bigtencoaches

New Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez reportedly has spoken to several recruits who have made oral commitments to other Big Ten programs. Without mentioning each other by name, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and Rodriguez have fired broadsides at each other, with Tressel complaining that coaches should lay off athletes who have indicated where they want to go and Rodriguez saying he’ll continue to recruit players until they actually sign a letter of intent. Tressel restated how Ohio State handles such a situation. “If a guy is not interested in coming to Ohio State, and he says that, we’ve got to move on,” he said. Tressel said he and Rodriguez have “no beefs at all.”

This is exactly what I had beef about after this past signing day. It is not so much that a few recruits are being taken away by Rich Rod, but he is setting a whole new precedent that wasn’t prevelant in the Big Ten prior to his arrival. Mgoblog will probably list another book of recruits that have been stolen from one another by Big Ten coaches, but are they done at the rate Rich Rod is going? You have to be honest and say that Rich Rod is honestly bringing in the SEC recruiting mentality into the Big Ten.

Stealing recruits from your fellow brethren is like shitting where you sleep. You are not only going to be playing with one another, but there are galas, conferences, conventions and even meetings that will thrust you among your fellow conference peers and Rich Rod has not experienced that as of now. Think he’ll be sitting side by side with Tiller, Tressel or Paterno anytime soon? At the rate he’s going, they’ll have to bring in a kid’s table just so he can sit by himself during Media Day.

His recruiting tactics either indicates that Rich Rod has no long term intentions of coaching in the Big Ten or that he is that oblivious to the wrath he will face from other coaches. Say what you want about the man, but he is not exactly the splitting image of honesty, integrity or even honor. His middle of the night escape from West Virginia is clearly indicative of that. His recruiting tactics only confirms it.

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