Rumph? Not good

[CraigHorn]

The Link

 

[woowoo worster]

The two open positions will now allow Charlie to begin building a staff more closely rooted in the state of Texas, with a high degree of familiarity with HS coaches there. Rumph had neither and wanted to get back to the southeast. Understandable that Lampkin and Omenihu would feel abandoned/betrayed.

 

[CraigHorn]

I see the silver lining. It's the last pt I don't like.

Yes, I would say so:

>Understandable that Lampkin and Omenihu would feel >abandoned/betrayed.

 

[jayakris]

Upon further review, maybe we are harsh on Rumph too. He himself may not have known this for more than a day or two. Florida signed their class saying Terrell Williams would still be there and announced his departure only yesterday. Since Terrell Williams himself was hired only 4 weeks ago (when Rumph had said no to Florida once), any talk of his hiring by Miami dolphins hadn't happened till very recently (may be this week). So, if Rumph told the recruits recently that he would be here, it might have been truthful. And if Florida had contacted him very recently and he started thinking about leaving before NSD, it would be absolutely disloyal to his employers (UT and Charlie) for him to even hint to any recruit about the interest in him from Florida. Charles and Vasser may not have wavered, but probably one of the 3 most important commits in our list, Lampkin the only DT, might have. He would have just gone to OU. Even telling Charlie would remove "plausible deniability" and could make Charlie have to lie. Rumph himself may have been in a tough spot.

Knowing that he had said no to Florida just 4 weeks earlier, we should cut Rumph some slack too.

The recruits will understand, once they get past the initial distress. They have to. These things happen in life and business.

 

[coolhorn]

There's talk on another site that Bobby Burton claims Strong has offered the DL job to his old DL coach, Clint Hurtt, who's currently with the Bears. That would make some sense to me, in that Strong seems to like the comfort hire of people he's worked with before. I suspect that losing Rumph as he did has left a really bad taste in Charlie's mouth too.

I know Hurtt was involved in the Miami mess of a few years ago, and that he has a show cause against him until this October. However, he kept his nose clean while working for Strong at Louisville, and he is both a very good DL coach and a plus recruiter. (No Miami jokes, please...) I'm pretty sure Strong would expect Hurtt to walk the straight and narrow at UT, and Strong must have some reason to believe Hurtt can get out from under the show cause early. Otherwise, i doubt he'd want any coach around who can't hit the recruiting trail until October. If what Burton's claiming is true, this could be an interesting weekend. By the way, Burton also claims Strong is interested in Jeff Traylor, the Gilmer head coach, as the TE/ST coach at UT too.

 

[ViperHorn]

The show cause order will cause issues with the legal and academic types. It would be a test to see if Patterson has the political stroke to smooth that over. Also, borderline if it meets with Strong's Code of Honor.

 

[madcow]

If Lamkin is really upset could Charlie/UT let him out of the scholly?

 

[l00p]

I say let him go if possible, adios. And I do hope that Charlie was honest when he told anybody Rumph was staying because he believed it too. Shame on him otherwise.

 

[Mr. Fiesta]

That's what I said on another thread. I'd punt him just for initially tweeting that crap.

 

[jayakris]

Anywaym Lampkin calmed down soon, and had a later tweet in the evening yesterday -

@DeeChilllin - Ya'll dont worry me & charles gone ball at DKR either way it go! #HookEm

@DeeChilllin - Already know coach strong gone hire someone thats can coach and push me! Cant wait to meet him.

Looks like Charlie gave him an update of whom he is looking at, and he is happy. These are kids. Not a big deal in the end, as he probably soon realized that it is UT he is playing for, and not just Rumph.

 

[dukesteer]

We shouldn't lose sight of the reality that these kids, the same kids that may be upset, well, they commit, decommit, commit, troll for other schools, spin, and mislead -- for kicks or to attract attention-- on social media. Yes, they are teenagers and the coaches are not (teenagers) but, I suppose that one defense could be a reference to the apparent double standard out there.

Now, that would not justify dishonest or misleading behavior by a coach. However, it may present a persuasive defense when explaining why an offer that was extended by another school (like Florida) had been accepted.

The world of coaching and college selection is dynamic, and complicated. To make and informed judgement about Rumph and whether or not he handled the situation properly, much more information is needed.

My sense? He probably could have handled it better than he did.