Ross leaving UA

[UA_MA_2000]

Who's going to tell Haggy?

 

I don't know anything other than what's in Singelais blog, but, i must say, i am very uncomfortable with pulling a scholarship because a student-athlete is not a gym rat.

 

LOL, I know right. Well, I guess Carl Ross is "free". Who will be haggy's player next year?

[reeder]

A few other thoughts:

1. There was so much goodwill towards Coach Brown when the whole St. Bonaventure thing happened. How much goodwill will he lose here? How long until people forget about it?

2. This is certainly not good PR for UA - isn't McElroy president of the national AD organization? Even if there is another side to the story, it might never come out - so people will be left to speculate.

3. It certainly puts into perspective some of what has happened at BUMA over the last couple of years, UNH this year and I don't doubt that teams like Stony Brook will see things like this if they don't turn things around.

[UA_MA_2000]

A few other thoughts:

1. There was so much goodwill towards Coach Brown when the whole St. Bonaventure thing happened. How much goodwill will he lose here? How long until people forget about it?

2. This is certainly not good PR for UA - isn't McElroy president of the national AD organization? Even if there is another side to the story, it might never come out - so people will be left to speculate.

3. It certainly puts into perspective some of what has happened at BUMA over the last couple of years, UNH this year and I don't doubt that teams like Stony Brook will see things like this if they don't turn things around.

 

Interesting points. My thoughts:

 

1. I don't think Coach will lose goodwill, and if any was lost, it will be regained or at least forgotten about by halftime of the first game next season (IMHO). These are the ups and downs of being a high-profile coach (at least in this region of the country). This will not be the last time that a recruit doesn't work out for UAlbany (in basketball or other sports).

2. Whether or not this is bad PR for UAlbany depends, again, on the complete set of circumstances surrounding the situation. I agree with your message in that whether there is another side to the story or not, that will never come out, so we are indeed left to speculate. Nonetheless, Coach, I think, is a quality person who has attempted to build a quality program with quality players (on and off the court), and if he felt a decision like this was necessary, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I highly doubt a decision like this was made lightly or without the consult of others such as Dr. M. Others may not be so kind in their views of this situation, and they are free to feel how they feel, of course.

3. I'm confused; what has happened at BUMA, UNH, and what might happen to Stony brook? Hopefully what happened at BUMA and UNH will make them lose more games this year, and hopefully something not so good is about to happen at Stonybrook.

[B9j2j6s]

I'm sure there were reasons why this happened, Brown would not take away a scholorship to a senior player unless there were some major issues..

 

The one thing that always bugged me about Ross is his real lack of a perimeter game, if his role was to be extended and given extra minutes he would need develop this aspect of his game. If he did not he would be a liability on the offensive side. My guess and this is just speculation is that this aspect of his game was not developing Brown saw this, Ross being a Senior wanted more minutes and the two sides were not going to come to any agreement.

 

I know on the PR side this might hurt however over time if the team is succesful then this will probably be forgotten. Also looking at the two JUCO recruits Brown is talking about how well both defend. Which in all due respect to Ross was his strength. Time will tell how this shapes out but it does look like this was coming for a while. I wish Ross the best of luck in his future and he will always be remembered by us because of his great game in the confrence championship.

[reeder]

A few other thoughts:

1. There was so much goodwill towards Coach Brown when the whole St. Bonaventure thing happened. How much goodwill will he lose here? How long until people forget about it?

2. This is certainly not good PR for UA - isn't McElroy president of the national AD organization? Even if there is another side to the story, it might never come out - so people will be left to speculate.

3. It certainly puts into perspective some of what has happened at BUMA over the last couple of years, UNH this year and I don't doubt that teams like Stony Brook will see things like this if they don't turn things around.

 

I'm confused; what has happened at BUMA, UNH, and what might happen to Stony brook?

 

UNH had 4 or 5 kids leave the program this year and a couple last year - the articles sound like a couple may have left voluntarily but a lot didn't get their scholarships renewed. BUMA had several leave over the last couple of years.

