Harbaugh assistant tells recruit, "without football you wouldn't get into Michigan"

[Cleaves2000]

Ohhh the arrogance. Seen this on mlive. Hey kid youre too dumb to go to michigan BUT hey IF you come play ball for us.

And race. Wtf does race have to do with it. Is dumb a race?

 

[TexasExes98]

If that's what he said verbatim, then it certainly was NOT a good recruiting decision and definitely in poor taste. Now the $64,000 question is whether or not he (Mattison) said that or whether things went south and now they're trying to pull the race card.

If Mattison DOES actually say things like that he must do it intermittently as he was able to flip that kid from Nebraska that D-end Reuben Jones, so maybe this also was a Cornhusker concoction after being snubbed by Jones.

Did you start this thread because Harbaugh flipped Zack Gentry?

Not at all. Gentry revealed the main reason why he decommitted and it's b/c Texas is changing their offense once again and it doesn't suit him. There is a possibility Texas can finish with the #2 recruiting class when it's all said and done.

 

[jonvi]

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Funny thing is it should be one of the talking pts. Its just the truth. Your grades and test scores are here and average incoming student's grades and scores are here. Take advantage of the situation or get offended

This recruit is getting it all lined up. Five years after leaving UM, sue the school for not providing an education.

 

[Codaxx]

Not only did he insult the kids intelligence, but insulted his family as well. Assuming that the kid is too dumb and his parents are too poor to afford an education without football is not a smart route to go, regardless of the truth.

You might be too damn fat to run track, but if someone told you "thank god for shot put or your fat ass wouldn't be here!"....somebody is gettin punched.

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That is an ignorant reaction, why would you ever let false pride make you angry about a guy offering a top 25 eduction? It is mostly likely true. Admission facts back that up. It probably isnt a smart tactic, but speaks more to society than to this particular coach. I cant tell you how many times I have seen a kid talk about education and end up picking a school ranked outside the top 80, when teams like Cal or Stanford offered.

 

[PIBuckeye]

LMAO. Brilliant.

 

[Codaxx]

I think I would be much more likely to laugh at or find fault with the Michigan coach if the kid signed at Northeastern or Stanford.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

The truth hurts...

No seriously, I have a hard believing the father's quote. I'm guessing Mattison said something like, "your football skills give you a great opportunity to attend a University like Michigan".

All we have here is a pissed off father trying to bash Michigan for some reason and Michigan unable to respond because of NCAA rules.

Either way, enjoy Nebraska kid. I'm sure you'll do well at foot...oh wait...they hired who?...Oh...well, I'm sure you'll get a great degr....oh, Nebraska is the worst B10 school academically?....well....good luck kid.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

I didn't see the interview, I just went off what was incredulously said from an old white guy to a young black kid so I'll admit to jumping the gun on this mea culpa.

You mean to tell me there's a tape of Mattison saying verbatim what Neal is accusing him of?

No the interview was on a local radio station when Neal announced he was staying committed to Nebraska. The tone of it wasn't that it had anything to do with race.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

The truth hurts...

No seriously, I have a hard believing the father's quote. I'm guessing Mattison said something like, "your football skills give you a great opportunity to attend a University like Michigan".

All we have here is a pissed off father trying to bash Michigan for some reason and Michigan unable to respond because of NCAA rules.

Either way, enjoy Nebraska kid. I'm sure you'll do well at foot...oh wait...they hired who?...Oh...well, I'm sure you'll get a great degr....oh, Nebraska is the worst B10 school academically?....well....good luck kid.

Additionally, this is the case in almost all cases; especially at a school like Michigan. Our entire roster probably wouldn't have been accepted if they applied independently. And that's true of schools like Ohio State as well. Mattison has been regarded as one of the best recruiters out there; even before he came to Michigan. I doubt he would purposefully offend a family like that.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Ohhh the arrogance. Seen this on mlive. Hey kid youre too dumb to go to michigan BUT hey IF you come play ball for us.

And race. Wtf does race have to do with it. Is dumb a race?

I'm not sure this has to do with arrogance at all. His statement would be true at MSU. Most of your roster would not be accepted to the school without football in the mix.

 

[7Samurai13]

Additionally, this is the case in almost all cases; especially at a school like Michigan. Our entire roster probably wouldn't have been accepted if they applied independently. And that's true of schools like Ohio State as well. Mattison has been regarded as one of the best recruiters out there; even before he came to Michigan. I doubt he would purposefully offend a family like that.

