Florida Baseball must read

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:

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Originally posted by Tiger Paw Mom:
Coach2709,

If I recall, you indicated to us in a post a few months back you might get a job coaching somewhere and were coming into the program and going to "clean house".

Am I mistaken?

Not really - I thought I might be an assistant coach at a college but the deal fell through at the last minute.

You and I had a discussion on how to enforce rules on drinking and how severe a coach should be.

Please don't yell at me like you are Ryno....

I was not yelling. I was showing Ryno how stupid teh use of his caps were. As a coach who was going to be hired at a college, telling us how you might have to go into a program and clean house, you above all should understand. Infielddad points out many reasons why players are cut, we don't know all the circmustances in every situation. Players are not always cut because the coach has to cut down, maybe the player has not met expectations. I do know that my son's friend was borderline to this situation.

Listen, I wasn't there, there are two sides to every story. I just think it is amusing how people jumped to conclusion when they read things without knowing that person or the situation. I would feel that way no matter who it was.

Unfortunetly, coaches are humans and they have their way of doing things the way they like them to be done. It's easier for a coach to walk into a program that has been successful when the other coach leaves. But when you have to walk into a program that has had a reputation for being one of the best in the country for years and suddenly things aren't working changes have to be made. And when you walk into a program with 44 on the roster and it has to be down to 35 shortly, within a certain period of time and you already have redhsirted players that have eligibility left what are you going to do. Also, intereting about the other player, who had been there for 3 years and not played. Most schools would have asked you to leave by year two. These are some of the things they wanted to be corrected, obviously.

The player discussed in the meeting was not a freshman, he was a transfer from a JUCO. This meant, IMO, if things did not work out he would sit at UF for the rest of his career. If he was cut in the spring, by the time he was done sitting at another school, he would lose his eligibility.

I do not necessarily beleive in the new transfer rule and I know Sully did not either. I know this must be hard for him, he does not like to hurt players. But I do know that once you have crossed the line with him, you are pretty much done. He really doesn't have time for a lot of nonsense. He'll do anything for his players, their parents and they in turn will do anything for him. He would get on my son for little things like white on rice and sometimes DK would get po'd, but they had a relationship like that. In the end, he did right by my son and I am honored he was able to coach him for 3 years. Sully was the type you could call at 3 am just to ask a question and he wouldn't even remind you what time it was (never happened but you get the idea). He is very approachable as a coach, as a person, many are not.

I feel badly, he is getting a bad wrap before his job has actually begun.

quote:

Originally posted by jack1234:
Why did Florida have 44 players on their roster???

The previous coaches would know best, but the usual reasons are

* keeping the player away from other teams
* lack of class balance
* talent eval deficiencies
* injuries
* the draft
* blue chips best friends
* cuz they could

TPW I'M NOT NEW TO THIS SITE AND EVERYONE HERE KNOWS THAT YOU FEEL A GREAT LOYALTY TO THIS COACH AND RIGHTFULLY SO. AND I DIDN'T CHANGE MY TUNE. THE FACT THAT THIS PARTICULAR COACH TREATED YOUR FAMILY WELL IS GREAT BUT THEIR ARE A COUPLE PLAYERS AND PARENTS THAT TONIGHT DON'T SHARE YOUR SAME FEELINGS. AND I DID READ MY POST MY SPELLING AND GRAMMER IS TERRIBLE.

TPW relax I'm not attacking him but the whole system. As far as kids not going to class and poor academic's their is a code of conduct that must be upheld and they should be put on academic probation and if not corrected then released from the institution.

Florida having 44 players on their roster without a jv program ( which NCAA won't allow in D1) is ridiculous. If Florida promised an incoming player a scholarship they should be forced to honor this just like the NLI requires the player to honor. The hiring of a new coach should not be an escape clause from a commitment from the former staff after all we always here how the player is choosing the school not the coach.

