Joe Tiller goes after Trotwood-Madison and Michigan
According to an Indy Star article (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802070460), Joe Tiller had some serious accusations against not only Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez but also the coaching staff at Ohio High School Trotwood-Madison after losing wide receiver Roy Roundtree to Michigan. Roundtree committed to the Boilermakers in May but signed with Michigan this past week along with another Ram, running back Michael Shaw.
Tiller really went after Trotwood Madison in addition to Rich Rodriguez. He pretty much said Purdue won't touch Trotwood again. And then said other programs won't go there for kids either. Possibly referring to Penn State which lost Shaw on National LOI Signing Day to Michigan. Makes me wonder if there's a reason Ohio State has stayed away from Trotwood for the past 6 years.
Trotwood-Madison has long been a source of D1 talent for some of the major programs that recruit Ohio. For Ohio State to not offer players from a school with so much talent would be similar to Jim Tressel not recruiting from Cleveland Glennville based on the talent of the players. Of course Glenville has Ted Ginn Sr. and a history of mentoring their students while on campus and even after graduation.
Fans of Michigan might be looking at this situation differently and feel the signing of Roundtree and Shaw show that Rodriquez can close on signing day and the program is in good hands. But others like Joe Tiller see underhandedness and unethical breaking of a gentleman's agreement which had existed between Big Ten coaches previously.
Quotes from the Article:
"If we had an early signing date, you wouldn't have another outfit with a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil get a guy at the last minute, but that's what happened," Tiller said.
"The problem when you lose a recruit at this late date is it's really impossible to bounce back and recover," Tiller said. "You have to wait a full year to recover. Given the position, etc., that could be detrimental."
"On the other side of the coin, maybe the guy did you a favor. It makes you wonder about the guy, the people surrounding him, the people in that building who would let that happen. I can say this: We won't go back in that building again and we won't be the only institution not to."
"There has been an unspoken rule that if a guy commits and you've been recruiting him hard, you always call them up and say, 'Are you sure about this?' If he says yes, you back off.
"We had a basketball issue where that wasn't true. We have a football issue where that isn't true, so maybe that's changing."
North Central's Eric Gordon committed to Illinois for basketball and maintained for months he would honor it before signing with Indiana.
"We're not the only school it's happened to," Tiller said, "but whatever issues are out there are solvable if we address them in an adult type manner."
When the BrutusReport.com spoke with assistant coach Jerel Freeman last, Roy Roundtree had four offers only Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Miami (OH), Nebraska, and Purdue.