May 26, 2010

Jeez, Not This Crap Again: Trey Burke Re-opens His Recruitment

Do you see what happens Curley, WHEN YOU F*CK A PROGRAM IN THE ASS?


What was once mere speculation in Message Board Land is now a startling reality: Penn State's top 2011 basketball recruit Trey Burke has rescinded his verbal commitment and has "re-opened" his recruitment. His reason for the decision? You guessed it: The stability of the coaching staff.

According to Mr. Burke, his son just isn't sure either that Penn State can win or that PSU head coach Ed DeChellis or the prime recruiter on Burke, assistant Lewis Preston, will be around when Burke was set to arrive in the fall of 2011:
Two things you can conclude from this paragraph:
  1. Trey has no idea just how committed Tim Curley is to ensuring DeChellis remains the head coach, hell or high water.
  2. Trey has in fact, spoken with Curley or with others close to the basketball program and has heard things that suggest this current coaching staff is on its last legs barring an NCAA Tournament berth next season. This would make Curley's prior comments to the media about the program being headed in the right direction nothing more than mere 'window dressing' to help shield DeChellis for now.
Now, technically speaking, Penn State is still on Burke's list of potential schools. The harsh reality though, is that almost 99.9% of the time a recruit re-opens their recruitment, they end up choosing a different school than the one they originally verballed to...

But now, according to Mr. Burke and Northland High coach Satch Sullinger, high-majors such as Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Arizona and Wake Forest are beginning to show serious interest.
So yeah, you can just go ahead and kiss Trey Burke goodbye. This most recent de-commit along with the transfers of Chris Babb and Bill Edwards are beginning to resemble a carbon copy of the final years of the Jerry Dunn era. Dunn's inability to keep recruits interested (which can be blamed on Curley for not re-working Dunn's contract extension following the Sweet 16 berth in 2001) plus the revolving transfer door under his watch, led to the program's bottoming out in 2003. Judging from these recent events, it's hard not to feel as if this program is experiencing deja vu all over again.

Of course, this disaster could have been averted if we had an Athletic Director who cares about spending the necessary amount of money it takes to build a foundation conducive to being a consistent winner in the Big Ten*. If we were to have Burke de-committing because he's not comfortable with the brand new coaching staff, then I could live with that. Nothing irks me more as a sports fan though, than having a coach who is viewed by outsiders as a 'lame duck' of sorts still being kept around while transfers and de-committed recruits gradually begin to tank the program back to Square One, it's pure Athletic Director negligence. That NIT championship sure seems like a distant Bizzaro World event now...

* Not that anyone expects Curley to do the right thing when it comes to men's basketball




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