Destiny PItts: Transfers to Texas A&M (All Things Suspension and Transfer Related)

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Shades said:
I don’t see why she couldn’t be deemed eligible for the fall, considering the circumstances.
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Yes, recent history is in Destiny's favor. Jessica Shepard, who left Nebraska, and Chatrice White, who left Illinois, both left their programs a year after a coaching change. They petitioned the NCAA and both became eligible without sitting out a year. Although, eligibility would begin spring semester.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Yes, recent history is in Destiny's favor. Jessica Shepard, who left Nebraska, and Chatrice White, who left Illinois, both left their programs a year after a coaching change. They petitioned the NCAA and both became eligible without sitting out a year. Although, eligibility would begin spring semester.
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A coaching change is a different situation than getting suspended for disciplinary reasons and then deciding you don't want to stick around. Pitts came back and played half of a second season for Whalen, so I don't know that the coaching change waiver would apply. Maybe if she had left after last season.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Yes, recent history is in Destiny's favor. Jessica Shepard, who left Nebraska, and Chatrice White, who left Illinois, both left their programs a year after a coaching change. They petitioned the NCAA and both became eligible without sitting out a year. Although, eligibility would begin spring semester.
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So you mean she couldn't play at the new school until Spring 2021 semester. That would be fair, in my opinion.
 

She will be eligible this fall. She can claim a hostile environment and plus show she has the support of her former teammates. Easy transfer
 


Ignatius L Hoops said:
Yes, recent history is in Destiny's favor. Jessica Shepard, who left Nebraska, and Chatrice White, who left Illinois, both left their programs a year after a coaching change. They petitioned the NCAA and both became eligible without sitting out a year. Although, eligibility would begin spring semester.
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Shepard is not good example. She should have never been granted a no-wait waiver. She was a part of the reason why Yori resigned. Then Shepard played a year under Williams. The only public reason she gave for transferring to ND is she wanted to go somewhere that would help her basketball career. The NCAA transfer committee took a lot of heat for their decision on Shepard and have tightened up their requirements since then.

For Pitts, it’s more a matter of not seeing eye-to-eye with Whalen. She might be able to show Whalen was unreasonable. Maybe point out the video where Whalen is being evasive with the press. It looked to be an unhealthy environment for Pitts, and the students should be the priority. Minnesota being cooperative with a no-wait transfer for Pitts should help make it more likely.

A more comparable example to Pitts might be Andra Espinoza-Hunter, who transferred from UConn to Mississippi State without having to sit out. Her and Geno didn’t get along and he didn’t seem to have much patience with her for some reason.

highposthoops.com

BREAKING: Espinoza-Hunter’s NCAA Wavier Approved; Eligible for MSU

After departing UConn following the fall of her FR season, Andra Espinoza-Hunter enrolled at MSU in the summer and hoped for the best. She got her wish.
highposthoops.com highposthoops.com
 

bigticket1 said:
A coaching change is a different situation than getting suspended for disciplinary reasons and then deciding you don't want to stick around. Pitts came back and played half of a second season for Whalen, so I don't know that the coaching change waiver would apply. Maybe if she had left after last season.
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Correct, it's not an exact comparison especially because of the half-year. After Yori was dismissed at Nebraska, Shepard came back and played a year for Amy Williams and then transferred to Notre Dame before the next season. Muffet McGraw said the waiver was granted for personal reasons.

A somewhat different situation applied to White. It was not a coaching change, my mistake. White, after number of players transferred because of incidents blamed on a dismissed assistant coach, returned and played a year before transferring to Florida. If I recall, White becoming immediately eligible even surprised Florida.

Of course, NCAA gave no reason why Shepard and White were made immediately eligible. So it's just guess work and possibly doesn't have anything to do with anything. I'm just guessing that Pitts would be eligible to play the last half of next season.

The Gophers had two in transfers, Fernstrom and Starr, whom I thought at least one wouldn't need to sit out a year; but both did.
 


Ignatius L Hoops said:
Correct, it's not an exact comparison especially because of the half-year. After Yori was dismissed at Nebraska, Shepard came back and played a year for Amy Williams and then transferred to Notre Dame before the next season. Muffet McGraw said the waiver was granted for personal reasons.

A somewhat different situation applied to White. It was not a coaching change, my mistake. White, after number of players transferred because of incidents blamed on a dismissed assistant coach, returned and played a year before transferring to Florida. If I recall, White becoming immediately eligible even surprised Florida.

Of course, NCAA gave no reason why Shepard and White were made immediately eligible. So it's just guess work and possibly doesn't have anything to do with anything. I'm just guessing that Pitts would be eligible to play the last half of next season.

