Mallory Heyer announces she's leaving Gophers program

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Chico Gopher said:
I was roaming through several threads late last night and came apon a comment from Maroon Magic at the end of last season. One short comment was that he had a feeling that, of the big 4 recruits (Braun, Battle, Heyer and Holliway) Heyer was the most likely to bolt. I remember calling him/her on that, wondering what was giving him that vibe.

Turns out he was right. Not sure what he saw or heard, but turns out he called it, way back in March. I can't remember exactly which thread it was this morning, but it was right after the Gophers won their tournament championship.

Also seems interesting (and a little disturbing to me) that most of us seem to, with the lack of any solid and detailed information, prefer to assume the worst and shallowest reasoning is behind any situation that isn't positive for the team. We have no actual idea what she was thinking, why or what any of the circumstances are behind her decision, but we're very willing to assume that it was petty, immature and completely self-serving. Maybe it was, but I find it interesting that, with no actual knowledge, we on this board like to choose the worst scenario that makes her look the worst, as the reason for her decision.
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Uh, because it's the most common and likely reason. Assuming it's a really nice or good reason is showing a lack of experience and naivety.
 


We were at a basketball clinic hosted by DTA last week. Mallory was one of the players working with the kids. She was super nice and connected with several of the kids and signed autographs afterwards.
My daughter (age 10) was really bummed when I informed her that Mallory left the program.
 

mngolf said:
Uh, because it's the most common and likely reason. Assuming it's a really nice or good reason is showing a lack of experience and naivety.
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In my 50 years of employment and management, I have found that people who immediately default to worst case scenario in absence of any actual facts or explanations are generally the type of people who will help you fail, much more often than they will help you succeed. Occasionally, they may be correct, but far more often, they end up looking bad when the entire story starts coming out. Of course, that's just my experience. I have spent a lot of time with positive people who concentrate on looking for solutions, and far too much time with people who concentrate on why something went wrong. Guess who ends up being more helpful when it comes time to "get things done"?
 

I'm just wondering why she waited to almost the end to announce that she was leaving. My thought she actually hurt the program by waiting as long as she did to bolt. Coach now doesn't have any time to replace her as she didn't think she had too.
 


#2Gopher said:
I'm just wondering why she waited to almost the end to announce that she was leaving. My thought she actually hurt the program by waiting as long as she did to bolt. Coach now doesn't have any time to replace her as she didn't think she had too.
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I. get the concern about replacing her in theory but not in practice. Women’s rosters are so large that one can make the argument that it’s nearly impossible to find enough playing time for them. The loss of one player doesn’t seem to damage the roster as a whole too much. With all the talk about others passing her on the depth chart, it would seem that replacing her would not be a great concern.

My concern is what happens when the inevitable season ending injury bites them and they are short a 100 game starter, which is a different issue than merely replacing her on the roster.
 

Holy Man said:
I. get the concern about replacing her in theory but not in practice. Women’s rosters are so large that one can make the argument that it’s nearly impossible to find enough playing time for them. The loss of one player doesn’t seem to damage the roster as a whole too much. With all the talk about others passing her on the depth chart, it would seem that replacing her would not be a great concern.

My concern is what happens when the inevitable season ending injury bites them and they are short a 100 game starter, which is a different issue than merely replacing her on the roster.
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This is a very valid response. Look at the VB team.
 

#2Gopher said:
I'm just wondering why she waited to almost the end to announce that she was leaving. My thought she actually hurt the program by waiting as long as she did to bolt. Coach now doesn't have any time to replace her as she didn't think she had too.
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Perhaps a quality trans student on campus can join the squad. Say a nice 6'7" former stud... s/
 

#2Gopher said:
I'm just wondering why she waited to almost the end to announce that she was leaving. My thought she actually hurt the program by waiting as long as she did to bolt. Coach now doesn't have any time to replace her as she didn't think she had too.
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you are assuming the coach is 100% telling truth. I'd guess the coach chose to share limited info to protect the player. as a few others have said, there is likely much more to the story. I have my thoughts, but don't want to speculate in public and start rumors.
 



FinnGopher said:
Perhaps a quality trans student on campus can join the squad. Say a nice 6'7" former stud... s/
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I doubt that there is a female Dave Winfield on campus. A miracle like that only occurs once in a lifetime. But, it would be nice.
 

