Comments on: Cheating at Michigan? http://www.jordoncooper.com/2009/08/30/cheating-at-michigan/ A weblog about urbanism, technology, & culture. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:54:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Phil Hull http://www.jordoncooper.com/2009/08/30/cheating-at-michigan/comment-page-1/#comment-8245 Phil Hull Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:43:02 +0000 http://www.jordoncooper.com/2009/08/30/cheating-at-michigan/#comment-8245 I feel I must defend my beloved Wolverines against the blatant hatchet job by Michael Rosenberg and the Detroit Free Press. The article that alleged all of these supposed violations was written by a columnist with a history of bias against Rich Rodriguez. He has been vocal from before Rodriguez was hired that he did not want him to be the coach and has been on a mission to get Rodriguez fired ever since. The article was based on public quotes blatantly taken out of context and several anonymous quotes that have been directly refuted by current players and the University of Michigan athletic compliance office. Rosenberg also displays a shocking lack of understanding when it comes to the word voluntary. While I don't doubt that there are questionable practices by the Wolverines, but I doubt they are anywhere near the level that has been alleged. There has been some great coverage on the allegations, I'm including links. http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=982287 http://www.maizenbrew.com/2009/8/31/1008867/practicegate-allegations-agendas I feel I must defend my beloved Wolverines against the blatant hatchet job by Michael Rosenberg and the Detroit Free Press. The article that alleged all of these supposed violations was written by a columnist with a history of bias against Rich Rodriguez. He has been vocal from before Rodriguez was hired that he did not want him to be the coach and has been on a mission to get Rodriguez fired ever since.
The article was based on public quotes blatantly taken out of context and several anonymous quotes that have been directly refuted by current players and the University of Michigan athletic compliance office. Rosenberg also displays a shocking lack of understanding when it comes to the word voluntary.
While I don’t doubt that there are questionable practices by the Wolverines, but I doubt they are anywhere near the level that has been alleged. There has been some great coverage on the allegations, I’m including links.

http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=982287
http://www.maizenbrew.com/2009/8/31/1008867/practicegate-allegations-agendas

]]> By: caedmon http://www.jordoncooper.com/2009/08/30/cheating-at-michigan/comment-page-1/#comment-8242 caedmon Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:34:48 +0000 http://www.jordoncooper.com/2009/08/30/cheating-at-michigan/#comment-8242 It's not just the big schools and it's not just football. I was a basketball manager for a smaller I-A school in the mid-90's. We made the NCAA one year by virtue of winning our conference - one that's rarely mentioned on ESPN - not because we were a top-quality team. And yet, we still pushed every rule. We, too, had "voluntary" practices and weight-training in the off season. The coaches weren't allowed to be there. So, I would meet with the coaches during lunch, then run a practice session in the afternoon that was allegedly open to anyone who showed up. Truth was, if you weren't on the team (or a serious possibility), you knew better than to drop in and coaches got reports on who was showing up and taking it seriously. This is only one example of ways we stuck to the letter of the rule while completely ignoring the intent. It wasn't even about the money or business at our school. It was simply the "need" to think of ourselves as competitive. Winning is everything and integrity is expendable in the process. It's a direct result of fallen humanity - we have a need to prove ourselves better than someone else and will do whatever it takes to procure security through affirmation. It’s not just the big schools and it’s not just football.

I was a basketball manager for a smaller I-A school in the mid-90′s. We made the NCAA one year by virtue of winning our conference – one that’s rarely mentioned on ESPN – not because we were a top-quality team. And yet, we still pushed every rule.

We, too, had “voluntary” practices and weight-training in the off season. The coaches weren’t allowed to be there. So, I would meet with the coaches during lunch, then run a practice session in the afternoon that was allegedly open to anyone who showed up. Truth was, if you weren’t on the team (or a serious possibility), you knew better than to drop in and coaches got reports on who was showing up and taking it seriously. This is only one example of ways we stuck to the letter of the rule while completely ignoring the intent.

It wasn’t even about the money or business at our school. It was simply the “need” to think of ourselves as competitive. Winning is everything and integrity is expendable in the process. It’s a direct result of fallen humanity – we have a need to prove ourselves better than someone else and will do whatever it takes to procure security through affirmation.

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