Ben VanSumeren Flips to Michigan

RobHowe said:
BV was originally committed to WMU.
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Even though I think Harbaugh is a sleeze, the flip from VanSumeren's standpoint is understandable.

In situations like this, if I were the Iowa coaches, I would bring the hometown dream school scenario up when a player commits, especially given Iowa's hard stance on verbals. When Ben committed, I would have immediately brought up the possibility of Michigan coming in late and offering, and asked him to give an honest appraisal of how that scenario would play out.

It doesn't necessarily mean you don't accept the commitment if a player says he is unsure or would flip, but at least you know where all parties stand. I'm sure the staff already does this to some degree, but if there is a level of discomfort, they have the option of devoting more time to a contingency plan.
 
bogeyman said:
Well that stinks. Trying to figure out what the big Harbaugh draw is, so far his teams at Michigan haven't done much better than Hoke's. The media along with Harbaugh's antics has almost helped create this larger than life (or reality) image of Harbaugh. Not to mention the Hawks are 5-2 against Michigan in the last decade.
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I think Harbaugh has done a much better job than Hoke has. Hoke did a great job in his first year going 11-2 and he should get credit for that. However, his teams got progressively worse over the next 3 years going 8-5, 7-6, and finally 5-7. By the end of the 2014 season, optimism regarding the future of Wolverines football wasn't very high. Much like Hoke before him, Harbaugh took over a program that was in a sad state and took it to double digit wins right away. The difference comes the following year when the Wolverines went 10-3 and although the record was the same, they were better than the previous seasons team. This past season saw some regression as the Wolverines went 8-4, but it wasn't exactly a secret that this was a rebuilding year since this was a young team that was replacing a ton of high end contributors from the year before. Captain Hindsight would probably say that 8-4/9-3 is probably where this team should have finished coming into the season considering where they had coming into the season. Quarterback issues and inexperience at most of their starting spots shouldn't be an issue for them going into the 4th Harbaugh season and expectations are high for good reason. The mood for the Wolverines will be totally different going into 2018 than it was in 2014 in year 4 under Brady Hoke.
 
Ben gets a Michigan offer and he bails.

Nixon gets an Alabama offer and he stays.

This just makes me luv Nixon even more. oh crap, here comes the hammer for being political
 
Come on...coaches play both sides (or more) when they are looking for more coin and future opportunities...there are hundreds of examples every year...why not the players?
 
It's disappointing to lose BVS, but I don't have a problem with it since he grew up a Michigan fan and that was his dream offer. That's a different story than someone like Pierschbacher or Higdon bailing at the last minute.
 
mopkins said:
Cool. He can join Oliver Martin in the 5 year michigan bench.
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This x 100. Neither will play. But in the end, simply flipping meant he went from a 2-Star to a 4-Star. Must feel great. Only problem, stars don’t win football games. Michigan fans haven’t figured that out. Toughness does.
 
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