ESPN: Holly Warlick says Geno Auriemma's criticism of Lady Vols 'not fair'

[BroadwayVa]

What a classless, crude, mean-spirited, tone-deaf bunch of nonsense from Holly Warlick. Truly shocking.

Warlick claims: ""I hate for it to come to this, but nobody except the NCAA made the decision," Warlick said Friday.."

Actually, Tennessee, by refusing to back the transfer and refusing to admit to the conditions that motivated Westbrook to leave, actively participated in the effort to block Westbrook from being able to play from day one. So it's not "nobody except" the NCAA that was responsible for the decision. A mean-spirited Tennessee had a lot to do with it.

Warlick: "To say it's a bad program is not fair." It's a miserable program that underperformed for years, whose players headed to the exit with regularity, and whose coach was let go in the midst of rancor and upheaval among the athletes. To say it was a lousy program is fair and accurate.

Warlick: "But there are so many more layers than what I think Geno knows." Perhaps. But Westbrook knows full well all of the "layers", and that's why two years into her tenure at Tennessee she just had to get out. Westbrook knows Warlick, and knows that the rot in the program went far deeper than just one coach. And for Warlick to defend punishing a kid for telling the truth about the failed head coach and the toxic program by refusing to back her bid to transfer and get on the court immediately just demonstrates for the entire world how mean-spirited, vindictive, and rotten the entire Tennessee system really is.

Coach Geno states that he's had kids transfer in whose motivations were based on, "reasons that have nothing to do with the environment." But, he continues, "This one was different. This one was 110,000 times different. For the NCAA to not see that was very disappointing." And for Tennessee to pretend that it was anything but 110,000 times different than for the average transfer is shameful.

110,000 times different. Yet Warlick being Warlick, and the toxic Tennessee being the toxic Tennessee, are all about punishing a young kid for wanting out of toxic Tennessee.

Now we will all vividly recall the nasty and dishonest campaign by Warlick and the previous head coach to slander Coach Geno over his successful recruitment of Maya Moore. Lies and nastiness.

That leopard won't change its spots. Ever.

To add to your well stated case: The ONLY LAYER or thing HOLLY or UTENN needed know--what is the best interest of EVina? What benefit (other than punishing the transfer) was there to holding back and words that would assist Westbrook in finishing her College career on time?
If UT or the NCAA is interested in what is best for the Student---what benefit to the Student occurs by forcing her to NOT play for one of her remaining College years? It is purely punitive. No words can make that not punishment.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Just off topic here, does anyone think that Geno will run up he score vs. TENN if he gets the chance or will he back off the gas? Assuming UCONN is good enough to beat TENN.

I think Geno will play the game and allow the players to play their game. He may offer something as motivation but intentionally set out to run any team into the dust just isn't Geno.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Things became escalated when she (a) called for her coach to be fired; (b) immediately transferred and didn't even pull out of the portal when they were seeking a new coach; (c) transferred to TN's bitter, long-time rival; and (d) rubbed salt in the wound on social media when she did so. All of that took place before the transfer waiver process began. So tell me who escalated it?

Your evidence of escalation don’t add up. Westbrook did not call for anyone to be fired. Go back and listen to her comments. Not changing her mind is her perrogative, not a shot at UT. Similarly, choosing to go to UConn might be based on going to a top WCBB program as opposed to running salt into any wound. You have many well written and well reasoned posts. This was not one of them.

 

[HuskyNan]

Dude, come on. Geno went on camera and said that he told MEH to run off. Literally:



So how could UConn not support a waiver on the basis that "a student-athlete no longer has the opportunity to participate at his or her previous school." That's a pretty easy case because Geno was willing to cop that he essentially sent her packing. Westbrook's case is totally different, because TN wanted Westbrook to stay. Westbrook could not make the argument that she was run off, and there is no reason for TN to support that argument.

It was a private, invitation only event that was recorded on a cell phone by a Boneyarder and posted here. He didn’t make a media announcement

 

[BostonBay]

This whole process is flawed. Again, most of the blame is to the NCAA. There is no incentive for UT to share any "bad news" regarding its culture - its just going to hurt future recruiting. They made their bed when they gave Shephard/ND a free pass. At the time, many, many people were surprised she received a waiver. The fact that it directly impacted the championship winner that year made it much worse (ND never wins the title without her. Anyone who says otherwise is just kidding themselves). Now, the NCAA wants to get tougher, but as we can all see, its still a very flawed, subjective process with no accountability & it is treating one of the best players in the country (Evina) unfairly.

 

[HuskyNan]

This thread can only go downhill from here, same as the previous one.