"Loyalty" expected from former players
- Thread starter CYlent Bob
- Start date
None, and again, he probably couldn't have steered Barnes even if we wanted him to. He left his program.
I guess I'm probably wrong, I just don't see how people could be ****** about the Barnes thing because he left Jake's program and probably nobody could have steered him to ISU. That's not Jake's job.
He did say some pretty disparaging things about McD, his offensive philosophy, and his program a few years ago on the radio which was hashed out repeated on here.
It appears that Jake was not steering players like HB towards ISU because ISU under GMac was not their best choice. Based on the way GMac gutted what was left of the MBB program at ISU, it looks like Jake was right. Hopefully if Jake has some players worthy of a D-1 scholarship, he will at least have them look at ISU.
What I heard was a completely honest assessment. People complain when people don't answer questions honestly but when they do they complain about that as well.
All you have to do is read any thread about Sullivan since he was basically neutral towards ISU while he was working with HB and you can see that plenty of people are ****** at Sullivan.
His neutrality towards ISU while he was at ISU was taken by many as being negative towards ISU.
For these people (of which I believe there are many) his unwillingness to promote ISU to the best talent to probably ever come out of the state of Iowa made him a traitor. The fact that HB left Sullivan and it is likely that no one would be steering HB anywhere is irrelevant to these people because Jake should have tried to help ISU when he had the chance in their minds.
Agreed. Jake is more or less an agent for these kids. I find it funny that he is so involved in the process of where kids like Harrison Barnes will eventually decide to attend college and play basketball. For God's sake... Jake was on KXNO talking about HB all the time, the recruiting process, schools, etc... Was he doing all of that for HB's benefit or his own? During the recruiting process was he not always front and center and used as a contact person for HB with schools etc? One would have to think so. That to me is where this AAU gig is shady as hell. The kid and their parents should be the ones who are handling the recruiting process rather then the little helper who is trying to get a payday out of the deal. Had Jake been offered an assistant job by Duke or UCLA... you can bet your *** that is where HB would have been going to school.
While that's somewhat accurate, I don't think it's necessarily fair.
These AAU coaches are very much the contact for college coaches in the recruitment. The AAU circuit, not high school, is the national exposure for these kids - and as such, where the college coaches do the communicating.
I coached junior volleyball, and a long time ago - so the rules certainly have changed and the process different - but the colleges couldn't talk to the players or their families, but COULD talk to the team coaches. And it happened constantly and every where.
So for a guy like Jake to be out front on something like that isn't all that surprising. And for all we know, the Barnes may have WANTED it that way.
That's not to say Jake isn't doing this for his own benefit. Putting players in colleges and growing his business is for his benefit. But there are real reasons for his high profile.
And let me ask this.... is Jake "using" these kids for his own gain any different that Freddy or CPR, or ISU on the whole? We're just using these kids to grow our programs. I really don't see the difference in there except Jake isn't likely to make upwards of a million dollars being an AAU coach.
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I would have loved for HB to come to ISU. Who wouldn't? The most important thing in the recruiting process IMO is that these kids make their own decision about where they go. I guess my biggest issue is with the whole AAU system. These AAU coaches get way too involved with these kids and then basically sell them off to a school for their own personal profit. Look at that scumbag assistant at KSU as a prime example.
Personally I liked Jake when he played at ISU but this whole HB saga and his AAU program have really soured my opinion of him. He is turning out just like all of those other AAU coaches who just want their own name in the spotlight, want the money, want the benefits, etc.... rather then doing it for the kids.
At some point the NCAA needs to step in and cut these AAU coaches out of the recruiting process. Allowing them to be in the mix is what leads to "package deals", players being funnelled into certain programs, and all kinds of shady deals that are far from the best interests of the student athletes.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I guess I fail to see how Sullivan benefited from his involvement with HB in any way other than increasing his profile by trying to claim he 'made' HB into the player everyone wanted. He doesn't seem to have landed a big time assistant gig and I would love to see evidence of him getting cash under the table for access.