Now back to the real root of my post. 35 Player Roster limit, 11.7 Scholarships and a 25% minimum scholarship. Spread out if the coach chooses to a cap of 27 players. now the odds are that 75% goes to pitching and catching. The rest SS,2B,CF my point is that their are severl walkon's on the roster and plenty of room to manage the roster at the non scholarship portion of the roster so the young man receiving scholarship money that whether they work out or not they the school should be required to honor their commitment to them as does the Football and Basketball programs. It's not like all these roster spots are receiving funding from athletic department. And that is what upsets me, If a coach feels that a player he's recruiting is worthy of the scholarship money when they recruit him and the player is academically in compliance yet doesn't pan out as a key contributor is that the young mans fault or the coaches and his assistants ability to recognize talent? The problem can be rectified very easily since we are only talking about 11.7 scholarships. If you hold the coaches accountable for doing a better job recruiting instead of being able to start over if they choose year to year.

And now when a coach releases a player whether on scholarship or not that young man now will have to sit while the former school moves on as if nothing ever happened. That is what I have a problem with.

quote:

I was not yelling. I was showing Ryno how stupid teh use of his caps were. As a coach who was going to be hired at a college, telling us how you might have to go into a program and clean house, you above all should understand. Infielddad points out many reasons why players are cut, we don't know all the circmustances in every situation. Players are not always cut because the coach has to cut down, maybe the player has not met expectations. I do know that my son's friend was borderline to this situation.

About the yelling part - I meant it as a joke and hope you took it that way. If not I apologize.

You are correct about I should understand and that is why I wrote the retraction. There are various reasons why a coach can and should be able to get rid of players.

I am actually starting to learn how to think before I talk and type but sometimes the process is slow.

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RYNO posted: If Florida promised an incoming player a scholarship they should be forced to honor this just like the NLI requires the player to honor.

Would you prefer a kid spend 30 hours a week for the next 40 weeks rolling an (effing) tarp as the kids call it, and shagging fly balls for a $1,500 scholarship with zero chance to play in a game then lose a year of eligibility and sit out next year for transfering, or get released so he can contribute to another program on the field this year?

Nowhere in the article did Eric Thomas or Bo Smith say they were unhappy with the situation.

Ryno,
As a florida resident be aware that your son can earn his tuition up to a 100%. This means, if recruited to a FL state school, all you have to do is pay for room and board and the coach throws in some books and you can have 44 players in no time.
This has been an issue for sometime here in FL, the large roster at UF. I don't know aobut you but I would not want my son to play for a school with 44 on roster. Not that I think that he wouldn't get a spot, but that means the coach has less time to work with my player to develop whatever skills he needs. Some coaches look at it the same way.

The 44 on roster was ridiculous without the new rules, IMO. I know of players who went there and never played. Good players. Obviously the AD wanted things changed and Sully's philososphy fit that change. Any coach going into that situation would have had to do teh same thing.

I do not like the new sit out one time transfer rule for baseball. But the NCAA has done it so that coaches will do better job with recruiting and players will do a better job in choosing where they want to go to school and play, instead of sitting. That idea just didn't appeal to the NCAA and many coaches who keep their rosters at the 35 mark didn't like it either, that's why they voted it in. The more I think about it, the more I am understanding why it was put in place.

The jury is still out as to the success of the program and O'Sullivan as a head coach. Your post "Florida Baseball must read" brought a reaction from a one sided article to some here that this was a heartless, classless person.

I know that Dad04 understands because his son was in the same 04 recruiting class as mine and understands how things were done.

Ryno, again the player had not played for the program, he was coming from another program.

Be careful on forming opinions Florida posters, your son may be the next recruit of Kevin O'Sullivan.

Sometimes you have to earn your strips and clean the dugout as well until such time you prove yourself. How many tarps do you think Eckstein rolled up till he fianlly got on the field? Not everyone is a stud player that steps on campus and starts. Sometimes there is a progression that must take place. And it is about commitment from the beginning or don;t offer the scholly and let them walkon but if cut let them walk without the penalty attached.

