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Scholarship Freeze Policy
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nj alum Offline
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Post: #61
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
No one has addressed the Hawthorne e-mail:

“In the words of the Associate Athletic Director Peel Hawthorne, in an email sent to the donor parents of a student athlete July 25. ‘This year we were presented with circumstances that required modest reductions across the board. As a result, scholarship increases for returning student-athletes were restricted to written scholarship agreements only,’ Hawthorne said.”

Hawthorne is not a coach. She is an associate AD.

Did Hawthorne send the e-mail noted in the article? If she did, has that e-mail been retracted, or was it accurate?
(This post was last modified: 09-18-2019 08:58 PM by nj alum.)
09-18-2019 08:56 PM
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2017WithPep Offline
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Post: #62
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
To add yet another wrinkle to this story, there is now a student athlete semi-publicly claiming on Facebook that they did not get a promised scholarship for their performance. You can see the post in the Green and Gold club FB group. They claim that their coach told them that they didn't get the scholarship due to the freeze. Even if the freeze is over, apparently this individual still has not gotten a scholarship. https://www.facebook.com/groups/43209544...323383391/

*IF* this story is as the student says, this situation raises some ethical concerns in my opinion.
09-18-2019 09:04 PM
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LeadBolt Offline
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Post: #63
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-18-2019 07:38 PM)Mrs. Got Ribe Wrote:  I haven't engaged on this board lately (and I don't plan to start again), but I do want to let you all know what I know.

I contacted Samantha last week when this broke. She informed me that she had met with the student-athlete who promoted this, and she then sent out an email to all student-athletes to clarify. She stated that there is no such policy. As has been in the past, it remains the coaches’ decisions as to who gets scholarships and how they are distributed.

I followed up today with Anthony Henderson to get more information on the emails from Peel Hawthorne and a coach that were referenced in the blog. They have pursued this and found that there was miscommunication within the department that resulted in the coach conveying incorrect information to the team.

Here is the email:

Dear Tribe,

There appears to be a misunderstanding among some student-athletes on the awarding of athletic scholarships. William & Mary Athletics provides each sport program with an annual scholarship budget. It is at the sole discretion of the head coach of each sport program to distribute that scholarship funding within NCAA regulations. This remains our practice.

Questions about our department policies and procedures are welcome. The best place to start is with your coach. Your sport administrator is willing to engage with you as well, as am I ultimately as athletics director.

We are one Tribe.

Some additional info:

- Scholarship budgets vary by sport and can change from year to year based on several factors, including fundraising success, budget availability, and financial aid costs as determined by the university.

-W&M Athletics currently pays more than $10 million per year to the university for scholarships, and increasing funding for scholarships is the primary goal of Athletics Advancement.

-Several student-athletes have already received increases in their athletic aid this year.

-In the upcoming strategic plan, increased funding for scholarships is one of the key metrics for which Athletics will be held accountable.

We will be hosting a student edition of Tribe Talks on September 17th in the Tidewater B room of the Sadler Center. (Note: this was in the works before learning of the change.org petition)

I look forward to engaging with you all in the coming weeks and months and am excited for the year ahead.

GO TRIBE!
Samantha

Thank you madame for sharing!
09-18-2019 09:11 PM
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Tribeheart Offline
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Post: #64
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
Thanks for sharing, Mrs. Got Ribe.
09-18-2019 11:28 PM
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Zorch Offline
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Post: #65
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-18-2019 07:38 PM)Mrs. Got Ribe Wrote:  I followed up today with Anthony Henderson to get more information on the emails from Peel Hawthorne and a coach that were referenced in the blog. They have pursued this and found that there was miscommunication within the department that resulted in the coach conveying incorrect information to the team.

Thanks for posting this. I have bolded the sentence above. There certainly is a lot of "miscommunication" going on within the athletic department.

It appears clear to me that the supposed policy change WAS promulgated by the athletic department. Just as with the Shaver firing, Huge had no idea of how much backlash this would cause. Now they are in crisis mode -- circling the wagons and in deep denial. Those people who received the emails know the truth. Those students who got the word from their coaches know the truth. Those coaches who are now made to look bad (like it was their idea and not a dictum from Huge) know the truth. Huge would have been smarter to have admitted to it and then said that she was in error, knows better now, and has been quick to change back to the old way. Denying things that seem to be true and seem to be provable (or blaming them on "miscommunication") just makes you look sleazy. Along those same lines, think about the meeting that Huge had with the petition writer. It was a straight ambush, with more people invited to the meeting than he had expected. Having experienced an ambush meeting myself -- on two separate occasions -- I know exactly how he felt. Seeing as how she was the engineer of that meeting, I think that tells you all about Huge that you need to know. Just my opinion. But I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way.

