Coach Rodriguez responded (again) to the accusations that he violated the unspoken gentleman’s agreement between Big Ten coaches. Jim Tressel fanned the smoldering coals the bit last week by basically saying the Big 10 is composed of 10 gentleman and Rodriguez.
From the Free Press today, Coach Rich Rodriguez appeared on Doug Karsch’s ‘Michigan Sports Weekly’ 97.1FM/1270AM yesterday:
“Huh … well, maybe I’m not a gentleman,” Rodriguez said. “I never heard of that (gentlemen’s agreement). In that regard, I would be guilty as charged. I know as soon as I took the job, there was a commitment to the University of Michigan who changed his commit and went to another Big Ten school. I didn’t blame the coach for doing that. Until the guy signs, he’s out there, particularly if he visits.
“If the young man is committed to your school, yet he’s still visiting other schools, he’s not truly committed; he’s just very, very interested. You have to understand the difference in that. I’ve been doing this a long time, (and) I never heard of such a thing. I don’t get caught up in all the he said, she said. One thing I’ve had to learn to develop, thick skin over the years as head coach. I’m proud of the way we recruit. We certainly aren’t going to break any NCAA rules when we recruit. As far as a gentlemen’s agreement, I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Here’s the full audio of the interview:
3 Comments
BiggieMunn
This is great offseason fodder….keep it coming.
Chris
I just don’t get it. After RR was hired, Iowa recruited Weinke. After Carr’s retirement announcement, it is well known that Dantonio contacted several Michigan recruits and Zook was going after Cissoko. In addition, in a bit of hypocrisy, TresseLL himself tried to recruit an O-lineman who was committed to Michigan. So I guess you can add TresseLL, Dantonio, Zook and Ferentz to the list of heathens. Probably not too suprising coming from TresseLL and the Zooker. My only thought on this is that the other coaches in the BT are scared of RR and are trying to discredit him as best they can.
Mark
The main reason people come after RipRod is because of the team he coaches for. No one is gonna go after Zook or Dantonio because they coach for a team that plays in a Soviet Russia era stadium and little brother, respectively. But I doubt this will ever affect recruiting. Are high school kids gonna get turned off because a guy has a reputation for fighting for the kids he wants?