Finebaum rips Edsall for pulling scholarship

[Dean Wormer]

Is there anyone here who really believes that a UConn fan with no record of posting here happens to pick this non-story to decide he wants to speak on the Boneyard? I certainly don't.

Yeah, good point. You sure showed me!
Whatever, dude.

 

[Jimdish255]

Look, as a fan of the program, you're free to dissect or parse this particular episode anyway you like. The fact is, from a bird's eye view the system is geared in such a way to maximize profit over regard to the "student" athlete.

Nobody's parsing anything. Everybody knows the situation is tough for athletes and coaches who lose guys at the last minute all the time. We heard Finebaum soft-shoe the entire Harbaugh systemic oversign/flip/dump routine exactly 1 year ago with Saban directly referenced in the conversation. Then yesterday he gets on his pulpit with fire and brimstone and takes a totally contradictory stance of selective outrage to a non-confirmed story. This in a situation where a struggling university sacrificed millions to change the direction of the program from the dumpster fire they inherited last flipping week. This is serious drama queen stuff as far as I'm concerned and there just isn't any equivocation of these two scenarios. Yet Finebaum chooses to blow up at UConn while proclaiming Michigan's shell game business as usual. And they'll be just giddy about commit-flips when they cover signing day.

 

[CTMike]

Look, as a fan of the program, you're free to dissect or parse this particular episode anyway you like. The fact is, from a bird's eye view the system is geared in such a way to maximize profit over regard to the "student" athlete.

All the more reason that UConn shouldn't be singled out and excoriated for faults of the "system".

 

[CTMike]

Then simply tell the kid the new D.C. will have the final word, and evals will come from him. Certainly don't call and discuss his upcoming visit, and less than a week later pull the scholly.
If it went down as the kid's side is reporting, then it was a dick move & bad PR, there's no doubt about that.

New coach comes in and your advice is don't call and discuss his upcoming visit? Completely ludicrous.

Maybe things could have been handled better, but you clearly are taking the hatchet job reporting as gospel when you have no way of knowing the other side of how this went down.

 

[sub legacy]

The double standard on this is incredible. I have seen several people on Twitter also say that UConn can't do this because we aren't a big time program. The only conclusion I can really draw is that UConn is in the northeast, and is presumably a bastion of liberal social justice warriors who don't actually value football. They won't hold SEC schools to that standard because they don't expect it from them given how they value football. But they expect UConn to put football below "doing the right thing" for this kid from NJ. It's therefore not surprising that our hometown network and its idiot talking heads are among the loudest complainers.

UConn doing this is like Bernie Sanders crossing a picket line to get lunch at Chick Fil A.

Absolutely nailed it. It's a regional northeastern echo chamber of bleeding-heart liberal politics which is oblivious and disinterested in the basic nature of competitive college football. Hence the hyperbolic, selective outrage.

Big-time programs can do this frequently with minimal blowback, yet it's suddenly reprehensible when UConn engages in the same tactics because they should just be glad to land any kid they can get. It's a poor justification for a double standard. Either proactively fix the overall system, or be equally as outraged when Harbaugh, Meyer, Saban, or any other big-time coach inevitably does the same thing within the coming weeks of Signing Day.

 

[2Infinity]

Absolutely. Edsall called the kid a couple of weeks ago to assure him that essentially his offer was safe (in light of coaching change, or specifically, to ensure commitments didn't start bailing). He then reneg'd on his word. Again, long line of coaches who've done it.

Just curious....how do you know what Edsall said to the kid in a private phone call? It was the follow-up call where the kid put it on speaker, not the original call, so only the kid, not his parents or coach, would know what was said. It's certainly possible, even likely from what we know of HCRE, that Edsall was very careful with what he said, may have even conditionally endorsed it, pending selection of his DC, but the kid took the conditional more as absolute.

So how do you know Edsall said the offer was "essentially...safe"? What does that even mean? I haven't seen those words used anywhere else...please share your source.

 

[BlueandOG]

No such thing as bad press. I'm glad he's talking about UCONN and Randy having high standards for football players.

 

[Jimdish255]

No such thing as bad press. I'm glad he's talking about UCONN and Randy having high standards for football players.

Weeeelll it's possible this might change the perception for a few recruits but not for most parents. My problem is this miraculous revelation among the talking heads that recruiting is a tough process and that people get hurt along the way. Worse than that the perception that we are outside of the mainstream when we have often been burned, losing high profile guys to the big boys who systematically pump and dump players. Todsy the narrative has started to swing a bit. But the firestorm yesterday was intellectually dishonest and brings their motives into question.

 

[huskymedic]

Chris Kirschner ‏@ChrisKirschner 38m 38 minutes ago
ESPN is currently debating about UCONN pulling a scholarship from a long time commit. This happens all of the time...

(Chris Kirschner covers Alabama Crimson Tide recruiting for SEC Country)

 

[31GuardTrap]

Amazing how much time and effort we are all spending on this topic.
We should be embracing the fact that this could quite possibly be the bets coaching staff this school has ever seen and look forward to the gridiron in 2017. Instead, we are following along with the sheep of the "journalistic" world and assisting with beating down our program.
I get it........but I am done with it.....moving on. I'm sure Rutty will do something dumb this week to take away the bad light anyway.

 

[Waquoit]

There is an argument to be made that Benedict should have made Edsall accept the verbals who had already committed. I have said that I would have done that in his shoes.

