| | The NCAA's intention beginning in 2001 to limit schools to eight scholarships over two years,
with no more than five in one recruiting class, may mean coaches moving to new schools and the players they inherit will be stuck with each other.
The rule, which was passed by the Management Council on Monday and is only
awaiting approval by the board of directors April 27, would prevent the
current overhauls going on at schools such as New Mexico, San Diego State,
Baylor and Northwestern.
|  | | Fran Fraschilla is bringing in at least six new players next season. |
New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla is bringing in six new players after six
left (including two seniors) from this year's roster. He could add one or two more
this spring. Baylor, under former New Mexico coach Dave Bliss, is likely to
add seven new players for 2000-01. San Diego State coach Steve Fisher
hasn't stood in the way of five players from leaving the program since the end of the
season. Fisher is adding five and could get two more before the spring
signing period ends.
Four players have bolted from Northwestern since March. Third-year coach Kevin O'Neill has four in line to replace them, running his totals to 10 players signed over the last two years and 14 in the last three.
"This is the same as every other rule passed in the last 10 years -- the
richer schools like Carolina, Duke, Arizona and Indiana will get richer,"
said O'Neill, whose top two departures, Steve Lepore and Brody Deren, will likely end up at Wake Forest and Iowa, respectively.
O'Neill is worried that the low end of the high majors have more of a need for turnover to compete with the elite schools. So more often, you'll see those schools bringing in guys in bulk.
"Do this and cut out summer recruiting and who does it hurt? Guys like me,"
O'Neill said.
But O'Neill's theory isn't entirely supportable. A number of high-profile
programs were hurt by transfers last season, such as when Kentucky lost Michael Bradley
(to Villanova) and Ryan Hogan (to Iowa) and Duke lost Chris Burgess to Utah. The Blue Devils actually lost six players off their 1998-99 team, replacing them with six freshmen.
Under the new rule, coaches will have a hard time making changes to their program, especially if the current players don't
share the same philosophy about the game or play the style the coach
demands. If a new coach came in and players were to leave, a
coach could go several years before he catches up under this rule.
"I inherited players (at Baylor) who were athletes but not shooters," said Bliss,
who could end up adding New Mexico departures R.T. Guinn and Kevin Henry to
go along with Greg Davis, who left Albuquerque along with Bliss a year ago.
"You've got to be comfortable coaching a style and a lot of times the
incumbent players have different personalities or abilities for your
style," Bliss said.
New coaches will also have a tougher time enacting discipline with this rule because they don't have a hammer to hold over a player's head -- the threat of rescinding a scholarship.
"If you take over for someone who was fired, a lot of times it was because
of non-performance, which has been reflected in areas like a lack of
discipline, poor grades or poor social behavior," Bliss said. "A new coach
has to come in and bring discipline, and if you can't, that endorses
non-compliance in accepted college behavior."
The intention of the rule is to limit transferring. The NCAA was alarmed by
the more than 70 players who transferred at the end of last season. But the NCAA's quick reaction might have been unnecessary. Transferring is down this season, with only a handful of players making waves about leaving programs with established coaches.
"Each guy that left, with the exception of Lamont Long, has been replaced by
a better player," said Fraschilla, who has only one player left from Bliss'
tenure (Tim Lightfoot) with the expectation that a second (Brian Smith) is
done because of injuries. Fraschilla will have only three players back next season who played this season.
"I think it's bull when a coach says, 'Wait until my guys get here',"
Fraschilla said. "You coach the team you have. But you need guys who want to
be motivated. I had every expectation that some guys would stay, but some
were unhappy. In some ways, it's inevitable that you're going to get better
players than the ones leaving."
Fisher was entrusted by San Diego State athletics director Rick Bay to turn the program
around. No one seems to be squawking in San Diego with the roster turnover. Fisher
wasn't brought in to coach an Aztecs team that would struggle to compete in
the Big Sky, much less the Mountain West.
"In a perfect world, this rule would be a great idea," Fisher said. "But we
won five games last year."
Sometimes it simply comes down to getting better players, which is the charge of a new coach in a high-profile situation. Scholarships are one-year renewable offers, and while a coach should be able to remove players from his roster to upgrade the talent or get rid of bad seeds, the school should be bound to honor the former player's academic pursuits and continue to pay for his schooling.
There is time to amend the rule. New Mexico AD Rudy Davalos would like to see special consideration given to first-year coaches, but that's unlikely based on the tenor of the NCAA's management council Monday.
"When a coach leaves, one or two players usually follow," Davalos said.
"When a job opens up, that normally means somebody went to a better job (if
they're not fired) and the school that gets left behind is at a disadvantage.
The new guy comes in and has to pick up the pieces. If Fraschilla left to go
work for the Knicks, how fair would it be if he only had three guys left and
couldn't replace more than five?"
Weekly chatter
The constant rumors that Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins will
land in the NBA next season have been a distraction during the recruiting
period. Huggins who said he has tried to deflect the controversy the past few
weeks, would need a job offer before he could leave. Indiana is the
team most often mentioned, but the Pacers could look to Isiah Thomas if he
becomes available as a coaching candidate.
The same pro dilemmas aren't really issues for St. John's Mike Jarvis, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Kentucky's
Tubby Smith or Northwestern's Kevin O'Neill. NBA jobs aren't usually filled
until May or June at the earliest. If the NBA reaches down to
the colleges for a head or an assistant coach, these are the most likely
candidates.
