Michigan has brought former offensive tackle Courtney Morgan home as its new recruiting coordinator, replacing Matt Dudek. Is this the first step toward shoring up a department with more checks and balances, personnel and organization?
It needs to be.
The recruiting game has always been cutthroat, but it’s worse than ever. This isn’t a one-man job, and as our EJ Holland noted, the best of the best recruiting staffs have a wealth of tools at their disposal, from support staff to support staff for the support staff. They realize what they need to compete for top talent in this day and age, and they do it.
Simply put, Michigan really hasn’t. Matt Dudek left because he appeared to want more control over evaluations (which wasn’t going to happen). There were frustrations on both sides, though, and it was probably the right time for him to move on to Mississippi State.
They replace him with another guy in Morgan who at least tasted championship culture in Ann Arbor. As we noted when head coach Jim Harbaugh brought back Mike Hart and Ron Bellamy, we’re not about bringing back ‘Michigan Men’ for the sake of having a Michigan guy in the building. There have been others (even in this position) who played here but were lazy on the job.
We don’t know enough about Morgan to say ‘great hire,’ but we’re hopeful he’s on the Hart/Bellamy plane, and again, that he’s given enough support. It used to be that two or three guys in the building knew everything about a kid even before they brought the head coach in to close, having spoken to friends, teachers, coaches, etc. so they knew they weren’t wasting time with a kid they had no shot with, or who didn’t fit the culture.
We’d argue that the revolving door to the transfer portal is indicative of a recruiting issue, as well. As we mentioned recently, Harbaugh addressed the team after spring ball and made it clear he expected his kids to honor their commitments rather than leave at the first sign of adversity, noting they took a chance of their own when they committed to each player.
Without going into too much detail or calling individuals out, there have been too many times staffers have dropped the ball, or maybe weren’t willing to go the extra mile. Sometimes these … well, ball droppers (with a nod to our new sponsor, Manscaped. Try the ‘ball toner.’ You’ll love it.) let some things slip through the cracks. Others just couldn’t keep up with the 24/7 aspect of the job.
And let’s be clear — that’s exactly what this job entails. When some of us first started at The Wolverine in the late 1990s (1997 here — suppose there was nowhere to go but down), we’d interview coaches for an hour at a time in their offices in Schembechler Hall. There would be several pauses in between while coaches’ landlines would ring in their offices and they’d have to speak with a recruit for several minutes.
Some would ask us to leave for a minute and to shut the door behind us. Others, like Fred Jackson, didn’t care if you sat in, and you could usually tell who he was talking to. He’d even smile and nod and wink during some of his conversations, making for good off the record scuttlebutt.
Erik ‘Soup’ Campbell would be more likely to send you out with a “don’t you have to go to the bathroom or something?”
But the point is, it was different then. Eventually, everything came through the cell phones and then via text, and those phones would never stop buzzing. They’d glance down and continue to talk. It was such a well-oiled machine that our John Borton calmed the masses when one-time recruiting coordinator Bob Chmiel left for a similar position at Notre Dame with a first-page column referring to the recruiting coordinator as the ‘flower arranger.’
It was up to the coaches to deliver the guys in their area, J.B. noted, and while some were obviously better than others, all of Carr’s guys were good.
The column didn’t sit well with Chmiel, and he called The Wolverine offices to let us. But back then, especially, J.B. was right. Today … not so much. There used to be a time when you could find hidden gems, maybe get a tip and develop relationships with kids on the down low. Social media has changed all that, and it’s much more than a one-man job to keep up with the Joneses.
In this day and age, especially, you need every legal advantage you can get, too, to keep up with the Jesse James gangs and the like. Just as the staff should be planning on being pioneers when Name, Image and Likeness laws are passed allowing players to get paid (it’s inevitable), they should also spend money to have one of the top recruiting offices in the country. They have more than enough resources.
So welcome, Courtney Morgan. We have high hopes. It’s now up to Warde Manuel, etc. to put him in position to succeed and give him everything he needs to step the operation up a notch. Given that recruiting is the lifeblood of any operation, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that the future of the program could depend on it.