WHB Brewer said:
you are assuming the coach is 100% telling truth. I'd guess the coach chose to share limited info to protect the player. as a few others have said, there is likely much more to the story. I have my thoughts, but don't want to speculate in public and start rumors.
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Yeah, (with zero inside knowledge) one of my thoughts has been that maybe the coaching staff knew longer than they let on and just decided that two weeks before the season was the best time to make it public. It doesn't even need to be for nefarious reasons, but they could have decided it was the best way to roll it out strategically either for the team or Mallory herself.

One thing I did notice in retrospect is that when we were 24 days away from the first game, there were no social media posts from the team saying "We're Mallory Heyer days away from the season". Every other player has gotten these (for example, 10 days away for Mara, 22 days away for Kennedy, etc). 24 days away was October 11th, so maybe the coaches knew at least a little earlier than last week.
 

Chico Gopher said:
In my 50 years of employment and management, I have found that people who immediately default to worst case scenario in absence of any actual facts or explanations are generally the type of people who will help you fail, much more often than they will help you succeed. Occasionally, they may be correct, but far more often, they end up looking bad when the entire story starts coming out. Of course, that's just my experience. I have spent a lot of time with positive people who concentrate on looking for solutions, and far too much time with people who concentrate on why something went wrong. Guess who ends up being more helpful when it comes time to "get things done"?
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And your experience is in sports business? If not, it is apples to oranges.
 

MaroonMagic said:
Yeah, (with zero inside knowledge) one of my thoughts has been that maybe the coaching staff knew longer than they let on and just decided that two weeks before the season was the best time to make it public. It doesn't even need to be for nefarious reasons, but they could have decided it was the best way to roll it out strategically either for the team or Mallory herself.

One thing I did notice in retrospect is that when we were 24 days away from the first game, there were no social media posts from the team saying "We're Mallory Heyer days away from the season". Every other player has gotten these (for example, 10 days away for Mara, 22 days away for Kennedy, etc). 24 days away was October 11th, so maybe the coaches knew at least a little earlier than last week.
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The surprised path chosen by the coach seems hollow to me. If she truly was surprised Mallory was leaving that's pretty poor awareness/observation or the lack of any sort of relationship after three three years if all there is...is okay see ya. "informed me"?
 



Chico Gopher said:
In my 50 years of employment and management, I have found that people who immediately default to worst case scenario in absence of any actual facts or explanations are generally the type of people who will help you fail, much more often than they will help you succeed. Occasionally, they may be correct, but far more often, they end up looking bad when the entire story starts coming out. . . .
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mngolf said:
Uh, because it's the most common and likely reason. Assuming it's a really nice or good reason is showing a lack of experience and naivety.
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I'm sympathetic to Chico Gopher's worst-case-scenario observation as a general statement, but dispute it's applicability to speculation that Heyer lost her starting spot. The worst case scenario would be something like Heyer is having academic problems, or a medical/injury issue, or a money dispute with the Gophers, or can no longer tolerate one or more of her teammates or coaches, etc. Losing a starting spot is not close to the worst case scenario. Agree with mngolf that is the most common and likely reason, which no one in the know has done anything to dispute. Coach P could have said she was surprised when she learned Mallory was transferring, because she was slated to begin her 4th season as a starter, but she didn't. The Board's most prolific inside-knowledge poster (bball_craz_31) has avoided saying anything about whether Heyer had lost her starting sport. Perhaps the most likely explanation is not the actual explanation, but in the absence of actual information, it is far from a character flaw to surmise that Heyer had lost her starting sport.
 

Wondering if anyone has had a similar thought: This might not be a "starting five" situation. If the announcement came after the two closed scrimmages, this might be a "playing time" situation not a "starting" situation. Frequently, the "starters" aren't the crunch time players due to a number of factors (loyalty to a three-year starter for example).

I think we mostly agree this will be a much deeper team than the past several years, provided we escape the injury curse. Matchups and who is playing well will mean reduced minutes for several (not all) of the players. A player who is limited offensively (can't effectively post up) might sit while a teammate who is more versatile offensively gets key minutes.

If that is the "handwriting on the wall," some will not be willing to accept a reduced role. The coaches have been hinting this season will be different with a deeper bench.
 
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