By now you’ve heard what happened, and if you haven’t, you’ve been on a deserted island somewhere or just don’t read the paper or listen to sports radio. There’s a Book titled, “Draft Season: Four Months on the Clock”, written by Bobby Derren. He follows 4 NFL prospects through the entire draft process quoting them throughout. On the 2nd to last page, there’s a quote attributed to Morgan Trent
In the second-to-last page of the book, under the chapter heading, "The Aftermath," Deren wrote the following:
"Shortly after the draft, Morgan made good on his promise to pay his former head coach (Carr) a visit. Morgan was always happy to see Coach Carr and gave him a warm greeting. However, it didn't take long for Coach Carr to get to the main reason why he wanted to see Morgan. It was there that Coach Carr told Morgan why he wasn't drafted until the sixth round.
"Apparently, current Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez had cost Morgan quite a bit of money. Rodriguez had bad-mouthed Morgan to every NFL scout he could. Rodriguez claimed that Morgan was lazy, he had an attitude problem and he was a big reason why the Wolverines finished with a 3-9 record, the worst in school history. In essence, an entire draft season and an entire college career of hard work were decimated by a few petty words. Those words may have meant the difference between a $1.86 million deal and a $2.86 million deal. It may have meant the difference between the sixth round and the third round."
From the Detroit News:
Carr disputed the representation of the meeting during a phone interview on Monday with The News.
"That paragraph is completely a distortion of my conversation with Morgan," Carr said. "That is a complete distortion, and it is not accurate. I have never spoken with the author. I have never met him. I have never had a conversation with him to the best of my knowledge."
Trent on Monday told The News he initiated the conversation with Carr about what he had heard from NFL scouts regarding comments attributed to Rodriguez.
"Lloyd didn't bring any of this to my attention," Trent said. "When we spoke, I brought it up to him, and he said he had heard some of the same things."
Rodriguez issued a statement Saturday through the Michigan athletic department denying he ever said anything negative about Trent.
So, the facts are:
1. Morgan Trent was drafted in a late round.
2. Carr denies the conversation, or rather, the paragraphs substance. He DIDN’T DENY that the conversation took place.
3. Rich Rod Denies that he ever said anything negative about Trent.
The MMQ’s Speculation:
1. Morgan Trent was a sub-standard corner that got burnt more often than an Albino in the tropics. Whether or not he was a “good locker room guy” probably had little or nothing to do with the fact of where he was drafted. When you suck, the free market has a tendency to discover that fact.
2. Carr said something to Trent about Rodriguez. That I believe. I’m sure it was along the lines of, “Well, Morgan, you didn’t produce as much in your Senior season as you did in your Junior Season and Coach Rod probably put that in his assessment of you.” Which, when it came out of Trent’s mouth, sounded like, “Coach Rod bad mouthed me to the league, according to Carr.
3. Who cares, really, if Rod did or didn’t bad mouth Trent? I mean, at the end of the day, Trent is what he is. A late round CB with limited skills for the NFL. Brandon Graham spent his senior season busting his ass, getting better, and making NFL scouts take notice. And he went in the first round. Attitude and desire, anyone?
Here’s what is getting under my skin and while I haven’t read all of the local blogs, I have seen other references to the fact that Brian at mgoblog is pissed and that he’s pissed at Lloyd and Morgan. So if some of this repeats, so be it. However, with respect to being pissed at Lloyd and Trent, I only have this to say:
MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY.
What the hell is going on in Ann Arbor? First, David Brandon dismisses Jamie Morris, a true BLUE BELIEVER and disciple of Schembechler, for unspecified reasons. Well, if you’re going to dismiss a guy like Jamie Morris, someone who I knew on a personal basis, then there’s a whole list of guys I want to review for performance and loyalty. That’s my opinion.
Lloyd Carr retired. It’s time to let Lloyd go to where ever Lloyd wants to go full time and let him read his books and quote authors and be the youngest old guy in the old coaches home.
BUT GET HIM THE HELL OUT OF ANN ARBOR!
He’s a poison right now and whether or not he did anything or said anything is beside the point. A school can’t have two head coaches. David Brandon should know this. Gently nudge him out the door and let it be done.
With respect to Trent, I really don’t know what to say. There’s always going to be dissent when a new coach comes in. It’s like getting a new boss. You still love the company, but if you don’t like the new guy, you’ve got a problem. Morgan tries to tap dance around that in the quote, but he should have just kept his trap shut, plain and simple. At this point, he’s put himself in a bad spot with ever coming back to Michigan. For anything.
Therefore, weather he reads it or not, I was inspired to write an open letter to AD Brandon.
Mr. Brandon,
In your short tenure as the University of Michigan’s Athletic Director, you have taken bold steps towards creating a better environment for all athletic personnel to achieve the goal of becoming the Leaders and the Best.
However, it has become apparent that you may have not gone far enough and while your sound support for all the coaching staff in all sports is admirable, there is still, apparently, discontent in the ranks, whether it’s visible to you or not.
While you were running the $6 Billion empire known as Domino’s Pizza, you undoubtedly came to understand when there were capable people working for you that were knowledgeable, action oriented, and above all, got results all you had to do was get out of their way and over see the progress as it was made, making small agenda adjustments along the way. The other personnel were either doing minor support, or in some cases, detrimental to the performance of the achievers and had to be dismissed.
I hope that in this position you are measuring each person and their capacity to affect change and, most of all, take you to the ultimate goal as stated above, becoming the Leaders and the Best.
While this letter is written strictly as an observer from the outside, as a Michigan Family member, I would like to think that it has an impact none the less.
In closing, I wish you the best in taking on this task of steering athletics ship at Michigan. It’s clearly not an easy task and tough choices need to be made.
Sincerely,
The MMQ
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