SI.com Article : Phil Martilli is a , St Joe's AD is spineless, and the NCAA is a joke

[UConnSportsGuy]

Just read this article on SI.com about Todd O'Brien and couldn't believe it. Basically, the kid transfered to UAB for his graduate degree (like hundreds have players have done now), but Phil Martilli refuses to 'release him' for no other reason than spite. And the NCAA did nothing about it. I hope this kid sues St Joes and the NCAA and wins...but we all know that will never happen.

You better believe that this article will be given to every recruit from schools that are competing with St Joes for a recruit. Martilli and St Joes sound like complete pricks in this situation and are basically screwing a kid out of his Sr year just because they can and because they are a##holes. Can't be great for potential prospects who are looking at going to St Joes!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...odd.obrien/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t12_a2

 

[Kurt]

Wow that seems incredibly petty of a head coach.

 

[caw]

Wow not shocking though I remember the st. Joes coach was a jerk in 2004 also when I met him briefly.

 

[aceboon]

Hopefully the Philly and national media picks up on this and applies some heat to Martelli

 

[Elitehuskies]

What a doucebag Phil Martelli is for doing this. Having read this article, it sickens me voices like Todd's don't get heard often enough. These coaches with complete control over players and potentially their futures is just not right. I do hope this publicity will vindicate Todd and cast negativity for Martelli and the administrators who looked the other way. Good luck to Todd in achieving his dreams.

 

[Rico444]

What a piece of garbage.

 

[prankster]

In many cases, you just cannot buy, with any amount of advertising budget, the kind of positive public opinion that can derive from a well crafted, positive, placement of a public relations piece.....

On the flip side....you can look at that SI article and just shake your head at how petty, mean spirited....and, yes, mind numbingly stupid St Joseph's is for allowing this to get this far...

UConnSportsGuy is absolutely correct....every single coach who is in a battle for a prospect, with St, Joes, will pull out a copy of this article.... There will be stack of reprints in every coach's office throughout the A-10 and beyond....

And that only begins the cascade of bad things that derive from this...

All of St. Joes alumni and boosters are going to be quacking about how bad this makes the school look....And their AD and SID, along with the President, allready look like Ebeneezer Scrooge in this....The school gets not one damned thing positive out of this decision and they each earn a well deserved life-long reputation of being a vindictive jerk...

The NCAA is probably bigger jerks than St Joes, in this....but in the end, no one will blame that nameless, faceless buerocracy, when they have real people (and a very, very real person in Martelli) who are at the epicenter of this.

When it comes to having the last word on this, I have to give big kudos to O'Brien for pulling this off....WOW did he ever deliver a well placed kick in the nuts to St. Joes....and at this point, even if St. Joes releases the kid and gives him everything else he could possibly want in life, the stain never gets erased...

And it is going to cost St. Joes millions in their effort to rebuild their reputation....

Merry Christmas, Martelli...you are a real ! And all the sports world now knows it!

 

[HuskyBballFan]

What's especially troubling here is that Martelli and St. Joe's aren't gaining anything by not releasing him. It's one thing to try and strong-arm a player into not transferring because you want him to stay and play for your team. But this kid is enrolled in classes and practicing with the team at UAB.

 

[TRest]

Isn't Martelli Geno's butt-boy?

 

[benjordan]

Meanwhile college coaches (see Pitt) continue to flee schools at the first sign of a better situation.

 

[UconnDon]

Does St.Joe's harbor any aspirations to join the BE bb group?? This could be a black ball vote.

 

[UConn3432]

I don't understand the reasoning behind it. They have nothing to gain and now have a huge PR mess. I hope this blows up.

Only way this has a happy ending is if they take away jameer nelson's 2004 NPOY award and give it to its rightful owner.

 

[gibhunter]

Apparently this kid stole laptop, got suspended, then waited until after recruiting period was pretty much over to bail. Martelli didn't have enough time to fill that schollie with a quality player and got pissed off. Apparently he is a vindictive SOB.

 

[UConn3432]

i wish we could criticize people for stealing laptops. oh well.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Wow not shocking though I remember the st. Joes coach was a jerk in 2004 also when I met him briefly.

to be fair ive heard the same thing from people that have met jc.

 

[ucjoet]

Apparently this kid stole laptop, got suspended, then waited until after recruiting period was pretty much over to bail. Martelli didn't have enough time to fill that schollie with a quality player and got pissed off. Apparently he is a vindictive SOB.

Are you serious about the laptop situation ?

 

[Silk City]

I hope St. Joe's runs into his team in the NIT

 

[nomar]

This article by Jeff Goodman lays it all out and comes to the obvious conclusion that Martelli is being a moron. Whatever O'Brien did to Martelli and St. Joe's, they are hurting him way worse. A Christian college and its coach should know how to turn the other cheek, no? Or at least know how to avoid horrendous PR?