It needs to be.
The recruiting game has always been cutthroat, but it’s worse than ever. This isn’t a one-man job, and as our EJ Holland noted, the best of the best recruiting staffs have a wealth of tools at their disposal, from support staff to support staff for the support staff. They realize what they need to compete for top talent in this day and age, and they do it.
Simply put, Michigan really hasn’t. Matt Dudek left because he appeared to want more control over evaluations (which wasn’t going to happen). There were frustrations on both sides, though, and it was probably the right time for him to move on to Mississippi State.
They replace him with another guy in Morgan who at least tasted championship culture in Ann Arbor. As we noted when head coach Jim Harbaugh brought back Mike Hart and Ron Bellamy, we’re not about bringing back ‘Michigan Men’ for the sake of having a Michigan guy in the building. There have been others (even in this position) who played here but were lazy on the job.
We don’t know enough about Morgan to say ‘great hire,’ but we’re hopeful he’s on the Hart/Bellamy plane, and again, that he’s given enough support. It used to be that two or three guys in the building knew everything about a kid even before they brought the head coach in to close, having spoken to friends, teachers, coaches, etc. so they knew they weren’t wasting time with a kid they had no shot with, or who didn’t fit the culture.
We’d argue that the revolving door to the transfer portal is indicative of a recruiting issue, as well. As we mentioned recently, Harbaugh addressed the team after spring ball and made it clear he expected his kids to honor their commitments rather than leave at the first sign of adversity, noting they took a chance of their own when they committed to each player.
Without going into too much detail or calling individuals out, there have been too many times staffers have dropped the ball, or maybe weren’t willing to go the extra mile. Sometimes these … well, ball droppers (with a nod to our new sponsor, Manscaped. Try the ‘ball toner.’ You’ll love it.) let some things slip through the cracks. Others just couldn’t keep up with the 24/7 aspect of the job.
And let’s be clear — that’s exactly what this job entails. When some of us first started at The Wolverine in the late 1990s (1997 here — suppose there was nowhere to go but down), we’d interview coaches for an hour at a time in their offices in Schembechler Hall. There would be several pauses in between while coaches’ landlines would ring in their offices and they’d have to speak with a recruit for several minutes.
Some would ask us to leave for a minute and to shut the door behind us. Others, like Fred Jackson, didn’t care if you sat in, and you could usually tell who he was talking to. He’d even smile and nod and wink during some of his conversations, making for good off the record scuttlebutt.
Erik ‘Soup’ Campbell would be more likely to send you out with a “don’t you have to go to the bathroom or something?”
But the point is, it was different then. Eventually, everything came through the cell phones and then via text, and those phones would never stop buzzing. They’d glance down and continue to talk. It was such a well-oiled machine that our John Borton calmed the masses when one-time recruiting coordinator Bob Chmiel left for a similar position at Notre Dame with a first-page column referring to the recruiting coordinator as the ‘flower arranger.’
It was up to the coaches to deliver the guys in their area, J.B. noted, and while some were obviously better than others, all of Carr’s guys were good.
The column didn’t sit well with Chmiel, and he called The Wolverine offices to let us. But back then, especially, J.B. was right. Today … not so much. There used to be a time when you could find hidden gems, maybe get a tip and develop relationships with kids on the down low. Social media has changed all that, and it’s much more than a one-man job to keep up with the Joneses.
In this day and age, especially, you need every legal advantage you can get, too, to keep up with the Jesse James gangs and the like. Just as the staff should be planning on being pioneers when Name, Image and Likeness laws are passed allowing players to get paid (it’s inevitable), they should also spend money to have one of the top recruiting offices in the country. They have more than enough resources.
So welcome, Courtney Morgan. We have high hopes. It’s now up to Warde Manuel, etc. to put him in position to succeed and give him everything he needs to step the operation up a notch. Given that recruiting is the lifeblood of any operation, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that the future of the program could depend on it.
