MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ShineTime]

Kids are tit babies now days if they don't get their way they quit or transfer to what they think is better.  Just remember the grass isn't always greener on the other side.  Has to be especially disappointing to all the alumni/dedicated Pointer basketball fans that have supported these guys the past few years.  No one in D3 has a better backing than Point for basketball.  I hate to say this but I wish nothing but the worst for all the guys who decide to leave.

[John Gleich]

Bad form on the part of Randall, bad form for allowing this to happen. I'm sure semling is glad that he is all the way down in Florida

I agree... I've never heard of this happening on this level unless it's a head coach leaving for somewhere else. 

J. R. Blount, who played at Loyola under Randall and with Ross Forman (who helped SP to the championship two years ago) is the top assistant at St. Leo, he's home after playing a season over in Europe.

This is just unbelievable to me... but it really shows Randall's mettle... more even so than his lack of loyalty to a program.  I feel for his wife and I feel for his kids.  He has 4 kids and his oldest daughter is in grade school.

Randall was at Point the last two years.  He was at Cedarburg one season.  He was at Loyola one season.  He was at Oshkosh for three seasons.  He was at St. Louis for two seasons before that.  He's made his family (including his oldest daughter) move 6 times in her 8 years of life.

[John Gleich]

Kids are tit babies now days if they don't get their way they quit or transfer to what they think is better.  Just remember the grass isn't always greener on the other side.  Has to be especially disappointing to all the alumni/dedicated Pointer basketball fans that have supported these guys the past few years.  No one in D3 has a better backing than Point for basketball.  I hate to say this but I wish nothing but the worst for all the guys who decide to leave.

As a Pointer basketball alumn, I don't wish anything poorly on the players.  A player can't transfer unless the head coach at the program he transfers to allows it.  Unless there's other info that hasn't been brought to light, this is absolutely 100% on Randall.  100%.  He should have immediately shut the door to anybody leaving to go with him before anything else.  It has clearly caused divisiveness and dissent in the program and and I think that it may have hurt the program even in this season, if only just a little bit.  Do I have proof of that?  No, but there is clear evidence that Randall wanted out of Point before this season.

I hope St. Leo knows what it really is getting.

[ShineTime]

This is going to have a major impact on UWSP recruiting because you can bet kids are going to wonder what happened and why all these guys are leaving.  Is Ziemer going to stick around and finally be healthy enough to play?  I would pay to see Randall vs Semling in the parking lot. 

[John Gleich]

This is going to have a major impact on UWSP recruiting because you can bet kids are going to wonder what happened and why all these guys are leaving.  Is Ziemer going to stick around and finally be healthy enough to play?  I would pay to see Randall vs Semling in the parking lot. 

Knowing Coach Semling as I do, it wouldn't be much of a fight... Sem just wouldn't stoop to Randall's level.

[hoops2]

Needless to say I'm very disappointed in Lance Randall.  Thought he was an above board kind of person.  I will say he knows basketball and expect he'll do a good job although I know nothing of the competition he'll face.  However, ethically this is just not right.  He should know better with all the good people he's had a chance to work with that he as PS said, should have closed the door to this happening immediately.  With all that said, I still believe Tyler Tillema will be with UWSP next year and hopefully Dan although I'm not sure his heart is in playing anymore.  Ty should become a huge part of the Pointers next year with Jerrel gone.  The cupboard isn't bare in SP and while I won't predict a league title I do think this group can compete for one.  Hope the freshmen are ready to compete because they may be needed more than usual this coming season.  A D-II scholarship is nice to get for the free education but the best teams in the WIAC are capable of playing at that level so the competition isn't any better.  I have to think other coaches will see what Randall is doing and keep that in the back of their minds as he looks to make a move the next time.

[wcbsas]

I understand what you are saying about Coach Randall but I'm not sure I necessarily agree with it.

#1. A college scholarship - even a partial one is a very valuable thing especially to some kid who is having to pay for his education.  If jerrell Harris is able to garner a scholarship why shouldn't he be allowed to take it?  

#2. Jerrell is a D2 athlete playing at a D3 school.  Should he not have the opportunity to compete at the highest possible level?  Say what you will but D2 programs but they are on average better than D3 programs.  There is a reason Winona State and Concordia St. Paul and schools like them play Stout, Eau Claire, LaCrosse et al in the non-conference.  Their record on average against them supports the disparity.  The reason Winona doesn't play UWW or UWSP is because those schools want at a minimum a home-and-home something a D2 school is financially unwilling to do.  St. Leo's is and will be a better program than UWSP.  Would they win head-to-head 100% of the time?  No, but scholarship programs with athletes, especially those with decent big guys are just that much better.

#3. Should Lance Randall be raiding UWSP for athletes?  No, but if Jerrell was leaving no matter what and apprarently Winona State was interested in his services too should Randall sit on the sidelines and let Harris go elsewhere?  This one is a real touchy one.  If I was Randall I out of courtesy to Semling wouldn't have gone after Harris unless Semling had said it was OK.  Maybe that happened.  That is something we one this board do not know.

Bottom line though is if Harris and others were happy at UWSP I doubt two years into their college career that he would be looking to leave elsewhere.  That is the thing we can only presume upon and don't know for sure.

[Just Bill]

Wasn't Jerrell leaving to be closer to his mother who lives in the South? I think that was the initial report here. If that's the case, I can't blame Randall for that one. If Jerrell wants to be in the South why wouldn't he go where there's a coach who knows him and will give him a chance. Not every transfer can get a fair opportunity.

