OT:OU pulls scholarship offer to 4 star with a spinal condition
I'm sure glad we didn't handle the Austin Hatch case in similar fashion. Feel sorry for the kid.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
I thought highly of OU until now.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:44 PM ^
Wow. I mean, I can understand OU's position and all but sometimes things are just more important than numbers. Especially since the kid was obviously very highly recruited by OU and enjoyed the benefits of having him as a commit. Would it make a difference if he was a Shane Morris kind of kid that helped recruit classmates to OU before even stepping foot on campus? Way to be Debbie Downer right before I head home, OP.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^
I would like to think that Oklahoma will do something to assist the kid. That's just wrong.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^
OU seems to have a very unique coaching setup.
Offense
1 Co-OC is also the QB's coach
1 Co-OC is also the WR's coach
RB's coach
Center and Offensive Guard coach
TE and OT coach
Defense
DC is also the DB's coach
Assistant DC is the LBs coach
Special teams coach also coachs DEs
And then they have a coach for DL
I guess it's not that strange, but I've never seen the offensive line coaching broken up. Overall heirarchy seems to be complex too with all the Co-coordinators and assistants etc.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^
That is strange. I would think that you would want the OL to work and function as a unit.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:23 PM ^
Especially in an offense that uses a lot of pulling, centers and guards have much different assignments and blocking techiques than tackles and blocking TEs (ex: tackles have to do more one on one blocking and protecting the edge, where as interior lineman do a lot of chipping, slipping, and the occasional cut blocking as well as getting to the second level). It's just like any other position in football. You have your own assignment depending on the play, so in the end, if you have a coach that can hone the skills and knowledge needed for your specific position, it better helps out the big picture in the end.
September 28th, 2012 at 9:17 PM ^
September 28th, 2012 at 5:56 PM ^
Broken up their OL responsibilities since the Harbaugh era.
September 28th, 2012 at 7:29 PM ^
You'd also think they'd hire the other Stoops brothers and have all 4 simultaniously be co D-coordinator/DB coaches. Then again, you also-also would've expected Iowa to have hired at least one of them since they all were standout DBs for the Hawkeyes and started their coaching careers there as GAs.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^
I don't think this is the end of this story. Sure, OU pulled his athletic scholarship because of injury. This is a common occurance. There is a good chance they offer some sort of academic scholarship instead. I believe that is what happened in the Florida St case but I'm too lazy to research.
Another important point is that this kid had not signed a letter of intent with OU yet.
September 28th, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^
Why not come out and say that to begin with. I feel like they are waiting to see if there is going to be backlash and then act to cover their tracks.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
To be fair, they haven't come out and said anything. The news is being broken by the kid himself after talking to the coaches. Unless there's something out there that this article failed to mention, OU has made no official statement on the matter. I'll withhold judgement until they do.
I do agree that the Letter of Intent shouldn't matter. We're talking about a moral obligation here, not a technical one.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^
Yeah, who knows what OU will end up doing, but I'm not at all surprised they pulled his athletic scholarship for this. It happens all the time. They weren't offering to pay for this kid's school because he was a great kid, it was because he was a great football player. He is no longer that.
I had a good buddy in HS who accepted a full ride to play soccer at NW, he was the real deal. His senior year, he had a bad injury where he broke both bones in his lower leg, needed surgery, it was nasty. NW pulled his scholarship immediately. Maybe it's not right, but that's how it goes. Football teams are limited in the number of scholarships they give out, and it would put them at a competitive disadvantage to keep scholarships for injured kids. Now, the university can do something about it, and maybe they will.
September 28th, 2012 at 9:47 PM ^
I agree with you. I hope they help him out in some way but it's completely understandable that they pulled the scholarship. It was given to him to perform a certain job and now he is not capable of it. It's horrible timing and extremely unfortunate. I wish the best for the kid.
Some kids get injured early in high school before they ever get te chance to receive a scholarship, it's the same thing, just bad timing.
