ESPN: Wolverines head to Italy for most unusual week of spring practice

BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

All roads lead to Rome, and college football is joining the caravan this weekend. Michigan's football team will land in the Eternal City on Saturday for what could be the most unusual week of practice in the game’s history.

Jim Harbaugh, his staff and 99 of their football players will hold three workouts next week in Italy. They’ll spend the rest of their time abroad touring Rome and some of its biggest attractions. Harbaugh billed the trip in February as a cultural, educational and international football experience for his program. Earlier this week, he said he’s hoping the week is “the best experience in these youngsters’ lives up until this point” and the best experience of his too.

It’s an idea, hatched by the head man himself, that makes it awfully difficult for outsiders within the sport and beyond to criticize his desire to take Michigan on the road. His stated plans to make these international trips an annual affair is an obvious recruiting incentive (paid for by a single anonymous donor) that few other schools can afford to offer. It’s also a genuine effort to find creative ways to enrich his players’ lives within restrictive NCAA rules.

Pushing boundaries to seek any possible competitive advantage while simultaneously trying to spread the good word of football has, as much as anything, defined the first two-plus years of Harbaugh’s tenure at his alma mater. Rome may be his splashiest move to date, but it fits the mold.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/pos...ad-to-italy-for-most-unusual-week-of-practice

Go Gophers!!
 

I'm sure this will be changed as well. However basketball teams travel a bit.
 

per ESPN:

All roads lead to Rome, and college football is joining the caravan this weekend. Michigan's football team will land in the Eternal City on Saturday for what could be the most unusual week of practice in the game’s history.

Jim Harbaugh, his staff and 99 of their football players will hold three workouts next week in Italy. They’ll spend the rest of their time abroad touring Rome and some of its biggest attractions. Harbaugh billed the trip in February as a cultural, educational and international football experience for his program. Earlier this week, he said he’s hoping the week is “the best experience in these youngsters’ lives up until this point” and the best experience of his too.

It’s an idea, hatched by the head man himself, that makes it awfully difficult for outsiders within the sport and beyond to criticize his desire to take Michigan on the road. His stated plans to make these international trips an annual affair is an obvious recruiting incentive (paid for by a single anonymous donor) that few other schools can afford to offer. It’s also a genuine effort to find creative ways to enrich his players’ lives within restrictive NCAA rules.

Pushing boundaries to seek any possible competitive advantage while simultaneously trying to spread the good word of football has, as much as anything, defined the first two-plus years of Harbaugh’s tenure at his alma mater. Rome may be his splashiest move to date, but it fits the mold.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/pos...ad-to-italy-for-most-unusual-week-of-practice

Go Gophers!!

Wow probably close to if not more than $200K. For practice?...
 


So taking the team to Italy is fine, but how dare a donor buy a recruit lunch
 


Absolutely incredulous of the NCAA to allow this conflict in donor contributions. JZ is correct - I can't buy a recruit a hotdog yet the "big dogs" can buy a trip to Rome costing thousands. Something stinks in Denmark or Ann Arbor or St.Louis. Unfortunately a pompous ass is driving the ship.
 

Be nice if the U had such a donor - unfortunately successful Minnesotans don't see such a donation as practical- just frivolous


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

I distinctly remember something about the NCAA considering making trips like this against the rules, but I can't remember where I saw it, or if it was just a rumor.
 

Where to draw the line on what donations can be used for? Why can donations be used for facilities? It's clear facilities can create an unlevel playing field. Lazy rivers, barbershops. It's arguable as sometimes the buildings serve an educational purpose.

I would throw free vacations into the free cars category as clear violations of rules....
 



I think the basketball and volleyball rule is one overseas trip every 4 years.

I would have thought football had the same restriction.
 

In related news, the Michigan football team has a verbal commitment from Maximus Decimus Meridius, from the Gladiator Academy in Rome.
He is said to have great leadership ability and a fierce competitive attitude.
 


So taking the team to Italy is fine, but how dare a donor buy a recruit lunch

What do the two have to do with one another? There aren't any recruits traveling - these are all players currently on the team. No one is being recruited.
 



Absolutely incredulous of the NCAA to allow this conflict in donor contributions. JZ is correct - I can't buy a recruit a hotdog yet the "big dogs" can buy a trip to Rome costing thousands. Something stinks in Denmark or Ann Arbor or St.Louis. Unfortunately a pompous ass is driving the ship.

Again, this has nothing whatsoever to do with recruiting, so I don't understand why people are attempting to conflate the two.
 

Again, this has nothing whatsoever to do with recruiting, so I don't understand why people are attempting to conflate the two.

