I honestly don't think this is anything more than hearing one side of the story. Scholarships are not four year commitments, not yet at least. Tom Crean did this when he first took over at Indiana and it got the nickname "Creaning." There's no easy way to do it, and when you only hear the cut-ee's side it can appear worse than it is.

Peace be with you :)

Thomas Dale here at your service :)

I do hope we can be friends :)

Thank you for accepting me here :)

(04-13-2012 12:45 AM)Samuelrhoden29 Wrote:  Peace be with you :)

Thomas Dale here at your service :)

I do hope we can be friends :)

Thank you for accepting me here :)

Welcome! May the blessings of Allah, Vishnu, the Dalai Lama, and Lee Corso be upon you!

(04-12-2012 03:39 PM)chihuskie Wrote:  Hmmmm. I read the story-- which is essentially Miller's dad's version of things. It provides NO detail at all about any meeting between MM and Zach Miller. So, I'm not sure that there is any problem here. I don't really see one. If MM came in and swept out, for example, Tyler Storm, I would think that's a problem. But Zach came in to the program knowing there was a new coach, and knowing the new coach is not the guy that recruited him. He had a year to show what he could do (that's all that he is guaranteed) and he did. I don't mean to be mean, but did he show he was a good D1 point guard? I didn't see it, and more importantly, MM didn't see it. So, he apparently was told he didn't figure in future plans. He was told this privately, where he could just choose to say that "I decided to seek opportunities elsewhere." What is wrong with that?
Instead his dad throws out some hand granades on the way out!
That's how the Miller's chose to handle the situation. I am not going to fault them for that either, but I just don't see that MM could have done much differently. (Other than put a kid on the bench that he didn't feel belonged there, and filling up a scholarship that he could use instead to get a player he really thinks he can use.)

I think I'm going to have to pat MM on the back on this one. Tough choice, but the right choice.

as I understand, Miller was to be a package deal with Johnny Hill. Hill went to ISU and we had to take Miller. For him to transfer to Hilldales says alot about his ability. That probably his where he should play. MM needs to get us going and maybe every once in a while a tough decsion has to be made.

(04-13-2012 08:36 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(04-13-2012 12:45 AM)Samuelrhoden29 Wrote:  Peace be with you :)

Thomas Dale here at your service :)

I do hope we can be friends :)

Thank you for accepting me here :)

Welcome! May the blessings of Allah, Vishnu, the Dalai Lama, and Lee Corso be upon you!

Yeah, thanks for welcoming a spammer.

(04-13-2012 11:14 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(04-13-2012 08:36 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(04-13-2012 12:45 AM)Samuelrhoden29 Wrote:  Peace be with you :)

Thomas Dale here at your service :)

I do hope we can be friends :)

Thank you for accepting me here :)

Welcome! May the blessings of Allah, Vishnu, the Dalai Lama, and Lee Corso be upon you!

Yeah, thanks for welcoming a spammer.

All are welcome as long as they seek God in any of his incarnations.

Peace be upon you as you seek the Eternal truths on this board.

It's never pretty but scholarships are one year commitments and you can't have a D-II level player eating one of your 11 scholies up for 4 years when you're being paid big bucks to win games. The coach has to identify the players who aren't performing, approach them and explain that the scholarship won't be there next year. After that though he should offer to help them with future plans (eg find a transfer destination, offer a walkon spot if he's willing to pay his way or maybe secure an academic scholarship (which would necessitate his leaving the basketball team)).

Unless Monty was insulting in some way that went unreported I'm not going to fault him for this. Hard feelings are to be expected but it's better than just using 10 of your 11 scholarships for 4 years to placate a high school coach.

I am confused. If scholarships are 1 year commitments why would Compher say he is on Scholarship?
After the year is over wouldn't Montgomery have the option to continue the scholarship?
Does Montgomery determine who has a scholarship for next year?
At the time Miller was praised Baker had not decided to attend NIU.
When Baker decided to come someone had to go.
Sound right?

Because he's still on scholarship for this school year?
He should, maybe in conjunction with Compher.
I think so.
Probably. I bet though if Baker decided not to come Miller would've been gone anyway as Monty would have kept looking for someone who could contribute. I mean, maybe if he struck out with 10 guys Miller would've stayed, who knows.

