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Melvin Gordon is back in Iowa City today.

Hurricane88

Hurricane88

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Melvin came back with Snapback Sports to check out the Iowa campus and of course root on his Badgers tomorrow.



During an interview this week, he stated the reason he decommitted was due to Chris Doyle. Did anyone else already know this before?
I remember being a young teenager and watching his highlights on Rivals and thinking he was going to be great. Just had no clue how great. He was the one recruit that I will never forget.
 
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Hurricane88

Hurricane88

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Slappy Pappy said:
I don’t believe that for a second. He switched to Wisc right after the fake punt disaster which completely reversed the momentum of the two programs.
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Did he ever state that in an interview or anywhere else?

Because he clearly blamed Doyle for his reason for not coming to Iowa. Watch the interview and see for yourself. Lying about it makes no sense for him. He gains nothing by lying about it.
 
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Hurricane88

Hurricane88

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Slappy Pappy said:
I don’t believe that for a second. He switched to Wisc right after the fake punt disaster which completely reversed the momentum of the two programs.
Click to expand...
The Unofficial Factors
While the official and public explanation was family geography, Gordon has since opened up about other behind-the-scenes factors that pushed him away from the Hawkeyes:
  • The Strength Coach: Gordon later admitted he deeply disliked Iowa's strength and conditioning coach at the time.
  • Campus Environment: He felt the Iowa campus felt "really small" compared to what he was looking for.
  • Family Pressure: His father, Bo Gordon, was reportedly furious when Melvin initially committed to Iowa. His parents heavily preferred Wisconsin and even walked him down to the field during a game in Iowa City to visually point out that Wisconsin's offensive linemen were bigger and better suited for his running style.
 
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HawkiGreg

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Hurricane88 said:
Did he ever state that in an interview or anywhere else?

Because he clearly blamed Doyle for his reason for not coming to Iowa. Watch the interview and see for yourself. Lying about it makes no sense for him. He gains nothing by lying about it.
Click to expand...
What did Doyle do to him?
 
Rambler Hawk

Rambler Hawk

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Hurricane88 said:
Melvin came back with Snapback Sports to check out the Iowa campus and of course root on his Badgers tomorrow.



During an interview this week, he stated the reason he decommitted was due to Chris Doyle. Did anyone else already know this before?
I remember being a young teenager and watching his highlights on Rivals and thinking he was going to be great. Just had no clue how great. He was the one recruit that I will never forget.
Click to expand...

I remember following his HS stats - they were insane. He would have like 250 yds without even playing the whole game. I also remember when Wisconsin played Iowa, he was unstopped and I had no idea why their OC did not give him more carries. Gordon, Saquon, and McCaffrey were all freaks against Iowa. No surprise they all were in the NFL...😎
 
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DuddyB

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Rambler Hawk said:
I remember following his HS stats - they were insane. He would have like 250 yds without even playing the whole game. I also remember when Wisconsin played Iowa, he was unstopped and I had no idea why their OC did not give him more carries. Gordon, Saquon, and McCaffrey were all freaks against Iowa. No surprise they all were in the NFL...😎
Click to expand...
Interesting. I had heard that there was a big fight in the locker room on his official visit. Curious why he committed if his parents weren’t on board and he wasn’t a fan of Doyle’s?
 
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Hurricane88

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DuddyB said:
Interesting. I had heard that there was a big fight in the locker room on his official visit. Curious why he committed if his parents weren’t on board and he wasn’t a fan of Doyle’s?
Click to expand...
Because he thought Wisconsin wanted him to play DB like some other B1G teams wanted him to do. Then Bielema talked to him and told him they wanted him to play RB.
 
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Passing Is For COMMIES

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HawkiGreg said:
What did Doyle do to him?
Click to expand...
He was a racist, or at least that's what a few former players said back in 2020 when the Iowa program had racial disparity accusations.

He got placed on leave and then fired so he either was a racist or was just the fall guy for the entire situation. Pretty much every complaint was about him so I imagine it's probably true.
 
