Tenessee drops 6 track athletes - Can't wait to see how this story develops

[CoogansBluff]

????From what I read in the article they were in Knoxville, enrolled at the school, taking classes, and attending practices.

He meant the UGA situation, where scholly offers to HS seniors were withdrawn. Not the UT situation.

 

[marriard]

He meant the UGA situation, where scholly offers to HS seniors were withdrawn. Not the UT situation.

Yes I was referring to the UGA situation which involved recruits and not to the UT situation which involved players enrolled, some with scholarships and in classes.

 

[YOCOACH]

If DD ran track and was good enough to be offered, I would advise DD to be very hesitant about accepting any kind of offer from UT after reading this. Not only does this action give their program a black eye, I can only see recruiting problems down the road. If the coach is willing to cut these girls mid-semester and cost them a year of eligibility (which may or may not have been a calculated move), why would someone expect them to treat the rest of the team or the girls they are trying to recruit in the future any less callously?

 

[3bmama]

That was dirty. I can't understand what the point in doing this was?

 

[Easton33]

Makes me wonder what the situation will be like In a couple years with all these schools verballing these young players. I bet there will be more and more of these stories in the next few years.

 

[BobInMadison]

Absolutely classless. With tuition so high these days, kids really depend on scholarships.

You can tell a lot about a coach by the way s/he makes the transition.

 

[marriard]

Makes me wonder what the situation will be like In a couple years with all these schools verballing these young players. I bet there will be more and more of these stories in the next few years.

It is the timing that makes this classless and unusual. You can be ruthless with who you keep/don't keep at seasons end or withdrawing offers before official sign up or encouraging people to transfer elsewhere - all those things are tough but they give the student-athlete the opportunity to find a new school and transfer or sign elsewhere for the upcoming season. To have them start school, and then cut them is just against all protocol - UNLESS there is more to this than has currently come out.

I can't even figure out a scenario where this gives the program some kind of advantage. If they were not cut for cause then recruiting is going to be tough for years to come. Every recruit they go after is going to have schools lining up to tell them about what could happen to you if you go to the UT program.

 

[sluggers]

This is bad. I'm surprised the coach did it now.

She should have told them that they were at risk and needed to 'up their game' if they wanted to stay.

I'm not even sure UT saved any money.

 

[riseball]

I would have to think that this move cost UT money. Unless they withdraw there are 6 athletes still on scholarship providing no value to the program. In addition I would expect that this would cause any recruit regardless of the sport to have second thoughts on attending UT. I can see a coach going off the reservation and attempting this type of move, but to have the institution sanction the behavior?

FWIW - The site goldfastpitch.com lists 9 from the class of 2015 verballed to UT. And a look at the UT roster shows 3 Seniors this year. Somehow that math seems a bit off.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Not every business decision is good for business in the short term, but may be in the long run. In this case, 3 of the 6 were on scholarship, and 3 were walk-ons. The financial cost is probably negligible. It's a public university anyway.