ESPN has Ajou as latest Pirate to transfer

[Halldan1]

Dan, no offense but do you really think the kid was happy about being told he wasn't wanted and he went skipping out the door? These kids have feelings. They are not machines that have no emotions. Ajou left quietly without any hoopla and if that is what is considered amicable, then I guess you are right. My heart just goes out to these kids. The disappointment is harder on them than you will ever know.

Ajou is a very intelligent young man. He would have to be blind not to see he isn't a D1 player and that if he stayed at the Hall he would never see the light of day.

With that thought in mind and wanting to play ball and not sit on the bench the decision was an easy one. He did what so many other players do. He chose minutes at another school over riding the pines here.

This is much to do about nothing. Just more venom aimed at Willard and the school because most everyone wants him out and will criticize everything he touches.

 

[SHUMatt]

Dan, I know people are upset with Willard but how doesn't this add to the venom? He was another player that did not have the talent to be here and another player to transfer out of the program under Willard. If this were the exception I doubt it would add to the venom. Unfortunately it is typical Willard. It just adds to the Grennan's and Wilson's to name a few.

 

[Seton75]

Yes, you can complain that he came in the first place, but complaining that we hurt is feelings on the way out is a little much. I remember reading about his career at NW and posted nfw can we be interested. He committed about 15 minutes later...

 

[jcalz88]

Dan, no offense but do you really think the kid was happy about being told he wasn't wanted and he went skipping out the door? These kids have feelings. They are not machines that have no emotions. Ajou left quietly without any hoopla and if that is what is considered amicable, then I guess you are right. My heart just goes out to these kids. The dissappointment is harder on them than you will ever know.

Awww his feelings are hurt????

 

[HALL85]

1-We should have never wasted a scholarship on him. Shows how desperate our recruiting has been and is
2-Hurt feelings? Really? Isn't this part of life? Pursuit of an opportunity and you either succeed or not. You learn and move on. What's with this coddle the athletes mentality? Life is hard sometimes...

 

[Section112]

Players know the score and that they can be moved out. There are lots of reasons for all the transfers that include players want more playing time, parents and advisors overvalue players ability and coaches move players out when they think they can get a better player. For Seton Hall the many transfers in the last five years stems from the larger issue - our staff continues to struggle on the recruiting trail.

 

[Burnsly]

What will typically occur in these situations is a coach will sit down with a player and go over his shortcomings and say he will never get any minutes and hint/encourage the player to weigh his options. My guess is that occured in this situation but its only a guess and its true he would not have gotten many minutes at all here. Hopefully it works out for both parties.

It's a tough business for both the kids and coaches and its important that the kids know that.

 

[Burnsly]

fwiw this is what happened with Gordon at Umass.

 

[jcalz88]

fwiw this is what happened with Gordon at Umass.

Gordon was told he would no longer get playing time on a UMass team he was the leader on??

 

[hallgrad80]

Players know the score and that they can be moved out. There are lots of reasons for all the transfers that include players want more playing time, parents and advisors overvalue players ability and coaches move players out when they think they can get a better player. For Seton Hall the many transfers in the last five years stems from the larger issue - our staff continues to struggle on the recruiting trail.

112
A lot of these type of problems could be eliminated if the coaches are honest with the players as to where they fit into the team , how many minutes they'll potentially see, etc. This is especially true for the player that's a reach like Ajou was. Of course you're absolutely right when you point out how this staff has struggled in its recruiting which has lead to bringing kids in who are question marks respecting their talent level and to having the ability to get time on the court

 

[knowknow456]

112
A lot of these type of problems could be eliminated if the coaches are honest with the players as to where they fit into the team , how many minutes they'll potentially see, etc. This is especially true for the player that's a reach like Ajou was. Of course you're absolutely right when you point out how this staff has struggled in its recruiting which has lead to bringing kids in who are question marks respecting their talent level and to having the ability to get time on the court

Wrong. How can you be honest with a player before they have arrived and you can evaluate them against your perception and against the other players on the team? Some future teammates may not even be on the team at the time you are recruiting the player in front of you. All you can promise is an opportunity to compete. Anything more is not really a good idea.

