Beth Sullivan making headlines at UT

acc coach - please tell me your school so that my HS athletes can avoid you.

To not be "renewed" they have to at least get through a semester. Track season doesn't start (competition anyway) until November at the earliest. These girls didn't last that long. They are "persona non grata" as far as the University varsity program is concerned, yet their scholarship has to be honored at least through the first semester, unless they quit school before that time.

Part of the whole problem here is timing - BAS should have done this prior to the school year beginning (August) or waited until the end of the year to reassess (June). That still would have been unfair (if the former) for the athletes as they signed their NLI (not the walk-ons of course) with the UNIVERSITY, not the coach. That she has chosen to not honor her predecessors contract (as that is what they are), without these athletes even being given a semester to prove themselves, is the crux of the outrage. If there was a discipline problem with all three of them, then that would surely have been illuminated by now. It is about money and that (presumably) the scholarships were over-valued. Then cut them back next year, but you don't just cut the athlete - maybe they wanted to compete for UT. That she had recruited one of these girls for PSU, really either says that she is a poor recruiter herself or she is a liar. Most athletes would take (given the option and equivalent schools) the better offer (more scholarship money) if presented. It seems that the one girl is being punished for that trangression - wtf?

I would hope that the moral integrity of most College coaches is better than what is being portrayed here. If not then really this is a cesspool and maybe kids are better off just joining clubs instead (Ajee Wilson et al), if this is how college athletes are to be treated. This is a real black eye to College sports (non-revenue ones anyway), and hopefully other coaches take the opportunity to reprimand BAS for putting the sport under this negative microsope.

If they are really an attitude or discipline problem then why not release them to compete in the SEC? The whole thing makes the coach look petty and insecure at best. At worst she is a megalomaniac with no feelings for others. About the only people that can be defending her are people in her family.

If this person is an actual coach, they are clearly another prima-donna coach who won't allow athletes to have minds of their own or do anything but say "Yes, Coach!"

The best coaches develop whole human beings. Prima-Donna headcases crush the wills of their athletes to prop up their own feelings of self-worth.

Because neither BAS nor the school has the power to release them within conference. the SEC like almost all of the conferences in the nation at every level has a rule that makes kids that transfer within conference sit for a year no matter what. This protects the conference from poaching each others athletes. This rule will cannot be ignored or changed by the coaches or administration of any conference member unless the bylaws of the conference are changed. That can only be done at the yearly athletic director meetings or at the presidents meetings. There is a 99.9% chance that that rule will not change.

Also just to clarify, a National Letter of Intent or NLI is not a guarantee to compete. It is a guarantee of a specific scholarship amount that has been agreed upon by the parties involved for at least one school year. There have been thousands and thousands of cases of coaches cutting kids in the fall semester. This is not a new thing. If a coach decides that you are a problem on the team they can and will cut you so that they can cut out a problem kid. Are the kids in question troublemakers....I have no idea. Odds are they are great kids but they unfortunately are not wanted by the coach. Ultimately it does not matter. If BAS had kept kids she didnt want then it would have been a miserable experience for everyone involved. At the end of the day the coach and the school acted completely within their rights on the situation. their only mistake was not handling the media storm that followed. I dont know if the kids deserved what they got but it wont change the outcome and BAS will not get in trouble over it since she just got hired. Now if this kind of bad press continues then she may be out the door.........no wait its UT. they are the world leader in bad hires. Lane Kiffin or Bruce Pearl anyone.

UTenn wanted the scholarship money back, for whatever reason, and that is their prerogative.

As a side note it takes a trained eye of all one week (if that ) of practice to know if the kid is worth their freshman scholarship. YOu can see the body and the movement and it is the unforgiving SEC. YOu know if the kid is going to be a full scholarship type kid almost immediately. You darn near need to be an Olympian to be a big point sprint scorer in the SEC. That kind of talent is noticable on DAY 1.

If she cut them in the summer before arriving the same people would be just as pissed because "they weren't given a chance and passed up other opportunities."

If she said nothing, and they were perfect angels but ran slow, and she cut them at the end of the year, the parents would still be pissed. "they did nothing wrong."

It appears the goal is to get the money back for January by making them want to leave ASAP.

The mistake was not letting them practice with the team, but it appears it was a calculated risk in an attempt to get them to leave in December.

There may be slower kids kept on the team, but they are likely on smaller scholarships and much deeper into their degree program.

If the kid MIGHT finish 8th as a freshman in an outdoor only event and is on a full scholarship, that is a bad signing. you only get 18 scholarships, and if you are only scoring 1 point per scholarship then you will lose your job quickly.

The staff chould have called them in and said this "The previous administration gave you an incredibly large scholarship. We have made a decision that you will not be on the same scholarship next year. (that would have them and their parents crying anyway) We are going to and have to honor your scholarship for the year. We are going to protect your 4 years of eligibility and we won't have you run in a UT uniform. You can run unattached in any meet that you can pay for yourself (like many many redshirts do). You can train with the team and coaches (which will detract from the coaches working with atheltes they plan to invest in). At the end of the year we will offer you a much smaller scholarship, or you can transfer. In fact, if you want to transfer in January we will not stand in your way. We can actuallly make some calls for you if you would like."

