Tara Davis transfers from Georgia

She's extremely talented, has a great smile and a smokin hot body which means she's used to getting what she wants. Can't blame her for the way society has treated her.

Tara is not acting like a "diva" for putting it out there to the public that UGA and Petros have not granted her the ability to transfer. As anyone would be in her situation, she's upset that she will likely have to sit out for a year due to the NCAA stupid rules. She has created herself an online platform and is using it to bring attention to something that otherwise would not be discussed by anyone but Tara and her family/friends.

Petros shouldn't have sent the tweet the way he did, he should have left out the part about Texas. Especially if Tara had not announced that that was where she had decided to transfer to. That was just the first school she had gone and visited. There is still no official word as to where she will be transferring.

She has moved out of her apartment near UGA, so no she will not even be attending classes at the school. I believe she has been experiencing some form of an injury after the extended outdoor season she had this past year. She may be transferring somewhere that can better help her with her injury and not overwork her. Honestly, it could be something as simple as being homesick and wanting to be closer to her family, Georgia is a far way from California.

Let's stop with calling a 19yr old an entitled millennial or a diva, simply because she posted her current situation publicly. She is not bashing the university or her former coach for their decision to not grant her eligibility. Her former coach's tweet was a bad move on his part, I'm sure he sees that now. His 1 tweet has halted Tara's process of looking for a new school to compete for, as they see that tweet and believe it to be true so they won't reach out or want to talk to her now.

You lost all credibility when you stated that the rule is stupid. The rule is necessary to protect the school. It actually makes more sense for track than football where they can survive with 85 scholarships while track suffers if one full ride leaves. That’s almost 10% of the men’s scholarships going unused for a year.

Funny how there are lots of athletes out there that are being fully released and not acting like that...nobody here really knows what the real story is and what really went down. As a message board it will be full of assumptions and speculations. I’m sure Tara’s dad/or boyfriend are on this board defending her and Petros’ colleagues are on here defending his side. Regardless, both sides need to move on. If there is an injury and home sickness then Tara shouldn’t make this a big deal and just sit out the season to recover. UGA has signed a great class and will be fine in the long run, as well.

Yeppers3 wrote:

Not sure why you are still arguing and what you are arguing about. Bottom line is she can go anywhere she wants and receive training and scholarship (remember when a student athlete signs a 4 year deal that is a commitment) = her power and right ; and UGA can deny her release to compete for another institution until the 2019 season is over = their power and right. They have been on the other side a few time lately too.

Many have done that and many will have in the future. Everyone find another subject to argue about. Happy holidays.

This thread serves as a great reminder to high school kids that they need to do a massive amount of research and soul searching before choosing a coach/college.

Many of these knucklehead recruits are shooting from the hip (and then watching German bombs rain down upon them).

Direct quote from her instagram: "I am currently not allowed to compete this track season. I need your support as I appeal University of Georgia and Coach Petros’ decision not to release me to run for any other NCAA university this 2018-2019 season"

So she is directly blaming the school and the coach. She is agitating her followers to get them to rally against Georgia in a crusade of sorts. Big time temper tantrum. Her followers are messaging the UGA AD and president, that's ridiculous.

There was nothing wrong with his tweet, he was announcing to the fans of Georgia track that one of his best athletes is transferring. That's what we expect top coaches to do in other sports, ours is the same. Answer all the questions or rumors fly around.

If anything, his tweet would get coaches to call her in an attempt to pull her away from Texas - especially coaches in the conference because they don't want to have to compete against her. But if she actually hasn't signed anywhere yet like she claims, then her behavior now certain WILL prevent schools from contacting her because she is acting like a child.

The rule strikes me as odd. It shouldn't be a burden on the losing coach to make the decision. It also shouldn't be an unknown for the gaining coach. My understanding is that there is no NLI equivalent for a transferring athlete so the Texas coach in this case may have promised her a scholarship thinking that she would show up competition ready in January. When the Georgia coach decided not to allow her to compete, the Texas coach could rescind his offer.

