With an abysmal 3-13 mark in Big Ten play — and 8-16 overall — in his first two seasons at Michigan, there’s little doubt that Rich Rodriguez is on the hottest coaching seat in America entering the 2010 season.
With that Ann Arbor résumé firmly in place, it makes one of Rodriguez’s decisions on National Signing Day veer very close to the inexplicable.
Rodriguez received a commitment from Demar Dorsey, one of the top high school safeties in the country. While there’s little doubt that Dorsey could be an immediate help to RichRod’s sieve-like defense on the field, off the field, and based on his past, he could be the final nail in the coach’s Wolverines coffin.
According to various reports, including an extensive look at the DB’s past by the Detroit Free Press, Dorsey has been arrested three times since he turned 16 on a variety of burglary and robbery charges.
In June of 2007, Dorsey was arrested for burglary, but he was sent to a diversion program for first-time offenders by prosecutors. In July of 2008, Dorsey was arrested for robbery with a deadly weapon. Those charges were dismissed by prosecutors when a concrete identification could not be made.
In November of 2007, and according to the Free Press, Dorsey confessed to burglarizing two homes in one day.
In the November 2007 burglaries, records say Dorsey was one of five young men – aged 16 to 18 – in a car in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coconut Creek shortly before 10 a.m. on Nov. 30, 2007. Inside, police found stolen items, including a flat-screen television, a laptop computer, a ski mask and several pairs of gloves.One of the men with Dorsey had, in his sock, two window punches — professional burglar tools used to shatter windows quietly.
Police had been responding to calls of several men lurking around houses.
…
According to the reports, three of the teens, including Dorsey, went to the back of a Coconut Creek home, where the sliding glass door was shattered. Dorsey and another teen entered the home, only to encounter the homeowner, who came face-to-face with the intruders in the living room, the reports show. The teens fled, but were stopped by police a short while later.
Once at the Coconut Creek Police Department, Dorsey and his cohorts all admitted to their roles in the burglary, as well as to a break-in earlier that day in another suburb, where a flat-screen television was taken.
Much like in the June ’07 burglary incident, Dorsey was again placed in a diversion program for the Nov. ’07 burglary.
On signing day, Rodriguez defended the decision to bring a player with such a sketchy past into the program.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the young man and his family to pass judgments on something before you know the whole story,” Rodriguez said. “As a coach we get a chance to go visit these kids at the school, at their home and have them come up here and spend a weekend. You get to know them; certainly you get enough time to research and learn the whole story, not just what somebody’s written out there.”
One thing is certain: Rodriguez had better hope he’s right about Dorsey, or else the anti-RichRod crowd will have even more ammunition for what will turn out to be his eventual ouster. Especially if the on-the-field product doesn’t do an about-face post haste.
Bo would be rolling over in his grave. Just like John Locke’s body on Lost, evil forces have taken the form of RichRod to destroy the UM program.
This quick crash-and-burn is amazing, especially in light of the pretension traditionally espoused by “Michigan Men.” What is a Michigan Man?
“Schembechler introduced Shand to a concept that has stuck with him to this day and a concept shared by many Michigan alumni – the concept of a Michigan man. Even though being a Michigan man has as loose a definition as just about anything, it always embraces the devotion and pride that Michigan students and graduates have for their school.
It’s what has made Dave Shand’s relationship to Michigan so unique to any other college athlete.
“I still carry being a Michigan man with me today, and I will for the rest of my life,” Shand said. “It makes me feel smart, distinguished, dignified and highly regarded by others. People hear the name ‘Michigan,’ and they gasp or stand there in awe. The special luster that comes with being a Wolverine on and off the field is what has kept me in Ann Arbor.”
According to Shand, one of the greatest benefits of being a Wolverine is the sports legacy and history that you become part of, and the relationships that are created and sustained.”
Too bad “Michigan Men” need to be “Michigan Men” at OSU or Arkansas nowadays.
http://mvictors.com/?p=260
As an alum, count me in as a member of the “anti-RichRod” crowd, but maybe getting out of the South is exactly what this kid needs…
Thats why they call it the U of scuM…
Please keep in mind this is the same man who had both Chris Henry and Pacman Jones at WVU at the same time!
RichRod has brought his West Virginny ways to Ann Arbor and will continue to sign the players with low personal qualities but high football potential.
DickRod has singlehandedly dismantled the once great Michigan football program in – 2 years – into a national laughing stock.
Pac Man
Chris Henry
UMich KNEW what they were getting and still did it anyway…stupid, stupid, stupid.
As a fan of a program in perpetual ‘transition’ (Notre Dame), it pains me to see Michigan fall so far so fast.
It speaks volumes that Urban Meyer and Rich Rodriguez recruited this kid so heavily.
This is no surprise that RichRod would bring this kind of kid to Ann Arbor. For someone who has hated Michigan since Anthony Carter was there, it is a shame to see the program fall so far so fast.
Rich Rodriquez is nothing but a douche bag coach. He recruited trash at WVU, now he will tarnish the once proud Mich program. Mich should fire him and cut their losses now.
This kid does all that and still gets a free ticket to a major college. He must think he’s untouchable which means this isn’t going to end well in Michigan.
Man I bet you could make a killing selling home security in Ann Arbor this season.