Polisky picked as AD
- Thread starter JournCat
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And yet he still "counted" from a scholarship limit perspective. It's all semantics, really.
Why bother converting the scholarship if it still counted against the scholarship limit? What were they hoping to accomplish, before some lawyers presumably told them to stop?
According to the Vice story, NU's Athletic Aid Appeals Committee converted the scholarship to an academic one in ruling on an appeal by Vassar. According to Vice, that committee is independent of the Athletic Department. I suppose this makes it possible that the Athletic Department independently determined that Vassar was still a "counter" under NCAA rules because he had not signed a roster deletion form.
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Would be interesting to know the difference in benefits between an athletic and academic scholarship. Insurance coverage, access to trainers, academic support, training table, etc. On the other hand perhaps academic scholarships are less restrictive on time demands? Vassar wanted an academic scholarship which perhaps did not have a work commitment?
That was the rub. Vassar wanted to keep the access to trainers, facilities, academic support, etc. that the athletic scholarship provided. The academic scholarship didn't provide those benefits, but it also didn't carry the intern/work-study requirement.
But Vassar appealed in the first place because the athletic department had already communicated their imminent intention to convert his scholarship to an academic scholarship. Why was the athletic department choosing this path, regardless of the way the independent committee eventually ruled?
That's not what happened. NU offered Vassar the opportunity to voluntarily take an academic scholarship so as to avoid the internship requirement. He declined. So the athletic department then revoked his athletic scholarship for failure to fulfill the requirements of his non-participant agreement related to the internship. Vassar appealed that decision.
That says only that NU's director of financial aid had notified Vassar that (a) the University, on the recommendation of the athletic department, had revoked his athletic scholarship; and (b) the University had agreed to give him a separate scholarship under certain conditions. She also notified him of his right to appeal the revocation of his athletic scholarship. It does not say that the athletic department had converted him to an academic scholarship, as you contend. The financial aid director expressly distinguished between the University and the athletic department.
Yes, they notified him of their intention to revoke his athletic scholarship and replace it with a non-athletic scholarship.
They also told him that if he appealed, he would lose the offer of the non-athletic scholarship.
You really think the athletic department wasn't involved in this decision? This wasn't in the hands of the independent committee yet at this point.
According to whom? If he still counted against the basketball team’s scholarship limit, then he was on a basketball scholarship.
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Perhaps he counted against the basketball limit in the eyes of the NCAA but not NU.
According to the Vice article, his athletic scholarship was revoked and he was offered an academic scholarship if he did not appeal. He appealed anyway, and the independent appeal board made the change to an academic scholarship. It seems entirely possible that he was still a "counter" for NCAA purposes simply because he refused to sign the roster deletion form.
The NCAA is the only opinion that counts. The net effect is that Collins was down one scholarship and would benefit form Vassar transferring. That’s how we got on this part of the discussion in the first place.
Which is the salient point in this discussion. It started with someone questioning Collins’ motivation to push Vassar out. If Vassar was taking up one of his 13 scholarships, then Collins had motive.
When the relationship deteriorates to the point that a player announces his intention to transfer, and he then refuses to sign the roster deletion form to free up his athletic scholarship for someone else, that is not an optimal situation.
Was Vassar feeling intense pressure from his coaches to transfer? Were all those text messages asking him when he's going to sign the documents legitimate?
Sometimes, people believe they have to do something, then they talk to lawyers and learn that they don't have to. You should know that.
We all agree on one point, he never should have been recruited in the first place. The warning signs were all there.
This is the key point that many seem to be missing. Vassar wanting out; then wanting back in after he realized there was no market for his services. The guy ended up riding the bench at Tennessee Tech for goodness sake. TT was terrible that year. The fact Vassar saw limited minutes is very telling. I’m surprised he didn’t look to transfer from there as well.
The fact that Vassar went to another Division 1 school and played any minutes after sitting on the sidelines and not practicing with a team for 3 seasons tells me he was at least good enough to be a body during practice. He missed out on three seasons of development and still played D-1 ball.
It sure seems plausible that Vassar didn’t like what he heard from CCC and it went downhill from there. How could he keep him on the team even as a practice body if the guy was pissed at the world? Again, who is beating the drum that Vassar got screwed besides Vassar.
BTW- talk about scope creep.
I agree but Collins made the mistake by recruiting him in the first place and had to live with the consequences of that poor decision. I have no problem with Collins booting him off the team but NU still has the obligation of honoring his free ride in my opinion.
That’s exactly what they did. Glad to see the University took the high road.
It's certainly plausible. But Vassar kept enough receipts that it seems it was a two-way street. Of course CCC can't really give us his side of the story.
Vassar wanting out could also be interpreted as Collins wanting vassar out.
An equally plausible interpretation is that BOTH of them wanted him out--until Vassar saw that he was not as marketable as he thought. Indications are that the relationship had fouled and was no longer viable. If it was just a matter of Vassar not being good enough but willingly accepting his limited role with a positive attitude, I question whether we would be having this conversation.
You are probably right.
I’m sure Collins was eager to keep him on the team