[UA_MA_2000]

I'm sure there were reasons why this happened, Brown would not take away a scholorship to a senior player unless there were some major issues..

 

The one thing that always bugged me about Ross is his real lack of a perimeter game, if his role was to be extended and given extra minutes he would need develop this aspect of his game. If he did not he would be a liability on the offensive side. My guess and this is just speculation is that this aspect of his game was not developing Brown saw this, Ross being a Senior wanted more minutes and the two sides were not going to come to any agreement.

 

I know on the PR side this might hurt however over time if the team is succesful then this will probably be forgotten. Also looking at the two JUCO recruits Brown is talking about how well both defend. Which in all due respect to Ross was his strength. Time will tell how this shapes out but it does look like this was coming for a while I wish Ross the best of luck in his future and he will always be remembered by us because of his great game in the confrence championship.

 

Like I said before, Carl Ross was my favorite player, and I truly wish him well. I will miss his exciting play. Talking basketball, I agree with B9j in that Ross really didn't have an outside/conservative offensive game that he was either able to, or allowed to, display. In the open court, he was controlled chaos of course! But we are a half-court, outside shooting type team from what I can tell (at least next year looks like that). I don't think I remember seeing him shoot from beyond 5 feet all season, with the exception of free throws. Losing 50% or more of our offense this off-season, we really really need guys who can shoot from the perimeter. Our 2 (SG) and 3 (SF) guys have GOT to be able to shoot from outside. With Jamar and Siggers not here next year, and with no one else who is a proven "slasher," our outside shooting and setting screens and moving w/o the ball to get open shots from the outside becomes all the more essential this year. And from what I can remember as a player, setting good screens and moving without the ball requires a lot of conditioning (takes a lot of energy to run around after playing tight defense for 30-45 seconds!) and a good basketball mind, both of which must be worked on in the off-season.

 

With our frontcourt, we will rebound, but in the America East, outside shooting and good guard play is so important. And most schools in our conference have SF (3) players who can dribble, penetrate to some extent, and shoot from the outside, so we need a SF who can do the same; i.e., perhaps a B. Allen, Reid Anderson or one of the new guys (i.e., someone with good height, size, and some guard skills). My $.02.

[Clickclack]

Who's going to tell Haggy?

 

I don't know anything other than what's in Singelais blog, but, i must say, i am very uncomfortable with pulling a scholarship because a student-athlete is not a gym rat.

 

I'm with statefan, this makes me very uncomfortable. I'm not killing coach for this but for me it raises if not a red flag then certainly a yellow flag. True, we don't know all the info and might never, but one has to look at this as at least somewhat of a yellow flag. As was pointed out 3 out of 5 players gone! This might be an isolated incident but it raises questions in my mind. If this isn't running a player of what is?

[Patch]

In my mind a "Head Coach" is like a "CEO" they're paid to make the tough decisions and of course take the heat if their decisions are not well recieved.

 

Most of us (especially me) are great "Arm Chair Quarterbacks" but never really have to make a significant possibly controversial decision.

 

Remember Tripani a successful highly touted freshman is leaving UVM for personal reasons, supposedly has nothing to do with basketball. If he came out speaking like Carl Ross do you think he would have gotten an unconditional release? Ross can't go DI and sit out so he can say whatever he wants. He'll wind up at a DII or an NAIA school play next year and have it paid for.

[UA_MA_2000]

In my mind a "Head Coach" is like a "CEO" they're paid to make the tough decisions and of course take the heat if their decisions are not well recieved.

 

Most of us (especially me) are great "Arm Chair Quarterbacks" but never really have to make a significant possibly controversial decision.

 

Remember Tripani a successful highly touted freshman is leaving UVM for personal reasons, supposedly has nothing to do with basketball. If he came out speaking like Carl Ross do you think he would have gotten an unconditional release? Ross can't go DI and sit out so he can say whatever he wants. He'll wind up at a DII or an NAIA school play next year and have it paid for.

