Barker Transfering?!?!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Donate To GopherHole
Well why would you tell one of your best offensive players they don't deserve a scholarship? Why would you tell anyone they don't deserve a scholarship?
 

60 Minutes is running a piece on college football right now. They aired a halftime speech from Towson's head coach. They were leading LSU at the half. Their coach said, "Any of you sons of bitches that are smiling right now because you think you've done something...I'll kill you." Apparently threats and intimidation isn't a foreign concept to college coaches.
 

Bet this kid will feel like an ass when he wakes up Saturday morning and his ankle feels fine.


All b.s. aside though, this kid definitely could be suffering from mental problems, that rambling rant opens up all kinds of diagnosis possibilities. Hopefully he can work through his problems. Actually the good news would be that he is not suffering from mental illness and he is just another overprivileged pampered suburban punk. In which case I say "good luck with the rest of your life boy".
 

goldengophers said:
He wants one next year, which he should. His presentation of this letter publicly was a bad move in my opinion, but so are those belittling this guy because they're so anxious about protecting the reputation of the head coach. Kill has the larger mic and audience, it will be interesting to see what he says.
Click to expand...

The response is gonna be one where we will have to read between the lines.

An outright vehement denial = there might be something to Barker's allegations, and Kill/The University either needs to cover their butts or thinks the issue has been blown out of proportion by a disgruntled kid. Unless more stories come out we won't ever know who's right in the he said she said BS. (The Mike Leach response)

An understated, somber, 'always hate to lose a player, wish him the best, anytime something like this comes up we take it seriously and will talk to the kids,' etc.. = In our opinion Barker's got issues, but obviously we can't come out and say that.
 

From one who has been a huge Gophers fan since 1985, who until 30 minutes ago was an AJ Barker fan, this looks really bad for the kid.

4000 words and I got the feeling he only stopped typing because his medication made him drowsy. As a guy who has dealt with an abusive boss, you have to learn to bite your lip, do your best, and keep plugging away. You can't out-tantrum an abusive boss or an abusive coach. That's what Barker tried to do here. Bad decision.

I'll be interested to hear what Bart Scott, Brandon Jacobs, and Michael Carter have to say about coach Kill.
 


Bizarre.

If Barker really wanted to go after Kill, all he needed to do is wait until the MSU game is over and then announce his intent to transfer because Kill won't give him a scholarship and mention his concern over the care he is getting. 100 words tops. It would make Kill look horrible. Instead Barker has made himself look like a kook.

FWIW, he will be playing BCS football next year. Easy gamble for someone looking for a receiver.
 

everybody knows my name said:
From one who has been a huge Gophers fan since 1985, who until 30 minutes ago was an AJ Barker fan, this looks really bad for the kid.

4000 words and I got the feeling he only stopped typing because his medication made him drowsy. As a guy who has dealt with an abusive boss, you have to learn to bite your lip, do your best, and keep plugging away. You can't out-tantrum an abusive boss or an abusive coach. That's what Barker tried to do here. Bad decision.

I'll be interested to hear what Bart Scott, Brandon Jacobs, and Michael Carter have to say about coach Kill.
Click to expand...

The better question is why would you stoop to that level?
 

tato2001 said:
The response is gonna be one where we will have to read between the lines.

An outright vehement denial = there might be something to Barker's allegations, and Kill/The University either needs to cover their butts or thinks the issue has been blown out of proportion by a disgruntled kid. Unless more stories come out we won't ever know who's right in the he said she said BS. (The Mike Leach response)

An understated, somber, 'always hate to lose a player, wish him the best, anytime something like this comes up we take it seriously and will talk to the kids,' etc.. = In our opinion Barker's got issues, but obviously we can't come out and say that.
Click to expand...

Which is exactly the type of statement Teague just released
 

His profile is already off gophersports.com already, Norwood must be working overtime.
 






So everyone here must be a psychiatrist? We're all diagnosing AJ as having mental problems from one emotion-filled letter? You can say AJ feels strongly about this, but that doesn't make him delusional. You can question whether this was a good idea or not to air this publicly, but let's not get carried away on the accusations about AJs mental health.

I am curious to know how common these type of coaching psychology tactics are in DI football. I am sure there are plenty of coaches that use them, but is it the only way to motivate? Like someone said earlier, I think a coach has to "know his audience" so to speak. These kinds of tactics work on certain people, but not others.
 



