Mike White was trying to get Stapleton too? or was it Ole Miss since White was an asst. coach for kennedy?
Sorry, but that's BS, just like Stapleton's excuse for leaving.
Those ridiculous restrictions leave Bama as basically his only option (if Bama would even give him a scholarship) if it's a priority for him to play within a 5-hour drive of his home so his family can go watch him play. Expand it to a 6-hour radius, and Auburn is the only additional realistic school.
And our roster is not getting raided. One SA requested a transfer. One juco signee was released from his NLI. That's it. Not bad considering the coaching change. Jean decided to stay with Tech, and Ruttley never signed a binding agreement with Tech.
Fine if you want us to be the "minor leagues" of college basketball. He can go to lots of junior colleges much closer to his home than Ruston. Dude can take the "path less traveled", but that doesn't make it a good decision for him just because he took it. Actions have consequences.
How does taking a moral stand suggest I want us to be the "minor leagues?" This is a right and wrong ethical issue. Not much pisses me off more than our own AD, our own coaches, our own fans, and our media when they refer to us as a "mid-major." I refrained from going off on our AD after his post-"White to UF" press conference and our fans throughout the process. I don't understand how losing a stupid coach can cause so many of "us" to lose self-esteem. We are a Tier 1 national research university competing at the highest level of major college athletics in Conference USA. Losing a few coaches, a transfer, and a juco signee can't change that. There is nothing "mid" or "minor" about us. Just ask Texas A&M, Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida State, Illinois, Virginia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, etc.
Yeah, he can go to lots of jucos, and I honestly think that's the best route for him if he wants to leave Tech. However, McClelland should not be forcing Stapleton down the juco path. It should be Stapleton's choice, not McClelland's.
My argument has nothing to do with where Stapleton wants to play basketball or whether transferring is a good decision or not. What I'm saying is Stapleton and his family should be granted the autonomy to choose where he furthers his basketball career.
And yes, actions have consequences. If Stapleton chooses to transfer to another DI school, he'd have to sit out next season regardless of the school he picks, and he'd likely have one less year to play professional basketball for a living. To our knowledge, Stapleton did nothing wrong to deserve him being banned from transferring to 55 different schools. That's cruel and unusual punishment.
The way I see it is, Stapleton is a special player. His potential is sky high. Wherever he goes, he will start. He will make that team better, and we will be worse. That hurts us, and more so if that school is one against which we recruit.
I would have been fine with no CUSA, no LA, and no SEC, but I'm fine with this also. I believe X is that good with that much potential. The one other that may leave, I don't care if he has any restrictions at all because it won't hurt much in my opinion.
Looks to me like TM has issued a "Monroe Doctrine". Good move!
He might enjoy Idaho.
Good old Memorial Gym
It's crazy to me that Louisiana Tech fans, in 2015, can be so blinded by the rage of a departing player to even think this is remotely right. It's not right; it's ridiculous. I don't want X to leave. I thought he had the potential to be a great, great player at Louisiana Tech. I'm pissed off that he's leaving. But to restrict his transfer to 55 schools is ridiculous. No college should be in the business of telling a transferring athlete where he can and can't go. Did Mike White tamper? Fine, report him to the NCAA and restrict Florida. Were Ole Miss and Mississippi State boosters recruiting him? Report them and restrict those specific schools. Call them out specifically, instead of hiding behind some blanket restriction because you want to hold this kid's future in your hands. I'm against restrictions of any form on almost all circumstances. If there's tampering, then restrictions are fine. But have the fortitude to call those schools out specifically instead of just limiting any and every option. Hell, X can't even go home and play at Jackson State of all places. That's just wrong. It's wrong of Tommy McClelland, and it's wrong of our fans for supporting it.
the bold, the beautiful, theprofessor
I am not blinded by rage, and I am fairly certain I will sleep just fine tonight. I probably would not have done the 4 states, but certainly CUSA and SEC. McClelland probably overreacted to what he failed to do correctly the first time. If kids don't want to be here, then they should go- but the reasoning was insane. He should have just said that he had Coach White calling him and he wanted to continue playing for him. Either way, McClelland certainly was correct in making restrictions.
It's as simple as a non-compete clause in a contract, scholarships have them. I have one on my contract. If I leave my current job they can restrict my employment for a set amount of time, just like a school can in this situation. He is restricted from schools that tampered as well as schools that our coaches go out and recruit against, I have zero problem with that. Louisiana Tech did not make X leave, he took it upon himself to leave after committing then recommitting to his coaches and teammates.
While I believe that 55 schools sounds extremely harsh, I do agree with the restrictions that Tommy gave to X. This is a flat out bogus reason to transfer. He says that Tech has no stability because we lose Coach White, and we lose an assistant that was at Tech for a whole 8 days. That is fine and dandy, but it sounds mighty hypocritical for him to say Tech has no stability and he bolts as well. He seems to be an ego centered player who is worried about himself which is fine, but not the type of player that Tech needs. We need more Smith, Appleby, and Kyser type guys who love their university, not more guys who want out just because a coach.
06 your point is ridiculous. Sitting out a year is not a big deal at all just because of transferring. He loses no eligibilty. The level of basketball that Tech is at rivals Ole Miss, Miss State, and other schools of that nature and that is why I agree with restricting him from all those schools.