Opening the doors of rejection
May 28, 2007 21:12:41 GMT -5
Post by Admin on May 28, 2007 21:12:41 GMT -5
www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5982487
Opening the doors of rejection
A new coach can mean a fast exit for players hoping to stay
By John Henderson
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/25/2007 03:27:14 AM MDT
"It's important that you're honest with players: '... I would not have recruited you because you don't fit into the style of play we're implementing."' CU's Jeff Bzdelik, who has lost three players since taking over as coach. (Post / Karl Gehring)If college basketball is big business, then the term "running kids off" may be the dirtiest business of them all. The imagery is heartbreaking. A new coach walks in the door and a player walks out, a knapsack in one hand and a tear-stained basketball in the other, a road map sticking out of his back pocket.
What people often don't see is what happened behind that door. The interplay between a new coach and an old player is an odd, uneasy mix of honesty and tough love, sometimes with a report card or a rap sheet somewhere nearby. And, quite often, old players are all the happier to go elsewhere after talking philosophy with a new coach who finds him a new school.
This state's five Division I schools have four of the 50 new coaches in the country. Colorado, Colorado State and Denver don't have new coaches because the old players were good. That's why Jeff Bzdelik, Tim Miles and Joe Scott, respectively, are in the process of evaluating leftover players and mapping out their direction.
"I don't know many coaches in the business of running kids off," said Miles, who has already seen four players leave. "I know we want the same: kids who behave correctly, graduate and guess what? Coaches really want to win. You need to have the right recipe in order. And players? Guess what they want?
"They want to win, but they really want to play."
A basketball scholarship is not a marriage. It must be renewed every year. If a coach doesn't want a player back, it's in his right to say, "See ya' later." Divorces in Las Vegas aren't this quick.
But a player leaving today can be more costly to schools than in the past. The NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Report came aboard in 2003 and penalizes programs with bad academic standings. Any player who leaves the program before his eligibility runs out costs the program one point. If that player leaves and isn't in good academic standing, it counts as another point.
Too many points and a program can lose scholarships, creating a new formula: lost scholarships = lost games.
"It's cold. It's callous," Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said of running off players. "I think the practice occurred. It wasn't widespread, but it occurred. But in today's reality of the APR, you run a kid off just because you don't think he can play, there's a penalty.
"I think the whole concept of running off is a term not much in application anymore."
Or maybe it's just a different application. Last year, Ron Everhart left Northeastern to take over a Duquesne team that went 3-24 under Danny Nee, the former Nebraska coach. Everhart kept
Guard James Inge, left, and center Sean Kowal, working out at the Big 12 Tournament in March, won't return to the Buffs. (AP / Danny Johnston)only two players. Five left.
One of them was Ronnie Thomas, a stocky 6-foot-8 sophomore who averaged 4.0 points and 2.1 rebounds in 24 games as a frosh. He remembers being home before summer school and reading in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Everhart had signed two or three big guys. Thomas called for a meeting.
"I wanted to find out where I stood," Thomas said from Dayton, Ohio, where he redshirted last year for Wright State. "He told me straight. 'You won't play a lot. If you transfer that's your best bet."'
Everhart told Thomas he wasn't his type of player. Everhart wanted to his team to run. "I was mad," Thomas said. "I was hoping to turn the program around. I liked Pittsburgh. The school was good."
Looking back, however, it worked out best for both parties. Duquesne improved to 10-18, and Thomas is looking to play up to 15 minutes a game next season.
"I appreciate him being honest," Thomas said. "I thought it was a little late, but right now I'm happy. I'm loving where I'm at right now."
Then there is the strategy of Bob Huggins. After building a 399-127 record at Cincinnati and a dismissal for his off-court transgressions, Huggins took over a moribund Kansas State program that went 15-12 under Jim Wooldridge in 2005-06. Huggins took that same roster and went 23-12 this past season.
After Huggins arrived, not one player left. In fact, before he took the job, he didn't look at a single film of players.
"I don't go in with preconceived ideas," said Huggins from West Virginia where he recently took over after one season at KSU. "I'm doing the same thing here. I don't judge people."
The two strategies are the most common first-year coaches employ. Rarely do coaches walk in, put the team through the two allowed two-hour weekly practices and show a 6-4 forward exit routes out of town. However, if you see a new coach hand out five more scholarships than he has openings, "That's a red flag," Miles said. "That coach really isn't committed to anyone."