RYNO,
I got a pm this week from a poster whose son chose a school because of the coach. The coach might be leaving. What would your advice be to him.

There are many situations in the recruiting roller coaster ride and they all are not pleasant or have happy endings.

Depends is it the school he always wanted to play at or the coach, again many variables.

Hey isn't this a great site. you can discuss so many different topics and can see and understand all points of view whether you agree or not in the end we all love the game and have a sincere interest in all the kids and that's what is important.

quote:

Originally posted by RYNO:
Sometimes you have to earn your strips and clean the dugout as well until such time you prove yourself. How many tarps do you think Eckstein rolled up till he fianlly got on the field? Not everyone is a stud player that steps on campus and starts. Sometimes there is a progression that must take place. And it is about commitment from the beginning or don;t offer the scholly and let them walkon but if cut let them walk without the penalty attached.

The roster limits will solve alot of the over-recruiting...in time. We agree how things should be, but you don't seem to understand realities of current everyday situations in college baseball.

The kid is athletically better off moving to a new school, not hanging around waitng for a coach who didn't recruit or sign him, to change his mind.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dad04:
We agree how things should be, but you don't seem to understand realities of current everyday situations in college baseball.
QUOTE]



Dad04,
No one really understands until they have been through it. Once you've been through it, you realize the realities and many aren't pleasant ones.
The NLI is a commitment between the school and the player, designed so that the recruit can't change his mind 10 times before he sets foot on campus.

Coaches can change their minds whenever they wish, most won't because of ethics, but when a coach is told to change things from his new boss, like yesterday, you better beleive most want to keep their jobs.

I have heard good things about Sully and I'm sure this has to do with the impending NCAA regs as much as anything. I will tell you that a player from Charlotte who signed with UF this Spring is now signed with another school due to some of these same issues.

No you see that again is why I started the post because I do understand the realities of what is going on and the reality is it is flawed and it is the young man who gets the short end of the stick. And you can 100% AGREE or EFFEN not as the 2 of you have. This was never about Scully YOU JUST FELT A NEED TO DEFEND but about the system. When LSU did the same last month there were people outraged. Not everyone is going to be drafted and many players choose to go to schools they always wanted to attend and not necessary for the coach and to take an offer off the table because their is a new coach is still horse****. Like said there is 2 sides to a story.

RYNO,
I offer my apologies to you. I didn't realize you are a HS player.

Best of luck to you in the recruiting process.

PS, it's SULLY not SCULLY.

I have a unique perspective on this situation. I have been around and have a family member who plays for coach Smith. I also know Eric Thomas's family very well. Most people know Eric as Lamar Thomas's (former UM WR)little brother, he is a great kid from a great family and will be succesful at whatever he does.

Coach Smith, at times, gets a bad rap around Gainesville, because he's not as personable as some like. However, he is a good guy who sticks up for his players. And believes in old school respect to everyone.

I dont know Sully, but every coach has to run off players, that is not the issue, its HOW. I hope what went on here is not normal for sully, I hope he is succesful...and can mend the fences with Gainesville baseball recruting. A ton of talent has left Gainesville in recent years...everyone loved McMahon, but no one would play for Ross Jones, who was a joke.

Ryno,

You are correct. This is a great website and many have different opinions and takes on the story.

For example,..my entire take on the original post was not so much about " how bad coach X was ", but my interest went towards the players that were cut. How does one dust themself off ( emotionally, mentally, physically etc. ) and move forward in a situation like that?
Hopes, dreams, expectations suddenly shattered.
I'm sure there is a large part of the player who does not see this whole thing as a " business adventure ".

What direction does one take after being cut? So close, yet so far.
Its not fun to be rejected. Egos and pride gets bruised. Self doubt can set in.
It takes strong character to shift, adjust, and move on to continue the dream and it also takes an undieing loyalty for the love of the game.

That's a big,...big life lesson.

I hope these kids/athletes make the best of a hard learned life lesson ( life is not always fair ) and that their determination to get to the next level only increases!

