Steve Wiltfong criticizes Michigan FB recruiting
From Allen Trieu's podcast Notorious B1G also transcribed on the 247 board.
“They haven’t filled (Patridge's) role, and we’ll see who they fill it with because Michigan is one of those schools where assistant coach recruiters are incredibly important because they don’t recruit in the same traditional way that almost every other program that we cover does,” Wiltfong said. “There’s not recruiting meetings. There’s just a lot on the assistant coaches’ plates to go out in their territories or in their position rooms and find guys they think are good enough to help Michigan win championships.
“Chris Partridge was a guy that wasn’t afraid to go into SEC country with his winged helmet logo on his golf shirt and go toe-to-toe for big-time guys and try to get them to come to Michigan. He had some big wins. He also had some close losses. I mean, Willie Gay was a guy who had Michigan in his top two. Otis Reese is a guy who had Michigan in his top two. He really got after it and worked.”
In general, Wiltfong didn’t feel like the Wolverines were recruiting at a championship level with Partridge. He felt Ohio State and Penn State made it more of a priority, so losing Partridge could only widen that gap.
“I just don’t think, collectively, this staff is recruiting at a level to win a national championship across the board,” Wiltfong said. “It’s a blow losing a guy in Partridge, who I feel like is one of your best recruiters when the emphasis on recruiting at Michigan isn’t the same as it is at Ohio State and Penn State right now. We’re starting to see it on the field.”
January 8th, 2020 at 7:22 PM ^
Michigan has never been a football powerhouse. Sorry, but they haven't.
January 8th, 2020 at 8:17 PM ^
Wut?
January 9th, 2020 at 9:40 AM ^
This is entirely unreasonable. You must be familiar only with the last decade of UM football. Besides the success of the years under Yost and Crisler (which I'll temporarliy put aside to appease the "that's too long ago" crowd), Bo's record is one of the greatest and most nationally relevant in coaching history.
Bo Schembechler coached for 20 years:
13 Big Ten titles
.802 winning percentage
16 times finished ranked in the top 10 AP and Coaches polls
11 seasons with 10 or more wins, with no losing years
Regularly defeated nationally ranked teams
Etc.
If you're willing, go back and look at Yost's and Crisler's records and see similar results. Add it all up and you have a powerhouse for most of our history.
Sheesh
January 8th, 2020 at 7:42 PM ^
So, youre saying that youre into moral victories?
Because who cares what michigan lost by and what psu lost by?
They both lost!
January 9th, 2020 at 2:28 AM ^
Ohio State doesn't spend 365 days a year preparing to play Penn State, they don't know every players bio like they're some soviet agent. They don't practice plays every single day to beat James Franklin. They don't say Fuck Penn State. The color blue isn't banned from the OSU football building because of Penn State.
We aren't Penn State we are much much bigger for them and Ohio State knows that.
January 9th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
Part of that is OSU still adds a little gas to UM games.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:07 PM ^
Michigan recruits at the level it always has. Michigan will never be like OSU or Clemson because the program is always secondary to academics,
Football defines OSU and Southern schools. It doesn’t define Michigan.
If Harbaugh leaves the results will remain the same. There is no alternative that is going to transform UM into a superpower because Michigan football is never going to operate like OSU or SEC schools.
Harbaugh will be replaced by a similar coach. A guy who plays by the rules, who understands the programs role(PR tool), and who wins enough to keep bringing in money.
Michigan hasn’t been a true national power since the Truman administration. That isn’t accidental.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:23 PM ^
Lol at saying Michigan puts academics first. It’s a horseshit excuse
January 8th, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
Exactly. It's like none of these guys have lived in South Quad. Maybe the walk ons actually go to class but you'd have to be delusional to think academics actually matter to a vast majority of the team. Take any bullshit history 101 class and you'll see half the football team enrolled and only attend class when the team managers roll about to check in on them. Hell, I remember living next to a few players who had their desks taken away from their rooms to fit larger beds.
These players are not even close to attending the same classes as a regular student at Michigan. About half of them are 'undecided' or 'general studies' which might as well be a 'football player' degree. Even those with legit pursuits basically have tutors and instructors who hand hold them through school.