The Gophers had two in transfers, Fernstrom and Starr, whom I thought at least one wouldn't need to sit out a year; but both did.
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It seems sometimes that the NCAA makes decisions on waiver requests based on what kind of mood they are in at the moment. You would think that players who are recruited over and lose their scholarships simply to make room for a player that the coach thinks is better should be an automatic waiver grant. Some are granted right away, some wait for months and others have to sit the full year. Seems like there will never be consistent decisions from the NCAA on these types of matters, as well as decisions on what programs get disciplined for wrong-doing.
 



Roland Brooks said:
She will be eligible this fall. She can claim a hostile environment and plus show she has the support of her former teammates. Easy transfer
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That makes no sense. She has five years to complete four years of eligibility, 2 1/2 of which she has completed, apparently. You think she'd like to play next season at a new school and then only the first half of the season after that?
 

BigTenGuy said:
If support of former teammates matters at all, the NCAA might as well scrap its transfer rules and let everyone play right away.
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Not many scenarios where other teammates have sat out in protest. Do you have examples? Twitter support was more than token thanks and token goodbye. IDK call me crazy
 

Does she get a 1/2 year back? Since she bolted I thought she would have just one year left. IDK for sure
 

thatjanelpick said:
That makes no sense. She has five years to complete four years of eligibility, 2 1/2 of which she has completed, apparently. You think she'd like to play next season at a new school and then only the first half of the season after that?
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She’ll be going to school wherever she decides to transfer.
 



Roland Brooks said:
Does she get a 1/2 year back? Since she bolted I thought she would have just one year left. IDK for sure
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She has played in enough games to have 'finished' her 3rd year of eligibility. Had she been injured and missed the remainder of the season, she still would have only one yr. of eligibility remaining.
 

I watched a portion of the NU game on BTN+. It relied on the stadium cameras and used the radio broadcast team for audio. Observations, watching only the 3rd and 4th quarters. I am not a coach and won't pretend to know exactly what body language is. But Pitts seemed to lack energy. Made effort on defense but seemed to be out of place a lot. She seemed to have her head down and no smiles (abnormal for her) when going down the floor. On the offensive end, fairly stationary not getting open. At a timeout in the 3rd you could see Whalen talking to Pitts about defending and it appeared fine. At the end of the 3rd the team comes to the bench. Whalen holds her hands out to slap the players hands and Pitts turns away from her not extending her hand.
In the 4th, with about 7 minutes left, Hamilton makes a pass to wide open Wood for a lay up. As the Gophers head back towards their basket, O'Banion is on the floor saying something to Whalen, and then Whalen motions to Adashchyk to go to scorer's table. Next stop in action and Pitts is on the bench. Cameras don't show her going to bench.
It looked like Coyle was at the game. He appears on camera as the blanket lady runs around him.
Maybe something else shows up elsewhere (first half?), but that was what stood out to me.
 

Powell and Taiye just started following the Baylor Lady Bears on Twitter. A potential destination for Pitts? Powell?
 

In terms of her eligibility after transferring, my only reference point would be when Micah Downs left Kansas midseason and transferred to Gonzaga, due to disagreements with the coach (i.e. playing time). He left Kansas in the 2nd half of one season, and wasn't eligible at Gonzaga until the 2nd half of the next, and essentially lost a year of eligibility, because the NCAA counted each of those seasons as a full season.
 


TrueLiz said:
In terms of her eligibility after transferring, my only reference point would be when Micah Downs left Kansas midseason and transferred to Gonzaga, due to disagreements with the coach (i.e. playing time). He left Kansas in the 2nd half of one season, and wasn't eligible at Gonzaga until the 2nd half of the next, and essentially lost a year of eligibility, because the NCAA counted each of those seasons as a full season.
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Yes. When Rangie Bessard left the Gophers after playing 1/2 her freshman season she was eligible to play the 2nd half of the next season as a Sophmore at Wichita State. Then she had full Junior and Senior seasons.

Mercedes Staples who transferred from Minnesota to San Diego State, earlier this month played the first half of this season as a Sophomore and will be eligible to play the second half of next season as a Junior and the next full year as a Senior.

This would mean Pitts would get half a season as a Senior.
 

Article from back in November that stuck with me.
spokesman-recorder.com

‘Coach Whay’ now knows what she wants | Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Second-year Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen offers a pre-season assessment.
spokesman-recorder.com spokesman-recorder.com
Also, during her novice season, she suspected there were times her players probably wondered if Whalen really knew what she was doing.

“But they were patient with me,” she said. “I think they knew deep down that I genuinely care for them and really want to do the right thing. They allowed me to grow [as coach].”
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This could still be happening this season, only with less patience from your better players who really want to win. I mean, it’s kind of hard for a coach to successfully gain respect if they really don’t know what they’re doing.