No matter how you feel about Huge, everyone must admit that she is a polarizing personality ..........
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2019 12:23 AM by Zorch.)
09-18-2019 11:58 PM
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Tribal Offline
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Post: #66
Scholarship Freeze Policy
I've seen proof. Y'all believe the spin if you want.

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09-19-2019 06:17 AM
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mrjoolius Offline
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Post: #67
Scholarship Freeze Policy
So which is it?
Did they freeze scholarships, and reverse policy due to the backlash?
Or, did they freeze scholarships, get the backlash, and then say there were never freezes while still freezing scholarships? The 1st scenario is understandable. The 2nd is sleazy.
09-19-2019 07:10 AM
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Tribe32 Offline
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Post: #68
Scholarship Freeze Policy
The whole thing is sleazy. Go back and see what Huge did at Delaware. Same ambush meeting when she was acting AD. No regard for other people on her climb to the top. Time for her to go. When it stinks there is rot.


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09-19-2019 09:41 AM
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nj alum Offline
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Post: #69
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-19-2019 07:10 AM)mrjoolius Wrote:  So which is it?
Did they freeze scholarships, and reverse policy due to the backlash?
Or, did they freeze scholarships, get the backlash, and then say there were never freezes while still freezing scholarships? The 1st scenario is understandable. The 2nd is sleazy.

If the info provided to me privately is accurate, look behind Door #2.

The adults in the room went AWOL when Tony was fired.

The adults in the room remained AWOL when a portion of the fan base was apoplectic about Tony’s firing.

It remains to be seen whether the adults in the room remain AWOL if more details about this treatment of student-athletes goes public.

Again, no one is mentioning the Hawthorne e-mail. Did it happen? Was it retracted? Was it accurate?
09-19-2019 11:19 AM
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bubbadog57 Offline
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Post: #70
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
This is a merry-go-round discussion that has become redundant . It appears we don't really know what happened or what didn't. At this point it's supposition one way or the other and, at this point, it is a dead issue.
09-19-2019 03:53 PM
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nj alum Offline
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Post: #71
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-19-2019 03:53 PM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  This is a merry-go-round discussion that has become redundant . It appears we don't really know what happened or what didn't. At this point it's supposition one way or the other and, at this point, it is a dead issue.

Right on cue!
09-19-2019 03:58 PM
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A Quest Called Tribe Offline
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Post: #72
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
At this point I’d assume just about every living person who’s ever cut a check to Tribe Athletics has heard about the petition. You either saw it on social media, saw it while browsing this board, saw it in the Flat Hat, or heard about it from someone at a tailgate who did. It’s no longer a private issue that can be “handled internally.”

But all it would take is a press release on the website or an email to the donor list apologizing for the confusion and clarifying the situation.

As far as I can tell it’s been a week and there has been no official public response to the student-athlete’s petition. From a donor relations standpoint, this lack of communication is now its own problem independent of the original issue regarding scholarships.
09-19-2019 05:22 PM
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nj alum Offline
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Post: #73
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-19-2019 05:22 PM)A Quest Called Tribe Wrote:  At this point I’d assume just about every living person who’s ever cut a check to Tribe Athletics has heard about the petition. You either saw it on social media, saw it while browsing this board, saw it in the Flat Hat, or heard about it from someone at a tailgate who did. It’s no longer a private issue that can be “handled internally.”

But all it would take is a press release on the website or an email to the donor list apologizing for the confusion and clarifying the situation.

As far as I can tell it’s been a week and there has been no official public response to the student-athlete’s petition. From a donor relations standpoint, this lack of communication is now its own problem independent of the original issue regarding scholarships.

I agree with you.

48 hours after I knew of this issue, a group text went out with the Flat Hat article among my group. Before I had time to respond that this was old news and a non-issue to some, the first reaction was that this was a logical consequence of the Shaver buy-out. That’s the thinking out there.
09-19-2019 05:31 PM
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WMSportsBlog Offline
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Post: #74
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-18-2019 12:58 PM)2017WithPep Wrote:  They've changed the title now to "Athletes deserve clarity on scholarship information", which is a lot better. However, the description on FB still says that the freeze is in affect https://www.facebook.com/theflathat/post...8702202290

Honestly, as both a former, and current (grad), student, I've been disappointed with Flat Hat reporting the last couple years.