Yes, it does? You don't think recruits want to go play football in another country for spring ball? I guarantee Harbaugh used it as a recruiting pitch.
 

Yes, it does? You don't think recruits want to go play football in another country for spring ball? I guarantee Harbaugh used it as a recruiting pitch.

So what? I guarantee Nick Saban uses winning national championships as a recruiting pitch. Your point?
 

So what? I guarantee Nick Saban uses winning national championships as a recruiting pitch. Your point?

You said it has nothing to do with recruiting when it absolutely does. Is that too hard for you to understand?
 

You said it has nothing to do with recruiting when it absolutely does. Is that too hard for you to understand?

I said that it doesn't because it doesn't. There will be zero recruits going on this trip. If that were part of the plan, it wouldn't have been allowed. Virtually any experience can legally be sold as part of a "recruiting pitch". The rules are different for prospects (recruits) and players actually on a team.

P.S. You attempting to condescend to me is adorable, but never forget that I am much, much, much smarter than you.
 

So what? I guarantee Nick Saban uses winning national championships as a recruiting pitch. Your point?

The point is that Michigan can tell recruits, "Hey, sign with us and you might get a trip to Rome next year." AND - they can say that because they have fat-cat boosters willing to cough up the cash for the Rome Trip.

Another school - maybe with a rodent for a mascot - does not have fat-cat boosters and is unable to make the same promise (incentive) to recruits.

So, because they have fat-cat boosters, Michigan has a potential recruiting advantage. It may not be a major advantage - but if one 4* or 5* recruit decides to attend Michigan because of it, it makes a difference. Especially if that recruit comes back to make a play in 2 or 3 years to beat the Gophers in a game - maybe a game that knocks the Gophers out of a bid for a division title.
 

The point is that Michigan can tell recruits, "Hey, sign with us and you might get a trip to Rome." AND - they can say that because they have fat-cat boosters willing to cough up the cash for the Rome Trip.

Another school - maybe with a rodent for a mascot - does not have fat-cat boosters and is unable to make the same promise (incentive) to recruits.

So, because they have fat-cat boosters, Michigan has a potential recruiting advantage. It may not be a major advantage - but if one 4* or 5* recruit decides to attend Michigan because of it, it makes a difference. Especially if that recruit comes back to make a play in 2 or 3 years to beat the Gophers in a game - maybe a game that knocks the Gophers out of a bid for a division title.

Alabama, USC, Florida, Texas, etc., etc., etc. can all do the same thing if they so choose. They can also offer lots of other things - awesome facilities, a winning tradition, huge fanbases, etc., etc., etc. that lots of other schools can't.
So why would this be illegal and those aren't? Are you saying that Alabama can't tell recruits, "Hey, sign with us and you will get to practice in awesome facilities every day"? You can't legislate a balance of resources into the game.
 

I said that it doesn't because it doesn't. There will be zero recruits going on this trip. If that were part of the plan, it wouldn't have been allowed. Virtually any experience can legally be sold as part of a "recruiting pitch". The rules are different for prospects (recruits) and players actually on a team.

P.S. You attempting to condescend to me is adorable, but never forget that I am much, much, much smarter than you.

Yeah nothing to do with recruiting. I know I would never want to visit a foreign country as a 17 year old. No possible way that could be a reason to put Michigan over the top compared to another school.

P.S. Remember when you said Fleck insulted Kill's culture 14 months after he quit? Remember when you used it as an excuse to confront Fleck while he was recruiting a high school kid? Can you link that? There are multiple posters still waiting for it. Did you know Kill lost that recruiting battle?
 

Yeah nothing to do with recruiting. I know I would never want to visit a foreign country as a 17 year old. No possible way that could be a reason to put Michigan over the top compared to another school.

What is stopping any other school from doing it?

P.S. Remember when you said Fleck insulted Kill's culture 14 months after he quit? Can you link that? There are multiple posters still waiting for it.

That's because he did. The inference was quite clear. He didn't explicitly say that in a press conference - he's not an idiot.
 

What is stopping any other school from doing it?



That's because he did. The inference was quite clear. He didn't explicitly say that in a press conference - he's not an idiot.

A millionaire donating for the trip is what is stopping other schools from doing it.

No the inference was clear if you're a Kill superfan. Others with a brain don't see that.
 

Alabama, USC, Florida, Texas, etc., etc., etc. can all do the same thing if they so choose. They can also offer lots of other things - awesome facilities, a winning tradition, huge fanbases, etc., etc., etc. that lots of other schools can't.
So why would this be illegal and those aren't? Are you saying that Alabama can't tell recruits, "Hey, sign with us and you will get to practice in awesome facilities every day"? You can't legislate a balance of resources into the game.

