Post by Wiltz on Jul 8, 2006 17:18:50 GMT -5
Read this article. Surpisingly it is from VA. I won't take credit for it hawkfever posted it on the Mat.
hawkfever
Silver Member
IA, USA
Total Posts: 1651
Posted: 07/08/2006 at 5:08:38 pm reply with quote
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And then there's this view. From Hampton Roads, VA. Sounds like this gentleman has let common sense influence his article . Shame on him.
www.dailypress.com/sports/columnists/dp-69303cm0jul08,0,133414.column?coll=dp-sports-columnists
Va. Tech, recruits wrestle over releases
Published July 8 2006
The nasty little greasefire that started in the Virginia Tech wrestling program provides object lessons in ambition, big-school maneuvering and that annoying place known as the real world.
Everyone has a case. Everyone has a point. There's enough righteous indignation to heat the Jamerson Center through Christmas.
Kids are caught in the middle. Lawyers are involved. And win or lose, Virginia Tech looks bad.
In summary, five former Hokie wrestlers are suing the school to obtain releases from their letters-of-intent so that they may follow coach Tom Brands to Iowa and compete immediately.
The kids, all high-profile prospects who redshirted as freshmen last winter, and their parents say that athletic director Jim Weaver promised them during the recruiting process that they would be released if Brands took another job.
Without the release, the wrestlers must sit out a year of competition and cannot receive athletic financial aid - effectively shortening their college athletic careers to three years and forcing them to pony up their own money to attend school for a year.
After exhausting all of the appeals processes that Tech and the NCAA provide, the kids and their parents took the undesirable, but very American route, and became plaintiffs.
Tech officials are torqued off that Brands bolted after only two years. Brands is torqued off at Tech for its treatment of the kids. The kids and their parents are torqued off because they believe they were lied to.
Add some marital tension and a hidden bank account and we'd have a dandy Dr. Phil episode.
All of this began with Tech's decision to emphasize wrestling and hire Brands. Hokie honchos reasoned that the Iowa alum and former NCAA and Olympic champ certainly could make immediate noise in the ACC - where Tech's non-revenue sports collectively lacked - and perhaps build a national program.
Those aims ran into a bridge abutment when the Iowa job came open this spring and Brands predictably returned to his alma mater, a traditional wrestling power.
Compounding Tech's problem was that nearly half the team initially wanted to follow Brands. The proposed mass exodus pared down to the present five freshmen, three of whom are native Iowans who practically revere Brands.
Because all five redshirted last winter, there was some griping that Tech got nothing for its initial investment and that Brands and Iowa would reap the benefits (This is what happens when people are viewed as commodities and not flesh-and-blood, but that's a discussion for another time).
No matter the reasons, Weaver and Tech officials fell back on the strict language of the letter-of-intent, which states that an athlete signs with an institution, not a coach. You may commence eye-rolling and mutter, "Whatever," any time now.
Virginia Tech, indeed all schools, release athletes from letters-of-intent all the time for everything from homesickness to personality conflicts to coaching changes. Except this time.
Weaver told the kids that if they wrestled for the Hokies and new coach Kevin Dresser next season and still wanted to leave, he would grant them a release.
Feeling burned already, they declined that option and will not re-enroll.
Even before the lawsuit was filed, Tech's athletic department did itself and the wrestling program no favors.
The school appears petty and vindictive for not granting releases to kids who no longer wanted to be there.
Top-shelf recruits, particularly from out-of-state, can't help but think twice before signing at Tech. Is the Hokies' word good, or is it all about the fine print?
From Tech's vantage, the legal outcomes appear similar.
If Tech wins, it's out five wrestlers who lose a year of eligibility and whose families must stroke big checks for school and attorneys.
If Tech loses, it's out five wrestlers who will be eligible immediately elsewhere and may receive scholarship money, which will help offset the families' big checks for attorneys.
The only guaranteed winners? Do you really need to ask?
hawkfever
Silver Member
IA, USA
Total Posts: 1651
Posted: 07/08/2006 at 5:08:38 pm reply with quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then there's this view. From Hampton Roads, VA. Sounds like this gentleman has let common sense influence his article . Shame on him.
www.dailypress.com/sports/columnists/dp-69303cm0jul08,0,133414.column?coll=dp-sports-columnists
Va. Tech, recruits wrestle over releases
Published July 8 2006
The nasty little greasefire that started in the Virginia Tech wrestling program provides object lessons in ambition, big-school maneuvering and that annoying place known as the real world.
Everyone has a case. Everyone has a point. There's enough righteous indignation to heat the Jamerson Center through Christmas.
Kids are caught in the middle. Lawyers are involved. And win or lose, Virginia Tech looks bad.
In summary, five former Hokie wrestlers are suing the school to obtain releases from their letters-of-intent so that they may follow coach Tom Brands to Iowa and compete immediately.
The kids, all high-profile prospects who redshirted as freshmen last winter, and their parents say that athletic director Jim Weaver promised them during the recruiting process that they would be released if Brands took another job.
Without the release, the wrestlers must sit out a year of competition and cannot receive athletic financial aid - effectively shortening their college athletic careers to three years and forcing them to pony up their own money to attend school for a year.
After exhausting all of the appeals processes that Tech and the NCAA provide, the kids and their parents took the undesirable, but very American route, and became plaintiffs.
Tech officials are torqued off that Brands bolted after only two years. Brands is torqued off at Tech for its treatment of the kids. The kids and their parents are torqued off because they believe they were lied to.
Add some marital tension and a hidden bank account and we'd have a dandy Dr. Phil episode.
All of this began with Tech's decision to emphasize wrestling and hire Brands. Hokie honchos reasoned that the Iowa alum and former NCAA and Olympic champ certainly could make immediate noise in the ACC - where Tech's non-revenue sports collectively lacked - and perhaps build a national program.
Those aims ran into a bridge abutment when the Iowa job came open this spring and Brands predictably returned to his alma mater, a traditional wrestling power.
Compounding Tech's problem was that nearly half the team initially wanted to follow Brands. The proposed mass exodus pared down to the present five freshmen, three of whom are native Iowans who practically revere Brands.
Because all five redshirted last winter, there was some griping that Tech got nothing for its initial investment and that Brands and Iowa would reap the benefits (This is what happens when people are viewed as commodities and not flesh-and-blood, but that's a discussion for another time).
No matter the reasons, Weaver and Tech officials fell back on the strict language of the letter-of-intent, which states that an athlete signs with an institution, not a coach. You may commence eye-rolling and mutter, "Whatever," any time now.
Virginia Tech, indeed all schools, release athletes from letters-of-intent all the time for everything from homesickness to personality conflicts to coaching changes. Except this time.
Weaver told the kids that if they wrestled for the Hokies and new coach Kevin Dresser next season and still wanted to leave, he would grant them a release.
Feeling burned already, they declined that option and will not re-enroll.
Even before the lawsuit was filed, Tech's athletic department did itself and the wrestling program no favors.
The school appears petty and vindictive for not granting releases to kids who no longer wanted to be there.
Top-shelf recruits, particularly from out-of-state, can't help but think twice before signing at Tech. Is the Hokies' word good, or is it all about the fine print?
From Tech's vantage, the legal outcomes appear similar.
If Tech wins, it's out five wrestlers who lose a year of eligibility and whose families must stroke big checks for school and attorneys.
If Tech loses, it's out five wrestlers who will be eligible immediately elsewhere and may receive scholarship money, which will help offset the families' big checks for attorneys.
The only guaranteed winners? Do you really need to ask?