Mailbag question: Edgy athletes

Hi, continue to love the blog and check it out daily.

I hope that by saying “Michigan is, in our opinion, recruiting a different type of player, athletes who are “edgier” and play with more of a chip on their shoulder.” that you are not saying that Michigan is going to turn into a University of Miami of a decade or so ago. I don’t think the University or Alumni would tolerate that very well. Aggressive is good, in your face disrespectful is not what being “Leaders and Best” is about.

Bob E.

—————————————-

Thanks for the question and comments.

We are in no way condoning thuggish or outlaw-style football.
The perception for many is that the past Miami program was “thuggish.” But to others, this previous Miami style of football is/was similar to the Michigan Basketball “Fab-Five” days, whereby the players took no crap whatsoever and dished out the nasty verbal editorials, no matter if they were winning or not. It just depends on the side of the fence your fan alliance prefers.

To this day, I still have fans telling me how “thuggish”, loud-mouthed, and disrespectful to the game the Fab-Five era was. I do not agree with the above claim, because I believe the Fab-Five actually changed not only the perception of Michigan basketball, but college basketball in general. Especially when they came out in the all maize jerseys, black socks, black shoes, and baggy shorts. They changed basketball and even a decade later very young players are quite aware of the Fab-Five.

So now, after the slight detour to the Fab-Five, let us get back to the question you asked. We are talking about the type of football Michigan played under Coaches Bo and Mo: a take no prisoner, physical, hardnosed brand of football. There was a story that we shared recently that Coach Bo related at a coaches’ clinic many years ago. Bo talked about how many Big Ten teams sent a letter to the Big Ten requesting Michigan to stop “beating up” their defensive backs and playing hard to the whistle or afterwards. Bo actually loved it and framed the letter and said this (the physicality) is what I want other teams to worry about. Because that means other teams are spending their time being distracted and not working on things to beat Michigan.

In our opinion, if the team is winning, the fan base/alumni will be far more tolerate than many think. They (the fan base) had no problem with Michigan receivers being in the faces of defensive backs, or C. Woodson being in the face of Ohio State’s Boston. And to this day fans actually brag about that memorable game, saying we took no **** from Boston or anybody else.

Michigan’s reputation in the 1970’s and 1980’s was built upon relentless, punishing gang tackling. All fan bases are generally more tolerate to certain behaviors if their team is winning. Keep this in mind: football is a physical game, but it is also a game with spoken and unspoken standards.

Thanks for stopping by http://gobluemichiganwolverine.blogspot.com/
If you have any questions please e-mail erocwolverine@gmail.com

Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine