That's what I was waiting for...someone in power to use this as a springboard to nail the NCAA again. Memphis is going to come out fine in this regardless and you will see many more schools start to strongly contest the NCAA in years to come. The pay to play has opened the flood gates for not only the players but member institutions to start to question the legitimacy of NCAA. This case so perfectly encapsulates the farce of NCAA amateurism and the system it needs to survive. Sent from my SM-G930F using Butler Hoops mobile app
Penny just confirmed Wiseman is indeed playing tonight at Oregon. Man they are playing a dangerous game.
I have folks relocate on my team all the time. I think the lowest corporate relo I’ve ever seen is still more than $25k and $75k+ is not unusual at all. Moving is crazy expensive if you’re hiring a full moving crew, realtors, title companies, etc. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
I've moved cross-country a couple of times, and would agree that $11,500 would be a pretty reasonable estimate of the cost. There are differences in my case(single household + no dependents/ 2,000 miles vs. 200), but the amount seems completely in line for what the stated purpose was. There are lots of hidden costs related to housing that are involved that add up quickly, and changing jobs means there will be an interruption to the normal income flow, and there are enough surprises with moving company estimates that you would want a generous buffer in your budget. That said, college coaches still aren't allowed to pay to relocate prospects, but I don't think they're lying about what the money went to.
He wasn't a college coach when he did this. Coaching college was probably never even on his radar when this occurred. The biggest problem I have in all this is the NCAA and Memphis knew about this before he enrolled, the NCAA gave them the green light and then all of a sudden at a later date decided to change their mind. I have no problems with having rules, I have a huge problem for people who think they can change rules on the fly with no over site and make decisions that put a kid's one chance at college at risk on the whim of a mad man or in this case a mad organization.
I hear you-- take my response as some first-hand feedback about the amount of the moving expense, and not any kind of opinion about the NCAA's handling of the situation.
My understanding is that further investigation after the initial green light revealed the moving costs. As to the $11,500 moving costs—I have no idea of the family’s finances but if you can’t afford your moving bills, then there’s probably not a significant amount of furnishings to be moved, unloaded, etc. Seems inflated. Hardaway is a booster and recruiting/signing a kid who benefited from his largesse is prohibited. I feel for the kid, but there must be repercussions for all parties—the player, the program, the coach. Or how else how do you have consequences? So many of the high profile players have handlers (including family members) who know these handouts are prohibited. Why aren’t they looking out for the kid’s best interest instead of putting them into these situations?
Penny was angling to be Memphis' head coach as soon as they fired Pastner and hired Tubby Smith. Gotta trust me on that one. I was there, it was all the talk. "Tubby is a place holder until we think Penny is ready". He was always destined, especially as downhill as things were going under Pastner and Tubby, to be the coach there. He knew this was coming and he was working to get in position to get hired here. So, when he gave this money to Wiseman's mom, he knew damn good and well this was a power play to eventually get the kid to Memphis, both for his team at East High School and to University of Memphis. And this happens all the time but people don't connect themselves to it (cash) instead of a damn cashier's check. And whether Penny was still a booster and not the coach, it's still dicey. Again, it happens all over all the time. But people don't leave paper trails. Saying that, I agree that it is wrong of the NCAA if they indeed cleared the kid and now are pushing back on that. My only guess is that at the time they cleared him they didn't have the paper trail. Now they do so they moved their opinion. Either way, it's a mess and rules are rules. Penny and Memphis will get destroyed by the NCAA. Especially now that they are defying the ineligibility.
This is not the first time Penny has had issues with ineligibility. https://www.commercialappeal.com/st...ble-tssaa-ryan-boyce-james-wiseman/868536001/
The funny thing about all of this is if you take away the absurd and very arbitrary NCAA rules, you are left with a benign situation that probably makes everyone happy and could be vastly more transparent. College X scouts and signs Player Y to a contract (at the age of 16 or whenever). Part of that contract includes relocation expenses to city/town where College X is located so Player Y can attend school nearby until eligible for College X. College X uses its funds whether from boosters or not to fund Player Y's contract and reports to relevant tax authorities/public bodies use of said funds. Oops, I said the C-word which implies the E-word. I also can't help to think one and done rule helped create this situation as well. Sent from my SM-G930F using Butler Hoops mobile app
From what I gather there has been a back room hand shake made and he will be eligible again sooner than later-probably by conference season. The questions becomes will he stay or will he just go train/play somewhere else or stick it out. My guess is that he stays-he's loyal to Penny and will want to help this team when he can. By the first of the year I think he'll be eligible (if not sooner) from what I've heard. That's not iron clad-once you give in to the NCAA, anything is possible.
Wiseman dropped his lawsuit, and Memphis just said they will withhold him from any games while they apply for his reinstatement. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...wiseman-ineligible-play-drops-lawsuit-vs-ncaa
The deal is suspended an additional 11 games (12 total) and has to pay back the $11,500 to a charity. They are still digging into Memphis' part in all of this and could come down on them. My question is-how are you going to tag a college kid with an $11,500 bill? Where do you expect him to find that? I know where...his coach, a booster, illegal activities....none are good options for the ol' ncaa rules. If I'm him I just bolt. If he doesn't what will happen is a booster will put that money into a charity in his name, and that opens up another can of worms for Memphis.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...seman-sit-additional-11-games-part-suspension Willis beat me to it...but there is the story Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
Wiseman leaves Memphis, to enter NBA draft https://es.pn/34D4h1C via @ESPN App http://espn.com/app Sent from my SM-G975U using Butler Hoops mobile app