That would have been the "high character" move.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

That would have been the "high character" move.

Edsall's job is to win. You want him to take on charity cases but would be the first one killing him if he wasn't winning with subpar talent 3 years from now.

 

[businesslawyer]

That would have been the "high character" move.

Yes. But the jump from "failure to take the high character route" to "you're a total dick" is where this all went off the rails. All UConn did was play by the rules and do what most everyone else does. You can wish they let this kid come here and try without having to jump to evil.

 

[Waquoit]

Edsall's job is to win. You want him to take on charity cases but would be the first one killing him if he wasn't winning with subpar talent 3 years from now.

You missed, yet agree with, my point. Edsall's not a "high-character" guy.

 

[businesslawyer]

You missed, yet agree with, my point. Edsall's not a "high-character" guy.

No, that's far from fair. The definition of a high character guy is not someone who, no matter the cost, takes the high road in every possible situation. That's a saint. High character guys take the high road more than average or low character guys. YOu can't rationally call someone low character because he plays by the rules in one instance to satisfy pressure to win when there may have been a morally superior option.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

You missed, yet agree with, my point. Edsall's not a "high-character" guy.

I haven't concluded he did anything wrong here. If Diaco recruited a bunch of kids who can't play at this level I'd hope he rescinds all of their scholarships and be straight with them. Dragging them in knowing full well they don't fit into their plans is the low character move. I don't believe for one second that the one sided story we've heard is the complete truth. For guys like you who hate Edsall, I'm not surprised you are easily duped by them.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I must have been under a rock. I missed this event.

Unless this kid did something questionable (in a legal sense), I think it is a terrible move for us. I don't care if it happens at Michigan or Bama....when we have their profile, we can do what they do. I would still have an issue with it, but it would hurt the program. Our football program is in a tough spot. We don't need negative press. 2 weeks before signing day.....this is a bad move. Unless, Randy and his staff know something about the kid we do not (which is very possible).

 

[BlueMAB]

You missed, yet agree with, my point. Edsall's not a "high-character" guy.

Disagree. Tough decisions need to be made, feelings get hurt, and people lose opportunities. Lost in all the hand-wringing in the media is the fact that scholarships are one year contracts.

Knowing they don't want the kid on the team, it is not "high-character" to give him a scholarship and waste a year of his eligibility when he would just redshirt, and then not have his scholarship renewed anyway. He's not wanted at UConn.

We've got plenty of scholarships available. We could have brought this kid in for a season to be nothing more than a scout team after thought for one year, and then sent him packing. That's not high character. Of course the feel-good story would have been to give him the scholarship. Then next year we'd read about him transferring. He'd either be forced to go down to FCS to play immediately, or lose another year of eligibility sitting at an FBS program.

You can make a very rational argument that by taking the offer away, we we saved this kid at least 1, if not 2 years of eligibility to play the game he loves.

 

[CL82]

Fair enough. You're right — wishful thinking. Generally, any excuse to pile on UConn football in the media is a good one.

UConn is more like the mangy, stray underdog nobody wants.

Make that "angry junkyard dog" and I'm with you.

 

[Colt house75]

You missed, yet agree with, my point. Edsall's not a "high-character" guy.

No, that's far from fair. The definition of a high character guy is not someone who, no matter the cost, takes the high road in every possible situation. That's a saint. High character guys take the high road more than average or low character guys. YOu can't rationally call someone low character because he plays by the rules in one instance to satisfy pressure to win when there may have been a morally superior option.

I haven't concluded he did anything wrong here. If Diaco recruited a bunch of kids who can't play at this level I'd hope he rescinds all of their scholarships and be straight with them. Dragging them in knowing full well they don't fit into their plans is the low character move. I don't believe for one second that the one sided story we've heard is the complete truth. For guys like you who hate Edsall, I'm not surprised you are easily duped by them.

Mr. Waqouit, Edsell2.0 took a high road and a morally conscious move by indicating to young Ryan he was not going to play at UCONN. You may argue that the higher road would have been for Edsell to encourage him to attend UCONN and honor a prior commitment made by Diaco. You indicate he is not a "high character" guy. I tend to look at it objectively, not knowing and privy to all that transpired in conversation with young Ryan, and believe that Edsel being truthful to young Ryan and indicating he was not going to play nor fit in with the current style of play was a highly moral move. The truth sometimes hurts but in the end young Ryan will have a degree and 4 years of playing time at URI, fully paid. Many times, people don't want to hear the truth. Hearing the truth will do more for young Ryan than the loquacious bombastic rhetoric of a former coach.

 

[uconnbill]

Setting him up for failure is not fair for the player or the team

 

[huskymedic]

Setting him up for failure is not fair for the player or the team

Mrs Golic agrees...

 

[MattMang23]

After the last couple days, I'm glad this kid isn't coming here. I have no use for whining crybabies on the team I root for. Spoiled, entitled society we live in. Good riddance.

 

[uconnell]

After the last couple days, I'm glad this kid isn't coming here. I have no use for whining crybabies on the team I root for. Spoiled, entitled society we live in. Good riddance.

That's a little harsh, especially since you don't know the young man.

 

[Pudge]

What fun!

We are going to enjoy bickering over more Edsall issues and fine line. I hated the era of Diaco-isms ... nuts. But enjoy Ollie-ism. Whodathunk