Ethical or unethical oversigning by Johnson?

asharp12587

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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.
He'll have his degree in May. He was told up front that its a 4 year scholarship or until graduation. Not like we ran him off like some other schools. Stop trying to make this into a "we are acting like Alabama" thing.
 

Akinji07

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is it ethical or unethical to keep zulu from posting crap like this? What if they don't pass their classes.... guess what, normal students lose scholarships if they don't pass their classes too. They were offered 4 years of scholarship to get their degree. I just don't understand what it is with some of you. Oh we didn't offer this one poor kid and he got 30 minutes of coach's time, how rude! Oh we only gave these kid 4 years of scholly, what if he doesn't pass his classes and not get his degree in time?

Are we running a charity or a football program?
 

BuzzCzar

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is it ethical or unethical to keep zulu from posting crap like this? What if they don't pass their classes.... guess what, normal students lose scholarships if they don't pass their classes too. They were offered 4 years of scholarship to get their degree. I just don't understand what it is with some of you. Oh we didn't offer this one poor kid and he got 30 minutes of coach's time, how rude! Oh we only gave these kid 4 years of scholly, what if he doesn't pass his classes and not get his degree in time?

Are we running a charity or a football program?


REPOST

Ethical or unethical overposting by Zulu???

dumbass abounds
:wink:
 

TechRush

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Boom line is....Does Brad Stewart have a scholarship now or not???
 

TechSBP

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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 would say if they didn't get the 4-year scholarship they were promised, it was unethical. That said, it appears they got 4 years of the scholarship they were promised.

If we promised five, then there is a problem. But in general, if you are graduating after 4, the fifth year is not promised. You must also consider that there may not be a graduate program at Tech that wants the kid either. Recall a few years ago when our MBA program, a top 20 national program, didn't admit some student-athletes although it had admitted others. Some transferred. There wasn't a problem with that, and the situation is largely analogous. The football scholarship is for an undergraduate education. That's why there is free transfer after you get your undergrad degree. IF the player still has a year of eligibility and an undergraduate degree, he can transfer without sitting out to any school that wants him for that year and get a free year of grad school.

Looking at Paul Johnson's success in graduating players, I'd be surprised if this wasn't just sour grapes from someone.
 

gtphd

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You must also consider that there may not be a graduate program at Tech that wants the kid either.
I thought about that, but in a world where they wanted to play, couldn't get into graduate school, and the team honored the scholarships, the players could delay their petition to graduate and take random classes instead (e.g. Wine Tasting at Emory, if they still have that).

I remember hearing about Tebow doing that: he only took a dance class his last semester.
 

BainbridgeJacket

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I advocated for over signing and making room if need be. No reason to change for anybody's emotions. Dude got a degree, after all. Yet another example where CPJ is following my advice. Wise man.
 

gespacho_the_slender

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This has happened in the recent past. There's a former player now working up at Microsoft that falls under the same type scenario. I have no issues whatsoever with this.

"Mr. XXX player, you likely won't make the squad this year. We will not pay for your grad school. Please go use that degree you earned... We also have no problem if you decide to go elsewhere to play football."

Much better than what happens elsewhere.
 

gespacho_the_slender

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Tevin Washington played as a graduate student rather than delay his graduation, iirc.
I have no qualms if there is a mutual benefit. Tevin was one case. Darryl Richard was another... Have tons of respect for both of those guys. Those guys are both great ambassadors for the school all around.

If we've fulfilled our obligation to provide an undergraduate degree and the kid hasn't failed out, the school has fulfilled it's obligation.
 

Legal Jacket

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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.
My thought exactly. I heard the opposite - that it was the players choice and that neither wanted to come back if the had already graduated and weren't gonna play.
 

rghoae

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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?
At least when I was at Tech, you pretty much knew if you were gonna graduate by the last semester. In fact, you petition to graduate in your second to last semester anyways.

I am not sure of the ethics of this, but in general, this is nothing like the oversigning going on in other schools. Letting a player know that he would not be playing for the team while honoring his scholarship all the way through his graduation seems like a reasonable stance to me.
 

rghoae

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I'd be surprised if this wasn't just sour grapes from someone.
Reading further it appears it is just trolling from the OP. I haven't seen this scenario repeated any where else in the online GT space.
 

gtzulu

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gtphd

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That was Leinart. Or maybe Tebow did as well.
You're right. Leinart took ballroom dancing his last semester. Tebow did something similar and took a 1 hour "senior seminar" class in his last semester.

http://deadspin.com/5348432/dont-you-dare-call-his-tebowness-a-student-athlete

Tevin Washington played as a graduate student rather than delay his graduation, iirc.
Can you play as a non-degree seeking post-graduate student? Then you don't need to be admitted to any program, just enroll for any class and pay.
 
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