The kids and parents would still be mad, probably just not newspaper story mad. The coaches would have had some extra bodies at practice. They still would have SEC transfer restrictions, but it would be a red-shirt freshman year just like is done with so many athletes in other sports.

By being nicer but still being clear about the eventual outcome, UT may have gotten what they wanted without the massively negative publicity.

Coaches in all sports "get rid of" kids all the time. MOst of the time it is THEIR recruiting mistake and not a previous administrations. They are usually just a tad nicer about it.

These girls were not disciplined in anyway. Sullivan simply wanted their scholarships for distance runners. The three scholarship athletes are now looking for new schools and they simply want to move past this.

STOP MAKING THIS ACTION BY SULLIVAN SEEM LIKE IT MUST BE A DISCIPLINARY REASON. IT IS NOT, SHE SIMPLY WANTED THE MONEY FOR DISTANCE RUNNERS IN FALL 2015.

hurry up and wait wrote:

hopefully other coaches take the opportunity to reprimand BAS for putting the sport under this negative microsope.

actually we love it because it is a great advertisement for we don things.

Perfect example of someone who has no understanding of the rules. The scholarship has to be honored for its entirety, not a semester. Unless there are extenuating circumstances. You can only be non renewed at the end of the contract date, but you can be informed of the non renewal or the intent of the non renewal anytime. As far as the timing goes, she couldn't non renew the aid before the school year anyway, and I guarantee if the young ladies showed up for the semester fit, ready to compete and with great attitudes we wouldn't be having this conversation. They make perfect examples for the rest of the team moving forward.

The aid is no more available now for Fall 2015 than it ever was. Again, learn something about the NCAA/SEC and the bylaws the govern our sport. I wasn't supporting BAS I was pointing out the fact that people like you are making the situation look like something it may not be.

One who knows wrote:

These girls were not disciplined in anyway. Sullivan simply wanted their scholarships for distance runners. The three scholarship athletes are now looking for new schools and they simply want to move past this.

STOP MAKING THIS ACTION BY SULLIVAN SEEM LIKE IT MUST BE A DISCIPLINARY REASON. IT IS NOT, SHE SIMPLY WANTED THE MONEY FOR DISTANCE RUNNERS IN FALL 2015.

Looks like the UT AD's gotten busy on this thread this morning. Nice to see you guys. How's the weather in Knoxville?

You're the one who looks like an idiot. No one has said that the scholarship was cut. Everyone understands exactly what happened, including your psychopathic motivations driving this sordid affair.

No one is "whining" Beth. we are all correctly aghast at your behavior. STFU.

There was a point in this thing where BAS probably did not look good but every day she looks better and better as these athletes and their families whine more and more. I no longer sympathize with these cut athletes as they were quite obviously more of an annoyance than they were worth.

Eeek! If that really is BAS, then whoever hired her should be fired, if for no other reason than her spelling and grammar are not even of SEC quality.

A good coach would be one who was able to turn these runners into champions. What BAS is saying by letting them go is that she's not a good coach. I hope the UTK administration is listening to her.

Do you think Beth made her staff respond to this? Or is she just posting under numerous names?

wack wrote:

There was a point in this thing where BAS probably did not look good but every day she looks better and better as these athletes and their families whine more and more. I no longer sympathize with these cut athletes as they were quite obviously more of an annoyance than they were worth.

Sock Puppet #53

1. What grammar is considered SEC quality? Half the athletes can't even write their name.

2. What is the UTK administration? If you meant UT, while bashing someone's grammar that's unfortunate.

3. Saying a good coach can turn any runner into a champion is very unfair. They don't race donkeys at the Kentucky derby.

4. Very unlikely that was BAS.

[/quote]

Eeek! If that really is BAS, then whoever hired her should be fired, if for no other reason than her spelling and grammar are not even of SEC quality.

A good coach would be one who was able to turn these runners into champions. What BAS is saying by letting them go is that she's not a good coach. I hope the UTK administration is listening to her.[/quote]

Link wrote:

Eeek! If that really is BAS, then whoever hired her should be fired, if for no other reason than her spelling and grammar are not even of SEC quality.

A good coach would be one who was able to turn these runners into champions. What BAS is saying by letting them go is that she's not a good coach. I hope the UTK administration is listening to her.

If it was Beth, this is how it would have been written.

ACC coach / Non Renewed wrote:

No schollys wur cut!

They wuR non renud n a timle manr tht allows th athlets to trnsfr at semstr n recev ade frm ne u outside of the SEC.

.

Don't believe me, look at Pn St8s Twitter and Facebook accounts. Tha akshly rite in txty shrthnd on it. Gr8!

fake names are fun wrote:

Do you think Beth made her staff respond to this? Or is she just posting under numerous names?

Hur hzbnd hz frE time.

Wa wa wa wrote:

Whiny kids need to find a school. You got yourself cut because you were not nearly as fast as you thought you were. Go search for a new home instead of posting on letsrun.

Definitely seems as if, Sullivan is either posting on this thread or having people post. I don't see these girls as "whiny". Sounds like the press heard about this despicable behavior by the UT coach, approached the parents, and now the world is aware the UT Coach should be fired.

When people are mistreated in the workplace, college, or other venue, they aren't "whining" when they make others aware of it. The only person who comes off looking extremely bad in this situation is the supposed adult - Sullivan.