Temple's Pepe Sanchez injured his ankle in the first
practice at the Nike Phoenix Desert Classic. Sanchez's draft status will be
hampered by his inactivity in the draft camps. The patient and calming point
guard was replaced by Weber State's wild playmaker Eddie Gill.
The NCAA actually showed compassion when it allowed Luke
Recker to play immediately next season instead of sitting out the first
semester at Iowa. Recker transferred from Arizona midyear to be closer to
his friend Kelly Craig, who was paralyzed in a summer auto accident. But the NCAA has to realize that it has set a precedent. Other student-athletes who have extenuating circumstances should
be given the same chance to skip out on half the year-in-residence
requirement. The NCAA could go a step further if it were to eliminate that
requirement entirely for transfers in men's basketball and football. Non-revenue sports do not have that sort of restriction.
DeShawn Stevenson, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Fresno, Calif., who
signed with Kansas, is looking to set up some pro workouts before deciding
on whether or not to declare for the draft. Stevenson still needs to become academically
eligible and has until May 14 to make up his mind. Once he declares, that closes the door on his chances of playing at a four-year school.
Siena is down to Syracuse assistant Louis Orr and Boston
College associate coach Tim O'Shea to replace Paul Hewitt, who left for
Georgia Tech. Orr has first crack at the job, but the Saints cannot go wrong
by tabbing O'Shea. He's a veteran assistant from Rhode Island and Boston
College who knows the New England/New York area as well as any assistant
in the region.
American University is close to picking Jeff Jones, the former
Virginia and present Rhode Island assistant, as its new head coach after Connecticut assistant coach Karl
Hobbs pulled out of consideration. Hobbs pulled out of the Siena job, too.
Hobbs is still in contention at Hartford and had some
preliminary talks with Houston. If Hobbs doesn't want the Hartford job,
Massachusetts assistant Geoff Arnold will, by the end of the weekend. There's
a strong chance that Hobbs will simply choose to remain at Connecticut.
Houston athletics director Chet Gladchuk has been searching
for a high-profile name to fill his coaching void (a middleman even contacted former Georgia Tech
coach Bobby Cremins, but found he wasn't interested). But Gladchuk may come
up empty-handed and go back to the local favorite, current Houston assistant Reid
Gettys. BYU assistant Dave Rose, who was a member of the 1983 national
runner-up Cougars, is also still alive for the position.
Colorado State athletics director Tim Weiser tried to convince Southeast Missouri's Gary Garner, Metro State (Colo.) coach Mike Dunlap, Radford's Ron Bradley, Dayton assistant Ron Jirsa,
Kentucky assistant George Felton and Appalachian State coach Buzz Peterson
to look seriously at his position, but got no takers. Weiser talked to Air Force's Reggie
Minton, but should have given him more of a chance in the process.
In the end, Weiser promoted assistant Dale Layer, 41, to succeed Ritchie McKay (who
went to Oregon State). McKay actually worked for Layer at Queens College.
Layer should keep the consistency with the Rams, but the same recruiting and
financial constraints remain, making this one of the toughest jobs in the
Mountain West.
Cal State-Fullerton went by the book in its coaching search
by actually going through a committee, a month-long open period on the job
search and bringing in a few candidates for interviews over a month after
the position opened. Utah assistant Donny Daniels, who played and coached at Fullerton, remains the favorite over Washington State assistant Gary Stewart.
Air Force obviously wanted to go for a specific system
in hiring Princeton assistant Joe Scott over former Nebraska coach Danny
Nee. Wyoming coach Steve McClain was one Mountain West coach who cringed
when he heard that a "Princeton guy" replaced Minton.
"That's not something we'll enjoy playing against," said McClain, whose Cowboys love to
get out and run on offense and aren't that enamored with defense.
"We'll start preparing for them in October," New Mexico's Fran
Fraschilla said of Air Force's likely Princeton-style offense.
Two of the hottest names out of the International side of
the Nike Hoop Summit in Indianapolis were Marist Laska, a 6-9 forward from
Latvia, and 6-2 Tony Parker from France. College coaches are flying to Europe
to convince them to sign during the spring signing period (April 12-May 15).
Sean Miller's decision to stay on Herb Sendek's staff at
N.C. State is a boost for the inconsistent Wolfpack. Miller was being
pursued by Memphis coach John Calipari. Sendek needs stability at the top of
his staff as he tries to turn the program from a NIT regular into a NCAA
Tournament contender. But Sendek couldn't keep the whole staff intact, losing John Gross to Thad Matta's staff at Butler.
As expected, Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian signed up
for another year, his sixth at his alma mater. Tarkanian is hoping to get
back to the NCAAs for a second consecutive year and is banking on former
Arkansas forward Chris Jefferies to lead him to the tourney. Jefferies was
consistently the second-best player (behind Courtney Alexander) during
Bulldogs practices this season. The point-guard situation is more hazy, as
freshman Tito Maddox tries to become eligible as a sophomore after sitting out
this season.
Vanderbilt center Greg Lapointe needs back surgery, which
could impede the Commodores' chances of staying in the top six in the SEC
next season. Lapointe averaged 4.2 points in 17.4 minutes a game last season.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college
basketball will run Thursdays throughout the offseason.
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