I agree and in my opinion it is and always will be about the boys.

In my view when a deal is struck, it should be held to the standards of any contract. If a scholarship is offerred for a year and the year is delivered there is no requirement to offer a second year.

This issue is not personal to any coach, but the system as it exists. Maybe kids should demand four year schollies as a basis for signing and the schollie should be the respnsibility of the university or college rather than the baseball coach.

I have seen many times a high schooler offerred a schollie, only to have the offer rescinded when the coach/recruiter lands a bigger fish.

I have always thought that parents and high schoolers should be made aware of the cut-throat nature of recruiting. The coach/recruiter will be your buddy, your pal, your friend, until you sign on the dotted line. Just like a used car salesman, the contract is usually one sided or has little benefit in the event that the product or service offerred is substandard.

The high school star is not usually made aware that they will be joining a program where they are the new guy who has to accrue time as well as earn a spot. Instead they are told that they could be an impact player or get playing time in their first year. Heaven forbid the high school star does not make the cut for whatever reason.

There are no restrictions on the cut-throat recruiter except that their rosters have been trimmed. The student on the other hand has been condemned to a year of banishment for either being duped or substandard should the college decide to cast them off.

The business end of recruiting is ugly. The only party who can actually lose is the student.

quote:

The only party who can actually lose is the student.

I disagree. Coaches also lose when the student/athlete commits to their school and then gets a better offer and goes elsewhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Everyone should know how the recruiting process works (but they don’t). Coaches should know what to say, how to say it and what not to say to prospective players (but they don’t). It is very easy for the coach/player discussions to get twisted around and suddenly someone feels like they were mistreated when in reality that is the way the process works. From the newspaper article it appears you have an emotionally involved player and his high school coach and a college coach that needs to hone his communication skills. (Throw in a newspaper reporter that is trying to “create” a story and presto you have a problem!). We need to understand that things of this nature happens daily in all walks of life. A good example is this thread. You can read this thread and see how words are misinterpreted and then blown out of proportion.
Fungo

The entire process stinks. Those who are now committing earlier and earlier are avoiding some of the BS. Coaches (adults) prey on a childs (16-17yr olds) dreams and emotions. These coaches all know what to say. This is what attracts kids, promises, big time stuff and misrepresentations. If you really looked at rosters over the past few years, there were schools in the 50's. Big adjustments in the work.

With the NCAA changes, the coaches job becomes real tough especially for the state schools where player came cheap $$$ when they chose to stay close to home. These next 2 years are really going to be crazy ones as programs make this adjustment to the new guidlines. I'm sure we are going to hear many more cases like the above.

While Coach O'Sullivan did not recruit the kid from DBCC and didn't owe him anything, it would have been nice to see his name as one of those who used his connections to try to find him another place to go.

Just another piece of information for all. Coach Smith is a well respected Coach in Gainesville and enjoyed a direct line to the coaching staff at UF. Hence, the walk in the door and meet with coach situation. What happened with the two players is not the norm, while it does happen, it is not something college coaches go out of their way to do to players.

Let's face facts, Coach O'Sullivan has the eyes of the baseball world on top of him and he has to make decisions that will turn the program around. Some of those decisions will not be easy and I would venture to say, some distress. At the end of the day, he answers to the AD and he has a mission and a timeline in which to accomplish the mission.

This is between two coaches and should remain that way. It is really easy to jump to conclusions and take sides. Both are fine coaches and because Coach Smith's son is involved, the perception becomes "Daddyball" and I do not feel that is the case here, knowning Coach for the past three years. He went in there to speak on behalf of Thomas, who btw, is a fine young man and a former player of his.

It has been said earlier in this post, watch what you read in the press as things get twisted from interview to print...

Big issue here is not the coaches, but the transfer situation next year and personally, the focus should be put on the NCAA. Yes, this situation came to a boil, it's unfortunate, but call it a day.... Next year, players will have to red shirt.... That is the problem for the community!