Don't delude yourself into thinking Michigan's academic reputation extends to the football team. If Michigan's academic rigors were applied to the team, half of them would be kicked out of school tomorrow.
January 8th, 2020 at 9:07 PM ^
Denard went to class. Courtney Avery went to class. Jabreel Black went to class. Drew Dileo went to class. I had classes with all of them and they were in class every time it met.
January 8th, 2020 at 9:26 PM ^
I was a GSI for two football players during the Rich Rod era. They were B students who never missed class.
January 8th, 2020 at 11:57 PM ^
That's fine. But the fact is, Jourdan Lewis wasnt allowed to take his preferred major because it interfered with football. So its accurate to say Michigan absolutely puts football before academics. Doesn't mean academics don't play a role, but lets be honest.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:48 PM ^
What percentage of athletes would get in on academic merit? Why are so many football players general studies majors with such an academic emphasis? Why did Jourdan Lewis say he wasn't allowed to major in his preferred major because it interfered with his football?
Hoke was able to recruit with the same limitations, as was Wheatley, Partridge, and Moore. OSU emphasizes recruiting, UM doesn't. Everyone on OSUs staff is a recruiting ace outside of coordinators. While Harbaugh hires family, friends and NFL retreads (And before everyone says Jay can recruit because of 1 4 star, he has never been higher than 20 in the B1G for recruiting).
January 8th, 2020 at 8:16 PM ^
Michigan basketball deals with the same academic restructions and can recruit one of the top classes in the country. The problem lies in the coaches not emphasizing recruiting.
January 8th, 2020 at 9:26 PM ^
Wiltfong is basically saying OSU recruits better because they treat it as a top priority. Michigan, under Harbaugh, doesn’t. Maybe if Harbaugh emphasized recruiting as much as OSU does, we would be a hell of a lot more competitive on the recruiting trail and on the field.
This can actually be seen as good news, because it can be fixed. Bagmen, reputation, and academics are not the problem, it’s basically effort. Try harder, win more.
January 8th, 2020 at 9:40 PM ^
Sal, so your argument is that Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh and paid him top 3 money knowingly that he was going to give them the results he has? That is what you are putting forward?
That is the stupidest argument I have ever heard. Jim Harbaugh was hired to beat OSU, win B10 titles, and get us a shot at the Playoffs. He was absolutely not hired to win 8-10 close to meaningless games (minus Sparty), go 0-5 with two historic ass kickings to OSU, lose 4 straight Bowl games, etc.
January 8th, 2020 at 10:48 PM ^
That argument doesn't even make logical sense, as the players signed haven't even remained the same from when Harbaugh got here to now. We landed multiple top 100 and even top ten players in 2016 and 2017. We had zero in 2018 and one for 2020.
January 8th, 2020 at 11:50 PM ^
15 years ago no one thought Clemson had some kind of secret advantage over us. Now suddenly they're winning just because they stopped caring about academics? When have they ever cared about academics? They're better than us because their coaches are smarter than ours and they found a way to win in order to recruit at a very high level. They also managed to do it at a far less prestigious program than Michigan. Blaming it on academics is such a pathetic excuse.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:09 PM ^
Here’s the thing: all he’s saying is they don’t operate the same way others do. There are perhaps other reasons for that, like JH’s previous college experience being at private schools and ones where there was a higher emphasis on academics. As to the other stuff, it’s almost a testament to their ability as recruiters/strength of the brand that their classes are are at the level they’re at, if all this is supposed to be this big of a problem.
January 8th, 2020 at 9:46 PM ^
If this is the case, then let the AD come out and make a statement to Michigan season ticket holders and fans. If the AD is committed to "playing the right way" and "not competing with other schools" and they are 100% satisfied with how things are and they aren't going to change let all of us know. I won't send them another dime.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^
if you complain harder and more repetitively, the coaches will change their ways. we know they don't care about winning; our tears are the only solution.
also, great news update about our record versus OSU. who knew!
