At large bid possible for Army?

[stamfordhusky]

It is the job of all military personnel to do their duty to support the activities of the military. Not all of that is shooting guns, or driving tanks, taking hills, bombing targets, or sailing ships. Much of that is pushing pencils, getting supplies through channels, providing medical/dental/vision/psychological aide, supporting morale, planning/strategizing/leading/etc, and RECRUITING.

Lieutenant David Robinson did his duty by supporting recruitment for the USN, and he was very valuable tool to that mission. The money that was spent on his education, training, and basketball was well invested.

But it's important to remember that the Navy only released Robinson for part-time recruiting duty after he had served two full years of active duty. He was not allowed to play NBA ball for two years after graduation.

 

[stamfordhusky]

After looking into the issue of Navy letting an athlete go directly to the Patriots, I happened to come across a discussion on the issue on the Army board. Of particular interest was a post by a long-time officer at the Naval Academy who at one time was its Director of Admissions. Prior to that, he flew fighter planes and later served as Commanding Officer of their Test Pilot School, among other things. Also his father was Navy's A.D. at one time, so he has an extensive background on the issue. His comments:

All three Service Academiss seem to be in a race to the bottom to allow top athletes to avoid their military commitment. I'm sure it's good for athletic recruiting but it strikes me as a gross violation of what we (the SA's) are supposed to be and stand for. I'm sure I'll be dismissed as an old fossil but once you start down the slippery slope it's hard to know when to stop and even harder to do so. Bellino and Staubach both did their full military obligations. I can live with two years active duty and an extended reserve obligation as long as the kid isn't playing pro sports in those two years and is actually learning a military skill. Anything that let's a kid go straight to the pros while simultaneously putting on a uniform occasionally is a total joke. My two cents.

BTW......I'm not slamming Minato.....I'm indicting ALL THREE SA's. Navy is now as bad or worse than Air Force or Army.The excuse that we (Navy) had to do it to keep up doesn't wash with me.......not that anyone cares.

 

[CocoHusky]

After looking into the issue of Navy letting an athlete go directly to the Patriots, I happened to come across a discussion on the issue on the Army board. Of particular interest was a post by a long-time officer at the Naval Academy who at one time was its Director of Admissions. Prior to that, he flew fighter planes and later served as Commanding Officer of their Test Pilot School, among other things. Also his father was Navy's A.D. at one time, so he has an extensive background on the issue. His comments:

All three Service Academiss seem to be in a race to the bottom to allow top athletes to avoid their military commitment. I'm sure it's good for athletic recruiting but it strikes me as a gross violation of what we (the SA's) are supposed to be and stand for. I'm sure I'll be dismissed as an old fossil but once you start down the slippery slope it's hard to know when to stop and even harder to do so. Bellino and Staubach both did their full military obligations. I can live with two years active duty and an extended reserve obligation as long as the kid isn't playing pro sports in those two years and is actually learning a military skill. Anything that let's a kid go straight to the pros while simultaneously putting on a uniform occasionally is a total joke. My two cents.

BTW.I'm not slamming Minato.....I'm indicting ALL THREE SA's. Navy is now as bad or worse than Air Force or Army.The excuse that we (Navy) had to do it to keep up doesn't wash with me..not that anyone cares.

I strongly disagree with this position of the former Naval Academy Director of Admissions and frankly he does sound like an "old fossil". The service academies are being hypocritical because other allowances (deferred or reduce active duty service) are being made by the academies every year for such things as Rhodes Scholars, acceptance to Medical Schools, medical disabilities etc. Academy athletes with pro potential (Less than .5 per academy/year) are NOT being drafted in significant numbers to impact the overall force structure of the military so this is largely much to do about nothing. The slippery slope he mentions has already been taken in with exceptions being made height & weight standards and redshirting ( Navy Napoleon McCallum '85) in the name of the service academies being competitive against the likes of power house football programs like ND.
He may not be picking on Minato, but my question would be if it (reduced active duty service) was good enough for David Robinson why is that the same standard being applied to Kelsey Minato?