I don't really see how a coach would have as much to lose as the athlete.

Getting back to the car salesman analogy, why not have a bidding war between colleges if they want the player that bad?

If one school makes an offer that is either met or topped, what stops them from making a counter offer outside of an NLI?

In reality, most college programs have established their starters based on last year's performance. Billy Bob Freshman may get an occasional bit of light, but the coach will usually go with his upperclassmen. That is of course unless Billy Bob sets the scoreboard afire or slams the door on a top level opponent.

I like the idea of trimming the roster and making players win the starting spot every year.

My idea I guess is that baseball money should be included in a financial aid package that is tied more to academic performance rather than athletic performance.

The desire to have the player attend a certain school to participate in a specific activity should be points on the acceptance process.

It is afterall supposed to be about education.

We can respect everyone involved in this situation and understand the emotions involved. But the next time I’m arguing with a parent, who feels their kid has been slighted, in my private office… I sure hope a newspaper reporter doesn’t write a story letting everyone know exactly what I said. Let alone to have what I said, provided to the reporter by the person I’m arguing with, rather than myself. Also, even if the report was true, there’s no mention of what was said to lead to the responses from the coach.

Some have asked why the coach didn’t comment. I doubt that commenting on this would have been very productive and wouldn’t have done anything more than give the writer a more sensational story between two people had a disagreement behind closed doors.

My guess is that Sully has learned one valuable lesson here. That being he is now living in a fish bowl. I disagree with those saying he lacks communication skills. This is one of the hardest working and best recruiters as well as evaluator, in college baseball. He couldn’t have earned that reputation without having the ability to communicate with players, parents, coaches and everyone else involved in the recruiting process.

I’m disappointed to see this story printed. While it might have shown the realities involved in recruiting, it really made everyone mentioned look bad in one way or another. The topic revolved around the head coach making him look bad. The HS coach/parent ended up looking bad to some. The players were exposed as not being good enough.

Only one to escape being exposed negatively in one way or another is the person who wrote the story. The story that will not change a thing, other than to stir up a mess. Guess that is the job of a sports writer. Sports writers are only human, they can take a story and flavor it in any way they choose. It was fairly obvious how this story was flavored.

Rather than criticize the subjects of this story, why not…

Congratulate the players for having the ability to move on and make the necessary adjustments. We know all those players mentioned and they are good young men with a lot of talent. Nothing that has happened here will change that.

Congratulate Bob Smith for sticking up for his players and working hard to help them when most coaches wouldn’t go to this extent to stand up for his former players. Why not talk about all the talent he has seen and coached over the years.

Congratulate Kevin O’Sullivan for giving these players the bad news in time for them to find another school rather than keeping them in a situation where they were not regarded as contributors on the field, by the Head Coach. (Agree or not, that really is in the best interest of those players) Having the guts to make some difficult and obvious unpopular decisions in the interest of U of Florida’s baseball program. That is what they hired him for, he is in charge of the future of that program. Florida – National Champions – Football and Basketball. How patient will they be, if he doesn’t produce?

Why not hope these players go elsewhere and develop into high draft picks and end up in the Major Leagues someday. If that happens, will people see that this was better for them than staying in a program where that was not likely to have happened. If that happens will it be seen as Sully did them a favor, or Sully was wrong and harmed them. Guess it all depends on who writes the story.

If we eliminate the educational part of this, seeing it wasn’t a big part of that story. Professional players, even major leaguers are released all the time. Some of them end up with long major league careers.

There doesn't have to be any losers in this deal.

Interesting stuff...

As easy as it was for Sullivan to launch the player (s), it should be just as easy for a kid/player to launch a school/program instead of going through the nonsense of having to "beg" for your release in many instances; and, more importantly, some mopey AD denying your release because the coach doesn't want to let you go!

Why should it only work one way...in favor of the coaches? What about the kids?

Where are you, NCAA?

