Beth Sullivan making headlines at UT

I can't image that any coach in any capacity in this sport would do this even if it does not violate any rule. It is reprehensible conduct. This evil woman simply does not care about people unless there is some immediate personal benefit for her.

There are NOT two sides to every story.

Beth is still angry that she didn't get interviewed to return back to Stanford.

Yes this has been done before, I have seen it happen several times. It was just at a mid major and was done by a male coach so people don't feel the need to bash him so much. It was actually athletes recruited by the current staff that just weren't working out. You guys are crazy if you think it is all about being nice. Life is hard, crappy stuff happens, they just have to deal with it.

Key word is they weren't working out. These athletes weren't given a chance. Read the article the whole way through next time.

How many of these sockpuppets are actually Beth herself? No one has as much vested in this as her. No one but her would defend herself but her.

Anyone considering going to there really should be aware that its an "at will" situation and they can pull the rug out from under you at any time.

I am not beth but still don't see this situation as any grand travesty.

It's a business decision. She is the CEO of the business.

Life goes on wrote:

Beth is still angry that she didn't get interviewed to return back to Stanford.

Heard from Harry that Vin gave Beth the best recommendation of all time when she was interviewing for the Penn State job in the hopes of getting her out of Stanford ASAP. Don't know if Harry has spoken to Vin since then.

plenty of not beth's here wrote:

I am not beth but still don't see this situation as any grand travesty.

It's a business decision. She is the CEO of the business.

As someone up above noted, a track team is not a business, and she's not the CEO of anything. Members of the track team, scholarship or no are not her employees. And you probably are Beth...

I think it the parents whining about this publicly is bad form.

If you guys dont think new coaches haven't chased kids off you are very naive. At least she's letting them transfer. It would be worse if she made it so bad they wanted to quit. Then their collegiate careers could be over.

If they are talented enough they can go somewhere else. It's not like a degree from UT is something that's irreplaceable.

Dum much wrote:

Not at all. When you make certain choices in life then you run the risk of things happening. When athletes choose a school because it has great facilities and are a big 5 conference school then you run a higher risk of this happening. I am not surprised at all because it happens quite a bit. Not exactly as this did but in other ways.

I actually am a strong believer in being able to cut athletes and their aid if a coach can get fired for athlete behavior or performance. You should not have one without the other.

however coaches can leave contracts and start over at new universities without sitting out a year. Also coaches can and do receive sponsorship deals from shoe companies, another thing athletes cannot do without sanction.

Most of the major BCS programs in NCAA I are a business. They don't care about people, they care about attempting to win. Kids aren't mature enough to understand that. They think its going to be like high school and they get drawn in by the shiny recruiting visit, being paraded out onto the football field before the big game, getting the attention and dinner.

They don't realize what its really like. It's nothing like their show business recruiting visit. Which is one reason why so many great high school runners go to big schools and disappear.

What she did to those kids is crappy. But this is really about kids and parents not understanding the situation at most of the BCS level schools. Choosing the name, instead of what is really important. Complaining now is a bit silly.

Either go deeper in the recruiting process and understand what each school is really like, or live with your choices.

It looks like these two guys are on here trying to defend this. The two guys who haven't done anything and think they know how to win championships. The is bad anyway you try to justify it. BAS and screwed up on this one. There was supposed to be a next round of cuts, but this public outcry might prevent it.

StokeGlav wrote:

It looks like these two guys are on here trying to defend this. The two guys who haven't done anything and think they know how to win championships. The is bad anyway you try to justify it. BAS and screwed up on this one. There was supposed to be a next round of cuts, but this public outcry might prevent it.

Take your diggs if you want, but read the article. The parents mostly complain about "how" this was done and not the fact that it was done.

She was direct and told them early in the year. Would they like it if she showed up and was apologetic and cried with them as she lead them to the door?

It's like they're saying "It's OK that you cut me from the team, but you should have been nicer about it." Ever seen Hard Knocks on HBO, it sounds like she handled it the same way teams handle making cuts. It's never going to be a positive.

No they would of liked it if they were notified that they wouldn't be part of the team back in June when she was hired. Then they wouldn't of wasted a semester at UT. It wasn't about attitude used when she cut them, it was the circumstances on which they were cut.

Using Hard Knocks or any other HBO / Showtime TV show doesn't prove anything. First they are two different instances. Those athletes are professional athletes who were given a chance before they were cut. Second Floyd Mayweather just testified in court that both HBO and Showtime portray false scenarios as a way of increasing the show's audience. While this isn't related to the UT situation, I pointed it out just to show how off base you are.

Anyway you slice it the kids weren't given a fair opportunity, they could had their scholarships taken away and still given a roster spot, but they weren't. If you were in their situation you'd be pissed off also.

Les wrote:

You know, most incoming coaches HONOR the commitments made by their predecessors. They bring in their own recruits gradually with each new class -- they don't cut athletes immediately. It actually HURTS the program tremendously by creating anti-Tennessee recruiting fodder for other schools. And, as has been expressed, this has NEVER happened before -- I'm assuming other coaches have come in to rebuild programs before in the SEC.

How do we know this has never happened before?

Hyphenated last names are an Obamanation.

well actually wrote:

This has absolutely happened before. Previously social media did not allow for the parents to so easily air their dirty laundry.

I do sympathize with the kids, it sucks for them, I get it. I would not do this as a coach but maybe that's wny I'm not coaching at a place like Tennessee.

If BAS goal is winning NCAA then maybe you cut the three walk ons because you want your coach focused on coaching the people that are getting you to an NCAA title and not spending that time on walk-ons.

As for the three scholarship athletes they all look on paper like tremendous athletes. If BAS knows guaranteed 4 year scholarships are on the horizon she may want to just get out ahead of it with athletes she is not certain she wants.

^ This.

Get your headsTout of your asses. If you are giving 4 year scholarships, you want to give them to YOUR athletes. This is absolutely coming in the power 5 conferences.

PS- this is division 1, not D3, not NAIA, not everyone gets a trophy soccer league. Not a damn thing wrong with cutting an athlete if you don't want them in your program. This is coming from someone inside a D1 program. Its not the first time, or the last time. The reason this is blowing up is because the female athletes don't understand the competitive cut throat nature of athletics like men do and they ran to mommy and daddy to complain.