Perils of the Portal - Kentucky player asked to transfer

[Wildcatfan3]

Where is the outrage for Saniah Tyler, who is also a senior that stayed on one year for Brooks after Elzy got fired. She is in the same boat as Rowe as well, but you don't hear anything about her cause she's not from Kentucky. So if Brook decided to let Rowe stay to keep fans happy, but not Tyler how does that look?

 

[WBBTakeover]

Where is the outrage for Saniah Tyler, who is also a senior that stayed on one year for Brooks after Elzy got fired. She is in the same boat as Rowe as well, but you don't hear anything about her cause she's not from Kentucky. So if Brook decided to let Rowe stay to keep fans happy, but not Tyler how does that look?

Well, that's one reason...

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Where is the outrage for Saniah Tyler, who is also a senior that stayed on one year for Brooks after Elzy got fired. She is in the same boat as Rowe as well, but you don't hear anything about her cause she's not from Kentucky. So if Brook decided to let Rowe stay to keep fans happy, but not Tyler how does that look?

Perhaps there would be more outrage if it was known that she was asked to leave and wanted to return. I believe the biggest key is that the people in Cassidy's circle has made it abundantly clear that she only wants to be a Kentucky Wildcat and felt blindsided.

I said this before, I personally believe this happens all the time and generally gets swept under the rug. The biggest difference is that someone is actually calling it out for once. Is it unfair for Brooks, to some degree I believe so, but his having multiple players/families having similar stories is whats giving this incident more legs.

 

[JoePgh]

Given that (as Nan notes) NCAA scholarships are for one year and are subject to annual renewal, I don't see any ethical problem with a coach deciding that a particular player simply isn't good enough to make the cut next year, even though she made the cut this year. Coaches, after all, are assembling a roster to win games and championships. And players should know that the coach has made no contractual or moral commitment to maintain their athletic scholarship for more than one year.

It's true that rather than just non-renewing, a coach may tell a player that they are down on the anticipated depth chart for the upcoming year, and (barring injuries) are unlikely to see much playing time. Most players will find it unappetizing to stay after they hear that message, and will leave on their own. But some may choose to stay anyway, because of academic pursuits or simply because they enjoy the company and friendship of their teammates. If a better incoming player needs to take the scholarship slot of one of those players, then it is within the coach's proper purview to non-renew that player's scholarship. Especially in the world of NIL, WCBB is a business, and players should expect teams to be run that way.

Without naming names, I don't think that all of the UConn players who left for the transfer portal in recent years were acting entirely on their own volition. They may have received some level of encouragement from the coaches to look for opportunities to play elsewhere.

 

[bschwartz]

Geno has said multiple times if players want to be treated like professionals with the money and all of it, they could/should be able to be fired. I am sure it has happened at UConn before. I guess the question is whether they are kids or adults? I see them as adults, business owners of their own image, in this new world. They are free agents each year. I’d feel bad for a kid. Adults get fired every day. Adults have to move on. Sounds like she is handling it maturely. Hope she is successful at PT school.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Geno has said multiple times if players want to be treated like professionals with the money and all of it, they could/should be able to be fired. I am sure it has happened at UConn before. I guess the question is whether they are kids or adults? I see them as adults, business owners of their own image, in this new world. They are free agents each year. I’d feel bad for a kid. Adults get fired every day. Adults have to move on. Sounds like she is handling it maturely. Hope she is successful at PT school.

If you're going to go this route, then you'd need to sign students to contracts rather than NLIs and clearly delineate their roles so that they can be fired with cause (because I don't think that they're going to go for an environment where they can be fired without cause).

 

[BRS24]

If Brooks' daughter is on an athletic scholarship, why can't she give it up, and then perhaps gets either in state tuition and/or a faculty discount? There were probably a few ways to deal with this "situation"

 

[adamspt2]

I can't say for absolute certain but I am under the impression that his daughter is not on an athletic scholarship.