September 28th, 2012 at 8:47 PM ^
until they sign a LOI
September 28th, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^
hadn't signed one yet either.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:55 PM ^
We can't compare this to Hatch. At the present, Austin Hatch still plans on playing college basketball, the kid in this article will not play college football, 100%. I'd like to think M still would have honored his scholarship or helped in some way, but we don't know that.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:22 PM ^
Before it was known whether Hatch would ever play again, Michigan said they would honor his scholarship. I'm still not sure Hatch will ever be able to play in a Maize and Blue uniform, but I am sure he is going to get a four year scholarship to the University of Michigan. If Oklahoma had any class, they would do the same thing.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:29 PM ^
But it's still very different, in two ways. One - at one point his life was in jeopardy. Add that to the fact that his father died, and his situation was a lot tougher than "can't play sports in college." Second - once Hatch started getting better, it was always a possibility he'd play basketball again. Therefore, he was a recruit, and it was in our best interest to continue to treat him as one. Had we handled it poorly, he might have gotten back to being a star basketball player and signed with someone else.
Neither of those things occured with this kid. He didn't go through a life-changing, traumatic event, and it's 100% that he'll never play college sports. Stop comparing them.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:23 PM ^
The Florida State recruit was Richy Klepal, who was forced to quit the game because of problems rising from multiple concussions, I believe. Jimbo Fisher did choose to honor the scholarship.
I would hope that Oklahoma would do something similar as well, perhaps in the form of an academic scholarship. Clearly, the kid would like to be in Norman.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^
Is this unfathomably awful for this kid and do I feel really bad for him? Yes. I don't see how OU should be criticized for this decision, though.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:23 PM ^
In a world where everything a university and it's football team does is in the news somewhere, you lose the battle of public opinion when you do this. Maybe OU shouldn't be totally slammed for this, but they'll get a lot of negative PR for it
September 28th, 2012 at 9:39 PM ^
I think it is fair criticism that a school which offered a kid a scholarship verbally, he verbally accepted, who was then diagnosed with a condition that won't allow him to play again, and whose scholarship offer was revoked because of this shouldn't get some negative PR for that decision. I mean, if he had signed the LOI yesterday and found out today of the condition, everyone would be saying OU should follow through on their commitment to the kid (and apparently they did that a couple of times this year for kids on the roster). So what happened wasn't an issue of OU wanting the kid but of the timing between paperwork and diagnosis. That feels like a pretty cruel twist to me.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
But why should you get a football scholarship if you can't play football? I'm fine with keeping the scholarship if you are already playing at the school (isn't that what medical hardship is about?), but if you weren't even enrolled at the school why should you get one? I'm sure he's a deserving kid but there's tons of deserving kids out there too.
I hope OU gives the kid an academic or need scholarship and I hope he is successful in life.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:06 PM ^
I think there will be more to the story before it's over. All that we know is what the kid told the fan website; his HS coach hasn't been able to get in touch with the OU staff, and the kid has been told his athletic scholarship won't be available.
As the article states, OU is not permitted to comment on an unsigned recruit. So they're kind of stuck in a situation where they can't give their side of the story, if any exists.
Imagine, for a moment, that happening here: Some well-liked recruit talks to Ace, says that due to a medical condition he won't be able to play football and that Michigan won't be giving him an athletic scholarship. Ace reports this, and ESPN picks up on it. Meanwhile, Hoke has every intention of getting the kid into Michigan and getting him taken care of, but has not been able to nail down the details--and he cannot respond in the media. Message boards blow up about it, the Columbus Dispatch pillories the program, and Michael Rosenberg writes an article in SI about how Michigan has lost its moral compass.
And Michigan can say nothing. Because it actually follows NCAA rules.
I'm wary about jumping to conclusions without all the facts.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:17 PM ^
I certainly respect the young man's privacy; but I am wondering if he sustained an injury or if he was incidently diagnosed with congenital cervical spinal stenosis? A lot of people walk around with congenital spinal stenosis, or even have acquired severe spinal stenosis, and never would have known about it unless they get a CT/MRI for some reason. This young man may actually be completely okay and never have a problem, but of course was wisely told that his risk for spinal injury is greatly increased by playing a hard-contact sport like football. In any case, I hope OU honors his scholarship.