I'm not saying it's illegal. I'm saying it's a potential recruiting advantage. As you noted, other schools have different potential recruiting advantages. This one is based on the premise that a single booster is willing to cough up huge sums of money - a situation that other schools cannot match.

Again - NOT illegal. Doesn't have to be illegal to be a recruiting advantage. I wish the Gophers had fat-cat boosters willing to cough up that kind of scratch to help the program. hell, I wish I was rich enough to be a fat-cat booster. But, with my luck, I'd do something stupid and get the program on probation.....
 


I'm not saying it's illegal. I'm saying it's a potential recruiting advantage. As you noted, other schools have different potential recruiting advantages. This one is based on the premise that a single booster is willing to cough up huge sums of money - a situation that other schools cannot match.

Again - NOT illegal. Doesn't have to be illegal to be a recruiting advantage. I wish the Gophers had fat-cat boosters willing to cough up that kind of scratch to help the program. hell, I wish I was rich enough to be a fat-cat booster. But, with my luck, I'd do something stupid and get the program on probation.....

Recruiting advantages exist in different forms for many schools. A trip (not for recruits, but for players) that literally any school could replicate is not a recruiting advantage.
 

The question is where to draw the line. There will never be a totally level playing field but there is a reason recruits can't be offered free cars, cash payments, etc. Just because they aren't given those things on their recruit visits is it ok if they're told once they sign those things will be delivered? Is it ok if there is an implicit promise of forthcoming gifts above and beyond the cost of attendance? I suppose these trips can be passed off as an educational activity but then the cost should be borne by the school. Then the school is in a position to simply move donor money around, a money laundering operation.

The rules try to make the field somewhat level but obviously it's not practical. I think this goes to the side of being an illegal benefit but I understand the opposite viewpoint.
 

Recruiting advantages exist in different forms for many schools. A trip (not for recruits, but for players) that literally any school could replicate is not a recruiting advantage.

But in reality - not any school could replicate it. Because not any school has a single booster willing to subsidize the cost of the trip.

That's the whole point. The Gophers are not going to Rome. Ball State is not going to Rome. Michigan is going to Rome, because they have a fat cat who is willing to pay for it.

Hey - that's the way the world works. Not illegal. Just an advantage that certain schools have - and other schools don't.

Let's see, when was the last time the Gophers won a B1G title? Must just be bad luck.
 

per ESPN:

All roads lead to Rome, and college football is joining the caravan this weekend. Michigan's football team will land in the Eternal City on Saturday for what could be the most unusual week of practice in the game’s history.

Jim Harbaugh, his staff and 99 of their football players will hold three workouts next week in Italy. They’ll spend the rest of their time abroad touring Rome and some of its biggest attractions. Harbaugh billed the trip in February as a cultural, educational and international football experience for his program. Earlier this week, he said he’s hoping the week is “the best experience in these youngsters’ lives up until this point” and the best experience of his too.

It’s an idea, hatched by the head man himself, that makes it awfully difficult for outsiders within the sport and beyond to criticize his desire to take Michigan on the road. His stated plans to make these international trips an annual affair is an obvious recruiting incentive (paid for by a single anonymous donor) that few other schools can afford to offer. It’s also a genuine effort to find creative ways to enrich his players’ lives within restrictive NCAA rules.

Pushing boundaries to seek any possible competitive advantage while simultaneously trying to spread the good word of football has, as much as anything, defined the first two-plus years of Harbaugh’s tenure at his alma mater. Rome may be his splashiest move to date, but it fits the mold.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/pos...ad-to-italy-for-most-unusual-week-of-practice

Go Gophers!!

That is the part that will be nixed by the NCAA.
 

The thing that bothers me is that if a person's car is broken down on the side of the road and I go to help them and recognize them as a member of the Golden Gopher Football team I can't give them a ride, I can't give them a bottle of water, I can't even lend them my phone to call for help. However, I can donate enough money to take the entire team to Rome? It just seems like something is amiss.

I don't argue technically any team could do this if they have a donor willing to cough up the money. I'm surprised Oregon and Maryland aren't doing these trips with their big time donors.

At some point I wonder if the NCAA would consider a spending limit for football (don't know if they have the authority to do that). If there isn't one the gap between the have's and have not's will continue to widen.

Overall I really don't see this as a good thing for college football.

I just wish they would have arrested Harbaugh when they scolded him at the mall. Then held him just long enough to make him miss the flight home. That would have cracked me up!!!

If you didn't hear he was walking around Rome in his typical sideline gear (khakis, blue M shirt and blue M cap) and went into a mall and started playing catch in the mall until he got chewed out by security. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/04/ita...chigan-wolverines-football-rome-shopping-mall
 




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