So with Whalen, people have always been like... well she’s been this successful PG all these years. She HAS to be a great coach. It only makes sense, right? But being a great coach is much more than having experience as a player. People skills are very important. Being a great instructor is important. With Whalen, it’s looking like she’s a square peg being forced into round hole.

Another red flag for me was when she was first offered the job, she wasn’t sure she could do it, but she felt she couldn’t pass on the opportunity ($500K/yr might make passing difficult). A good coach HAS to have a passion for coaching that’s motivated beyond money. Whalen never had a desire to coach before this job offer. How was this not a huge red flag?
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Yes. When Rangie Bessard left the Gophers after playing 1/2 her freshman season she was eligible to play the 2nd half of the next season as a Sophmore at Wichita State. Then she had full Junior and Senior seasons.

Mercedes Staples who transferred from Minnesota to San Diego State, earlier this month played the first half of this season as a Sophomore and will be eligible to play the second half of next season as a Junior and the next full year as a Senior.

This would mean Pitts would get half a season as a Senior.
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Since she hasn't redshirted, I believe she could sit out all of next season and play the entire 21-22 season and still meet the 5 years to play 4 requirement.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Yes. When Rangie Bessard left the Gophers after playing 1/2 her freshman season she was eligible to play the 2nd half of the next season as a Sophmore at Wichita State. Then she had full Junior and Senior seasons.

Mercedes Staples who transferred from Minnesota to San Diego State, earlier this month played the first half of this season as a Sophomore and will be eligible to play the second half of next season as a Junior and the next full year as a Senior.

This would mean Pitts would get half a season as a Senior.
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The only way shed be eligible for the 2nd half next year if shes in her new school by this semester. Most schools have already started theirs, minnesota starts Tuesday, so she'd have to get in somewhere real quick. At this point she'd likely have to sit all next year or hope to get a waiver.
 


GringaGopher said:
Kim Mulkey is like a rabid Chihuahua but then again her teams perform @ a high level.
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Yeah, only won a NCAA championship last year and looks to be in a great position this year and beyond.
 

There is always risks involved in hiring a young coach with zero coaching experience. Whalen had a great career in college, the Olympics, overseas, and the WNBA.

Does her playing experience transfer directly in to coaching? We are finding out. Whalen is learning on the fly. Something unfortunate has happened with Destiny Pitts. It appears Whalen and Destiny reached a point of no return that have been bubbling over that eventually came to a full boil.

Whalen hopefully will rebound and learn quickly how to de-escalate things. It appears Whalen and Pitts are both strong will individuals. She needs to get the situation to normal as quickly as possible, or I think she may lose additional players to transfers. I don't know how the program can recover from that from a recruiting standpoint.

Former Pro players jumping into coaching? It has been successful as in the case of Dawn Staley, head coach of South Carolina.
 

Wow... after learning more about the situation from those close to the team, Whalen REALLY messed up. She can thank her lucky stripes that several other Lady Gophers are still on the team after this debacle. There were other players ready to bolt/quit as well before family stepped in. That's as much as I'm willing to share but this program easily could have crumbled under Whalen if not for the resolve and character of some of the girls on the team in the face of adversity. Also, sounds like Destiny had a legitimate gripe... (again, this is coming from someone with no bias, who hopes Whalen succeeds here, but just telling it as it is).
 

hungan1 said:
Former Pro players jumping into coaching? It has been successful as in the case of Dawn Staley, head coach of South Carolina.
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The difference is Staley started at a non-Power 5 team coming off several years of losing records (and basically back in the dark ages when social media didn't exist), while Whalen started at a Power 5 team coming off of an NCAA Tournament appearance, so Staley probably didn't have the immediate expectations/pressure.
I was hoping Whalen would be decent enough (not like the previous head coach was that great) that a couple years whould be equivilant to being an assistant coach first, but I have no idea what to expect after this recent drama.
 

GameDay said:
Wow... after learning more about the situation from those close to the team, Whalen REALLY messed up. She can thank her lucky stripes that several other Lady Gophers are still on the team after this debacle. There were other players ready to bolt/quit as well before family stepped in. That's as much as I'm willing to share but this program easily could have crumbled under Whalen if not for the resolve and character of some of the girls on the team in the face of adversity. Also, sounds like Destiny had a legitimate gripe... (again, this is coming from someone with no bias, who hopes Whalen succeeds here, but just telling it as it is).
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It’s a lot of vagary though. Don’t you have some details?
 

Whalen has to stand her ground if what I hear is true. IMHO, it takes two to tango and with two strong personalities it came to a head that could have been avoided.

Lessons learned from both coach and players. Wow - they won on the road against Purdue? They won 72-59?

I hope the team, both players and coaches rebound quickly and get on the same page together. There had to be some player-coaches team meetings to resolve issues.

If they keep winning, there will be more buy in. Lindsay Whalen knows a thing or two because she has seen a thing or two in her career.
 


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