Marquette's Koby McEwen takes exception to transfer comments by Wisconsin coach Greg Gard
With an unprecedented number of NCAA Division I men's basketball players declaring an intention to transfer this season, one of the biggest lightning-rod conversations surrounding college athletics has again bubbled to the surface.
Wisconsin men's basketball coach Greg Gard joined "Wilde and Tausch" with Jason Wilde and Mark Tauscher, a daily show on ESPN radio in Milwaukee and Madison, and was asked about his thoughts on the abundance of players entering the "transfer portal." Marquette player Koby McEwen was among those clapping back at some of the sentiments.
"It's part of the era we're in,' Gard said. "Is it good? In small instances, yeah, if there are situations where a player or student-athlete feels the change is in his or her best interest. ... My fear, and I think a lot of coaches' fear, is that ... what are we teaching these young men and women by anytime a little sliver of adversity (comes along), we go to where we think the grass is greener or we just turn and change courses? That doesn't happen in life. You have some adversity or some conflict with your wife at home, you can't go in the transfer portal. If you have something with your kids go wrong or your job, you gonna just transfer jobs all the time, or are you gonna trade in one of your kids in the portal?
"There's some life lessons that sometimes come with dealing with adversity. ... Life is not all sunshine and rainbows. There's going to be some dark days, and there's going to be some challenges in your job, in your relationships with your spouse, your kids, you name it. If we're always, with a little bit of conflict or resistance, do we place blame on everybody else or look in the mirror and improve ourselves?"
McEwen, himself a transfer from Utah State to Marquette, felt that was an unfair way of looking at it.
"There's numbers of reasons for transferring," McEwen tweeted. "In the real world if you're extremely unhappy with your job you leave. But players are held to a different standard ... coaches and staff can switch jobs like crazy and nobody says 'what are we teaching these adults? GTFOH.'"
McEwen speaks from a unique perspective, having now played for two coaches who were fired. McEwen was Mountain West freshman of the year at Utah State in 2016-17 and third-team all-conference as a sophomore in 2017-18. But he transferred to Marquette and sat out the following season per NCAA transfer guidelines after Utah State fired Tim Duryea.
Coincidentally, Duryea's replacement, Craig Smith, is an up-and-coming coach who might be a fit to replace Steve Wojciechowski at Marquette should McEwen elect to take the extra year of eligibility afforded to all men's basketball athletes.
RELATED:Five potential candidates to become Marquette's next men's basketball coach
Gard pointed out that the instances of players electing to transfer, surely heightened by the number of seniors given an extra year of eligibility and exploring one last season elsewhere, has reached record volume.
"There are instances where yes, a change of institution is in the best interest for both parties, but sometimes I think it's just kind of the cool thing to do, be in the portal," Gard said. "We'll check it out, the grass is greener somewhere else, and that's not how life really is. Unfortunately, how the real world works is not as clear to younger people as it is maybe to people who have had a little more experience."
As with nearly all programs, Wisconsin has benefited from transfers in the past, most recently with former Ohio State player Micah Potter. NCAA's own research on the topic suggested that 90% of men's basketball transfers leave for athletic reasons.
Symir Torrance, another Marquette player who recently announced his intention to transfer, offered support for McEwen's words.
No comments:
Post a Comment