Ethical or unethical oversigning by Johnson?

gtzulu

gtzulu

ACCOUNT DEACTIVATED IN PROTEST OF EVIL SOFTWARE
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
Messages
24,053
Two players left the team before spring practice: Cheeks and O'Reilly. I heard* that one of these dismissals was not a mutual decision--the staff told the player they weren't going to play him.

Is it ethical to cut players like this, to make room for new players you oversigned? I am thinking no. I understand they were both set to graduate in spring, but if one of them was going to take up a scholarship in fall, they must have wanted to continue their education.

I'm sure some won't care but at Tech we have always believed in winning the right way.

*I'm told the source on this was a Rivals practice report.
 
Last edited:
Is it ethical to use a scholarship and all the perks that come from being an athlete while knowing you're not going to play and maybe haven't put forth the effort to get on the field that others have or would have, especially after you have graduated and aren't staying in school to earn a Master's?

I think it's fine for a graduating senior who is being told he isn't going to play much. I'm less ok with it if it's a younger guy who isn't struggling in school and is working hard to improve.
 
Meh, I don't see anything really unethical about it. Both players are getting their degrees and had chances to play. After you get your degree, it's possible to keep playing if you go to graduate school and the coach decides to keep you on. If the coach doesn't want to let you stay on, I think that's fair. Both could transfer and play somewhere else for one season without penalty (if they find a school with a grad major we don't have).
 
The scholarship is so you can get an education, right? They both are graduating this Spring.
 
Being "set to graduate" is not the same as "graduating". What if a player on football scholarship who is set to graduate in spring doesn't pass all their classes? Then they have no scholarship and might have to drop out. Oh well, they should've been better at football?

And good players get to go to grad school on football scholarship, but other players don't?

I do see the other side of this. It would be plainly wrong if it weren't a student who was graduating and taking away the scholarship made it harder or impossible for them to finish their education. If they are set to graduate, it is grayer.

Edit: I guess I don't see a problem with not giving a scholarship for grad school, as long as we weren't promising that.
 
gtzulu said:
And good players get to go to grad school on football scholarship, but other players don't?
Click to expand...

It's not like these guys were offered a full scholarship and admission for undergraduate and graduate school, so I don't see the problem.

CPJ fulfilled his promise of a college degree on scholarship. Hard to be upset with that.
 
We're a factory now. Got to do what we got to do to play with the SEC teams and win a national championship.

Just ask yourself, "What would Saban do in this situation?" if you aren't sure about an action or decision.
 
gtphd said:
It's not like these guys were offered a full scholarship and admission for undergraduate and graduate school, so I don't see the problem.

CPJ fulfilled his promise of a college degree on scholarship. Hard to be upset with that.
Click to expand...

But what if a player that is set to graduate in spring doesn't actually graduate? Too bad for them, should've been better at football? Other players can fail classes and stay on scholarship, but not you?
 
gtzulu said:
Two players left the team before spring practice: Cheeks and O'Reilly. I heard that one of these dismissals was not a mutual decision--the staff told the player they weren't going to play him.

Is it ethical to cut players like this, to make room for new players you oversigned? I am thinking no. I understand they were both set to graduate in spring, but if one of them was going to take up a scholarship in fall, they must have wanted to continue their education.

I'm sure some won't care but at Tech we have always believed in winning the right way.
Click to expand...

I stopped reading after you said, "I heard" with no link or cited source, but don't let me get in the way of you spreading unfounded rumors.
 
GTWannaBee said:
I stopped reading after you said, "I heard" with no link or cited source, but don't let me get in the way of you spreading unfounded rumors.
Click to expand...

That's fair. I think it was originally from a Rivals practice report, but I don't have a link as I don't have Rivals access.
 
gtzulu said:
But what if a player that is set to graduate in spring doesn't actually graduate? Too bad for them, should've been better at football? Other players can fail classes and stay on scholarship, but not you?
Click to expand...

If you fail classes you probably should lose your scholarship... that's how most scholarships work (see HOPE)
 
We just have no clue what went into Cheeks and O'Reilly leaving. Even though a lot of us (myself not included) have inside connections, you still don't get the full story.

I trust that Johnson would not cheat a kid out of an opportunity (academically or athletically) just to get younger, better players. The guy has spelled nothing but honesty and integrity since he got here.

I trust that this report isn't as simple as it may sound. If both kids are getting their degrees, then that already takes weight off. And you look at it this way - high school kids can get cut off of a team. If you have a junior football player who hasn't seen the field in his career and for all the fans know, could either be having work ethic or commitment issues or something related, nobody would turn an eye if the HS coach gave their dress spot to a hard working and talented freshman. Can't accuse Cheeks and O'Reilly of that because we just don't know, but that's exactly it - we just don't know what went on behind the scenes.

Johnson has earned my trust...
 
cyptomcat said:
Are they on scholarship for spring semester?
Click to expand...

I have no direct knowledge yes or no, but since scholarships are typically for an academic year that starts in September and the question raised was regarding freeing up schollys for incoming signees this Fall I would guess that they are still on scholarship.
 
ee8384 said:
I have no direct knowledge yes or no, but since scholarships are typically for an academic year that starts in September and the question raised was regarding freeing up schollys for incoming signees this Fall I would guess that they are still on scholarship.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. I wish we waited until they graduated in May to push them off the team. Last few off-seasons showed attrition is difficult to predict.
 
I have no problem telling a graduating senior to leave to make room. If you are just taking up space, it is time to let another student athlete start his career at Tech. If they really still want to play, they can head to Jax State or somewhere and probably get a ton of playing time right away if they were worthy of being on our team.

Underclassmen should never be sent packing unless they fail to abide by the rules of our team and GT.
 
I'm confident that CPJ would not force a guy off the team strictly to make room for an incoming frosh. In this case I still believe that because (based on articles/interviews) we were offering guys based on how much room we had. Not offering guys that we wanted and then making room. Stewart had to wait on his offer because we weren't sure how many spots we would have. That's not what you see from Saban where frosh get offered and then after NSD they assess how many spots they need to open up.
 
Being told you aren't going to be playing isn't the same as losing your scholarship, although typically that's the order of operations. If they are graduating/coming into the last semester, I don't see a problem with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top