 

[packwrap]

Given that (as Nan notes) NCAA scholarships are for one year and are subject to annual renewal, I don't see any ethical problem with a coach deciding that a particular player simply isn't good enough to make the cut next year, even though she made the cut this year. Coaches, after all, are assembling a roster to win games and championships. And players should know that the coach has made no contractual or moral commitment to maintain their athletic scholarship for more than one year.

I'm usually very neutral on this subject, not getting emotional about disloyalty by players or coaches. I also became a Brooks fan this year watching his interactions with Amoore and her family, and developing the post player Silva.

Now, I'm more dubious as Silva is leaving and the decision with Cass is questionable.

A coach who is close to the players would certainly know the effort and planning it took for her to get into a DPT program, and how the school would work around basketball to help her get through year 1 of a 3 yr program, while playing SEC basketball.

A player like Cass who may not get many game minutes, can still be huge as the 15th player on the roster, just by being there every day to fill out drills and teams at practice and scrimmages. The 15th scholarship has often been used to reward walk ons at UConn, or recently at TCU, who bailed out short rosters.

Brooks gets judged on this one by what his roster ends up looking like. Does he really end up with full 15? Is the 15th so good that they should have dumped Cass?

Lastly, if coach Brooks knew be was going to cut bait with the end of the bench, why didn't he communicate this earlier, so Cass wouldn't waste the effort applying to DPT at Kentucky?

No matter how this works, it certainly shows Brooks is tone deaf. Cass on team all season while doing year 1 of DPT is a fantastic student/athlete feelgood story!
Dumping her makes him look like the grinch.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I still take the position that we don't know both sides of the story.

But this is a professional sport where players will get paid salaries. We aren't taking about little league and everyone gets to play.

These are select teams and UK has met every reasonable expectation of what it promised this person when it recruited her.

Being a good person or wanting to hang around the team isn't a complete justification for being entitled to stay on the roster.

She would take up time and resources that are better spent on someone else perhaps the coaches think and that's an entirely adequate reason, if that was reason, for not asking her back.

 

[packwrap]

I still take the position that we don't know both sides of the story.

But this is a professional sport where players will get paid salaries. We aren't taking about little league and everyone gets to play.

These are select teams and UK has met every reasonable expectation of what it promised this person when it recruited her.

Completely agree with all you said as facts.

Still - big spending pro team TCU, used their 14 and 15 scholarships to reward their walk ons. The 'under frogs' became a nice story for TCU.

Most teams including Kentucky really only play 7-8 players in games. Having too much talent on a 15 player roster, only leads to frustration and future transfers for more playing time.

Still - communication could have been much clearer and more timely in this case.

Coach really didn't know his player was applying, accepted to DPT? I hadn't even mentioned this earlier but same $milion dollar coach is using a similar end of bench scholarship for his daughter???

I will eagerly scrutinize the 14th and 15th spot on 25-26 Kentucky roster.

 

[Fossil]

Um Rowe was a starter on the worst team in the conference. She didn't play this year cause Brooks brought in talent that finished fourth in the SEC. This decision has zero impact on basketball itself, it's just more of a bad PR situation that was probably avoidable. Brooks has no promises to any of the players he didn't recruit or hand out a scholarship to.

No, but the school did. If he didn’t want her on the team, he should at least pay for the rest of her education if she wants to step down from playing basketball at his request I just think it’s really crappy that a new coach comes in and actually asks a player to enter the portal, especially after watching that video new opinion of Kenny Brooks. It may be a business but they’re still young adults that were offered a scholarship to play basketball a game. i’m sorry for the Kentucky fans, but I hope karma comes back to haunt him and he never has a good team again.

 

[Fossil]

I think the issue people have is that Brooks’ daughter Gabby is on scholarship despite being no better than Rowe. It’s pretty clear nepotism. Asking a player to leave is also just… it doesn’t look good for Brooks given his history.

And given the fact that Rowe is home grown Kentucky kid. Shameful.

 

[Forego]

But Kenny must be a really good coach. After all he finished fourth in the voting for the AP Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year. And, we all know how objective, thorough and consistent the AP voters are.