y.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:47 PM ^
You can't go home again, Jim.
I feel for the guy. It must be agonizing to get your dream job and then watch it all crumble.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:55 PM ^
Good lord dude. “Watch it all crumble” fuck outta here. It’s the best we’ve been in a long time. Accept it.
December 5th, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
Sigh...yet another loser who thinks being better than the WORST decade of Michigan football in the modern era is somehow a major accomplishment. Harbaugh was brought here for far better than that and he has failed.
December 5th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
If we win our bowl game - Harbaugh will end the season with an overall winning percentage of 0.750 - Lloyd Carr was 0.753 over his career and Moeller was 0.758 during his short tenure. So really, you have to go back about 30 years to find a coach (Bo) who was demonstrably better overall than Harbaugh.
December 5th, 2019 at 5:35 AM ^
Crumble? I have been critical of Harbaugh at times, but I also give him credit for reinventing the offense. Likely soon, defense will have a new look. Michigan has not crumbled. Yes, OSU is the measuring stick and Michigan has not measured up. But I am convinced that will change and the tide will turn. There was a time OSU felt same way about Michigan, where Michigan won like 12 of 15 years. If Harbaugh is so bad, there is probably 15 NFL teams that would line up for him and every CFB vacancy would love to have him and many vacancies would be made for him.
I will NEVER for get what the program went through for 8-10 years. The decline started before RR. Hoke didn't have it him to build it. Harbaugh took the Michigan football from the ashes and built something that we as fans can be proud of.
December 5th, 2019 at 6:40 AM ^
He has, what, the 7th best record in CFB since he arrived? If that's crumbling, 95% of programs are doing likewise.
December 5th, 2019 at 7:06 AM ^
Top 10 program since Harbaugh arrived in 2015. GTFO with that 'watch it all crumble' nonsense. FFS this fan base is insufferable. Personally, I'm very excited looking forward to 2020. Should be another fun year in football. Keep the coaching staff in-tact and watch out.
December 5th, 2019 at 7:12 AM ^
This is true, between the refs who for some strange reason decided to smack us back down into our place in 2016, and the Jim Harbaugh recruiting rules that similarly smacked us back North, the wins were contained enough to take the shine off in the talent gap year.
They just had to contain his initial surge to protect the status quo.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:19 PM ^
It’s about all of the coaches not pulling their weight. Someone needs to tell Brown he’s not coaching in the ACC - undersized DL does not work in the Big 10.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:19 PM ^
Basically, irrevocably, systematically and fundamentally WRONG!
December 4th, 2019 at 10:22 PM ^
L O L
O O
L O L
December 4th, 2019 at 10:31 PM ^
Best comment
December 4th, 2019 at 10:22 PM ^
So when we have a commitment and the recruit flips to Georgia... or Alabama....
December 4th, 2019 at 11:07 PM ^
What about a commit that flips to Alabama, everyone trashes him and blames bagmen, then flips back like Dax Hill?
December 4th, 2019 at 11:34 PM ^
Why does this get downvoted? It's one player out of thousands, but given Dax's status and the presence of Alabama, it's an interesting data point.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:49 PM ^
Dax is the rare 5-star who wants to play school. There aren't enough of those for U-M to compete with the football factories.
December 5th, 2019 at 1:19 AM ^
But it's also proof that we can compete with big boys. DPJ was recruited HARD by Ohio, we got him. Rashan Gary was recruited to the end by Clemson, we got him. Zach Harrison was THIS CLOSE to commiting to us, before Urban retired. Dax went to Alabama and came back. Aubrey Soloman commited to Georgia, and came back. Nico freakin Collins was pursued to the moon and back by Alabama, but came here.
We can recruit the elite guys. Now it's a matter of having 30-40 high 4/5 star players on the roster instead of 10-20. That's the difference between us and Ohio/Clemson/Bama/Georgia/etc.
Obviously it's easier when you have conference titles and big wins over prominent programs like our rival, but you also need to win before you get those recruits. Clemson didn't recruit like they do now until it was clear they were trending towards an elite level. Harbaugh needs a BIG victory, then the chips will fall where we want.
December 5th, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
It's a classic chicken-egg problem, with the added layer that the more you lay an egg in big games (no pun intended), the harder it gets to recruit elite players.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:22 PM ^
Not sure that is correct for the top 50 players. I think it is a bidding war ... ca$h, guarantee play time, CFP likelihood ... Mom likes the coach. That basic equation for the elite players. Academics and alumni network typically means fucking nothing to a potential first round draft choice. Let's get real.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:08 PM ^
I'm sure Rashan Gary turned down Clemson money to come play here for free.
December 5th, 2019 at 12:34 AM ^
It's easy to say, "Everybody is cheating," but the reality is there is no evidence for Michigan using bagmen while there is lots of evidence for many other schools. So when there is evidence that Michigan is using bagmen, then go ahead and say this. My argument that Michigan is not paying recruits is that we wouldn't have the situation where players flip to a school they never visited before on signing day to a major program that is known to pay recruits. Moreover, if everyone was paying the players, then you would have a more even distribution of 5*s. For instance, if Michigan had one player they desperately wanted, we have the money to outbid most everyone for that one player. But the reality is that we often don't get the player we most want -- say Laquon Treadwell -- when he goes to a school with less resources and then posts a picture with wads of hundreds. So don't tell me Michigan is paying recruits.
December 5th, 2019 at 1:28 AM ^
There isn't a lot of evidence other schools have bagmen either. This Chase Young situation is probably the most blatant recently. If Todd would have committed elsewhere this board would have cited that as evidence of bagmen. Alabama kids take pictures with new cars and it is evidence of bagmen but Higdon had a new car in the Amazon doc, so is that evidence?
Also, a UM booster pays for the football team to take a yearly vacation, is that not paying athletes? (btw, I am not against paying athletes, they work insanely hard and deserve what they're worth.)
December 5th, 2019 at 1:48 AM ^
Except for blatant, obvious things like this, yep, no evidence:
https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/alabama-football-players-and-their-cars.248139/
December 5th, 2019 at 1:59 AM ^
That is what I was referring to, if that is evidence of bagmen, is Higdon having a brand new car evidence?
December 5th, 2019 at 5:45 AM ^
Did Higdon drive around a new BMW all while he was a student at Michigan?
December 5th, 2019 at 5:06 AM ^
You mean 3 star higdon?
December 5th, 2019 at 3:33 AM ^
The shitty part is everyone cheats but Michigan. Maybe it’s because Harbaugh throws out a thousand offers and just wants to get the bulk of recruiting over with before the start of fall camp. Harbaugh takes first come and hopes the staff can work with these kids. He’s now realizing recruiting matters after watching Day drop a fudge dragon on him.