I think it's clear now that the UWSP team has been divided into "Semling guys" and "Randall guys".  I don't whose fault it is that it got to this point, but it should have never have gotten to this point. I have to blame Semling for bringing a sketchy character into his program almost as much as I have to blame Randall for being a sketchy character. Bringing Randall in was a bad move by Semling and I said so at the time. Two years ago, as soon as I saw they were holding a press conference to announce a Division III assistant coach, the red flags were more like tornado sirens.

[badgerwarhawk]

I would be interested in knowing if there was any discussion between Semling and Randall concerning Harris or any other Point player.  Was everything done above board or did Randall do it behind Semling's back?  wcbsas has a point and if it was all done above board it takes on an entirely different perspective.  And don't tell me that Semling didn't realize Randall was likely to move on as soon as the opportunity presented itself.  He's way too smart for that to be the case.

[Out_Of_My_Kitchen]

The people here who say that Randall isn't a family man is totally wrong.  He would not do something like this without talking to his family before a move and getting their thoughts and opinions on it.

I also wish Randall, Johnson, and Harris the best.  Randall and Harris helped bring a National Title to Stevens Point.  Don't turn your backs on them now as they go on to hopefully better things. 

Stevens Point will be fine.  After they won their second title in 2005 everyone thought the cupboard was bare.  Two years later they won conference and were hosting a NCAA sectional.  Semling will make the best of what he has.  I hear he has a really good class coming in and SP always plugs in student-athletes and gets results. 

And Randall cannot just pick up the phone and call Harris or Johnson without the players getting a release from the University once he got to St. Leo's.  A release the head coach must agree to.  Semling showed his class here and allowed it to happen for the players to get that scholarship. 

As stated before, these two were most likely not staying at Stevens Point anyway.  Why not go somewhere they can be comfortable and hopefully be successful?

[Pat Coleman]

Actually, in Division III you can now release yourself. You no longer need to get anyone on campus to agree to it.

[John Gleich]

Actually, in Division III you can now release yourself. You no longer need to get anyone on campus to agree to it.

Yep, the form to do it (with the rules) is here:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/AMA/compliance_forms/DIII/DIII%20Permission%20to%20Contact.pdf

I wonder if Randall will still be at St. Leo by the time Harris is eligible.  He's got to sit out this coming year because he's transferring up to a D-II.  I don't know about Johnston... he didn't appear in any games last year, but to my knowledge did practice with the team (once he was healthy).  I'm not sure if he technically used a year of eligibility or not and/or if he would have to sit out a year before competition too.

[Out_Of_My_Kitchen]

That waiver was for DIII to DIII.  I could be wrong, but if a student-athlete can release himself, shouldn't this waiver work for people who want to get out of DIII to go to any level, not just DIII to DIII.  I would think that if they can, there is no need to have this info on the waiver. 

[John Gleich]

That waiver was for DIII to DIII.  I could be wrong, but if a student-athlete can release himself, shouldn't this waiver work for people who want to get out of DIII to go to any level, not just DIII to DIII.  I would think that if they can, there is no need to have this info on the waiver. 

You're right, I misread the form.  I would think that there must be a different one for D-III "up" "down."

... though, as I peruse the NCAA site where this doc is located, I don't see one.

[John Gleich]

The people here who say that Randall isn't a family man is totally wrong.  He would not do something like this without talking to his family before a move and getting their thoughts and opinions on it.

I also wish Randall, Johnson, and Harris the best.  Randall and Harris helped bring a National Title to Stevens Point.  Don't turn your backs on them now as they go on to hopefully better things. 

Stevens Point will be fine.  After they won their second title in 2005 everyone thought the cupboard was bare.  Two years later they won conference and were hosting a NCAA sectional.  Semling will make the best of what he has.  I hear he has a really good class coming in and SP always plugs in student-athletes and gets results. 

And Randall cannot just pick up the phone and call Harris or Johnson without the players getting a release from the University once he got to St. Leo's.  A release the head coach must agree to.  Semling showed his class here and allowed it to happen for the players to get that scholarship. 

As stated before, these two were most likely not staying at Stevens Point anyway.  Why not go somewhere they can be comfortable and hopefully be successful?

1)  I never said Randall wasn't a family man.  He has 4 kids, so unless he just didn't get the word about birth control, he planned to have a big family and by inference, have it be a big part of his life.  I simply said I felt sorry for his family, because say what you want about someone being a family man, when you, as the provider, don't settle down, it's hard for your for your family to do so.  His kids are going to have to move, go to new schools, get new friends, as is his wife.  You can play lip service to how that is great for the family... but the evidence suggests otherwise.  And he's the guy who has directed all of these moves.  No matter how much insight he gets from the family, if he says, "We're going," then they're going.

Listen, he played the "I want to settle down" card when he moved his family to Cedarburg.  That was three years and three moves ago.  It wasn't like he tried to STAY settled in Cedarburg, either... he applied for the Platteville job after just one (lackluster) season there and then came running to SP after Scott Anderson took the SPASH job.  And it wasn't like he tried to stay settled when he was at UWSP... he applied/interviewed for the Northern Michigan job last summer and has now left for St. Leo.

As an aside, there was a comment made on this board back when Randall applied for the UWP job:

Apparently they are going to interview as many as five people and that Will Ryan's name keeps popping up a lot. The top assistant Gard, Adrian from Edgewood, and Lance Randall are going to interview. Doesn't it seem like Lance Randall applies for everything?

More to come later.