 

[HallBall02]

IMHO, If there is any blame with the Ajou scenario, it lies with Fred Hill bc he had a year to evaluate the talent in person at Northwestern. Williard gets a little blame too for offering Ajou during the brief period Seton hall was hot with recruits... instead of taking a better HS player.

Overall, Willard had to trust Hill's first hand opinion so this is on more on him

 

[hallgrad80]

Wrong. How can you be honest with a player before they have arrived and you can evaluate them against your perception and against the other players on the team? Some future teammates may not even be on the team at the time you are recruiting the player in front of you. All you can promise is an opportunity to compete. Anything more is not really a good idea.

Wrong .
You and I both know that promises are made to kids all the time to get them to commit to a school that includes getting significant minutes and starting. Kids are also promised that they will not be recruited over as an inducement to get them to commit as well and there are players that their skill set works against them ever getting significant time and that's a given from the first day they show up on campus and that's been true at SH . Do you think that anyone on the staff saw Ajou as anything more that a player who would get limited minutes , at best, and what's wrong with being up front with him about that.

 

[chickenbox]

I don't get why caring about someone's feelings is to be ridiculed or why ajou himself should be ridiculed for having sad ones. This is still putatively an amateur, student athlete enterprise. Things have changed dramatically over the past couple decades and now being pushed out to give your scholarship to a better player is common, but the idea used to be college coaches weren't general managers dealing year to year performance contingent ships. I'm sure this is all very naive but that doesn't mean I have to think it's totally cool how disposably players are treated

 

[knowknow456]

Wrong .
You and I both know that promises are made to kids all the time to get them to commit to a school that includes getting significant minutes and starting. Kids are also promised that they will not be recruited over as an inducement to get them to commit as well and there are players that their skill set works against them ever getting significant time and that's a given from the first day they show up on campus and that's been true at SH . Do you think that anyone on the staff saw Ajou as anything more that a player who would get limited minutes , at best, and what's wrong with being up front with him about that.

I am shocked, SHOCKED, that coaches make promises to kids to get them to commit. This is terrible and effective immediately I call for all coaches to be honest with their recruits. You have a deep and penetrating intellect to have come to such an insightful conclusion. Thanks for setting me straight.

Maybe you can help me answer this question. Why is Ajou now a DII prospect? A legitimate seven footer with an athletic body (neither a bean pole nor a tub of goo), smart enough to handle coursework at Northwestern and as far as we can tell, a nice guy who is not causing trouble should be able to get minutes at a lower DI program like FDU (NEC), Holy Cross (Patriot) or Columbia (Ivy).

 

[Halldan1]

Just an FYI. If Ajou transfers to another D1 program he will lose a year's eligibility as he has already redshirted once.

That's why most likely he'll go D2.

 

[hallgrad80]

Just an FYI. If Ajou transfers to another D1 program he will lose a year's eligibility as he has already redshirted once.

That's why most likely he'll go D2.

Dan
I thought that if you transfer from one four year school to another four year school the same transfer rules apply even if you're going from D-1 to D-2 , at least that's how I read the transfer rules. I had the same thought as you that he could play immediately if he went D-2 and that was driving his decision to go to D-2 but now I'm not sure.

 

[mjs428]

Nothing wrong with Willard telling the young man to go somewhere else and play. Problem was giving him a scholarship in the 1st place. If he couldn't play at NW why would ppl think he could play here

 

[NYC Pirate]

No offense to Ajou, but I never understood this signing from Day 1. If Kevin Johnson didn't work
out and he at least was a nice HS player in California how was this going to work. I agree with the
the idea that every single guy on the roster can't get huge minutes. On the other hand the 5 position has
been such a problem area that you need to have a guy on the team that has more basketball experience. In addition if you're using a valuable scholarship then you better be committed to coaching the kid up. So this was lose lose you'd have to say. Like I said at the end of the year in my comments, I'm not sure they recruit in a
smart fashion.