A closer look at the Taylor case
Written by: Todd Rosiak
Based on some of the feedback I've gotten regarding St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley's strong comments as relating to Tyshawn Taylor and his letter of intent, some people are upset with his seemingly heavy-handed approach.
He has his reasons, though.
After 35 years in the coaching business -- and a spot on this year's Basketball Hall of Fame ballot, don't forget -- Hurley's seen plenty, including similar situations in which his players have signed with schools only to see the coach leave and the player stuck toiling for a coach who not only wasn't familiar with him, but, in Hurley's mind, couldn't coach him adequately.
Hurley wasn't suggesting that will happen at MU, but said he felt he needed to protect the interests of a player with whom he and his family have grown very close over the past few years.
To illustrate his point, Hurley shared this story:
"I'll use the University of Massachusetts as an example," he said. "John Calipari came in and recruited a big kid I had back in 1996. The mom and myself, we had that school as one of the schools that he should look at, but we had other schools, UConn, that we thought he should look at also. They kind of wooed him and convinced him he should go to UMass.
"Well, when he goes there, John Calipari goes to the Nets, so he never plays for him. And now -- I don't know what's going to happen with Marquette's staff; I assume they're all going to go to Indiana, and I don't know anybody on Marquette's staff -- I didn't know anybody on UMass' staff. So when it came time for them to make a decision about who they were going to hire, they took an assistant coach, Bruiser Flint, and they made him the head coach.
"As soon as they made him the coach we called up, we said, '(Flint's) a guard; this is a big kid with potential. We don't see anybody working with him. He's never been a head coach before. We want you to release him from the letter.' They wouldn't do it. So he went there and played for three miserable years, transferred after his junior year, then finished at the University of Delaware, where he enjoyed his last year of college. He plays professionally in Europe now.
"I could tell looking at the situation it wasn't going to be right. He didn't even have expertise working with a big kid. This was a young, raw, big kid with potential who needed to be coached, and the coach wasn't old enough to be the mentor for this particular kid. It was a disaster."
As I quoted him as saying in a blog post earlier today, Taylor hasn't completely ruled out attending MU. He did make it obvious that assistant Buzz Williams would need to be retained in order for him to be consider playing there next season.
MU athletic director Steve Cottingham said on Wednesday that he wasn't yet prepared to grant any of the school's four committed recruits releases.
"That's really premature at this point," he said. "We'll get a new coach hired, and then they and the coach will have the opportunity to meet and understand each other."
(http://blogs.jsonline.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=142628)
A couple of other tidbits:
-- It appears as though freshman forward Trevor Mbakwe is leaning toward transferring following the end of the semester due to family concerns in his hometown of St. Paul, Minn. Apparently this was a situation that has been in place, and coach Tom Crean's departure will have little if anything to do with it.
-- It's likely that Crean won't have his staff in place at Indiana until sometime next week. Tim Buckley, a long-time assistant and close friend, has been in Bloomington with Crean since Tuesday. It's unclear how many members of his former MU staff will ultimately follow him.
-- Aside from a spirited workout session in the weight room, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews also got some pickup games going at the Al McGuire Center on Wednesday. The graduating Ousmane Barro along with ex-players Robert Jackson and Terry Sanders also took part.
UPDATED: ADDED THIS:
A couple of other tidbits:
-- It appears as though freshman forward Trevor Mbakwe is leaning toward transferring following the end of the semester due to family concerns in his hometown of St. Paul, Minn. Apparently this was a situation that has been in place, and coach Tom Crean's departure will have little if anything to do with it.
-- It's likely that Crean won't have his staff in place at Indiana until sometime next week. Tim Buckley, a long-time assistant and close friend, has been in Bloomington with Crean since Tuesday. It's unclear how many members of his former MU staff will ultimately follow him.
-- Aside from a spirited workout session in the weight room, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews also got some pickup games going at the Al McGuire Center on Wednesday. The graduating Ousmane Barro along with ex-players Robert Jackson and Terry Sanders also took part.
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx
Great - Crean's lone credible big man - Mbakwe - wants to transfer.
Quote from: mviale on April 03, 2008, 12:09:30 AM
Great - Crean's lone credible big man - Mbakwe - wants to transfer.
with all of the threads lately i missed the Mbakwe transferring one. any more info? i know Wardle wanted to jet when Crean was hired so I don't think current players are as much a worry as the recruits.
its mentioned at the bottom of this article: apparently this was going to happen even if Crean stayed
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx (http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx)
Quote from: mviale on April 03, 2008, 12:14:19 AM
its mentioned at the bottom of this article: apparently this was going to happen even if Crean stayed
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx (http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx)
Crean would have been raked over the coals a new one if Trevor had transferred under his watch...
Quote from: mviale on April 03, 2008, 12:14:19 AM
its mentioned at the bottom of this article: apparently this was going to happen even if Crean stayed
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx (http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/02/a-closer-look-at-the-taylor-case.aspx)
thanks...i think.....
seriously, whomever said "whatever doesn't kills you makes you stronger" must have had a serious alcohol problem.
How many times did the kid transfer in high school? Crea, should be raked over the coals for bringing in a suspect student and letting Saunders go