UrsaMajor said:
concordtom said:
This thread was about the Chronicle story.
Notice I haven't spoken about the Chauca situation. It was done within the rules for Jones to gain an open scholarship while allowing The kid to keep his scholarship.
But who did Jones gain on the court by doing so? Honest question, I forget.
And Who will Jones gain by cutting DW and AM?
That's my point.
Those of you who think I think they should play on the court are kinda missing my point, that Jones has shot himself in the foot while not helping his student athletes out.
Anyways, most of the posters here disagree with me, and I accept that. It's okay. I just would have gone about it differently. My recruits woulda been my charges, and I'd have looked at them as developing individuals, not mercenary basketball players. Then again, I'm not making Jones' salary. And I coach a good bit of youth soccer, so I'm all about player development, individual growth, working with what I got.
Cheers, off to swim meet announcing.
you know, Tom, I kinda agree with you about looking at players as charges. The problem is, however, that Jones is paid to win games and will be fired if he doesn't. Unfortunately, in today's D1 sports, growth and development and $3 gets you a cup of coffee on your way out the door.
As for what Jones gets by cutting DW and AM, if they stay at Cal 4 years, he gets nothing. If they leave, he gets 2 scholarships he can use on better players.
I don't disagree. I do see the relationship between coach and player a little differently. One of the main purposes of amateur sports, including intercollegiate team sports is to help young men and women mature, and that means building character, teaching athletes to work together for team success, teaching them about competition, respect, and how to handle winning and losing.
On a college basketball team, maybe one player goes on to play in the NBA, and one or two more to play overseas. One or two might go into coaching, and a couple more might choose sports media as a career. For the rest, learning basketball skills is practically useless after college, except teach your kids to play the game, if they are interested. Or maybe to be able to wad a piece of paper into a ball, and shoot it across the room into a waste basket to impress your girlfriend.
The coach is hired or fired on his ability to produce winners, fill seats, and not soil the University's reputation. The problem with this thread is that we really don't know what was said between the coach and each player. I am particularly interested to know what Jones told each player at the time he offered the scholarship, about what it represented. He has said that the signing of the two was late and hasty decision, but he must have or should have told them at the time what the scholarship meant, knowing they were marginal recruits. He must have known that in this rebuilding there would be casualties, and he should have informed those players that the scholarship did not mean they had 4-year spots on the team, but that they would have the spots for a year, but after that new players would be arriving, and it would mean they would still have to compete to earn their spots on the team for another year. I believe the 4-year scholarship was mandated by the PAC12, so Cal would have had to honor the scholarships if the players were cut and decided to remain at Cal as students. If the players did not receive that information as recruits, then that does not say much about how we recruit the lower ranked or unranked recruit.
I am concerned about how the players were cut. Both of them must have known this might happen, as by the end of the season, they were rarely playing, compared to the first half of the season. Winston had even started the opener at point guard. I never thought McCullogh was given much chance. He rarely took more than one shot in a game, and that isn't enough to even get warm or comfortable. He could not create, so maybe he needed a screen in front of him, but Cal's offense did not run that, did they?
I am concerned about cutting freshmen who are "not PAC12" level. I remember Sam Singer who arrived as also "not PAC12" level, a fact pointed out by many fans on the BI. And yet Sam worked his tail off, improved each year, and became a serviceable backup PAC12 point guard, with very good defensive skills (nearly all learned at Cal), and a decent passer. Perhaps Jones did not see that competitive drive in Winston or McCullough. But it looks like both players realized they had little value, and would be cut by season's end. It is important whether or not they were told of this possibility as recruits. The way the players' families have reacted may mean maybe they were not told. Or maybe they are just being parents defending their kids a little too much. We just don't know.
As for CT, I sympathize with him, but I think he is being pretty creative based on a story he read in the Chronicle which is no better than the rest of the country's newspapers when it comes to sticking with the facts. I gave up reading that rag years ago.
