Ari to USC (Pac-12)

[KidA23]

Good luck to Ari. Interesting choice to say the least, but hey, whatever he wants.

 

[deac_tracy]

Kevin O'Neill is proof that losing in basketball is so expected at Northwestern that you can not only get an NBA HC job after stinking up the joint there, you can also get two HC jobs at major colleges!

Well he was hired at Zona pretty much because he was Lute's golf buddy and he did such a horrible job that Lute had to step in and come back for a little while. I'm pretty sure the main reason he was hired at USC was to clean the program up after the OJ Mayo debacle.

 

[El Chupacabra]

I thought he was the AD's golf buddy, but I could be mixing that all up. It was nasty over there for a while during that whole affair. Crazy rumors all over the place, which seemed ludicrous enough for them to possibly be true, but I was not trying to stay all that up to date.

Anyway, I don't think he and Lute ended on good terms at all, but he wouldn't have been the first one to have fallen out with O'Neill.

Edit - ahh, looked it up and had forgotten that O'Neill had been an assistant to Olson in the late 80's.

 

[dashtrash]

i wonder if usc (south carolina) went after him - they lost three guys to transfer and potentially one guy to football.

 

[PhilliesDeacs]

You guys are all overlooking the real reasons he chose USC:

 

[deacvision7]

They raise 'em smart at USC

 

[TexasDeac10]

Mmm, fembots

 

[tsywake]

They raise 'em smart at USC

One of my favorite pictures of all time. So much #winning.

 

[jaybone]

Old people are OLD!

haha. I didn't realize this garnered so much negative rep points until I just figured out reputation.

So, I said the I hope Ari is the last father we recruit. I just think that their focus is in multiple places. I don't think Philip Rivers or Rusty LaRue were Fathers BEFORE they started college. Ari was a Dad in high school. I find it a flag. Not a red flag like he's a hood or anything, but that he is going to have difficulty being a Wake Forest student athlete. That he is going to be pulled in multiple directions, and that he is going to have more trouble focusing on getting a degree and becoming an elite basketball player than someone who doesn't have a toddler they are partially responsible for.

I don't know when Tony Woods became a Dad, whether he had a kid in high school or not, but his dismissal was obviously related to the pressures of trying to co-raise a child while bringing in no income.

These are kids becoming men. It's a difficult enough transition without the pressures of trying to compete in a major conference in a revenue generating sport with national exposure. Add a baby to that? Fuck me. That sounds disastrously hard.

 

[jaybone]

Yeah I can't remember if he is or not, but I seemed to remember him not being very conservative. I do remember this debate before and I thought Jay may have been one of the people arguing against student-athletes with kids coming to Wake which was why I tried to condense the argument, I'm probably wrong though.
:werd:

Gay marriage, Obama, legalize spleef advocate here, so probably more liberal than most.

Ari would have been better off going to Georgia. He could have taken cush courses, he would have been closer to his kid, etc...

 

[KVegasDeac]

Players with kids have baby mama drama, especially if the baby mama and baby live in a different city/state and the baby daddy only visits on breaks and occasional weekends. It's distracting.

But I don't think we should stop recruiting ballers because they have fathered a child...it shouldn't even be a factor.

Good luck to Ari. I hope he is successful, but I just don't think he made a good choice.

 

[DinDC]

haha. I didn't realize this garnered so much negative rep points until I just figured out reputation.

So, I said the I hope Ari is the last father we recruit. I just think that their focus is in multiple places. I don't think Philip Rivers or Rusty LaRue were Fathers BEFORE they started college. Ari was a Dad in high school. I find it a flag. Not a red flag like he's a hood or anything, but that he is going to have difficulty being a Wake Forest student athlete. That he is going to be pulled in multiple directions, and that he is going to have more trouble focusing on getting a degree and becoming an elite basketball player than someone who doesn't have a toddler they are partially responsible for.

I don't know when Tony Woods became a Dad, whether he had a kid in high school or not, but his dismissal was obviously related to the pressures of trying to co-raise a child while bringing in no income.

These are kids becoming men. It's a difficult enough transition without the pressures of trying to compete in a major conference in a revenue generating sport with national exposure. Add a baby to that? Fuck me. That sounds disastrously hard.

Perhaps if a recruit is a high school baby daddy, it should raise a few red flags about decision making, maturity, etc.? Just sayin'. . . .

 

[RJKarl]

A lifetime ago, USC offered a friend of mine a scholarship to play football. To spice up the offer, they agreed to take his girlfriend and another friend if he wanted to bring him along.

Maybe they are bringing his girlfriend with him.

 

[KVegasDeac]

A lifetime ago, USC offered a friend of mine a scholarship to play football. To spice up the offer, they agreed to take his girlfriend and another friend if he wanted to bring him along.

Maybe they are bringing his girlfriend with him.

I don't think Ari's baby mama is his girlfriend.

 

[Ron's Goon Squad]

I disagree with this completely. Kevin O'Neill is a disaster. On what are you basing this?

I base it on the fact that Buzzkill has been a disaster at WFU. That and his interview quotes and general demeanor. I would not hire him to work at my shop - he has been awful with the media. Go back and see Collins' 28 second question. You know the simple question that took Buzz 28 seconds to utter a word --- what exactly was he thinking that took him 28 seconds to respond?Truly bizarre guy coaching our boys.

He hasn't embarrassed WFU in public, so you def have a good point there - O'Neill is hideous and that makes it a weird choice for Stewart. You probably know a lot more about O'Neill than I do.

Wish the kid the best. Strange choice.

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

Gay marriage, Obama, legalize spleef advocate here, so probably more liberal than most.

Ari would have been better off going to Georgia. He could have taken Kush courses, he would have been closer to his kid, etc...

FIFY

 

[TBR]

Pretty much agree with everyone that this is a curious move, but wish Ari the best.

 

[The Deacon]

Im just glad he decided to go elsewhere rather than be a cancer in the locker room with a bad attitude for the next couple of years(whether or not it was coaching or his seemingly shocking bad play, either would be a justifiable reasoning to transfer)... I remember players doing much the same during the Odom years when it was apparent that attitude and ability didnt mesh with the reality.

 

[BabyDeac75]

FWIW, Ari did not have a choice about whether or not he would return next year. That decision was made for him after the game at BC. And no, he was not suspended for "academic reasons."

 

[WFUtoUSC]

^ glad somebody could finally confirm this. I had suspected this might be the case