Anyone can get beat on an isolated basis. Fraud happens and it's not always possible to uncover.
When it's happening with a frequency bordering on consistent either (1) an appropriate level of due diligence is not being done, or (2) risks are being taken that are not well-calculated.
At least one of those issues has become systemic here. I agreed with the strategy generally in year 1 - you have to take recruiting chances to level the playing field with the big boys when you're a new kid on the block. That we are still engaging that arena on some level in year 4 is unfortunate.
I don't even care about the direct results of the risks being taken. You have to be aggressive to recruit at the highest level when you're not Duke, and my eyes are wide open as to the many difficulties associated with that. It sounds blunt to put it this way, but at the end of the day we weren't getting a player better than Keith Thomas with that scholarship, so if he doesn't work out, for whatever reason, what's the downside?
The collateral damage. Dealing with this stuff every year is reputation damaging and places a stigma around the program. You think this dismissal just rolls right off the players' backs? It does not, they know as well as we do they just lost a player penciled in for starters' minutes at the 4. These types of distractions are draining, especially for a group of seniors who has had to deal with them every single year they've been here. It's not always their job to persevere. Sometimes they just shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense.
How about recruits? You think it makes players and their parents about to make an important life decision feel warm and cozy to be reminded that players at SJU get declared ineligible, suspended, or dismissed every year? It does not. Hopefully it doesn't preclude them from coming here, but it makes an already uphill battle that much more difficult for us.
A high-major D1 program is never going to be without issues. But we have got to stop having so many more than our fair share.
When it's happening with a frequency bordering on consistent either (1) an appropriate level of due diligence is not being done, or (2) risks are being taken that are not well-calculated.
At least one of those issues has become systemic here. I agreed with the strategy generally in year 1 - you have to take recruiting chances to level the playing field with the big boys when you're a new kid on the block. That we are still engaging that arena on some level in year 4 is unfortunate.
I don't even care about the direct results of the risks being taken. You have to be aggressive to recruit at the highest level when you're not Duke, and my eyes are wide open as to the many difficulties associated with that. It sounds blunt to put it this way, but at the end of the day we weren't getting a player better than Keith Thomas with that scholarship, so if he doesn't work out, for whatever reason, what's the downside?
The collateral damage. Dealing with this stuff every year is reputation damaging and places a stigma around the program. You think this dismissal just rolls right off the players' backs? It does not, they know as well as we do they just lost a player penciled in for starters' minutes at the 4. These types of distractions are draining, especially for a group of seniors who has had to deal with them every single year they've been here. It's not always their job to persevere. Sometimes they just shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense.
How about recruits? You think it makes players and their parents about to make an important life decision feel warm and cozy to be reminded that players at SJU get declared ineligible, suspended, or dismissed every year? It does not. Hopefully it doesn't preclude them from coming here, but it makes an already uphill battle that much more difficult for us.
A high-major D1 program is never going to be without issues. But we have got to stop having so many more than our fair share.
