Bo Ryan, while very successful at Wisconsin has a history of petty, childish behavior. Many coaches behave like children and seem to have a “God Complex”, but this may take it to a new level.
Freshman Jarrod Uthoff notified Ryan last week that he’d like to transfer to a school with an offense more suitable to his talents & aspirations. You know, a team with an offense that doesn’t operate as if it were in the pre-shot clock era.
Ryan apparently did not take the news very well.
NCAA rules allow the coach to detail a list of schools that the player cannot transfer to. Which, in and of itself, seems a bit ridiculous if there are no controls and/or limits placed on this power.
Ryan has not only banned Uthoff from attending any other Big Ten schools, but he has also eliminated the entire ACC as well. Not to mention individual schools such as Marquette and Iowa State.
The Metro Sports Report spoke with Uthoff who offered the following:
“I just got an email about it today from Wisconsin’s compliance office,” Uthoff told the Metro Sports Report Monday night. “I didn’t see it coming.” Uthoff said the University of Virginia (an ACC school coached by former Wisconsin assistant Tony Bennett) sought permission from Wisconsin to contact him. As a result, Ryan added Virginia and all the other ACC schools to the no-contact list. Uthoff said he doesn’t know why Ryan has placed so many schools on the restricted list. “You have a better guess than I do,” he said. “I’m not really sure.”
Obviously, Ryan doesn’t want Uthoff to be competition for him within the Big Ten, and I can see an argument for this thinking, but this is taking it a bit too far.
To remove the entire ACC & other schools outside the conference just comes across as petty & spiteful. I don’t even think its fair for coaches to stop transfers from going to any school. Let alone the entire conference in which they currently play or other conferences.
Coaches leave all the time & leave recruits behind. Players change their mind or develop as a player & their skill set may not fit the system as they originally thought. It’s absolutely reasonable for players to transfer when & where they see fit so long as it’s justifiable.
I guess this is just another of a long list of examples as to why & how the NCAA is completely broken.