You can always head to http://www.wmsportsblog.com for all your Tribe Football & MBB needs 04-cheers
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2019 08:01 PM by WMSportsBlog.)
09-19-2019 06:25 PM
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WMInTheBurg Offline
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Post: #75
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-19-2019 03:53 PM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  This is a merry-go-round discussion that has become redundant . It appears we don't really know what happened or what didn't. At this point it's supposition one way or the other and, at this point, it is a dead issue.

The freeze itself is a dead issue. The surrounding chaos seems to be the growing story now.
09-19-2019 07:41 PM
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Blow Gym rat Offline
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Post: #76
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
Trying to bring all the pieces together, everything seems to indicate that TribeHeart's suggestion early in this thread was correct -- that this is not a permanent "policy" change, but rather a situation in which "scholarship monies are frozen only for a current academic year, then it is understandable, as the Dept, like any business, has to budget and manage."

We know, I think, that this has been a challenging year for fundraising for a variety of reasons -- the tax law change, fallout from the Shaver firing, etc. So it would make sense that there's not ample money to go around this year, as the Hawthorne email suggests in referring to "modest reductions across the board."

Ms. Huge's email tells us that "William & Mary Athletics provides each sport program with an annual scholarship budget" (although for some programs -- swimming was mentioned -- that budget apparently can be zero, but at least the athletes in those programs knew the situation coming in). She also indicates that "[s]cholarship budgets vary by sport and can change from year to year based on several factors, including fundraising success, budget availability, and financial aid costs as determined by the university." It's not hard to conclude that this might be a year in which scholarship budgets were down -- not due to a policy change, but simply as a matter of fact.

No doubt, in a year when the departmental coffers are flush with cash (is there ever such a year at W&M?), the athletic administration would love to fund scholarships as fully as possible. One can only hope that, in a year when funds apparently were lacking, trimming scholarship funds was a last resort. (On the other hand, if that's true and yet it had to be done, then the financial problems must be pretty substantial).
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2019 09:30 PM by Blow Gym rat.)
09-19-2019 09:26 PM
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Zorch Offline
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Post: #77
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-19-2019 05:22 PM)A Quest Called Tribe Wrote:  As far as I can tell it’s been a week and there has been no official public response to the student-athlete’s petition.

(09-18-2019 07:38 PM)Mrs. Got Ribe Wrote:  Here is the email [from Huge]:

We will be hosting a student edition of Tribe Talks on September 17th in the Tidewater B room of the Sadler Center. (Note: this was in the works before learning of the change.org petition)

Samantha

I wonder if that meeting actually took place on Sept. 17 and, if so, whether the athletic department considers that the "official public response". Does anyone know if the meeting was held? What was said?

(09-19-2019 09:26 PM)Blow Gym rat Wrote:  One can only hope that, in a year when funds apparently were lacking, trimming scholarship funds was a last resort.

Trimming scholarship funds should be the ultimate last resort. However, in this case, it looks to me like they did that before they cut several other budget items. It sure looks like the basketball and football recruiting budgets are going gangbusters and are more flush than ever. That goes in line with Huge wanting to emphasize those major sports. But don't do it to the detriment of all other sports so that those others wither and die on the vine. Sure, football and basketball might enjoy a short renaissance but invariably those teams would sink back to a median. Meanwhile, once you have clipped the wings (pruned the vines, to stick with that metaphor) of the other sports, then they would take years (if ever) to get back to their accustomed championship level.

How about saving money by cutting some of the new positions that Huge has created? How many associate/assistant ADs do we really need?
09-19-2019 11:31 PM
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ScottyB757 Offline
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Post: #78
RE: Scholarship Freeze Policy
(09-19-2019 11:31 PM)Zorch Wrote:  How about saving money by cutting some of the new positions that Huge has created? How many associate/assistant ADs do we really need?

Spot on, my friend. I'll bet that's where a HUGE chunk of the walk-on money has gone.
09-20-2019 06:58 AM
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wmmii Offline
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Post: #79
Scholarship Freeze Policy
Clearly some of our student athletes are unhappy and found it necessary to publicly air their concerns. This is never good for any involved when it reaches this point. Bottomline I support the concept that President Truman had of “The buck stops here”. Only question is who is willing to put it on their desk and who should??


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09-20-2019 08:43 AM
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Tribal Offline
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Post: #80
Scholarship Freeze Policy
Well...well...well.


https://www.change.org/p/college-of-will...u/25096313

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09-23-2019 06:46 PM
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