PG

I hope it never happens to any of our sons however if does I would hope that a coach would be upfront about it early on so the player might have the chance to find other opportunities. At least the boys mentioned in the article will not have to sit out a year... Choose wisely 08's and beyond, I have a feeling it is going to get pretty dicey out there in the land of college baseball.

If a player transfers and sits out a year, can he still practice with the new team while sitting out?

If alot of these people are such great recruitors why do they need 44 players to field a team.

As for Shully, he claimed anemesia when MLB scouts gave him a ton of abuse that that Clemson cut a player throwing 93 -94 mph.2nd hardest thrower on the team that year.

And yes he threw strikes, was offered a minor league contract on the spot at a pre draft workout, later tranfered to another college was drafted in the 16 round and turned pro.

quote:

it should be just as easy for a kid/player to launch a school/program instead of going through the nonsense of having to "beg" for your release in many instances

This is true!

Glad to see the gates have there fanny in a sling.

Glad my guy didn't wind up in hogtown.

Parents need to know who they can trust! In Florida it's not the gates!

Texas A&M's new coach did exactly the same as O'Sullivan (last year) with zero class...left a bunch of players to twist in the wind...after classes started!

Who is Gates?

What happened to the Florida coach who had 44 players on the roster? Was he fired?

quote:

Originally posted by soxnole:
Glad to see the gates have there fanny in a sling.

Glad my guy didn't wind up in hogtown.

Parents need to know who they can trust! In Florida it's not the gates!

Texas A&M's new coach did exactly the same as O'Sullivan (last year) with zero class...left a bunch of players to twist in the wind...after classes started!

Its a good thing the Noles have never cut a player.

Hey Dad04!

A quick review would bring up the facts.

Never "en masse" @ the last minute like A&M or the gates.

Seldom without an advance notice of several months.

Seems to me it's about the way, not the why.

11 is a class act.

First of all while I did coach at the D1 level (over 20 years ago) I don't have a clue as to how I would deal with the new NCAA rules regarding roster size and scholarship limits.

What I do know is that there are three (3) sides to each story: the high school coach/parent, the university coach, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. What I don't understand is that if the high school coach & parent were not telling the truth the college coach & athletic department would have defended their position and said that the gentlemen was not telling the truth. It seems as if the University of Florida wants to hide and hope that the situation to goes away.

I do have a couple of questions:
1. Why would anyone cut a player and do it via voicemail? You may leave a message for the player to call you back but you don't cut a player via voicemail and tell them not to call you back that you are too busy. That my friends shows a total lack of class.
2. If you get someones name wrong and they correct you why would you not apologize and write it down in front of you so that you didn't do it again. The response of whatever is another case of having very little class.
It dosen't matter how one earns a living they are going to come into contact with people that they would rather not be around and that is life. However, when you have to be around people that rub you the wrong way you show them respect and try to move on as quickly as possible.
If I were the athletic director at the University of Florida and everything went down like the newspaper article said it did, Coach O'Sullivan and I would have a come to Jesus meeting ASAP. If I didn't get the type of response from Coach O'Sullivan that I was looking for during that meeting I would probably be looking for another coach. This is much too early for O'Sullivan and the University of Florida to be having any type of public relations problems as they are still in the honeymoon period. I would like to ask if people feel that this is one isolated problem or is it just start of what will be many problems in the future? Some people don't have the personality to receive the rank of General and should remain a private.

cbg, you are correct. The whole story sounds made up. Here is the Gator side of the story released by them today;

Gatorzone
University Athletic Association Statement

It was not our intent to engage in this conversation in the newspaper or publicly as we realize it is a difficult situation when there are coaching changes and impending NCAA legislation that affects scholarship limits and roster sizes. However, we feel that the article in The Gainesville Sun on Wednesday, Aug. 22, was rife with errors and the misrepresentation of facts and the following is an attempt to clear up some issues.