Opening the doors of rejection
A new coach can mean a fast exit for players hoping to stay
By John Henderson
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/25/2007 03:27:14 AM MDT
"It's important that you're honest with players: '... I would not have recruited you because you don't fit into the style of play we're implementing."' CU's Jeff Bzdelik, who has lost three players since taking over as coach. (Post / Karl Gehring)If college basketball is big business, then the term "running kids off" may be the dirtiest business of them all. The imagery is heartbreaking. A new coach walks in the door and a player walks out, a knapsack in one hand and a tear-stained basketball in the other, a road map sticking out of his back pocket.
What people often don't see is what happened behind that door. The interplay between a new coach and an old player is an odd, uneasy mix of honesty and tough love, sometimes with a report card or a rap sheet somewhere nearby. And, quite often, old players are all the happier to go elsewhere after talking philosophy with a new coach who finds him a new school.
This state's five Division I schools have four of the 50 new coaches in the country. Colorado, Colorado State and Denver don't have new coaches because the old players were good. That's why Jeff Bzdelik, Tim Miles and Joe Scott, respectively, are in the process of evaluating leftover players and mapping out their direction.
"I don't know many coaches in the business of running kids off," said Miles, who has already seen four players leave. "I know we want the same: kids who behave correctly, graduate and guess what? Coaches really want to win. You need to have the right recipe in order. And players? Guess what they want?
"They want to win, but they really want to play."
A basketball scholarship is not a marriage. It must be renewed every year. If a coach doesn't want a player back, it's in his right to say, "See ya' later." Divorces in Las Vegas aren't this quick.
But a player leaving today can be more costly to schools than in the past. The NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Report came aboard in 2003 and penalizes programs with bad academic standings. Any player who leaves the program before his eligibility runs out costs the program one point. If that player leaves and isn't in good academic standing, it counts as another point.
Too many points and a program can lose scholarships, creating a new formula: lost scholarships = lost games.
"It's cold. It's callous," Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said of running off players. "I think the practice occurred. It wasn't widespread, but it occurred. But in today's reality of the APR, you run a kid off just because you don't think he can play, there's a penalty.
"I think the whole concept of running off is a term not much in application anymore."
Or maybe it's just a different application. Last year, Ron Everhart left Northeastern to take over a Duquesne team that went 3-24 under Danny Nee, the former Nebraska coach. Everhart kept
Guard James Inge, left, and center Sean Kowal, working out at the Big 12 Tournament in March, won't return to the Buffs. (AP / Danny Johnston)only two players. Five left.
One of them was Ronnie Thomas, a stocky 6-foot-8 sophomore who averaged 4.0 points and 2.1 rebounds in 24 games as a frosh. He remembers being home before summer school and reading in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Everhart had signed two or three big guys. Thomas called for a meeting.
"I wanted to find out where I stood," Thomas said from Dayton, Ohio, where he redshirted last year for Wright State. "He told me straight. 'You won't play a lot. If you transfer that's your best bet."'
Everhart told Thomas he wasn't his type of player. Everhart wanted to his team to run. "I was mad," Thomas said. "I was hoping to turn the program around. I liked Pittsburgh. The school was good."
Looking back, however, it worked out best for both parties. Duquesne improved to 10-18, and Thomas is looking to play up to 15 minutes a game next season.
"I appreciate him being honest," Thomas said. "I thought it was a little late, but right now I'm happy. I'm loving where I'm at right now."
Then there is the strategy of Bob Huggins. After building a 399-127 record at Cincinnati and a dismissal for his off-court transgressions, Huggins took over a moribund Kansas State program that went 15-12 under Jim Wooldridge in 2005-06. Huggins took that same roster and went 23-12 this past season.
After Huggins arrived, not one player left. In fact, before he took the job, he didn't look at a single film of players.
"I don't go in with preconceived ideas," said Huggins from West Virginia where he recently took over after one season at KSU. "I'm doing the same thing here. I don't judge people."
The two strategies are the most common first-year coaches employ. Rarely do coaches walk in, put the team through the two allowed two-hour weekly practices and show a 6-4 forward exit routes out of town. However, if you see a new coach hand out five more scholarships than he has openings, "That's a red flag," Miles said. "That coach really isn't committed to anyone."