Something that has been lost a bit in this thread that I want to comment on - the treatment of the injury as described in AJ's letter.

As a business owner, we occasionally have accidents at work where someone gets injured. (Thankfully, not often and not seriously) But we have a very rigid policy on injury treatment - you tell the doctor everything and do EXACT what the doctor/therapist tell you to do. The medical professionals have been hired to treat you to the best of their ability and it is your responsibility to tell them what's up and to follow the treatment plan. There is NO room for self diagnosis or self treatment. If you like, we can and do provide a 2nd opinion for those unsure about their injury.

Why are we so rigid? Because we are legally responsible!! And I feel I have a moral obligation to make sure my employees return to good health. I can't live with people "doctoring" themselves and have poor outcomes. If people that can't follow this rule, they are better off working elsewhere as I have little tolerance for self doctoring.

So, from that perspective, I have serious issues with a number of AJ's statements regarding is injury/treatment. He statements indicate that he was not always forthright with his feelings nor was he dedicated to the treatment plan. The U of MN has just as much liability as I have in my business - they need to make sure all students are given proper medical care. Based on what AJ wrote, I would have called him out too - for being immature and not following the rules regarding his injury. It's a serious matter.

I would never hire him. Not because of his letter (which was appalling in structure). But because I want open and honest people who can follow the policies and rules of the company. Like AJ should have with the training staff.
 


Here's the Full statement from University of Minnesota AD Norwood Teague (via Tyler Mason's Twitter), on WR A.J. Barker:

"Coach Kill received an email from A.J. Barker today notifying the Coach that he has quit the team. Coach Kill tried reaching out to A.J. after receiving the email, but was unable to connect with him. We understand A.J.'s frustration with his injury, and we regret that he has chosen to leave the team on these terms. Our concern first and foremost is student athletes and we wish A.J. well."
Click to expand...
 



Sounds to me like the training staff's frustration was growing and growing with AJ. No to an MRI, I don't want to know if it's serious or minor, I'll just play through it and get some acupuncture. I know I should ice it, but I'm only going to ice it when swells up, not every time like you asked. I'm going to run out of the training room and order my own MRI. Seems like Kill finally boiled over after 3 weeks and got more directly involved with the kid after hearing from his training staff how AJ wasn't doing as instructed with his rehab.
 


This is the reason why players should be given the opportunity to transfer, without penalty, when a school makes a head coaching change. These are 17-18-19 year olds who are making a decision to play football at the D1 level based on a gut-feeling of chemistry with the current coaching staff. Unless they're going to Stanford or Northwestern, they aren't making that decision based on the quality of the chemistry or philosophy departments. Kill has apparently admitted that the upperclassmen don't like him all that much. He probably knew that was going to be the case when he signed his contract with Maturi. Coaches can leave a program anytime they want and be on the sidelines for the next season. There's no good reason that a student-ATHLETE should be held to a more strict standard.

Anybody who has known a D1 player that has lived through a coaching change can testify that the new staff will go out their way to run certain players out of the program. These are adults treating minors like chattel.

And please don't give me that B.S. about the "free" education. They earn that in spades.
 

UST82Gopher said:
Something that has been lost a bit in this thread that I want to comment on - the treatment of the injury as described in AJ's letter.

As a business owner, we occasionally have accidents at work where someone gets injured. (Thankfully, not often and not seriously) But we have a very rigid policy on injury treatment - you tell the doctor everything and do EXACT what the doctor/therapist tell you to do. The medical professionals have been hired to treat you to the best of their ability and it is your responsibility to tell them what's up and to follow the treatment plan. There is NO room for self diagnosis or self treatment. If you like, we can and do provide a 2nd opinion for those unsure about their injury.

Why are we so rigid? Because we are legally responsible!! And I feel I have a moral obligation to make sure my employees return to good health. I can't live with people "doctoring" themselves and have poor outcomes. If people that can't follow this rule, they are better off working elsewhere as I have little tolerance for self doctoring.

So, from that perspective, I have serious issues with a number of AJ's statements regarding is injury/treatment. He statements indicate that he was not always forthright with his feelings nor was he dedicated to the treatment plan. The U of MN has just as much liability as I have in my business - they need to make sure all students are given proper medical care. Based on what AJ wrote, I would have called him out too - for being immature and not following the rules regarding his injury. It's a serious matter.