January 8th, 2020 at 7:25 PM ^
When will this fan base demand more
What exactly is "demanding more" going to accomplish?
January 8th, 2020 at 7:37 PM ^
for every tearful reiteration of the same point, on a michigan sports fan blog, our football team adds one five-star recruit. this is god's work!
January 8th, 2020 at 7:29 PM ^
Yeah...pretty much all of this. Really overall nails it.
There’s a huge chunk of the fan base who just fall back on “The Victors”, the Bo clip of “the team, the team, the team”, and think that’s going to turn things around. Truth is things seem disorganized, recruiting and the program has lost the new Harbaugh hire juice, and just becoming the Iowa of the East but with a more disillusioned fan base who thinks “well next year will be the year to do it!“
Harbaugh has shown the ability to adapt in the past with Drevno, and changing offensive philosophy. Now he needs to show he can do that again by really setting up more serious recruiting like he did when he first got here.
January 8th, 2020 at 8:01 PM ^
Comments your making you must be inside the football program to know who recruits and who doesn’t. What is said or not said in meetings.
it’s tough to recruit against OSU because it’s not a level playing field. UM does care about school and kids getting an education. We’re not paying them to come here. We don’t just tell them what they want to hear to get them at UM. Until fans understand that and enjoy the success we have with odds stacked against us they will just continue to bitch we are out recruited and beaten by OSU every year
January 8th, 2020 at 9:46 PM ^
Not this disillusioned bullshit again. Kevin, repeating this tired old bit makes you part of the problem. Stop it. If Juwan Howard, Carol Hutchins, Erik Bakich, Mel Pearson, and all the other coaches at UM can recruit at an elite level so too can Harbaugh. The odds aren't stacked against us (we're literally the 2nd richest AD in the country with world class facilities at a world class school with a great fan and alumni base and an outstanding football tradition, that's more than 99.99 % schools can offer). The academic standards are not higher (I mean jesus christ Marquis Slocum was admitted here). UM regularly outrecruited OSU in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's. Get off your moral high horse because it's doing no one any good except Harbaugh who I'm sure appreciates you giving him cover for his 0-5 record against OSU.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
Get off your bullshit horse and look at what’s really happening in college sports. They have changed a ton since the good old 80 s and 90 s and if you can’t see that then you are part of the problem. I look at the world for what it really is and money in the AD department doesn’t equate to money in players pockets.
its stupid posts like yours that make the fan base think there is a problem with JH and his recruiting. Do you honestly think he doesn’t try to get top recruits. Do you understand why they choose OSU Alabama and the likes? If so you would get off your high horse and realize the playing field isn’t level. If we want to break NCAA rules and offer online courses and bullshit classes for athletes and basically turn our heads when they don’t go to class then the playing field would level out and we would compete. I am a realist and understand why there is a gap in programs and would rather UM keep it clean then become OSU or an SEC program. If you don’t understand that’s fine keep bitching from the cheap seats but don’t attack someone who understands the issues
January 8th, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
Wiltfong said it and Trieu confirmed it? Take it to the bank. Take it to the bank.
January 8th, 2020 at 11:56 PM ^
Signed in just to upvote. Great post. Wholeheartedly agree. Following another Harbaugh defeat, we see 10 positive posts about how "Harbaugh haters" should consider this and that and how next year will be different. Blah blah blah. Supporting shit results has been the prevailing sentiment since I have been reading commenters on this blog and it dates back to 2003-2004. I had an account deleted by a Mod ("Mom" - maybe BiSB) a couple years into the Hoke-Borges debacle for being prematurely negative about how terrible they both were.
Dear Mom's. I am Pranta. I was the original pygmy marmoset. Re-activate my account so I can prove that all my early posts about Hoke & Borges turned out to be correct even though I had people like Mr. Rogers (avatar) telling me what a miserable person I was for being down on Hoke & Borges. It is for that reason that this Board is so painful to read often times.
January 9th, 2020 at 7:16 AM ^
yep.
January 9th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
If UM is married to Jim, they need to extend him NOW. Now way will he land good classes with only two years left on his contract. No kid/parent wants to commit their future to a dead-man-walking.