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Hurricane88

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Passing Is For COMMIES said:
He was a racist, or at least that's what a few former players said back in 2020 when the Iowa program had racial disparity accusations.

He got placed on leave and then fired so he either was a racist or was just the fall guy for the entire situation. Pretty much every complaint was about him so I imagine it's probably true.
Click to expand...
Wallace was named quite a bit, too. But, he never faced consequences. Odd.
 
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HawkiGreg

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Passing Is For COMMIES said:
He was a racist, or at least that's what a few former players said back in 2020 when the Iowa program had racial disparity accusations.

He got placed on leave and then fired so he either was a racist or was just the fall guy for the entire situation. Pretty much every complaint was about him so I imagine it's probably true.
Click to expand...
If you go back to the early years there were a lot of black players who left the program in their first year. Now was that just Doyle being a hardass who said derogatory things to players or was he a real racist. I am not sure.
 
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TrojanHawkeye

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Hurricane88 said:
Did he ever state that in an interview or anywhere else?

Because he clearly blamed Doyle for his reason for not coming to Iowa. Watch the interview and see for yourself. Lying about it makes no sense for him. He gains nothing by lying about it.
Click to expand...
 
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Grayhair1981

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Passing Is For COMMIES said:
He was a racist, or at least that's what a few former players said back in 2020 when the Iowa program had racial disparity accusations.

He got placed on leave and then fired so he either was a racist or was just the fall guy for the entire situation. Pretty much every complaint was about him so I imagine it's probably true.
Click to expand...
He got fired for publicly denying the allegations. He was absolutely the fall guy
 
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UIAlumFireFighter

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Hurricane88 said:
Did he ever state that in an interview or anywhere else?

Because he clearly blamed Doyle for his reason for not coming to Iowa. Watch the interview and see for yourself. Lying about it makes no sense for him. He gains nothing by lying about it.
Click to expand...
He played for Wisconsin. I would say that making Iowa look bad would be understandable motivation to say that - Fuel the Iowa was racist (or whatever the F all those players claimed) conversation.
 
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JerseyCityHawk

JerseyCityHawk

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Hurricane88 said:
Melvin came back with Snapback Sports to check out the Iowa campus and of course root on his Badgers tomorrow.



During an interview this week, he stated the reason he decommitted was due to Chris Doyle. Did anyone else already know this before?
I remember being a young teenager and watching his highlights on Rivals and thinking he was going to be great. Just had no clue how great. He was the one recruit that I will never forget.
Click to expand...

He can smoke a pole that trader
 
Hurricane88

Hurricane88

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DuddyB said:
Interesting. I had heard that there was a big fight in the locker room on his official visit. Curious why he committed if his parents weren’t on board and he wasn’t a fan of Doyle’s?
Click to expand...
Google search says otherwise.

While a prominent rumor circulated at the time claiming that locker room unrest and a physical altercation took place after Iowa's 20-17 loss to Ohio State, Gordon explicitly debunked the report. When clearing up why he chose to decommit from Iowa and re-open his recruitment, Gordon stated, "I heard rumors about some fight I saw in the locker room (and) I don't know where that came from. I didn't see any fight and I didn't know how that came up in the picture."
 
K

Kceasthawk@77

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Hurricane88 said:
The Unofficial Factors
While the official and public explanation was family geography, Gordon has since opened up about other behind-the-scenes factors that pushed him away from the Hawkeyes:
  • The Strength Coach: Gordon later admitted he deeply disliked Iowa's strength and conditioning coach at the time.
  • Campus Environment: He felt the Iowa campus felt "really small" compared to what he was looking for.
  • Family Pressure: His father, Bo Gordon, was reportedly furious when Melvin initially committed to Iowa. His parents heavily preferred Wisconsin and even walked him down to the field during a game in Iowa City to visually point out that Wisconsin's offensive linemen were bigger and better suited for his running style.
Click to expand...
So in your own post you're contradicting what you said earlier. looks like their were a number of reasons why he changes his mind, for however much truth there is.
 