September 28th, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^
Er, that's all explained in the article.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:04 PM ^
I'd think that it's a liability issue. They're not going to let him play football if there's a chance his underlying medical problem will result in quadriplegia. They don't let you play sports if you have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy either (at least, not to my knowledge). Really the only option is to give him the athletic scholarship and immediately medically redshirt him. But to be fair, the school doesn't really owe him anything. He doesn't go there; he hasn't even signed an LOI. If the school backed off for character reasons, no one would be saying anything. You shouldn't get a football scholarship if you can't play football. Period. I don't really like the comparison to the Hatch situation, either. Hatch could theoretically still play basketball, and while I think it's great that the University is honoring his scholarship, but I don't think poorly of OU for not honoring Beyer's. It's a business decision.
If he wants an academic scholarship I'd think he'd have to qualify. I doubt athletics has any say over who gets an academic scholarship, and I'm sure there are plenty of valedictorians going to OU who would be plenty pissed off if he got one handed to him while they have to pay their own way. Plus, logically academic scholarship money comes from the general fund, whereas athletic scholarships come from, you know, athletics. It's possible the university offers one up as a PR move, but I wouldn't count on it.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:13 PM ^
Yeah, I pretty much agree with every word you said. Or typed.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:23 PM ^
That, plus the article doesn't mention anything about the kid's financial situation. It's possible that his family would have been able to afford to send him to OU even without the scholarship. Perhaps OU would have decided differently for a kid from a lower-income household.
September 28th, 2012 at 9:29 PM ^
The aticle mentions that he is going to need to look in-state because out of state tuition is quite high at OU. So while he may be able to afford in-state tuition in Texas, is doesn't sound like they have the money to pay out-of-state tuition.
September 28th, 2012 at 9:35 PM ^
But the difference here isn't a character issue, in which case you could make the case the kid did something that deserved his verbal offer to be pulled. He was born with a condition that was just diagnosed, and that will preclude him from playing football again.
But whatever, this is a bad situation that puts everyone involved in an awkward situation. I will say that it is my understanding there is no "limit" on academic scholarships, and that those can come from a variety of sources. So if the AD wants to foot the bill for a kid who gets medically hardship'd, that is fine and the school doesn't have to get directly involved. I mean, I kind of doubt the kids at Alabama and LSU who were medically hardship'd were academic all-stars either, but they were allowed to stay.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:18 PM ^
"That's kind of what it came down to," said Beyer, who was the Sooners' highest ranked offensive tackle commit. "It wasn't like I was signed. I was just too far away from being able to play. It hurts, but I understand completely."
Beyer informed the OU coaching staff about his condition two weeks ago but had not spoken to any of the coaches until Tuesday. With the Sooners preparing for their showdown against Kansas State, Beyer said he didn't want to disturb them during their preparation.
Poor kid. He sounds like a class act. It's a shame that this had to happen to him.
September 28th, 2012 at 6:44 PM ^
September 28th, 2012 at 6:46 PM ^
What?
September 28th, 2012 at 7:15 PM ^
Article is about Oklahoma. OU isn't even used for Ohio State
September 28th, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
would we really want DB to make a simple business decision? I feel like that is a little too cold a stance...
September 28th, 2012 at 7:57 PM ^
From the state that won't let kids wear non-Oklahoma gear at school comes: If you get injured with a scholarship offer, go fuck yoursel!!!
September 28th, 2012 at 9:27 PM ^
People keep arguing that verbal commits are different than signed commits, but I don't see why they don't sign him then medical hardship him? It's not like someone else is screwed out of an academic scholarship in that situation; my understanding is that the atheltic department just pays his tuition as an expense. I'm sure you could go deep into the books and find someone hurt by keeping the kid around, but considering he was a top-notch recruit who isn't playing because of an unknown condition he was born with, this feels pretty callous given how much money OU makes off its football team and small a drop in the bucket this would be.
And for Hatch, I have a hard time imagining Beilein not doing whatever he can to help him along.
September 28th, 2012 at 9:32 PM ^
September 28th, 2012 at 9:46 PM ^
Probably did the kid a favor. Considering their programs dismal graduation rate.