Lalk Dealing With Life After Hoops

**cigaretteman** · 01-14-2011, 12:00 PM

“I originally thought I could make it through basketball season, until March, and get surgery then,” Lalk said. “I told that to my coaches at Iowa State, and we decided it needed to be done earlier for me to be ready to go in the summer.”

The decision to have surgery in late December left Lalk with only seven games to play during his senior season. He broke the news to stunned A.L. coach Jay Sealer before the season opener.
“I was kind of blindsided by the whole thing,” Sealer said. “He said, They’re wanting me to have the surgery on the 22nd of December,’ and I was like, whoa.’”

Lalk is scheduled to leave for ISU in June. He is expected to redshirt his first year while making the move from tight end to offensive tackle. The situation led to a number of questions, many of which Lalk and Sealer had to sort through on their own, all surrounding whether the surgery should occur in December or March.

Knowing he would have the surgery at some point, the senior really had two choices. The first was to have the surgery in December, miss the rest of basketball and join the Cyclones healthy in the summer.

The other was to play basketball, have his shoulder repaired in March and grayshirt at Iowa State upon arrival — meaning he would pay for his own schooling initially.

Sealer spoke with Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads about the situation, hoping to keep Lalk for the rest of the season. Once he heard his player’s options, he knew what had to be done.

Daily Nonpareil Online > Sports > Lalk dealing with life after hoops

**Frak** · 01-14-2011, 12:08 PM

Any doubt that D1 sports is a business? Get the surgery now or you're looking at a greyshirt. Too bad about that SR year of HS basketball. I don't blame the coaches at all, but that's a tough thing to ask a kid to do...especially when he's going to redshirt this fall regardless.

**arganbright2** · 01-14-2011, 12:10 PM

This kind of stuff happens with baseball players in Iowa that go onto professional careers. Alot of them are forced to miss their senior year of baseball (because it is in the summer) when they are drafted and decide to forgo college.

**cyhiphopp** · 01-14-2011, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Frak

Any doubt that D1 sports is a business? Get the surgery now or you're looking at a greyshirt. Too bad about that SR year of HS basketball. I don't blame the coaches at all, but that's a tough thing to ask a kid to do...especially when he's going to redshirt this fall regardless.

There is a lot of development that he could achieve during that redshirt year. If he is sitting it out with the injury, it is a wasted scholarship.

**Wesley** · 01-14-2011, 01:19 PM

You are on the payroll now. The timeclock says get the surgery now.

**cyhiphopp** · 01-14-2011, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley

You are on the payroll now. The timeclock says get the surgery now.

Yep, if he is serious about playing college football, his scholarship is probably more important than one last season of basketball. Best to start the rehab as soon as possible and be 100% in the fall.

**Cyclonepride** · 01-14-2011, 01:23 PM

I don't really see any controversy there. It's clearly in the young man's best interest to get the surgery done to advance his prospects in college football. That trumps high school basketball 99 times out of 100.

**Tre4ISU** · 01-14-2011, 01:33 PM

D1 football>HS basketball. It does suck but this is a business. You can be the nice guys and let him have his HS fun, but in the end, you have to do things in the best interest of the program. I don't think this is a controversy. They were still going to give him the greyshirt opportunity so it's not like they were going to completely cut him loose. I also, like that the HS coach did see what was in the best interest of the student in the long term. This decision will benefit him too. A lot of opportunities aren't there for greyshirt players.

**bosco** · 01-14-2011, 01:36 PM

I'm not sure how it works but I bet we are paying the cost of the surgery as well.

**creightonclone** · 01-14-2011, 01:37 PM

This was a pretty big controversial in Council Bluffs. Not a lot of people are happy with CPR. As the article states, the coaching staff forced Lalk to give up basketball during his senior year. Not cool in my opinion. But, as we all know, DI football is a business and this was a business decision. Honestly, I feel bad for the kid. He was put in a really tough position.

**Frak** · 01-14-2011, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by cyhiphopp

There is a lot of development that he could achieve during that redshirt year. If he is sitting it out with the injury, it is a wasted scholarship.

I'm not disagreeing. It's just too bad that the kid has to miss most of his HS basketball season basically for summer lifting. But, when ISU is holding the scholarship, you're going to have to do what is in the best interest of ISU football.

**Frak** · 01-14-2011, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by creightonclone

This was a pretty big controversial in Council Bluffs. Not a lot of people are happy with CPR. As the article states, the coaching staff forced Lalk to give up basketball during his senior year. Not cool in my opinion. But, as we all know, DI football is a business and this was a business decision. Honestly, I feel bad for the kid. He was put in a really tough position.

In reality, I'm betting that it wouldn't be nearly as big of a controversy if the general public knew what a greyshirt is. They probably think it's more like walking on...that looks a lot worse if you think that the kid either has to quit BB or lose his FB scholly.

**isuno1fan** · 01-14-2011, 01:44 PM

HS BBall?? No brainer. I'm glad the kid and his coaches aren't idiots.

**Tre4ISU** · 01-14-2011, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by creightonclone

This was a pretty big controversial in Council Bluffs. Not a lot of people are happy with CPR. As the article states, the coaching staff forced Lalk to give up basketball during his senior year. Not cool in my opinion. But, as we all know, DI football is a business and this was a business decision. Honestly, I feel bad for the kid. He was put in a really tough position.

No they didn't. He had the opportunity to take a grayshirt. They didn't say he couldn't come here at all. Besides that, he never signed a LOI so there were options. They didn't force him to do anything. They gave him his options and he decided he wanted to be involved in the program this summer, not later on.

They can go ahead and be unhappy about it but most coaches would have done the same thing. You can't afford to have a kid on scholarship for a year and only get a small amount of development especially when he is in a position where he needs all the physical development he can get. He is going to have to find 50 lbs and get a lot stronger. It's not like he's a receiever who needs to gain maybe 10 lbs and his business is speed and not strength.

**bfross** · 01-14-2011, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by bosco

I'm not sure how it works but I bet we are paying the cost of the surgery as well.

Doubt it. He has to be enrolled in classes at ISU or participate in practice to be considered a part of the ISU program On top of that, he hasn't even signed his letter of intent yet. If we did pay for it, it would be a recruiting violation.