Percy Bates sat in the Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Thursday and listened to former Michigan football star Desmond Howard give a keynote address on the entitlement of athletes.

During the speech, Howard discussed how former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler always emphasized the team over individuals. To further explain his point, he used current Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson as an example. He cited "all the noise in Ann Arbor" about whether Robinson would transfer after Michigan fired former coach Rich Rodriguez in January.

Bates, Michigan’s faculty athletics representative, didn’t think it took any shots at Robinson at all.

“When he mentioned Denard, I didn’t feel that he was speaking directly in reference to Denard even though he used his name,” said Bates, who was attending the Black Coaches and Administrators convention.

“My impression was that he was trying to make a point, that he was hammering on pretty hard, that his relationship with Bo Schembechler said ‘Son, nobody is bigger than the program.’

Former Michigan wide receiver Desmond Howard waves to fans at Michigan Stadium prior to last month's spring football game.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

“Now, that morphed into him mentioning Denard when they made a coaching change, the question about whether he should stay or go. I really did not feel, sitting there listening to him, that he had any intention of denigrating Denard and his talent.”

Howard’s entire keynote address, Bates said, centered around today’s college athletes and entitlement — something Howard pointed out repeatedly was different today than 20 years ago, when he won the 1991 Heisman Trophy at Michigan.

The St. Petersburg Times reported Howard used Robinson in the context that if legendary coaches can be forced out — he cited Bobby Bowden and Florida State as an example, the paper said — why should players feel bigger than the entirety of a program.

"I'll give you a perfect example: Michigan fires coach Rich Rodriguez," Howard said according to the St. Petersburg Times. "All the noise in Ann Arbor is, 'Is Denard Robinson going to stay or leave?' I'm like, 'Hey, if the kid wants to go, don't let the door hit you on the way out. You looked fantastic for five games against nobody. That's what you did.' I'm not going to deny his talents, but, 'You ain't won nothing in Ann Arbor, son! Not so much we need to worry about if you're going to be here next year or not.'"

Bates said he had no “Uh-oh,” moment during the speech when he felt comments would cause an uproar. He said Friday, after a reporter contacted him about Howard’s speech, he had to find out what the commotion was about.

He saw the statement and said, on its own, he could understand how there could be confusion. But in the overall speech, Bates said, it didn’t come off that way.

“It’s within context, but if you heard the total speech ... if you were sitting there for that total time, you would have heard what he said differently.

“But when you read it as a quote in the newspaper, it comes off that maybe he was going after Denard, which I didn’t hear him doing.”

Howard tried to explain his comments on Twitter on Friday morning, noting the limitations of the social media while doing so: “Comments can’t be addressed in <140char. 3 Mich(igan) staff members were there and TOTALLY understood them in context. (Point) was about fans/media.”

Howard also responded to someone on Twitter, saying he “would never ‘bash’ the kid… (too) good of a kid.”

An ESPN spokesperson said Friday that Howard was not planning on commenting further.

Bates said he had no issue with Howard’s speech. Men’s assistant basketball coach LaVall Jordan, one of the other Michigan people at the convention, tweeted throughout the speech, emphasizing Howard’s comments about Schembechler.

Jordan also tweeted after the speech “really enjoyed listening (to) @desmond_howard speak at @BCA4equity convention. Extremely classy, very honest. Terrific example (for) our young (people).”

“I heard him in the broader context saying he was talking about him and Bo and nobody is bigger than the program and if somebody wants to leave, that just reinforces the issue that nobody is bigger than the program,” Bates said. “So that is how I heard it, sitting there as a Michigan person.”

Michael Rothstein covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by email at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.