This is a non issue. Miller's dad is bitter his son isn't good enough to play here.

(04-13-2012 11:58 AM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  I am confused. If scholarships are 1 year commitments why would Compher say he is on Scholarship?After the year is over wouldn't Montgomery have the option to continue the scholarship?
Does Montgomery determine who has a scholarship for next year?
At the time Miller was praised Baker had not decided to attend NIU.
When Baker decided to come someone had to go.
Sound right?

From what I have hears him say…AD Comphers believes that if a player is making a commitment to NIU that NIU needs to make the same commitment to the student...aka he is all for the multi-year scholarship.

He does not like having it taken away...sort of interesting since it seems that his son got his scholarship pulled by DD.

(04-13-2012 12:32 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(04-13-2012 11:58 AM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  I am confused. If scholarships are 1 year commitments why would Compher say he is on Scholarship?After the year is over wouldn't Montgomery have the option to continue the scholarship?
Does Montgomery determine who has a scholarship for next year?
At the time Miller was praised Baker had not decided to attend NIU.
When Baker decided to come someone had to go.
Sound right?

From what I have hears him say…AD Comphers believes that if a player is making a commitment to NIU that NIU needs to make the same commitment to the student...aka he is all for the multi-year scholarship.

He does not like having it taken away...sort of interesting since it seems that his son got his scholarship pulled by DD.

I don't think that was the case with CJ. I was told he decided he didn't want to play anymore for a variety of reasons. Think about it for a minute; do you really think DD would pull the scholarship of the son the AD? I don't think so!

If anything the most unfortunate part of this story is that Miller's dad tried to use his head coaching job as a means to throw his weight around.

(04-13-2012 12:40 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(04-13-2012 12:32 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(04-13-2012 11:58 AM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  I am confused. If scholarships are 1 year commitments why would Compher say he is on Scholarship?After the year is over wouldn't Montgomery have the option to continue the scholarship?
Does Montgomery determine who has a scholarship for next year?
At the time Miller was praised Baker had not decided to attend NIU.
When Baker decided to come someone had to go.
Sound right?

From what I have hears him say…AD Comphers believes that if a player is making a commitment to NIU that NIU needs to make the same commitment to the student...aka he is all for the multi-year scholarship.

He does not like having it taken away...sort of interesting since it seems that his son got his scholarship pulled by DD.

I don't think that was the case with CJ. I was told he decided he didn't want to play anymore for a variety of reasons. Think about it for a minute; do you really think DD would pull the scholarship of the son the AD? I don't think so!

Ya, I guess not. I just can't imagin giving up playing football especially if I had an oppertunity like that.

I would like to place a bet that Zach was told by Montgomery that his playing time would go down severely with the 2 PGs coming in and that if he wanted more playing time, going to another school would be the best option. Zach told papa that and they took it as Montgomery wanted to get rid of him and he wanted to pull his scholarship. Then papa went into super-protective parent mode and went after Montgomery and Compher. It's been known for awhile that Baker and Balls were coming in to compete for point and obviously the Miller's didn't think Zach was going to get a fair shake for starting PG

I'm hearing different things from two separate very trusted sources. Sigh.

Anyone thinking it's just an "embittered parent" or "a coach throwing his weight around" might want to consider how you'd react if a coach pulled the scholarship of your son or daughter.

Yeah but he didn't really pull anything because scholarships are one year commitments. Kids don't renew/transfer for various reasons. Coaches do the same. Unfortunately in basketball with so few scholarships (11) you can't have them eaten up by guys who aren't contributing. This isn't little league.

Monty did nothing wrong. Be as upset as you want about it but to use being a high school basketball coach to throw your weight around as revenge is silly

I liked Huskie Family's take on the first page of the thread. Just not handled well by anyone involved, but the outcome is probably for the best for everyone involved.

Much as I don't like the idea of dropping scholarship athletes, and would align myself with what seems like Compher's point of view, many coaches have a hard time with guys like this that weren't "their guys" who they aren't terribly interested in having around. And for Miller, from what I can recall of Hillsdale, I have a hard time thinking someone who chooses that school would have been happy long term at NIU.

For Sr. Miller to go off, I get where he's coming from, but come on, be an example for your son about taking life setbacks with grace.