NCAA rules wrote:

The rule strikes me as odd. It shouldn't be a burden on the losing coach to make the decision. It also shouldn't be an unknown for the gaining coach. My understanding is that there is no NLI equivalent for a transferring athlete so the Texas coach in this case may have promised her a scholarship thinking that she would show up competition ready in January. When the Georgia coach decided not to allow her to compete, the Texas coach could rescind his offer.

The rules are absolutely proper and correct. The AD makes the final decision, not the coach. These schools are paying big money to the athletes. A full scholarship to Georgia is worth $45,000 per year, but the expectation is that you are going to compete and represent the school.

This girl accepted free tuition for a full semester, $22,500 dollars and then jumps ship without having competed this season. This doesn't leave Georgia time to replace her before the next semester starts so that scholarship was wasted for another year. Their NCAA title chances just plummeted.

The schools are investing in the student-athletes and the schools must protect that investment. If the teams do bad (think football, basketball, etc) then the coaches and the AD would get FIRED. To think they can get fired because athletes get in great shape, break records, and then bounce is scary. This girl doesn't lose eligibility, she just has to wait a year to compete for her new school. She can compete unattached in the meantime. But on the otherhand, the coaches and AD can lose their CAREERS if they don't protect their investments.

Tara should be thankful that the NCAA is merciful and isn't making her pay back the first semester of school she got for free, without doing anything to earn it.

Entertaining posts. This is Tara’s dad. As a family we can appreciate everyone’s opinion. Tara being a diva is interesting opinion that I haven’t ever heard. Tara only went to social media because of the tweet from the coach that she kept getting requests to answer. Tara asked for support as she goes through the appeal process. No bashing of the university or the coach.

I would like to know if there has ever been any coach ever make an intitial announcement of an athlete signing with another team? Seemed odd to us as a family but there was not an initial response from Tara because we continued to try and take the high road.

Tara just wants to be closer to family so that her support system can help her through some things that she has not made public.

As a track and field site I would hope that you would support getting talent on the track whenever it is leagaly possible.

Oops

Few people here would be in favor of having someone compete if it is perceived as unfair, even if legal. An AD should never allow an athlete to compete after leaving. It should be decided by the NCAA. If there is a hardship, the NCAA can allow it.

Georgia Out of Luck wrote:

Few people here would be in favor of having someone compete if it is perceived as unfair, even if legal. An AD should never allow an athlete to compete after leaving. It should be decided by the NCAA. If there is a hardship, the NCAA can allow it.

I can understand the NCAA making the decision but why should the AD or Coach always not permit the leaving athlete to compete?

thats the point wrote:

The schools are investing in the student-athletes and the schools must protect that investment. If the teams do bad (think football, basketball, etc) then the coaches and the AD would get FIRED. To think they can get fired because athletes get in great shape, break records, and then bounce is scary. This girl doesn't lose eligibility, she just has to wait a year to compete for her new school. She can compete unattached in the meantime. But on the otherhand, the coaches and AD can lose their CAREERS if they don't protect their investments.

Make the rules the same for the coaches. You want to leave? Forfeit salary and stay out of coaching for a season.

I see Coach Petros

“Tara should be thankful that the NCAA is merciful and isn't making her pay back the first semester of school she got for free, without doing anything to earn it”

I can appreciate well thought out points, but then there are views like these.

All views or questions are welcome.

Tara’s Dad

It can create for strange bedfellows. What if I coached at Georgia and my brother coached at Texas. Other coaches in the conference wouldn’t like it much if I assisted in the transfer. It also creates potential for bribes of the monetary or sexual type.

Georgia out if luck wrote:

It can create for strange bedfellows. What if I coached at Georgia and my brother coached at Texas. Other coaches in the conference wouldn’t like it much if I assisted in the transfer. It also creates potential for bribes of the monetary or sexual type.

You should try writing novels for a living since your imagination is so active.

steve dildarian wrote:

Can someone explain to me why they think the Georgia coach should grant the exemption for this athlete to compete for another school immediately?

Still curious.

Track life wrote:

Entertaining posts. This is Tara’s dad. As a family we can appreciate everyone’s opinion. Tara being a diva is interesting opinion that I haven’t ever heard. Tara only went to social media because of the tweet from the coach that she kept getting requests to answer.

So you think your daughter should be released because of the coach’s tweet?