RE: Evans transferring
I think there might be too much being read into the transfers that "something is going on here" beyond the obvious:
1) A head coach that seemed to be well respected by his players left the university, and likely given VCU's ability to compensate assistant coaches better, brought some of those with him too (Brent Scott)
2) An assistant coach that the players all like and respect got hired -- and the group celebrated that hiring. My guess is they are genuinely very excited for Coach Pera.
3) We are dealing with 18-22 year olds here. How else were they going to react when Coach Pera got the job? Without celebration? Whether they were sitting there planning on staying or going, I think the excitement for him is genuine.
4) When guys start transferring, it's natural for there to be a snowball effect. I think it takes a more unique person to look at the situation and say "I'm staying. There's more opportunity for me here than if I leave..." versus "Holy crap. We are going to suck. With a terrible schedule. Playing in front of no fans. At an academically difficult school where the students don't like athletics."
I think many posters need to stop assuming that we know why each and every player is transferring and acting like they are the most disloyal human beings to have walked the Rice campus (since Dylan Ennis anyway). Each and every individual situation is different, and we're still talking about relatively young individuals that are likely getting pulled in a bunch of different directions. So I say "good luck" to each and every one of them and thank them for their time at Rice, because I was one of the people in the stands, and I really enjoyed watching them play. I'm disappointed that they're leaving, but get it. I also enjoyed cheering for Ennis for Villanova and Oregon. Rice isn't for everyone. For me, it was a great fit for academics, and secondarily, for athletics. I didn't care about not playing in front of crowds, but I 100% understand why it is very hard for some of our athletes to work incredibly hard, only to play in front of less support than they had in high school, and less support than many of their peers are having at other schools.
Valuing the Rice education above everything else requires a maturity and a long term view, and I don't think it's fair to act like everyone should "get it".
How do we fix the situation at Rice Athletics?
Maybe by acknowledging what we'll never be...and being okay with it. We had a fun coach in Rhoades, and similar to Graham/Bailiff/etc. had to spend some of his time and bandwidth visiting colleges to drum up student support. He did it -- sometimes successfully given the student turn out at some key match ups -- and it was a lot of fun. I guess I'm either too pessimistic or too realistic to think we ever get to a situation where our students come out game after game to support our sports. As someone has mentioned on here before, fellow athletes don't even do that in mass quantity. So I think Rice will always muddle along...with many of us complaining that we should be better because we love the school and think it's a great platform, and we might get some bright shining years in hoops or football or baseball and I'll enjoy those.
For me, reality set in at the semi-finals of the women's bball tournament when Rice hosted Idaho. I was there, and the number of attendees was embarassing. No students, no alums, no Houston school kids, nobody...I want to say that when I counted before the game started, it was like 75 people in the gym. And I would have no issue with the women that have had success on the team deciding that their blood, sweat and tears translating into that type of environment isn't the perfect melding of athletics and academics, and making the choice to transfer.
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2017 10:16 AM by Owl25.)
|