K

Kceasthawk@77

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Passing Is For COMMIES said:
He was a racist, or at least that's what a few former players said back in 2020 when the Iowa program had racial disparity accusations.

He got placed on leave and then fired so he either was a racist or was just the fall guy for the entire situation. Pretty much every complaint was about him so I imagine it's probably true.
Click to expand...
Pretty much all by guys who couldn't win starting jobs and transfered out because of it? Hmmm.. Care to make a list of the black players on that team who stayed and were all B1G, or AA? Many of their "claims" have since been proved to be total BS, yet some "fans" keep posting this stuff years, and years later. There were claims from black players who left that the program had an issue with them wearing their hair they way they wanted for their heritage, while we had guys previously like Claybourne and Hodges playing. Go back and look at what their hair looked like. There were complaints about not be allowed to walk around the complex wearing wife beaters and gold chains hanging down. (Don't make me conform to your standards basically). I mean that's just some of the nonsense that was involved. The players who transferred out said they had to conform to a white culture. Basically when they were in the complex they had to meet a dress code. (oh the horror).

You guys remember that there was a lawyer who got involved basically recruiting former players who left the program. If memory serves this was just after the George Floyd murder in Minnesota and the spawning of the BLM (black lives matter), movement. The movement brought about rioting and looting of businesses, (even black owned businesses). It was a time of unrest and people looking for someone to blame. And a bunch of players who couldn't win starting jobs at Iowa (and had transferred ), were ripe for this kind of unrest when lawyer (Green I think his name was) was looking to start up a class action lawsuit against an institution.
 
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Kceasthawk@77

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HawkiGreg said:
If you go back to the early years there were a lot of black players who left the program in their first year. Now was that just Doyle being a hardass who said derogatory things to players or was he a real racist. I am not sure.
Click to expand...
Early years when? I don't remember ALOT of black players leaving in the early years. The racial deal came up with a bunch of disgruntled players who had transferred because they couldn't get on the field, AFTER the Floyd murder and the BLM movement. Gordon played in college from 2011-14. Way before any of that......
 
Hurricane88

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Kceasthawk@77 said:
So in your own post you're contradicting what you said earlier. looks like their were a number of reasons why he changes his mind, for however much truth there is.
Click to expand...
I watched the interview he had with this same production company that he works with now. He said Chris Doyle was the reason he didn't come. He used other reasons as well. But, again. Chris Doyle was the #1 factor in why he didn't come. During the facility tour, Pat Angerer talked about Doyle and Melvin Gordon looked at the camera and pointed. Confirming what he said earlier. That "the strength coaches are who you spend the most time with" and again was the reason he didn't want to come to Iowa. I'm not contradicting anything.
 
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Kceasthawk@77

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Hurricane88 said:
I watched the interview he had with this same production company that he works with now. He said Chris Doyle was the reason he didn't come. He used other reasons as well. But, again. Chris Doyle was the #1 factor in why he didn't come. During the facility tour, Pat Angerer talked about Doyle and Melvin Gordon looked at the camera and pointed. Confirming what he said earlier. That "the strength coaches are who you spend the most time with" and again was the reason he didn't want to come to Iowa. I'm not contradicting anything.
Click to expand...
As told by a guy who played for one of our biggest rivals 15 years later. Why exactly should we care that he's here this week?
 
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Grayhair1981

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Kceasthawk@77 said:
As told by a guy who played for one of our biggest rivals 15 years later. Why exactly should we care that he's here this week?
Click to expand...
Leaving the 2020 mob rule-era allegations out of it:
It is entirely possible he could have been put off by Doyle. By all accounts, he was intense and on the guys all the time. That worked for a lot of guys who went from lightly-recruited nobodies to NFL picks under his tutelage. It wasn't a fit for everybody.
 
