NCAA Football

Tiller: Rodriguez a 'Wizard-Hat Wearing Snake Oil Salesman'

Posted Feb 07, 2008 12:08AM By Brian Cook (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Michigan Football, NCAA FB Recruiting, Purdue Football

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Aaarrarraaarahaa. Oatmeal!

Michigan had a commando raid of a Signing Day, picking off recruits from Florida (OL Ricky Barnum), Penn State (RB Michael Shaw) and Purdue (WR Roy Roundree). No doubt someone somewhere will mutter darkly about how Bo wouldn't stand for this sort of thing, but this is just part of the game these days.

Michigan's victims know it. Penn State's impressive 2006 class had something like 7 decommits in it, and Urban Meyer is well-known for recruiting anything that isn't nailed down by a LOI.

Purdue? Well, Purdue ain't happy:
"If we had an early signing date, you wouldn't have another outfit with a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil get a guy at the last minute, but that's what happened," Tiller said.
Evocative imagery from the Big Ten's most crotchety coach, but Tiller wants to take away Roy Roundtree's ability to make a decision he wants to make. If Roundtree wanted to play for Purdue, he would.

More Tiller:
"On the other side of the coin, maybe the guy did you a favor. It makes you wonder about the guy, the people surrounding him, the people in that building who would let that happen. I can say this: We won't go back in that building again and we won't be the only institution not to."
Alllllll right! Way to publicly knock the character of a guy who got an offer from Michigan he did not expect and decided to take it. What is wrong with these people and their obviously logical decision-making processes? "That building" is Trotwood-Madison High, which has been loaded with talent the last few years. Tiller's retiring after one more spin around the conference, so that threat won't have long term implications, but hopefully the Rams have long memories.
An early signing period would be nice for coaches, but not for most recruits. A friend of mine has a logical suggestion: implement an early signing period, but make the "signing" non-binding. Coaches other than the school the kid committed to are not allowed to contact or host the recruit, but the recruit can ask the NCAA to withdraw the letter at any time until the February date.

At least then Tiller would know he wasn't getting the best player in his recruiting class.

Tags: joe+tiller, JoeTiller

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