I guess it really was not a difficult decision for Coach Paul Chryst and Pitt. Sam Werner of the Post Gazette tweeted out a short while ago that Rushel Shell will not be welcomed back to Pitt. Further, they never even gave it serious consideration.
Burned bridges cost him a lot sooner than imagined. Chryst and Pitt just could not trust him. A wee bit ironic since ostensibly Shell left because he felt he couldn’t trust the Pitt coaches. Allegedly feeling betrayed because they were less than complimentary about him behind his back.
Shell now has to make a new choice. He can look at some MAC schools that aren’t too far away. He can consider other options at lower levels. But after not following through with UCLA, you can bet other programs will be that much more wary.
The real shame is for kids who work hard and never have a chance. Who don’t have talent or coaches or love in their life.
Want to wax poetically about kids getting a second chance? How about the millions who never get the chance. Born addicted to crack or tossed in a friggen garbage can or beaten to a pulp at the ripe age of 2.
RS has tons of things going for him that most kids never have.
Time to get real about life here.
I can just hear the conversation, as after a long closed door session of looking at recruits and what transpired at the camps, SP rushes into PCs office saying “Shell wants to come back!”
PC says “Surely you jest!”
SPs response?
“Don’t call me Shirley!”
Joe D is amongst us !
And he’s calling up EJ amongst other things, 🙂
Rover over Victor !
Shell was NOT admitted to UCLA?
Get that finger out of your ear! You don’t know where that finger’s been!
LOL
There was some talk about the fact that Shell may have been suspended for a year regardless of his walking away. Some have speculated a failed drug test but IMO that would have merited a suspension right away – not down the line. I think it was more of an academic suspension for a year which we have seen multiple times at PITT.
But, speculating here, I think the ‘wanting to be close to home angle’, while probably true, was a secondary issue to playing elsewhere. The fact that he couldn’t enroll is being talked about as happening but like anyone else I’m not getting this info first hand or even privately. It’s my personal believe if had he been accepted by UCLA he’d be a Bruin right now.
Now before anyone accuses me of saying he’s a bad father or something I’m not. I’m just saying that he apparently has put some of his decision making ahead of being a full-time Dad. However, that situation can work out well for all involved as long as the father can at least see his kids on a regular basis. There are a lot of schools within driving distance where he could play ball and be an involved father.
Please note that I say “speculating”, “some talk” and “I believe” a lot in the above paragraphs. However it all makes pretty good sense to me.
Kids that don’t want to practice.
Usually also don’t won’t to study !
Sounds like he has a lot of bad habits and the two babies excuse can only be used so long.
They seem to be trotted out….when the time and circumstances fit the occasion. IMO
It’s not going to surprise me to see him end up in Morgantown before all is said and done.
Dan, I would’ve rather they hired Messier. 1994 was so much fun. He deserved it based on that year alone.
Vituperation? Sorry, I lost my head.
PITT bent over backward to not kick this kid off the team BEFORE even last season even started.
You do remember he was suspended for his very first collegiate game and his brand new Head Coach’s very first game as HC ?
And the fact that he has twins is not nor should it be a concern of PITT’s. PITT is a university of higher education, not a social welfare system.
No it’s time for RS to grow up. All this coddling of these types does nothing for their future welfare. Attest all the former pro athletes that are broke & homeless, because they never HAD TO GROW UP !
My first one was tough because I investigated his family life, upbringing, financials, etc… and was torn on what to recommend until a Senior Chief Petty Officer walked by my office and said, out of nowhere, “Hey Mr. Koh, If Petty Officer Jones is allowed to stay at this unit you are going to see a shipload of transfers the day after.”
That told me all I needed to know. I recommended that (appropriate) punishment be levied and the member transferred to a shore until for a six-month independent evaluation… where he was discharged at the end to that period due to incompatibility. I recommended a honorable discharge for him to the discharging unit and he got that, but I agreed 100% that he had to be separated.
This guy also had a wife and a child and made his own poor decisions. It wasn’t his first infraction but by far his most serious. Personally I was thinking way too much and looking at reasons and excuses and less about what had to be done for the strength of the unit. I never made that mistake again.
There is leeway in every situation of course and you’ll see that applied after someone’s 1st infraction but once you get past #1 or #2 then it’s all on the guy himself and Devil take the hindmost.
This situation with Shell reminds me of that and the other cases I worked on when I was an Investigating Officer. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few key members sat down with Chryst and said “Hey coach, if Shell is allowed….”. Honestly, I would have been very shocked had Chryst made any other decision.
Way to go PC. Hopefully we will find success with this group and here’s to Issac Bennett who saw his carries go way down last year but he stayed and was a loyal soldier.