 

[UcMiami]

Coco- great post.
And it isn't just post graduation - like every other school, admissions 'exceptions' are made for all sorts of reasons including political influence 'for the good of the service' and those 'exceptions' don't stop with the service academies but carry through both initial tours and with career military personnel.
There are not a lot of elite athletes that find four years of service academy rigor appealing or are capable of surviving it. The pool is very small, and the likelihood of those that do choose that path having a chance to play professionally is even smaller. So it is not ever likely to become more than a very rare exception.
And with an all volunteer force, good publicity for all branches of service is huge. having a professional in any sport who came through an SA is very good publicity for both the SA and the military in general. The military spends a huge amount of money trying to attract volunteers, including paying professional teams for the privilege of sending color guards to march out prior to the start of games. The cost of attendance at an SA for an athlete that will provide good publicity is 'money' very well spent in relation to that PR budget, and it isn't as if they will not also be providing some military return on that investment - either deferred or in off seasons. Is it special treatment for athletic prowess - sure, just as there is special treatment for academic prowess. (And not just for further advanced degrees, but in higher preference in future service posts, etc.)

 

[alexrgct]

One mini-gripe: I don't think we got to see Army's reaction when they were announced by ESPN. I'm sure they were happy, and I wanted to be vicariously so.

 

[CocoHusky]

One mini-gripe: I don't think we got to see Army's reaction when they were announced by ESPN. I'm sure they were happy, and I wanted to be vicariously so.

There was some very good coverage, including a great segment on Kelsey. But you are correct the team's reaction was not shown. But neither was UCONN, or did I miss it.
Here is coach getting interviewed.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...5a3GWY&usg=AFQjCNE2atRhKdjGUJtD8v8TJNF86W2zhA

 

[stamfordhusky]

Slightly off topic, but there were some coaches who were not very happy with the way Magarity ran up the scores this year. In games where Army won by 30+ points, Minato normally played 35-38 minutes and was still launching shots near the end of blowouts. I understand he was trying to pad her stats to get her national recognition - but that doesn't mean the other teams have to be happy about it. Even in their Patriot League semi-final, where they were going to play a championship game 24 hours later, he still had her in the game halfway through the fourth quarter with a 32 point lead. On the last three possessions before being taken out, she took two 3-pointers and a two. Imagine if she had rolled an ankle at that point and had to miss the championship game.

 

[CocoHusky]

Slightly off topic, but there were some coaches who were not very happy with the way Magarity ran up the scores this year. In games where Army won by 30+ points, Minato normally played 35-38 minutes and was still launching shots near the end of blowouts. I understand he was trying to pad her stats to get her national recognition - but that doesn't mean the other teams have to be happy about it. Even in their Patriot League semi-final, where they were going to play a championship game 24 hours later, he still had her in the game halfway through the fourth quarter with a 32 point lead. On the last three possessions before being taken out, she took two 3-pointers and a two. Imagine if she had rolled an ankle at that point and had to miss the championship game.

I know both coach Magarity pretty well, enough to know that both would do what ever is best for the kids they coach. If Coach's objective was to get Kelsey Minato some national recognition then I'd have to say: well done-Mission Accomplished. Who was the last player from the Patriot League to garner national attention?

 

[stamfordhusky]

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I know both coach Magarity pretty well, enough to know that both would do what ever is best for the kids they coach. If Coach's objective was to get Kelsey Minato some national recognition then I'd have to say: well done-Mission Accomplished. Who was the last player from the Patriot League to garner national attention?

He may not be picking on Minato, but my question would be if it (reduced active duty service) was good enough for David Robinson why is that the same standard being applied to Kelsey Minato?

Army, btw, is being crushed today by Syracuse. Minato is struggling against their bigger more athletic players.

As for Magarity, the question is whether running up the score and potentially embarrassing opponents to get a player national recognition should be the mission.

As for the question about Patriot League players, the last female player to get a lot of national recognition was Bucknell's Molly Creamer, who was a 1st round WNBA draft pick. On the men's side, the league had two NBA draft picks a few years ago: Lehigh's CJ McCollum and Bucknell's Mike Muscala.