Shocked. Shocked to find out that a system rigged against the student athlete came down on the side of the school and coach.
Former Vanderbilt basketball player Sheldon Jeter, embroiled in a transfer dispute with Commodores basketball coach Kevin Stallings, said Thursday his appeal to Commodores officials to be released to Pitt has been denied.
Jeter, from Beaver Falls High School, announced in May his intentions to transfer to another school closer to home. Stallings informed Jeter, as is his right under NCAA scholarship bylaws, that he could transfer to any school in the country with the exception of Pitt.
The rules for appealing a denial of transfer are stacked against the student. They can file an appeal, but it is filed with the school that employs the coach and from where the kid wants to depart. If anyone can find some examples where an appeal went against the coach I’d love to know.
The other detail is that we at least have confirmation of one piece of previously unclear information. Only Pitt was blocked by Vanderbilt and Kevin Stallings.
As the Vandy blog Anchor of Gold notes, this is the first time Stallings has put a restriction on a transfer. The reasonable suspicion on the restriction would be that Stallings believes there was some tampering — yet he won’t come out and make the accusation.
Jeter could still transfer to Pitt, but he could not receive a scholarship for the first year. That’s a tough pill to swallow and not surprisingly, Jeter isn’t saying what he will do.
Part of the problem here, is that after the initial news that Jeter had some restrictions on his transfer, no one talked. Jeter opted not to take it to the media. Apparently trying to work it out with Stallings and Vandy quietly. Vandy and Kevin Stallings refused to make any public comment. Stallings in particular wouldn’t say a word.
Side note, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece it notes,
Stallings has not spoken publicly about his decision to deny Jeter a transfer to Pitt. Stallings could not be reached Thursday.
From The Tennesseean:
Stallings did not publicly disclose his reason for blocking Pitt.
Jeter has not returned numerous messages from The Tennessean seeking comment.
In case you missed some recent examples of transfers with restrictions that gained notoriety.
As for Vanderbilt’s denial of Jeter’s appeal, this isn’t the first time a college program has taken this kind of step and it certainly won’t be the last. There was Phil Martelli denying Todd O’Brien’s request to be cleared to play at UAB, and despite media pressure Martelli refused to budge.
And there’s also the case of former Wisconsin forward Jarrod Uthoff, who would ultimately be cleared to transfer to Iowa after head coach Bo Ryan was criticized publicly for prohibiting the move.
The Uthoff case from last year is the example from which I think Kevin Stallings learned the lesson of keeping quiet. Uthoff and his family made the restrictions public and helped create more attention on the matter. Bo Ryan responded — and did so poorly. He basically spoke of Uthoff as chattel. How the school and coaches invested in him by recruiting and coaching him while he was redshirting in his first year. As if that gave them greater right and claim to control his choices.
Not surprisingly, it blew up in Ryan and Wisconsin’s face and definitely played a role in removing the restrictions.
Conversely it could be fair to say Sheldon Jeter made a tactical error in being quiet about the matter. Uthoff and his parents made sure the media knew. He did interviews. Talked about it. Kept it in the news cycle and brought unwanted attention to Wisconsin and Bo Ryan.
Jeter allowed his situation to disappear from public awareness (outside of Pitt and Vandy fans). He let Vandy whisper some excuses without any rebuttal.
Jeter’s only leverage really was public attention. Vandy/Stallings, though, has the control over his transfer. The system is rigged to favor the school and coach. By trying to work quietly and with some dignity to the whole thing, he completely weakened his position to get what he wanted.
I have a different take, just because they did a plea deal doesn’t make them “not guilty”.
I said before, Chryst needs to be consistent with discipline or else he will have locker room problems. Why is KK suspended instead of kicked off team? Frankly, they both should be kicked off the team.
Regarding Jeter, before Jeter even announced, people were saying Jeter will be coming to Pitt. It appears there was tampering. It came across as a done deal by Steinbrink of Rivals before Jeter even announced his intentions.
Dixon put a block on Birch to Missouri due to rumors.
So, I don’t have a problem with blocking transfers, etc.
If Pitt wants Jeter, they can still give him a financial package of “free money”. I’m sure they will find a way. They just can’t give him an athletic scholarship.
Several observations.
You are probably spot on with the apparent contradiction in treatment of players provided that PC doesn’t have insider access to additional info or there isn’t additional history with the other two kids. On surface it appears unbalanced and makes PC look poor in his leadership and decision making.
Sometimes it is important to explain yourself. Especially when you begin to look bad in the way you handle a situation(s). While we all want a disciplinarian in a coach we also want a mentor.
