I don’t know if you’ve heard the story or not, but a University of Tennessee player from Saginaw, MI wants to transfer out. He has an ailing father who has suffered a few heart attacks and has had dialysis. So DeAnthony Arnett (who was a 4 star WR) wants to transfer close to home in order to be with his father. Arnett was strongly considering Michigan or Michigan State before deciding to go to Tennessee so it is the assumption that he wants to go to one of those. Nope, not if coach Dooley has something to say about it. Here’s a quote from Arnett’s statement.
“Coach Dooley has singled two programs that I can’t get an unconditional release to and they are the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.So Arnett can go anywhere but those 2 schools on scholarship? What happened to schools being supportive of their students? It’s not like the kid just decided he didn’t like Tennessee and wants to go home. His father is having medical issues. He can get an “extenuating family circumstances" clearance from the NCAA and won’t have to sit out a year for transferring, but according to coach Dooley, he can’t go to the only 2 BCS schools near his home because they won’t do an unconditional release to any schools that they “play or recruit against.”
He told me I can attend any Mid American Conference school I want and if I wanted to attend either The University of Michigan or Michigan State University I would have to pay for school instead of be on scholarship. I don’t know what’s next. My family can’t afford to pay for school, but my father’s poor health isn’t a good enough excuse for me to attend a BCS school close to home.
Therefore as a student athlete I feel coach Dooley is trying to hinder my success by not allowing me to compete at a BCS level and neglecting the fact my father is severely ill.”
At this point, it doesn’t even matter if he comes to Michigan or not. What Dooley is doing is BS! Did I mention that the 2 best academic schools are also Michigan and little brother? So let’s penalize a guy trying to take care of his family. You won’t pay collegiate athletes because their pay is education. But you stop him from getting the best education possible within his means because he wants to leave your athletics. Typical NCAA BS! From what I’m reading, this is all Dooley. Although his school's silence speaks volumes as well. I’m not even going to put coach in front of his name anymore because any type of school's coach’s first priority should be his players' education. From what I hear, Dooley is receiving all kinds of bad press over this, which he deserves. Let’s hope they change their mind and let this kid go where he needs to go. At this point it doesn’t even have to be Michigan. He just needs this to be fixed so he can have time with his family and get the best education possible.
***UPDATE – Mgoblue.com is reporting that they have had a change of heart due to the fact that they look like jackass’ in the media. My words, not mogoblue.com’s.
The hypocrisy of this just kills me, but fortunately enough people called Dooley out to the point that he did what he should have done in the first place--the right thing. No matter where he ends up, I hope DeAnthony enjoys a productive college career, and more importantly, I hope things work out with his dad.
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up. After the Vols complained how shady Lane Kiffin was, why should anyone now feel sorry for them. Maybe it wasn't so so much Kiffin as it was a complete lack of leadership from the administration. Hopefully things work out for the kid - at least he's showing maturity by his comment that playing at a BCS school is not as important as his dad's health. Maturity the folks in Knoxville could have learned from.
ReplyDeleteI just can't believe that this jackass of a coach literally tries to block him from going to the only two schools he really wants to go to so he can be closer to his father. The SEC is the oversigning capital of the world and use all kinds of shenanigans to sweep kids under the rug and off the roster and yet, when one has a legitimate excuse to want to transfer closer to home you treat him like that? The fact that the SEC gets away with that kind of bullshit is why we're being subjected to a completely inexcusable rematch in the title game. But more importantly, Arnett is heading back home like he should be, so life goes on.
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