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Maurice Smith-Gate; SEC grants waiver to UGA w/ strict guidelines and penalties

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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

It seems a bit of a double standard to me.

When a player signs with an SEC school, he is told the rules, including the one in question here (you can't transfer to another SEC school in this situation.) Full stop, end of discussion.

But if a coach gets a better job offer that would cause him to not honor a contract he signed with his current school, well, he's "doing it for his family" or some other excuse for breaking his contract, to take the better job.

My point is, when a player signs, he agrees to certain rules and expectations for the duration of his time at the school. On the other hand, when a coach commits to a five year contract with a school (for example) but then decides it's in his best interest to go back on his contract, and take a different job, somehow that seems to be more approved of by fans in general.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

CHATTBRIT said:
I do hope this should have been in blue font cos I just think it's low to criticize Kirby for all he did at Alabama. He is now the head coach of Georgia and he is looking out for his team now.

I think all our players are aware that if they transfer (w/o graduating) after signing their letter of intent, they are not eligible to transfer to another SEC school. Nothing has changed. Find another school to transfer to.
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I do hold Kirby partly responsible here for the situation. Kirby knows the rules as well as Saban does and Kirby has blocked guys going to Miami and following Richt. If Kirby would have just told Maurice that he could not transfer to UGA, then this whole thing would have never gotten started. Kirby opened the door instead of just keeping it shut.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

JustinT256 said:
Blue font?
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Not really, Kirby could and should have shot this down. If he didn't have a free scholarship to offer Smith this would be a non-issue. He knows about the policy concerning transferring within the conference, and he himself instituted a policy against following a coach elsewhere. He knows better, and it's sad because I've had nothing but respect for him up until this.

Now, on the other hand if Smith has completely gone rogue and didn't just try to force his transfer out of Alabama but somehow force Georgia to take him, that would just be really odd. As it is though it appears Smart is complicit (and if so has taken a hypocritical stance).
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

Chukker Veteran said:
It seems a bit of a double standard to me.

When a player signs with an SEC school, he is told the rules, including the one in question here (you can't transfer to another SEC school in this situation.) Full stop, end of discussion.

But if a coach gets a better job offer that would cause him to not honor a contract he signed with his current school, well, he's "doing it for his family" or some other excuse for breaking his contract, to take the better job.

My point is, when a player signs, he agrees to certain rules and expectations for the duration of his time at the school. On the other hand, when a coach commits to a five year contract with a school (for example) but then decides it's in his best interest to go back on his contract, and take a different job, somehow that seems to be more approved of by fans in general.
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And the coach makes a financial sacrifice. His contract is typically bought out at the previous school, meaning the school gets back what it said in the contract. Doesn't work the same with players.


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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

RTR91 said:
And the coach makes a financial sacrifice. His contract is typically bought out at the previous school, meaning the school gets back what it said in the contract. Doesn't work the same with players.


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Click to expand...

A financial sacrifice to take a better paying job?

The point I was stressing is that players are expected to honor the terms they agreed to when they signed. Coaches, not so much.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

Chukker Veteran said:
A financial sacrifice to take a better paying job?

The point I was stressing is that players are expected to honor the terms they agreed to when they signed. Coaches, not so much.
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When the coaches don't honor those terms, the school gets money.

When a player doesn't honor his terms, a school gets what?


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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

Chukker Veteran said:
The point I was stressing is that players are expected to honor the terms they agreed to when they signed. Coaches, not so much.
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The coaches actually have more obligations. The contracts are full of what they can and can't do, and those stipulations are agreed upon by both parties. There are pros and cons but I think you have to consider how much the players can do without any real consequences.

If a player commits to a team he has 0 obligation to honor that. The school is expected to honor all scholarship offers though. There's even a scenario now in which the player can sign something with the school that potentially puts the school in jeopardy if he doesn't sign there, but has no real repercussions for the player. There's also been a move toward four year scholarships, which means regardless of the performance athletically they expect to have a full ride, four year scholarship simply on the basis of how they looked in high school and being offered a scholarship.

Yet, the player at any time can drop out of school. The player at anytime can just quit playing football. They can leave early for the NFL. They also can transfer at anytime, but there are restrictions to that. Why is that though? There are restrictions largely because the NCAA itself, the institutions, and the SEC want players to finish their education and they do not want players jumping from school to school like they are free agents. Things are already out of hand in basketball, even with the current transfer rules, now imagine a world in which there were none? In which you could just swap at anytime? You'd have guys switch schools 3 or 4 times in a regular basis. It would make a farce out of the whole process. So, you put restrictions in place, which considering these guys are getting a full ride, and in the case of Smith already got a full education, are completely reasonable. And to reiterate Kirby Smart himself blocked transfer from players trying to follow coaches, because you can't just have guys up and leave every time there's a personnel change. And that's not that different than say wanting to up and leave because your star QB declared for the NFL or something...
 