I am interested to understand PC’s thinking on this one.
Less than a year later, DW didn’t release Flacco after he was 2nd in the depth chart after the spring game behind the incumbent starter, Palko.
And of course, SP (I’ve read and not HCPC) did not release Shell to a few schools.
If memory serves (could be wrong) JD blocked Birch from going to Missouri?
Thus, I guess what goes around, comes around
Jeter Could pay his way or apply for financial aid based on need as a non student athlete would do.
An SEC school would find a solution. Suggest a Pitt
rep call Nick Saban!?
Now if your point is that Carswell, Williams and Smith all knew what was going on right under their noses, which occurred in their own residence, and that there should be accountability for such indiscretion, then that is a totally different issue. Such personal misconduct, even without legal consequences, can’t be ignored by their HC, once they are exposed to the glaring light of public knowledge.
My main point in this situation is that HCPC needs to be very purdent in how he handles this and has to demonstrate that his disciplinary actions for each individual involved is rational, consistant and fair based on the circumstances as they become apparent.
Seems like you would be in favor of dropping the hammer on all three if it was your decision and all three would be thrown off the team.
My question is, would you still feel the same way if you knew that both K.K. Smith and Williams wanted nothing to do with Carswell’s drug dealing friend that evening and that both argued with Carswell about it to the point that K.K. Smith actually left his own apartment that night to sleep elsewhere when he discovered what was going on that evening in his apartment?
This is pure juncture on my part with NO basis on inside knowledge, BUT this is just the kind of extenuating circumstances that could have a bearing on the disciplinary actions handed out to each player. There could be so much none of us are privy to surrounding this situation that we should be cautious rushing to our own conclusions on how these players should be dealt with.
Remember, you are talking about impacting three people’s lives in a very negative, dramatic way at a critical point in their lives. If Coach Chryst is sincere when he says that he has a responsibility to the best interests of his players to help them mature as students, atheletes and citizens then this situation needs to be dealt with rationally and the reasoning behind whatever HCPC decides needs to be fully explained so that he actions can be fully understood by the public.
Yes, in my opinion all 3 need to be kicked off the team.
They made choices and there are consequences.
Let’s not be naive about it.
Right now, Chryst needs to walk the talk. It appears he is not consistent in his discipline. Could it be influence from Woody HC to explain why KK has different discipline? Whatever the reason, it has an odor.
Apples and oranges comparison.
And we will never know now will we so why bring it up as a comparison?
Chryst can’t have it both ways. He has to walk the talk and be consistent with discipline. This has an odor.
Like all legal matters, I think it is prudent to see and discover all the facts and interview each player and accuser privately….then decide.
While it appears each player is at least guilty of knowingly associating with a heroin dealer, I would ask each of the Blatherites to again review his or her past while attending Pitt. I actually used a drug dealer named “Nord” to help tutor me through Psych 185, the Psychology of Drugs.
I like HCPC and know he will make the correst decision.There is NO right decision.
The words “willingly” and “knowingly” come to mind.
Obviously there are differentiating facts surrounding the cases against Mosley-Smith and Williams… and Carswell whose bedroom reportedly contained the scale and other items directly tied to the alleged heroine deals and the alleged dealer.
Chryst and the University clearly have discretion in decisions made in regard to each of the players so long as the facts back them up. Without question Pitt’s legal team were instrumental in guiding Chryst and Pederson through the process.
However, not knowing the details, must admit that I am surprised that Mosley-Smith is still with the team.
Guessing sincere contrition and naivete might have something to do with it.
The kid is long and lanky at 235 lbs. He could easily support more weight on that frame when he hits the “Iron Works” at Pitt. His highlights demonstrate that he definitly has a motor and seems quicker off the snap than most of the offensive linemen that oppose him.
The dismissal of Williams and Carswell from the team undoutedly is warranted according to the bar set, not by the criminal judicial system, but by the Pitt-Student Athletic Code of Conduct a portion of which reads as follows…
********
Athletic Responsibility – Student-Athletes Must:
1. Abide by all team, Department, University, Conference and NCAA rules;
2. Maintain oneself in top physical condition, within accepted health standards;
3. Attend all assigned events and organized practices unless officially excused;
4. Take proper care of equipment and return it in good condition;
5. Treat officials and opponents with respect, and avoid undue confrontations;
6. Maintain proper standards of grooming and dress; and
7. Abstain from using tobacco, alcohol and non-therapeutic drugs.
********
Roy DID NOT commit to Pitt. It was a false report by ESPN (imagine that).
He is very interested in Pitt and may be leaning that way, but he has not made his decision.