Then again, apparently UM is braindead on recruiting, so they’ll probably not do anything about the contract for two years and then make more excuses when the next two classes blow.
January 9th, 2020 at 10:34 AM ^
This is one of the more articulate and rational anti-Harbaugh takes. Pretty convincing.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:04 AM ^
bless you sir, we are in purgatory and some of us will never witness another big ten championship in football in our lifetime
January 9th, 2020 at 5:07 PM ^
Section1 nailed it. Just drop the mic homey!! This is one of the best comments I’ve ever read on this board.
Go Blue!!
January 9th, 2020 at 1:02 PM ^
I care because he's correct. Anyone who denies that recruiting at an elite level wins championships is delusional.
It's discouraging to hear that we do not have a formalized process that works in recruiting. Until we get our shit together, we will win 8-10 games a season and continually lose close games.
Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, OSU, LSU continually have top 5 classes. Not just 1 every 5 years. That is the level Michigan needs to recruit at. Every. Single. Year.
January 8th, 2020 at 6:46 PM ^
Wasn't this covered?
January 8th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
Yes. Section1, I mean Maizen, already happily brought this up.
January 8th, 2020 at 8:50 PM ^
I mean sure it was discussed and OP even commented on it in the other thread but you don’t get as many sweet MgoPoints unless you create a new thread.
January 8th, 2020 at 6:54 PM ^
It is pretty telling when one of the foremost insiders of the recruiting world thinks your program is shit at recruiting.
There’s no reason to believe that Wiltfong is biased against Michigan, or any program in the country.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:07 PM ^
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with Maizens hot take that this is a concern. But he’s still annoying. Especially when trying to pretend he’s a long time reader who after 10 years just decided to bitch about recruiting every day.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:49 PM ^
it also just fucking sucks to read the same whinge over and over as if it's new or making any difference to anyone.
January 8th, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^
Agree. Internet trolls are a weird bunch. If he isn’t a troll he must live in a really strange place where he actually believes people want to hear him bitch about the same thing over and over or that his bitching about it constantly will help improve recruiting in any way whatsoever.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
But they aren’t shit at recruiting. Data shows that they aren’t.
Wiltfong has never coached or recruited in college. All he has ever been is a writer. He hasn’t the slightest clue about how to run a football program.
This is the “expert” people are citing. Utterly laughable.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:27 PM ^
He knows how every football recruiting program in the country operates. There probably isn’t a better person in the country to make that analysis
January 8th, 2020 at 10:35 PM ^
I can't see any reason either why Steve Wltfong would be biased against Michigan, or any school.
Claiming bias against Michigan is a fall back position, which has become to be used way to often.
January 8th, 2020 at 6:57 PM ^
Basketball school.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:00 PM ^
I've already seen people scoff at the significance of this, but in my opinion coming from someone as plugged in to recruiting nationally as Wiltfong is, its incredibly damning. It seems like other schools have a plan, and recruit to their system, where MI seems to accept commitments from any good player who checks the boxes of MI requirments (academics, character, good family, good athlete), rather than going all out for their top target like they did with Bush, or getting guys to develop in their system like WI and Iowa do for example. Even more worrisome to me is it seems like our high level recruits either leave before they fully develop (draft, or transfer), or just never reach their full potential under the current staff. Neg away if you must, but looking back to how the program was under Carr it seems our teams were the perfect blend of gritty blue collar guys that developed in the WI/Iowa type of way, and blue chip types like Woodson/Henne/Manningham etc.
January 8th, 2020 at 7:52 PM ^
Thats a great opinion.
But did you not read the article or the blockquotes from it?
Nothing that you said after the initial sentence is contained there.
There is plenty to discuss or expand upon within the passage without going all feelings ball on word 12..
January 8th, 2020 at 8:22 PM ^
Awww don't hurt my feelings
January 9th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
Except in the late Carr years he was already owned by Tressel, and Meyer would have wiped the floor with Carr, sorry to say. Sure, Michigan could do better, but OSU wasn't like this in the Carr days, even under Tressel.