 

 

That's interesting. I never knew about, or really even thought about, there being conditional and unconditional releases. I also didn't realize that there could be an impact with respect to releases and whether a player can comment or not. I like your analogy between a head coach and a CEO.

 

With a couple Yankee wins (or a few more losses for the Sox and Mets fans here), everyone will turn their attention back to the other sports currently in play and this will be a passing issue, at least by the start of next season. And given that C.R. can't play Div. I next year, I assume he'll do just fine at a D II school in D.C. or somewhere else.

 

Question: Does the releasing school (UA in this case) provide someone like Ross with the ability to play for another division I school next year or not? Is that how it works? In other words, does UAlbany control whether Ross can play at another Division I school next year, or is it the NCAA and its rules?

[albanyhoops31]

I think it's B.S. Brown is just allowed to rellocate the scholarship. Ross was one of my favorites. I can't we didn't see the "behind the scenes" stuff, but he always hustled in the games, and was clearly our best defender.

 

Despite Jamar being amazing versus Vermont last March, we don't win that game without Ross.

 

Plain and Simple

[UA_MA_2000]

I think it's B.S. Brown is just allowed to rellocate the scholarship. Ross was one of my favorites. I can't we didn't see the "behind the scenes" stuff, but he always hustled in the games, and was clearly our best defender.

 

Despite Jamar being amazing versus Vermont last March, we don't win that game without Ross.

 

Plain and Simple

 

Maybe so (and I do agree with you about the game in Burlington), but Coach Brown has to do what he feels is the best for the school to win next year and the years after.

 

We also have no idea what his grades were like. Perhaps this was an issue in the making. Of course, I'm COMPLETELY speculating, but if it were me and I saw a player that might not make the grade during the coming season (yes, he managed this year, but perhaps it was just barely?), I would rather re-allocate that scholarship to someone else who has a better chance of staying academically eligible. Again, I HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER THIS WAS AN ISSUE, but I'm merely giving this as an example of why a coach might do this from time to time at any school (and do it to even a senior).

 

And I again raise an interesting thought: Bauman stayed his 3 years, yet I'm sure Brown could have gone out and recruited a JUCO player or someone else who was just as talented or even more athletic than Bauman, but yet, Brown kept Bauman on. Why is this? Coach knew Bauman wouldn't get much time this past year, yet Brown kept him on. Why wouldn't he do the same for Ross? It makes me, again, wonder about what was going on behind the scenes that led to this decision! And it's not because Brown couldn't get other players last year that he could this year, because he could have gone out and gotten at least a JUCO player or other talented player last off-season.

[alum73]

2. Why would the conversation about renewing Ross' scholarship just occur two weeks ago? You'd think that it would have occurred in time for him to find a place to land.

 

I'm sure this does happen all the time - but I think the kids usually get a chance to land on their feet somewhere.

 

Why doesn't he have time to find a place to play? The semester isn't over yet. It looks like he already know where he's going. I'll give the coach a pass on this, as only he and carl know the entire story.

[danes05]

Just heard the news and I'm shocked. I agree with those that said there must be more to the story that probably won't get to the public. Sorry to see Ross leave, but perhaps it's for the best. I feel that the situation must have been pretty bad for Coach to pull the scholarship.

[Clickclack]

Woke up this morning....still very upset over this!

[purplehaze]

This will be the first year A.J. (After Jamar). Everyone will be watching this team to see how we do without him . With the big raise and all the hoopla of winning two straight conference titles, there will be a certain amount of pressure on Coach and his staff.

 

I am sure there is a lot we do not know about the Carl--Coach situation, but to pull a scholarship it must be pretty serious.

 

Coach is getting paid the big bucks to win games. If he feels this move will help the team win more games. So be it.

 

Carl Ross will forever have a place in UA History and lore--for knocking the ball away from Trimboli--That's something none of us will ever forget.