Thats part of a problem with espn, rivals and scout all trying to out-scoop each other.
I think that is what caused the Jeter alleged tampering to begin with. Matt Steinbrink of rivals was first.
I would assume and hope that HCPC has legit justiifcation, and not just because Pitt is so thin at DT.
Also according to his twitter, Harrisburg 3-star RB Robert Martin will announce his decision tonight between Pitt, WVU, and Rutgers.
i had nothing to do with it when i found out i left
the house.
the outher player did not leave the house and did not come to the coach has not said any thing did not plead his case to coach and player #3 might be guilty .
so he gives the one that came to him a brake the outher 2 get what is comeing to them look at it
that way.
i want 2 RB 4 WR 3 OT and 1 QB and 5 LB
GO GET THEM.
Ref. season ticket sales, you wondered whether SP saying we are 11K short of sold out for season, was for Heinz Field 56,500 or “Pitt’s Heinz Field” of 45K???
I think you were thinking of Pitt Stadium at 56,500.
Heinz Field is actually 65,000. So, I guess we’ve sold 54,000 season tickets.
LOL
the FS game not season tickets no way that is true
is it.
Pitt needs 3-4 Dlineman type this year. Currently no depth.
Also, I suspect Pitt will sign 20 players. More transfers or RS Jr asked to leave after 2013 season.
Just commenting back to Dan72.
That sounds more reasonable.
The FSU game I would imagine will be a sell out.
No Frank, he was talking about the season.
Maybe it is true with the ACC and all.
Says the best season ticket sales since he’s been here, and we did have one year that really good a few years back.
Hopefully the people actually come to the games all year and we actually have butts in the seats.
I hope there aren’t 20K Notre Dame fans that bought season tickets just to get tix for the one game.
Hope PC knows what he is doing relative
to recruiting. Competing with Temple, Umass,
Buffalo, etc. is scary.
No commits, people complain.
Get a committment, and people bash the kid.
If you look at Palermo background, he grew up in Newburgh, NY and went to same HS.
Now, whether that is good or bad, don’t know.
However, NY is not known as a hotbed for BCS D1 fooball players.
Surely he knows the Vanderbilt AD and SP could call him up and do some, one on one schmoozing.
The way only AD’s can.
And after all, according to the press reports, he was instrumental in getting us into the ACC. So getting Vandy to release a player who averaged 5 points a game should be child’s play. lol
You are asking Pedie to actually work…for one student…behind the scenes. Certainly you see the humor in even thinking he might do that…Pedie’s a Publicity Queen.
One alarming concern is. With 9 or 10 players on the team, is JD going to have to lace them up to act as a practice dummy ?
I do seem to remember one of the incoming football players averaged 20 ppg in hoops in HS.
So there’s the answer, JD can poach players off the football team, as it’s extremely unlikely we’ll being going to the Compass Bowl this year.
So the season will be over much earlier.
We can add this safety to the Wisconsin transfer kid that plays safety.
Ok……no more safeties please !
what is up with that and pitt was better then all 3
but what is up with NC.
then you and they did better then both NCS and NC.
NC State is considered the WVcc of the ACC, so not much of a surprise there.
UNC is still in the middle of a scandal(UNC says academic, everyone else says athletic), but hey didn’t Lawrence Taylor & Michael Jordan go there. Nuff said.
This is the PC recruiting strategy (?), if you wait long enough, the faithful will be enthralled with whoever you recruit !
It’s sort of like waiting at the High School Dance, for all the girls to be picked over. But hey at least you landed one, instead of being one of the guys left hugging the wall.
No wonder a guy like Barry A. tore it up out there !
Interesting supposition but you need to provide your information source. Otherwise, you are just guessing.
Yes, possible sellouts for Florida State and Notre Dame. But if HCPC’s team sucks, there will be plenty of tickets for sell on Ebay and outside the stadium. Pitt still has 11,000 season tickets left to sell. It could be a record-setting year for attendance, and certainly FSU and ND will help bump up the average. All depends on the product HCPC puts on the field, don’t you think, given Pitt’s history of counting phantoms at football games?
The difference is the Pitt (UPMC) built and operates the facility, while the Steelers did not build Heinz but operate it. Pretty good deal for Steelers; taxpayers built it and apparently will fit the bill for the additional seats. I believe they also benefit from Stage AE.
I’m sure Steelers are responsible for some operating expenses at both facilities, as is Pitt, but the Steelers remain the city’s darling .. while Pitt/UPMC is the largest employer in Western PA (and of course have the advantage of being tax-exempt.)