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/33967871

 

[Huskymaniac]

Isn't Martelli Geno's butt-boy?

You are in the closet, aren't you?

The way I see it, Martelli is in a no-win situation here. The kid had disciplinary problems including stealing laptops and not showing up for practices and such. He also told them he was coming back, dragged his feet on the paperwork and then announced he wasn't coming back after the recruiting period had ended. It looks like he strung them along to get his summer classes in so he could get his degree. But even if he didn't, he definitely screwed their recruiting. This kid has manipulative primadonna written all over him and you guys are killing Martelli?!?! If we had a player at UConn who had his track record and did this, you would all be in full support of Calhoun had he done the same thing to the kid. Martelli isn't an idiot. He might be a vindictive hothead. But if he gives the kid what he wants, he comes out looking weak to the remaining players. If he does what he did, he looks like a foolish vindicitive jerk. The real villian here is the whiny kid who needs to learn that he is not entitled. He is 22 for chissakes...grow up and be a man of your word!

 

[nomar]

You are in the closet, aren't you?

The way I see it, Martelli is in a no-win situation here. The kid had disciplinary problems including stealing laptops and not showing up for practices and such. He also told them he was coming back, dragged his feet on the paperwork and then announced he wasn't coming back after the recruiting period had ended. It looks like he strung them along to get his summer classes in so he could get his degree. But even if he didn't, he definitely screwed their recruiting. This kid has manipulative primadonna written all over him and you guys are killing Martelli?!?! If we had a player at UConn who had his track record and did this, you would all be in full support of Calhoun had he done the same thing to the kid. Martelli isn't an idiot. He might be a vindictive hothead. But if he gives the kid what he wants, he comes out looking weak to the remaining players. If he does what he did, he looks like a foolish vindicitive jerk. The real villian here is the whiny kid who needs to learn that he is not entitled. He is 22 for chissakes...grow up and be a man of your word!

In two words, you're wrong. This is blowing up in Martelli's and St. Joe's faces. They made the wrong decision, period.

I would ABSOLUTELY not support Calhoun if he did this. Name a single kid that you would want to STOP from playing his senior year. Name a kid! One kid! Wiggins? Wrenn? Jamal Coombs-McDaniel? Who? Miles? Name one guy. You'd really want to end a kid's career because he wasn't straight with a coach who had totally cut his playing time (and who, I should add, you're crediting with being blameless, even though for all we know was a jerk to O'Brien)? Really???

 

[Huskymaniac]

In two words, you're wrong. This is blowing up in Martelli's and St. Joe's faces. They made the wrong decision, period.

If you say it, it must be so. No need to waste time making an argument based on facts and reason or anything crazy like that.

This is blowing up because only one side of the story is being told and even those who give the other side don't give it the same emphasis and slant the story to the negative because, as we UConn fans know, that is what sells. A wise man realizes that there aren't right and wrong decisions. There are only actions and their consequences. Martelli has to deal with his consequences and so does the kid who, apparently, still doesn't get that his actions have consequences.

 

[nomar]

If you say it, it must be so. No need to waste time making an argument based on facts and reason or anything crazy like that.

This is blowing up because only one side of the story is being told and even those who give the other side don't give it the same emphasis and slant the story to the negative because, as we UConn fans know, that is what sells. A wise man realizes that there aren't right and wrong decisions. There are only actions and their consequences. Martelli has to deal with his consequences and so does the kid who, apparently, still doesn't get that his actions have consequences.

Oh don't be silly. I didn't say "you're wrong" and rest my case. I explained why your position is, to me, inane. I challenged you to come up with one situation where you would actually back a coach in ENDING an otherwise eligible kid's college career. You didn't, because you couldn't.

Yeah, Martelli does have to deal with his consequences. But those consequences probably don't include his coaching career coming to an end.

It was stupid for Martelli to be punitive, and it was even stupider for him not to anticipate any fallout from being punitive.

 

[Waquoit]

The way I see it, Martelli is in a no-win situation here. ... It looks like he strung them along to get his summer classes in so he could get his degree.

So a kid lets the system work for him and gets a degree? Instead of letting the coach run him out of school? That's a primadonna alright. At least it looks good for their APR.

 

[Gurleyman]

To be honest, this rule is screwed up. St. Joe's should have no say in the matter. He got his degree from the school and wants to attend somewhere else for his graduate degree. St. Joe's - or any school in this situation - should have zero say in the person's graduate eligibility. He has fulfilled his responsibility to St. Joe's when he earned his degree, and the fact that they still have some say in his basketball status is disturbing.

 

[babysheep]

I mean this is the school where students mocked that Nova player for being gay. I dunno how they can call themselves a Jesuit school.