Your painting the NCAA as the white knight and AAU as the epitomy of evil is comical...both of these organizations use kids for their own benefit...plain and simple.
I do think it's somewhat different because ISU pays these kids to come to ISU and play. Kids pay a LOT of money to Jake to play. I think that's a pretty big difference there.
While I agree with what you are saying I just think the AAU coaches involvement is just different. Yes ISU is using these student athletes to make money, yes CPR is making money based off of his players performance, etc... The big difference is that these players are being compensated with a free education at a high quality University.
Take HB... what if he and his mom decided to let Jake be in charge of the recruiting process. Ok... That means they are trusting him and trusting what he is telling them about what school is the "best" fit for HB. Now that opens up a huge can of worms as now a guy like Jake could very easily start his own personal auction between schools and HB goes to the highest bidder simply because HB and his mom are taking his advice. He can tell them whatever he wants and can manipulate information about the schools, their programs, etc... to get HB to go where Jake will reap the most benefits be it a job, cash, whatever.....
Now I am not saying that Jake did any of those things at all... but to say that it isn't possible based on how much he tried to keep himself in the spotlight during the whole deal makes me wonder about his motives. I got the exact same feeling reading his letter he wrote because he was losing Jok his star kid and most likely the next HB. His reaction seemed a little bitter towards the parents and especially the guy who he feels stole his meal ticket.
I don't know Jake's specific situation but you are right...the vast majority of kids are paying a lot of money to be in the program. However, if he is operating like most other people doing what he does then the ultra talented handful of kids in the program (the Barnes and Joks of the world) are probably not paying. That is usually how it works.
Sure, but the reasons they're paying this money is to save a boat load on college (or in the rare case move to a career in baksetball and MAKE a boat load).
You could argue that the players are very much trying to use Jake as well - perhaps moreso.
I'll be forthright and say that I while I don't know Jake at all, nor his personality and any issues, I do have a degree of sympathy on this issue. Dealing with parents on such teams is a NIGHTMARE. I as said, I had a short stint coaching a USAV juniors 18 team. The players almost all of which were vying for college scholarships. The parents could be brutal. Everybody's kid is better than everyone else's. Everyone's kid isn't seeing the court enough or being used enough. "We didn't travel 2000 miles to see her sit on the bench." There's pride in your kids, but they also see the $$$ that might be at stake. I didn't last very long.
Regional director asked me some time ago when I was going to get back into coaching and I simply replied "when you stop letting parents in the gym".
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Agreed. And I think that's an indictment of the family moreso than the coach. The family needs to be making the decision and doing their own study. The coach should be a resource. A legit coach, and particularly a professional one like Jake should be doing research and using contacts to help them make that decision.
But clearly there are unscrupulous characters out there who do exactly what you're saying.
I don't think Jake necessarily is, and in the Barnes case - I don't think they came close to letting their various coaches run the show. Watching his recruitment, seems clear he and his mother were extremely active in the process. But I can see where they would be comfortable with Jake dealing with media in some capacity to relieve that pressure off Harrison. JMO on that point.
But there's no denying that it benefits Jake to be on the radio, have quotes in the paper. And to point out he coached the #1 recruit in the country (although that was a BAD move in the letter, IMO). He's trying to grow a business. I don't think that in and of itself, should paint him as selfish or self-serving.
Agreed. I had my doubts about Jake and his motives with the HB process. I personally want to believe that he always had HB's back and was trying to help him in finding a situation that would best suit him. The letter deal was a little bit of a opinion changing factor for me. I didn't like how it came off. I guess if I was Jake rather then writing the letter as he did I would rather have seen him come out and say that this is how my process works for developing these players right from the start. That way parents know from the beginning that he isn't going to be spending much time talking to parents etc... Coming out after the fact and stating some of that stuff really painted him in a bad light.
