Vander <t>REF: Vanderdoes. Well hell, now we can't even get excited about these new recruits until they attend their first day of class I guess. I guess your word means nothing anymore. Stay or go make up your mind. If he is still trying to figure out where he wants to go then please don't come to South Bend. I'd rather have some kid rated lower by the recruiting services who would just love to have a ND scholarship. If he can't figure out how much a diploma from ND is worth to him then maybe he's not the guy we need. I don't want another Aaron Lynch!</t>
If the kid comes, great. If he bails, I wish him luck. I'd release the kid if he wants out and I wouldn't restrict where he goes. I see the pathetic situation at Florida State and it all just seems so desperate. Either the program is bigger than one man, or it's not. What message are you sending here? ND has always been exclusive and certainly likes to carry themselves as being above all the petty nonsense. I know people tend to look at the 'what precedent will this set?' angle, but I see it differently. I only want guys who want to be there. This is a 5 star kid who couldn't ask for more of an opportunity. On top of the obvious financial reward of an ND degree and alumni affiliation, he would be joining a team fresh off a BCS title game showing with one of the more stout defensive front 7s in the game AND has an immediate spot for him in the rotation in which he'll get lots of PT but not have to carry the burden of being the guy for a year. It's perfect. If a guy doesn't want that, then he just doesn't. We can't change his mind and we can't punish him for not wanting a great opportunity. If he's worried about being upstaged, wait until he gets to Los Angeles to play for the Bruins. That's a city in which a 5 loss USC team is still bigger news than a 10 win UCLA. They are the Rodney Dangerfield of the basin.
I would not release him. If he wants to renege on his written committment then he should sit out for a year. ND held a scholarship for him that could have gone to someone else. Decisions have consequences.
I get that George, and to an extent, I agree. The problem will be the media war that ND will lose badly. They'll become the face of evil programs that are "holding children captive from their futures" even though ND clearly is getting the shaft in this and it's a shitty situation. People will forget all about Okie St and their crazy restrictions on Wes Lundt. They will forget all about FSU and their absolutely childish handling of the Thomas situation. (BTW, they were not ambushed with this like ND was. This has been an ongoing thing for a while). In my opinion, you're either just like everyone else or you're not. The sooner they recognize that they aren't like everyone else and will have to handle these situations differently, the better. In a related/unrelated note, and this has nothing to do with the email exchange a while back that will go no further in discussion, attempted poaching of scholarship players seems to be at an all-time high these days. I'm not close enough to the game anymore to tell you exactly how it is happening, but it is.
While I am very hesitant, even fearful, of disagreeing with the Godfather, I have to side with Corey on this one. I understand the Godfather's annoyance with the situation and his justifiable desire for retribution, but in the end, we don't need to bring that type of attention - the role of the vindictive scorned program - to our team and/or coaching staff for the reasons Corey outlined. Let FSU and OkState bear the brunt of their actions in the public eye. IMO, we should just move on and focus on the guys who want to be here.
Thing is I have yet to see any negative reaction to FSU refusing to allow the kid his release. Ok.State has come under criticism on Internet boards, I don't watch ESPN or Fox Sports that much so if those guys hammered OkState I didn't catch it. With EV I don't know what is going to happen. I think ND is certainly justified in refusing to cave, and should do so. But you hate to get into a pissing match with a kid and his family.
What would be best is if ND could find out which team has been poaching this kid after his LOI commitment and list that school as one he cannot go to. So if a PAC school talked this kid into decommitting they may end up with him playing for another conference team against them in the future. It sticks it in the right place.
Are you guys wearing signs on your backs that read " Kick me. I'm Irish " ? If this dopey kid goes back on his contract then he can sit his ass on the sidelines for a year. F*ck the press. They hate us anyway. This is principle. You either have it or you don't. And that goes for Notre Dame as well.
Actually George, my sign says "If you don't want to come to ND, we don't want you. Go anywhere you want except some place that doesn't respect our LOIs." Your sign is more like "We're going to treat you like FSU does. We're no different."
What Gip said. I do approve of using the wrath that George is talking about, I feel it as well, in going after the schools that are doing this stuff.
ND <t>ND needs to stand fast on this Vanderdoes kid. If he wants to transfer then fine. He and his family have to admit their mistake and the kid can sit for a year and play wherever. You start letting these kid renig on their LOIs and your opening up a whole can of worms .</t>
But they already do bail on the LOI. Part of the hypocrisy of the NCAA is this charade of 'fair trade' that goes on. Right now, he's received nothing from ND other than the promise of a spot for 1 year. If the rumor about the class is true, that means he hasn't even been admitted which I find hard to believe at this point. Still, what it gets down to with me is this.. What are you hoping to gain from this? Pride? Principle? I think we'll find that ND has found both of those things more than negotiable in the past. We're just going to get into a pissing war with a kid and his family in which ND will never 'win' even if they make him sit out a year. As ridiculous as it is, I would even be fine if ND 'pulled a Gundy' and restricted his release to Northwest Shoals Community College and the American WhateverItsCalled Conference. Even then, it just seems petty. This is all part of the charade. The school needs protection from their organization (the NCAA) and the NCAA's clearing house. The NCAA can't really give them that protection because it's really more of a Confederacy that likes to exploit their member institutions for financial gain, as well as the players of those institutions, but they provide no real benefit or guidance other than to serve as their plantation overlord. Instead, this is all going to fall back on ND and they will wear this, one way or the other.
When a kid commits and then balks it means that another player who wanted to go to ND but was not offered was deprived of the spot. Programs that try to keep balanced depth charts also take a hit. In both cases the kid caused damages by not living up to his word. It's not a "no harm, no foul" situation.
and that spot just opened back up...exactly who is running this show, anyway? The NCAA should probably step in and do something, but they're too busy rolling nickles to be bothered. Are we the police force of college football? Nope. All we'll wind up doing is looking horrible. When schools pull scholarships on kids, I don't see a lot of whining for it. What will we benefit if we make the kid sit out or not release him? I mean, seriously.. will that really 'show em'? The answer is.. it won't.. It won't change one thing and ND will wind up with the egg on their face rather than the NCAA (who should be stepping in to protect their member institutions). If the NCAA was really in charge of this sideshow, the decision wouldn't be left up to the school. Here we are grown men debating what's at the heart of a 17 year old boy and how we should punish him if his heart doesn't line up with our fandom. If he comes to ND, welcome to the family.. No one (except maybe Tim) will root harder for you than I. If you go somewhere else, f*** you. I don't even wish you well. I just care about 'our side'. It's the NCAA's job to worry about the whole... but they don't do anything other than cash checks.
No one has said anything to change my mind about supporting Corey's position on the issue. If the kid doesn't want to be at ND, let him go and move on. It's a distraction that we don't need. Don't kid yourselves. If we refuse to release him, it WILL be a distraction. I would add a caveat.....I could support a conditional release preventing him from going to a program on our schedule over the next 4-5 years.
YES!! And in the press conference, we call it 'The Gundy'. You gotta control the message, before it controls you