OT- Kentucky TE Alex Smith kicked off the team
You'll remember him as a highly-touted UM tight end target. It seemed like there was a good chance at him for a while, but it didn't work out. Looks like a good thing now.
I wonder if these "violations of team rules" can be FOIAed. I'm kind of tired of the veil on athletic departments.
Because if it's anyone's business, it's yours!
I understand the interest from the view of being a fan and wanting to know everything possible about a program, but if they didn't break a law, you're probably not going to find out and that is their prerogative, rightly so.
I'm pretty sure that if at any point the "violations" were communicated between parties via the University's email system you can get then through FOI.
I'm not a lawyer, and thus not 100% on this, but I'd say that I'm 99% sure that emails regarding team discipline are protected under FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) seeing as how they would reveal identifying information and would come from an academic institution.
... sounds like his team violation was "not being good enough".
How does one come about being 7th on the tight end depth chart?
If that kid was seventh on the depth chart at a place like Kentucky, then it's most likely due to off-the-field problems or the absence of a good attitude. Talent-wise, I doubt he's deserving of being that low.
I would sure hope not, I've never even thought of TE depth charts going to 7th-string
Kentucky is a public institution and thus any emails sent by any faculity members at the university are considered public documents which means you should be able to receive them under a FOIA request
That's not true. Anything that can identify confidential information about a student is not covered under the FOIA because it would violate another federal law, FERPA (see my post above).