Let's not act like Michigan is pushing out college grads through the business or engineering schools. They are getting forced into general studies or communications degrees just like most other universities do.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Let's not act like Michigan is pushing out college grads through the business or engineering schools. They are getting forced into general studies or communications degrees just like most other universities do.

Sure, but that's a recruit's choice once they get here and getting here is the biggest hump to overcome. And given Harbaugh's comments on Michigan from a few years ago, it wouldn't surprise me if that stopped or at least happened less frequently.

 

[PIBuckeye]

Sure, but that's a recruit's choice once they get here and getting here is the biggest hump to overcome. And given Harbaugh's comments on Michigan from a few years ago, it wouldn't surprise me if that stopped or at least happened less frequently.

Can you at least say it was a stupid thing to say, and cost you a recruit??

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Can you at least say it was a stupid thing to say, and cost you a recruit??

It was stupid if said the way the father quoted him as saying it. But I doubt the validity of that because seasoned recruiter like Mattison wouldn't say something like that.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

In the end, all that matters is how Neal perceived the comments. It doesn't matter if Mattison was trying to offend him or not (I'm 100% certain that was not the intention). It happened, and in a recruiting situation, it is the responsibility of the coach doing the recruiting to make sure that they communicate their message in a way that encourages the recruit to come to their school, not push them away.

 

[ellupo]

Additionally, this is the case in almost all cases; especially at a school like Michigan. Our entire roster probably wouldn't have been accepted if they applied independently. And that's true of schools like Ohio State as well. Mattison has been regarded as one of the best recruiters out there; even before he came to Michigan. I doubt he would purposefully offend a family like that.

I would guess this is true for half the players in the country. All schools lower the entrance standards for athletes.
As far as the comment, it seems something was said to insult the kid and his dad. It may not have been what was quoted word for word but they where both insulted so something was said that was wrong.

This comes off bad its like Michigan saying you could not get in and we would not want you if you could not run real fast.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I would guess this is true for half the players in the country. All schools lower the entrance standards for athletes.
As far as the comment, it seems something was said to insult the kid and his dad. It may not have been what was quoted word for word but they where both insulted so something was said that was wrong.

This comes off bad its like Michigan saying you could not get in and we would not want you if you could not run real fast.

I'm sure it was more due to our aggressive approach based on our limited time to recruit an entire recruiting class (4 weeks) than anything else. They were probably trying to suggest what a great opportunity Michigan is over Nebraska and phrased it poorly.

IMO, I think it just makes the kid look bad because even if you weren't going to commit to Michigan or you were reaffirming your commitment to Nebraska, there's no reason to go onto the radio and bash a school who is unable to make any comment about the situation. It seems like an overreaction on their part that was made into a much larger deal than it needs to be. Even if it was said word for word, I'm not sure I'd kick a coach out for saying that.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

In the end, all that matters is how Neal perceived the comments. It doesn't matter if Mattison was trying to offend him or not (I'm 100% certain that was not the intention). It happened, and in a recruiting situation, it is the responsibility of the coach doing the recruiting to make sure that they communicate their message in a way that encourages the recruit to come to their school, not push them away.

Like I said in the post above, Michigan's in a unique spot because we essentially need to fill 2/3 of a class in 4 weeks. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be recruiting this aggressively if ti weren't for our limited time frame and I think that's where this incident stems from.

 

[7Samurai13]

I'm sure it was more due to our aggressive approach based on our limited time to recruit an entire recruiting class (4 weeks) than anything else. They were probably trying to suggest what a great opportunity Michigan is over Nebraska and phrased it poorly.

IMO, I think it just makes the kid look bad because even if you weren't going to commit to Michigan or you were reaffirming your commitment to Nebraska, there's no reason to go onto the radio and bash a school who is unable to make any comment about the situation. It seems like an overreaction on their part that was made into a much larger deal than it needs to be. Even if it was said word for word, I'm not sure I'd kick a coach out for saying that.

I'm going to admit to not listening to the interview but if he is asked "why did you choose Nebraska over Michigan," he gave an honest answer of why. Would you prefer he live to spare Michigan fans feelings for having a defensive coordinator saying stupid shit?

 

[oaknightshockey1]

I'm going to admit to not listening to the interview but if he is asked "why did you choose Nebraska over Michigan," he gave an honest answer of why. Would you prefer he live to spare Michigan fans feelings for having a defensive coordinator saying stupid shit?

I listened to it and if I remember correctly, they asked him how the Michigan visit went and that's when his dad said what he said.