It should be known the Pirates didn’t built PNC (taxpayers) and the Pens didn’t build Consol (taxpayer and casino.)
NY is not a goldmine in football. Never was and never will be. The speed of the game is much slower. The skill sets are not there, etc.
Just look at Rivals as to how many kids in NY have a 3 star or better. I believe 7. Its a waste of time to recruit NY. Let Syracuse or Buffalo have those players.
It is obvious that there are the 5-star kids (very few in numbers) that every recruiting service knows about because they performed well early in their high school careers. The four stars are similar. There are more of these (though fewer than 5-stars). Similarly, they performed well early in their high school years and got noticed. Nearly all 3 and 2-star kids never even get rated until after their junior years or in their senior years because they didn’t see much time on the field or stand out until at least their junior season–and that often may have little or nothing to do with their ability or potential.
What makes these ratings suspect as an overall measure beyond identifying some subset of the top stars is that they miss too many players due to the highly variable nature of high school football because HS football is beset with many of the following limitations–
1. Only skill position players typically have a shot at being noticed very early–and then only if they play on a successful team where they are able to showcase their skills.
2. Coaching can range from excellent to putrid and either develop and showcase talent or not develop and or bury talent in the surrounding ineptness.
3. Size and speed of players varies greatly between 13-14 year olds and 17-19 year olds. It can also vary greatly from school to school depending on local demographics and the enrollment size of the school. So, lots of kids don’t develop the size and speed needed to be noticed until they are juniors or seniors.
For all of the above reasons, plenty of potentially excellent college prospects get buried and never noticed or rated by the recruiting services assigning stars, or at least not get rated till late in their high school career. And, the later you get noticed and rated the fewer stars you will be assigned.
The bottom line is that if you are talented but playing for a crappy HS team you won’t get noticed or offered unless you are a regular on the summer camp circuit and show well there–and not all kids with potential can afford to and do make those camp rounds.
So, the bottom line for me is I am never going to criticize the landing of any recruit based solely on his lack of star rating–but with a caveat:
The recruit must exhibit the requisite Height, Weight, Speed and Agility to play at the college level (they do measure these things at the camps). If he has that, and the coaching staff has seen him at camp and/or has seen enough film (not just highlight film but actual full game film) to believe he can be successful–which it is their job to do–then I will defer to their judgment over how many (or few) stars Rivals, Scout or ESPN has awarded. These services probably fail to identify more kids than they actually identify–especially early. Ever notice how they are always playing catch-up and assigning stars to previously unrated (because they were un-scouted) kids after thy wind up committing to a school? It happens a lot.
Agree with the sentiment, however you have to realize, drugs are such a big part of the culture now for 50 years that it would be next to impossible to completely stop it. It even goes on in the Ivy League and D2 & D3 schools.
And from my understanding, pretty much every NFL team has a player who is the drug dealer for that team.
So this is more a reflection of life in these United States and the popular culture than it is of any univsersity. Until it’s portrayed, as not “cool”, it’s never going away.
Since Pitt is state related and the Sadium Authority (or whatever they call it) is a government (local) authority, I belive the thought process is that Pitt is already represented, in an indirect way, on the issue.
Taxpayers look at Heinz as a Steeler’s facility. Taxpayer’s are right.
Taxpayer’s want the Steeler’s to start paying their own way. Taxpayer’s are right again.
You are right, Pitt is a tenant. tenant’s do what their contract says they do and in this case, it means shut up.
Terribly dissappointed in Pederson extension. The blog article tells you all you need to know, once you understand that there are “facts” and there are Pederson’s “facts”. The latter category being fiction.
“All sports will be fully funded” says Cyanide. Then we learn later that soccer is not among them. “All” it seems, is a relative term.
Best ticket sales since Pederson has been here!
Didn’t Cyanide claim “sellouts” one year? With 11k tickets still collecting dust, how can this be true?
“Improved” Trees Hall? Really? When did normal maintenance and repair equal “improvement”? Setting the flooring so water doesn’t pool is a health and safety issue, not an improvement. The locker rooms suck as do the gathering areas.
Man, this guy is a pathological liar.
This is a kid’s education/football future that we’re talking about here and it is absolutely imperative that consistancy in the head coach’s actions come through loud and clear, also.
Based on previous instances, Paul Chryst tends to be closed mouthed regarding such circumstances. However I think that he has to be open to reconsideration of William’s situation and do a good PR job in explaining his final decision, even if it nothing more than sticking to his initial dismissal from the team.
Chyrst must be asking himself, right about now, “why did I want to become a college football head coach again”??? Should be interesting to see how this plays out.