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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

I don't remember who said this - might have been Saban, but these guys need to learn that the grass is rarely ever greener somewhere else - its just different grass.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

deliveryman35 said:
I'm serious. Kirby could have prevented all this from happening by letting Maurice(or his Mom) know that unless Bama releases him he should not pursue a transfer to Georgia.
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Why are you blaming it on Kirby? Do you know something that we all don't know? Why would he notify that to his mom? How do you know if he didn't already do that? Kirby and Saban support the new SEC rule. So why does it have to fall on him ? Why not blame it on Maurice and his mom? They're the one who was informed of the new rules and continued with it when they could've been advised against it.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

RTR91 said:
And the coach makes a financial sacrifice. His contract is typically bought out at the previous school, meaning the school gets back what it said in the contract. Doesn't work the same with players.


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Click to expand...

I looked up the financial sacrifice Kirby Smart made when he took the Georgia job. If what I read is correct, his pay went from 1.5 million dollars per year at Bama to 3.75 million at Georgia.

I seem to remember a discussion about what Saban expects from assistant coaches. IIRC, Saban has a firm rule that his assistants stay a minimum of two years, if they are doing the job well. I would like to think Saban could hold an assistant to that, but with all the loopholes written into coach's contracts, I wonder if he actually could.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

Chukker Veteran said:
I looked up the financial sacrifice Kirby Smart made when he took the Georgia job. If what I read is correct, his pay went from 1.5 million dollars per year at Bama to 3.75 million at Georgia.

I seem to remember a discussion about what Saban expects from assistant coaches. IIRC, Saban has a firm rule that his assistants stay a minimum of two years, if they are doing the job well. I would like to think Saban could hold an assistant to that, but with all the loopholes written into coach's contracts, I wonder if he actually could.
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So you're talking about an assistant move up to become a head coach?

The situations aren't even comparable.


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Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

Loopholes are written into coach's contracts that allow them to not honor the original length of commitment they make when hired.
The same is not done for players. Rather, players are held firmly to the terms as laid out when they signed.

Of course comparing players to coaches is not a very accurate comparison, but the point I'm making seems obvious to me.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

JustNeedMe81 said:
Why are you blaming it on Kirby? Do you know something that we all don't know? Why would he notify that to his mom? How do you know if he didn't already do that? Kirby and Saban support the new SEC rule. So why does it have to fall on him ? Why not blame it on Maurice and his mom? They're the one who was informed of the new rules and continued with it when they could've been advised against it.
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You can believe what you want, but I have no doubt in my mind that if he had been firmly told not to pursue this and that it was not going to happen from the Georgia end then I seriously doubt that this would have played out like it did.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

deliveryman35 said:
You can believe what you want, but I have no doubt in my mind that if he had been firmly told not to pursue this and that it was not going to happen from the Georgia end then I seriously doubt that this would have played out like it did.
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I think you are right. It seems like Kirby would have done that as a courtesy to Saban, if for no other reason.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

All I want to know is when this guy is transferring, I could care less where. It has to be at least a small distraction right now to our team,and I would like for the Trojans to be the only thing they are thinking about.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

deliveryman35 said:
I'm serious. Kirby could have prevented all this from happening by letting Maurice(or his Mom) know that unless Bama releases him he should not pursue a transfer to Georgia.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain that there are rules against speaking to a player or his family about a transfer before he's actually released. To put this on Kirby seems unreasonable.
 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

deliveryman35 said:
I'm serious. Kirby could have prevented all this from happening by letting Maurice(or his Mom) know that unless Bama releases him he should not pursue a transfer to Georgia.
Click to expand...

Kirby actually did go on record saying he supported the SEC rule and didn't like in conference transfers. That's what makes the whole thing even more confusing. It really does seem like Smith is doing what he's doing to just stir crap up.

“I wanted to set the precedent for the future that kids would not be able to go to Miami right away,” Smart said in March. “It’s very important that we understand that and that’s pretty much standard operating procedure when a coach leaves one place that a kid can’t go there with the coach. That’s important to me.”Smart said he doesn’t believe “in allowing kids to transfer within conference,” except for special situations. Several other SEC schools also don’t release players to transfer within the conference.

http://onlineathens.com/sports/coll...ice-smith-hopes-nick-saban-has-‘change-heart’


 
Re: Maurice Smith Transferring

Chukker Veteran said:
Loopholes are written into coach's contracts that allow them to not honor the original length of commitment they make when hired.
The same is not done for players. Rather, players are held firmly to the terms as laid out when they signed.

Of course comparing players to coaches is not a very accurate comparison, but the point I'm making seems obvious to me.
Click to expand...

Compare players and head coaches. Comparing an assistant becoming a head coach (step up) to a player is not the same thing.


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