I would never hire him. Not because of his letter (which was appalling in structure). But because I want open and honest people who can follow the policies and rules of the company. Like AJ should have with the training staff.
Click to expand...
I think he would say that he felt the need to withhold that info because of how the coaching staff treated players with injuries, belittling them as weak ect. It sounds like someone who felt that he had put in his time and put up stats but was now being sept under the rug and possibly denied a scholarship for next year because of injury.
 

DrunkGopher said:
Which is exactly the type of statement Teague just released
Click to expand...

As I think about it, that's all Teague could really say. It will be more telling how Kill responds in coming days. Leach's response was pretty much the denial route.

It's doubtful that Barker is simply making all this stuff up. However that rant makes me think his view of the world is very possibly a bit distorted, perhaps even rising to the level of delusions of persecution. ...or maybe he's just a spoiled kid (but 4000 words?!?!?! I'd think the 'spoiled kid' would just take his ball and go home). Or maybe after many years of coaching and no other allegations like this, Kill and other coaches suddenly went off their rockers simultaneously and decided this one kid should be the target of their angst over the course of weeks and months (I'm doubtful on that one, there are usually patterns of this stuff).

Who knows? Gonna be bad and sad all the way 'round.
 

Coolew01 said:
I wasn't aware he served in the military. There is nothing courageous about college football. I hope the whole story comes out.
Click to expand...


My man, serving in the military isn't the only way go be courageous. Openly stating your opinion when you KNOW you are going to be destroyed; in my book is courageous. AJ has nothing to gain by doing what he did. In fact I would argue it's just the opposite.

What I get out of it is, he's saying you ain't getting away this. Was he in the right? Is Kill in he wrong? I can't say, I wasn't there...but it certainly sounds like the Jerry I know.

Like my grandmother use to say "what's done under the cover of darkness WILL someday see the
light of day." Point? This is big time football on a big time stage, if Jerry is actually like this (I know he is) folks will find out soon enough. The real question is; will they care? Unfortunately, I say no, they won't. If Jerry proves to be the coach I think he is; the man I know he is won't matter. He will be winning and he won't have to defend himself, there will be plenty of others willing to turn a blind eye and do it for him.....until he loses.
 

This is so ridiculous on so many levels.

AJ, go away, live a long, happy, successful life at whatever it is you end up doing, enjoy your next few days in the spotlight, and get over yourself.

The earth continues to spin.
 

I got a headache fairly quickly reading this long drooling letter. I may have missed something.

But even if everything he said is true, what did kill do wrong? Yelling at a kid, not giving scholarships, etc that's all coach discretion stuff. Maybe I glazed over the good stuff, might have missed it.

What a nutter.
 

He has been offered a full ride at WSU by Coach Leach. Back-up plan is to accept a GA position at Texas Tech with Tommy Tuberville.
 

Sportsfan24 said:
My man, serving in the military isn't the only way go be courageous. Openly stating your opinion when you KNOW you are going to be destroyed; in my book is courageous. AJ has nothing to gain by doing what he did. In fact I would argue it's just the opposite.

What I get out of it is, he's saying you ain't getting away this. Was he in the right? Is Kill in he wrong? I can't say, I wasn't there...but it certainly sounds like the Jerry I know.

Like my grandmother use to say "what's done under the cover of darkness WILL someday see the
light of day." Point? This is big time football on a big time stage, if Jerry is actually like this (I know he is) folks will find out soon enough. The real question is; will they care? Unfortunately, I say no, they won't. If Jerry proves to be the coach I think he is; the man I know he is won't matter. He will be winning and he won't have to defend himself, there will be plenty of others willing to turn a blind eye and do it for him.....until he loses.
Click to expand...

It's always the coaches fault isn't it? It was at Wisconsin, and again at Minnesota.
 

Sportsfan24 said:
My man, serving in the military isn't the only way go be courageous. Openly stating your opinion when you KNOW you are going to be destroyed; in my book is courageous. AJ has nothing to gain by doing what he did. In fact I would argue it's just the opposite.
Click to expand...

That doesn't make him courageous, that makes him foolish. He wants to look like a martyr, but his cause of playing D1 somewhere his senior year was probably dealt a fatal blow by his own doing.
 


Status
Not open for further replies.



Top Bottom