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Kceasthawk@77

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Grayhair1981 said:
Leaving the 2020 mob rule-era allegations out of it:
It is entirely possible he could have been put off by Doyle. By all accounts, he was intense and on the guys all the time. That worked for a lot of guys who went from lightly-recruited nobodies to NFL picks under his tutelage. It wasn't a fit for everybody.
Click to expand...
Not disagreeing. I just don't really care about a guy who chose to play for a rival 15 years ago, or even more so why he chose to go elsewhere. Or for that matter whatever reason he's in Iowa City for. Its like the purpose of some posters is just dig up anything from the past (relevant or not) that is something negative about Iowa football since Kirks been here.
 
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Burgers

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Kceasthawk@77 said:
Not disagreeing. I just don't really care about a guy who chose to play for a rival 15 years ago, or even more so why he chose to go elsewhere. Or for that matter whatever reason he's in Iowa City for. It’ like the purpose of some posters is just dig up anything from the past (relevant or not) that is something negative about Iowa football since Kirks been here.
Click to expand...

Can’t speak for everyone, but I personally find Gordon’s comments interesting because him switching from Iowa to Wisconsin significantly changed the course of direction for these two programs.

Gordon not liking Doyle doesn’t even mean he thought Doyle was racist. Doyle had a strong personality which wasn’t a good fit for a lot of people. Iowa’s S&C program was also among the best in the country, and so Doyle was also pretty damn good at his job - those two things are not mutually exclusive. Doyle seems to have been a polarizing figure, because plenty of people have also expressed admiration for him. There’s plenty of polarizing figures in coaching / history that have been very successful.

It’s also fair to believe that Doyle getting fired in the manner he did made it easy for Gordon to simplify his explanation for decommitting as not liking Doyle. Gordon himself did mention other factors.

I certainly do not mean to attack Doyle when I say I find Gordon’s comments interesting.
 
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T. Kimball

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Hurricane88 said:
Melvin came back with Snapback Sports to check out the Iowa campus and of course root on his Badgers tomorrow.



During an interview this week, he stated the reason he decommitted was due to Chris Doyle. Did anyone else already know this before?
I remember being a young teenager and watching his highlights on Rivals and thinking he was going to be great. Just had no clue how great. He was the one recruit that I will never forget.
Click to expand...

Not Ayo Saba? ;)
 
Hurricane88

Hurricane88

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Kceasthawk@77 said:
Not disagreeing. I just don't really care about a guy who chose to play for a rival 15 years ago, or even more so why he chose to go elsewhere. Or for that matter whatever reason he's in Iowa City for. Its like the purpose of some posters is just dig up anything from the past (relevant or not) that is something negative about Iowa football since Kirks been here.
Click to expand...
Definitely not my intentions. I simply thought it was interesting that a former commit was on campus to check things out and also watch the game. The fact he brought up his reasons for not staying with his original commitment was simply worth bringing up. I enjoy history. Whether it's sports or actual history. We can only learn from it.
 
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Hurricane88

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Burgers said:
Can’t speak for everyone, but I personally find Gordon’s comments interesting because him switching from Iowa to Wisconsin significantly changed the course of direction for these two programs.

Gordon not liking Doyle doesn’t even mean he thought Doyle was racist. Doyle had a strong personality which wasn’t a good fit for a lot of people. Iowa’s S&C program was also among the best in the country, and so Doyle was also pretty damn good at his job - those two things are not mutually exclusive. Doyle seems to have been a polarizing figure, because plenty of people have also expressed admiration for him. There’s plenty of polarizing figures in coaching / history that have been very successful.

It’s also fair to believe that Doyle getting fired in the manner he did made it easy for Gordon to simplify his explanation for decommitting as not liking Doyle. Gordon himself did mention other factors.

I certainly do not mean to attack Doyle when I say I find Gordon’s comments interesting.
Click to expand...
You bring up some great points. Very interesting. Doyle was also fired after one day in Jacksonville with Urban Meyer.
 
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