Statement - "Bob Smith visited the Florida baseball offices in early July, hoping to discuss two items with new Gator coach Kevin O'Sullivan. The first was about a former player of his at Buchholz High School, and the second was to give O'Sullivan the names of a couple of the Bobcats' rising seniors he might want to take a look at."

This was not a scheduled meeting and occurred on Coach O'Sullivan's very first day in the office at Florida after a long recruiting trip, yet he obliged Bob Smith. The entire conversation revolved around Smith's son's situation. At no time during their conversation was Eric Thomas mentioned or any current players from Buchholz. While O'Sullivan did mistakenly call Smith by the name Bill instead of Bob when he first met him, that was an honest mistake which he apologizes for.

Statement - "He told Eric he no longer had a scholarship and needed to move on and find another school," said Smith, who also heard the message. "He told Eric, 'You're not good enough to play here, and don't call us back because we're very busy.'

Coach O'Sullivan outlined the possibility of Eric not seeing significant playing time at Florida to his parents and suggested perhaps looking at some other schools. Discussed how there were 44 players on the roster at the end of last year and described how the NCAA legislation taking effect on August 1, 2008, called for a maximum of 30 scholarship players and 35 members of the roster.

O'Sullivan never stated that Thomas' scholarship was being taken away and at no point was the player told not to return a phone call. In fact, O'Sullivan's message included his name and number and the player was encouraged to give him a call as soon as he could.

Statement - "Thomas had his scholarship rescinded to UF days before he was scheduled to come to campus"

At no point was a scholarship taken away, as O'Sullivan had a number of conversations with the player and his parents over the phone and worked with Tim Touma, Thomas' coach at Daytona Beach Community College, to help him obtain a scholarship to Bethune-Cookman. There were even additional conversations between O'Sullivan and the Thomas family to make sure everything was OK with this decision and there has not been one phone call since expressing any problems with this situation.

Statement - "said O'Sullivan began talking about how the Gators didn't need eight catchers"

O'Sullivan began discussing the current Gator roster by position, beginning with the catchers, to be followed by infielders, outfielders and pitchers. There is a catcher named Brett Smith on the team, which triggered Bob Smith to claim that O'Sullivan did not know his son, Bo. Before O'Sullivan could finish, the conversation became one-sided as Bob Smith was critical of not knowing his son. O'Sullivan recruited the state of Florida for many years while the recruiting coordinator at Clemson before taking his current job and is obviously familiar with the prep programs and its high school coaches - including Bob Smith at Buchholz.

Statement - "He looked me in the eye, shook my hand and said he would (call and meet with Bo)," quote from Bob Smith

When O'Sullivan shook his hand, he was told by Bob Smith specifically not to call his son. Despite O'Sullivan wanting to explain the situation in a conversation with Bo Smith, that was discouraged. Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley subsequently met with Bo Smith in his office.

Because Bo Smith was 16 hours away from graduation, the University Athletic Association offered to honor his scholarship amount for the upcoming year if his intention was to graduate from UF. In addition, there is no mention in the article how Coach O'Sullivan contacted Samford head coach Casey Dunn on behalf of Bo Smith to assist in a possible transfer if he desired.

To reiterate, a lot of this situation resulted from new NCAA requirements being put into place about scholarship limitations and roster reductions. We wish each player the best of luck in their collegiate careers.

Believe who you choose.

And now we know......MOST.....of the REST of the story!

Seal of Approval

All very interesting and perhaps a bit disarming. But one question I would have ... why is the paper printing a story on Aug 22 about an event that (all seem to agree) took place in early July? The idea that the intention was more to stir things up than anything seems valid to me. JMHO FWIW

Once again not to cause more controversy, but that sounds a lot more like the Kevin O'Sullivan we know.

He has helped a lot of kids over the years who did not end up at Clemson. He is also one of the best talent evaluators in the business.

Very unusual that a university would issue a press release basicly refuting a local small newspaper article printed a day earlier. The school obviously has serious issues with the article.

Basicly, there was one mad dad in early July, per the paper. Slow news day apparently.