In my opinion the NCAA has wasted its time going after some extra phone calls. How about all of the money that changes hands? How about the Final Four ticket scam that the NCAA takes part in? Time to move on and start from scratch.

Groce Hired at Ohio U
Ohio State Asst. John Groce was announced as the new head coach at Ohio University. Let me start off by saying that I am sure John Groce is a good coach and a good guy, at least from my experience.

But new Athletic Director Jim Schaus made a huge mistake in his first official decision at Ohio. He had the best candidate sitting two doors down. Associate Head Coach John Rhodes was the perfect fit for the job, but for some inexplicable reason, Schaus thought that Groce was the better fit. Neither has head coaching experience, but let me give you a little of Rhodes background and let you make your own decision.

Rhodes was ranked as one of the top assistant coaches in the country by Fox Sports and Hoop Scoop. He recruited last year’s conference player of the year and this year’s preseason player of the year. He has served for nine years under two different head coaches. During that time he went to the NCAA tournament twice (once with each head coach).

Rhodes is an alum who had the total support of the Bobcat community. He played on an NCAA tourney team at Ohio and is one of their most beloved players. To throw in a little more ammunition, he served on the St. Bonaventure staff that went to the NCAA tournament the last time the Bonnies were there.

If there is any assistant who deserved a chance at a job at his alma mater, it is John Rhodes. Unfortunately, Jim Schaus who spent the last decade at Wichita State, failed to understand that he had the right man under his nose. Too often, ADs try to win the press conference. At least that is the only way that I can explain why they would take an Ohio State assistant. Little does he realize that most people at OU don’t want to hear about the Buckeyes. Finally, I don’t think this hire is going to help Schaus on the fund raising trail when he tries to explain why he didn’t hire one of their own. Especially one of their own that has tasted such success.

I will make a prediction right now… Schaus’ stay at Ohio U will be short lived and this decision will come back to haunt him.

Why are college administrators allowed to waste money on search firms to do the job they are hired to do. And come on, Coach Dawkins, if you don’t know 5 people well enough who you think could be good assistants you have no business being a head coach. It is not like you were hiring someone to coach at NJIT for a cup of coffee. You were hiring a staff for Stanford with an unlimited budget. What’s next? Hire a search firm to decide what type of defense and offense to run.

In other Court news: Kansas guard Sheron Collins was charged with assault on a woman that stems from an incident that occurred in May 2007. That’s the correct date. I guess the wheels of justice run slow in Kansas.

Unfortunately, this is only a suggestion from the NABC and not a rule. Why not make it a rule and put some teeth in it? Then the public will take the organization more serious. Come on Jim Haney, make it a rule….

However, when you look closely you will see a couple of good reasons to make the move. First, he would have had a new boss at Ohio University. Jim Schaus was hired as the new athletic director a couple of months ago, which isn’t a good thing for a coach who only has a couple of years left on his contract. Also, he is a New England guy who has a home in Newport News, Rhode Island.

With O’Shea’s departure, Schaus should just walk over to the office right next door and hire Associate Head Coach, John Rhodes.

Rhodes is a former OU player who has been an assistant for both O’Shea and Larry Hunter. He has played in the NCAA tournament and coached in them while working for the Bobcats. He is one of the top recruiters in the country and an excellent teacher of the game. The current players and people in the community would rally around such a choice. But most importantly, he would produce championship teams both on and off the court.

Here’s hoping Schaus makes the right decision.

However, before you shed a tear for Roy Williams remember he still has Tyler Hansbrough back for another year. Today Roy Williams can go back out on the golf course for another month with the knowledge that Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Wayne Ellington will be back in Chapel Hill. Coaching just got a little bit easier for ol’ Roy. He has another year with more talent than anyone he plays against.

The other big winner is Lute Olsen. With the return of Chase Buddinger and Jordan Hill (and if Brandon Jennings can make grades) the Wildcats will be in the hunt out west again. And it looks like all his distractions are gone (marital problems and staff issues) and that magic 800 mark is in sight.

The big losers are UCLA and Kansas State. Both Bill Walker and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute will stay in. With Walker’s new knee injury and Moute’s lack of polish both players would have been better served to come back one more year. Then again they will make big money overseas even if the NBA doesn’t come calling.

Also, George Hill of IUPUI and Paul Graham of Florida Atlantic are staying in. The thought is their value may never be any higher. At least in Hill’s case he is close to graduating so he will have something to fall back on.

Once again, it begs the question of who are some of these guys listening too? Oh, that’s right, they listen to an advisor who only gets paid if they leave school. Let’s see, I will be Bill Walker’s advisor for the moment. If I tell Bill to go back to school I get nothing, however, if I tell him to come out, then I get paid a percentage of what his first contract is. So I get nothing or 10% to 20%? Pretty easy decision. Come on guys, listen to the people who know – not someone you think knows.

In a recent ruling, Kenny Simms was denied a waiver to transfer and play at Francis Marion University. I guess the schools involved weren’t big enough to warrant any publicity, good or bad, to make a decision in what was in the best interest of the student athlete. Not like a year ago, when they approved Tyler Smith to play right away for Tennessee, which was a school he had turned down the first time they recruited him.

All Kenny Sims wanted to do was play for a coach that recruited him, but the ARS committee refused his request based on the grounds that he could have appealed to stay at UMKC. It seems UMKC had withdrawn his scholarship at the end of the academic year.

Let me get back to the beginning so you hear the whole story. Kenny was recruited out of high school by Donnie Marsh at FIU. He elected to sign there in the fall of his senior year in high school. Unfortunately for Kenny, Coach Marsh was fired that spring. Since he had signed the letter of intent he was bound to FIU. He ended up going there and playing for the new coach. After a year, his scholarship was not renewed. No reasons were given. A school doesn’t have to give a reason. It was just a case of the new coach wanting his own players.

He then transferred to UMKC. While sitting out a year in residence (as required by the NCAA) the coach that recruited him there was fired. Once again he was playing for a new coach. At the end of that year the new coach decided not to renew his scholarship.

Now Kenny wanted to finish his career playing for someone he knows and, more importantly, going to a school that would give him a scholarship. You see, he had no financial resources to stay and pay his own way at UMKC the additional year so that he could graduate.

Unfortunately, this week he was told by Matt Bergmeister of the NCAA that he would not be granted his waiver and would not be allowed to play. When explaining this decision, Bergmeister cited two things. First, it didn’t matter that coaches had changed. What world does he live in? Oh yeah, the fantasy world of the NCAA!
Secondly, that he could have appealed his scholarship non-renewal at UMKC. He is correct about that, but by the time the committee would have met and ruled he would have risked not having another school to go to.

Once again, the NCAA has taken away a young man’s future by taking away his economic wherewithal to graduate. It is time for the NCAA to stop burying its head in the sand and do what is right for the student athletes.

One final note, if there are any lawyers out there reading this blog who would be interested in trying to fight this injustice please contact me.