April 26, 2012

  • Myron MedcalfESPN Staff Writer

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    • Covers college basketball
    • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
    • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

EAGAN, Minn. -- Over the weekend, some of the top coaches in America parked a fleet of rental cars in the rugged parking lot next to a factory in the Minneapolis suburbs that local AAU guru Rene Caster recently converted into a multimillion-dollar basketball game complex.

Mike Krzyzewski, Frank Haith, Neb Self, Tom Izzo, Tom Crean, Bo Ryan and colleagues ventured to the industrial park in search of prospects.

They shifted between iv courts at the High Performance Academy as the country's pinnacle preps -- Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Tyus Jones and more -- auditioned during the first finish on Nike'south EYBL summer circuit.

Every bit the coaches who took advantage of the spring evaluation period surveyed potential contributors, they probably spied a couple of future transfers, besides.

Hundreds of Division I players accept decided to change uniforms since the kickoff of the 2011-12 flavor. It's a small percentage of the total (more than than 4,000 scholarship players compete at the Division I level). Nevertheless the multitude of moves have amplified arguments near the express loyalty at the collegiate level.

"Transfer numbers are an all-time high. I mean, it's an epidemic right now," Georgia coach Mark Fob said.

But some of the coaches who expressed worries nearly transfers refused to look in the mirror.

When asked to compare the plight of higher kids seeking something more -- playing time, a more suitable system, a better state of affairs, a schoolhouse closer to dwelling -- coaches countered with a general opinion that student-athletes aren't in schoolhouse to make a living. You can't compare a jitney'southward determination to leave a plan for a dream job with a higher basketball player'south decision to transfer, they said.

"They're kids. They're there to get an pedagogy. Nosotros're here to make a living," said Minnesota's Tubby Smith, who's watched vi players transfer since 2010. "We clothe them, nosotros feed them, nosotros house them, we brainwash them. It's apples and oranges."

And that's ane of the problems with the general outlook on the issue.

We've decided to identify the bulk of the brunt on athletes lone, and that'due south not fair.

Yep, loyalty -- in the nostalgic sense -- is gone. There are exceptions, of course. My colleague Jason Male monarch detailed some of those in a characteristic on mid-major coaches who have remained true to their schools (for at present).

Just more often than not, information technology's a "get mine" culture these days. And that mantra affects every political party that'due south connected to the collegiate scene, including coaches.

The same coach who signs a top-rated recruiting form in the fall could go out by the jump for some other gig, despite promising those kids that he'd exist at that place when they arrived.

It seems equally though the best players don't care if their jerseys are retired. By the time they attain campus, they're simply a cake from the pros -- or in Anthony Davis' case, 186 blocks-- and they want to reach the NBA as rapidly as possible. Your favorite school is just a temporary terminate.

"

They're kids. They're there to get an teaching. We're here to make a living. Nosotros clothe them, nosotros feed them, we firm them, nosotros educate them. It's apples and oranges.

"

-- Minnesota double-decker Tubby Smith

Prospects commit, de-commit and re-commit. And once they've exhausted that process, they open up their recruitment once again.

Able-bodied directors express conviction in their coaches ane day and burn down them the next.

This is not about one turbulent offseason. Information technology's about a new civilisation of halfhearted promises. And there's a lot of guilt to go effectually.

Apr's developments added some other paragraph to the growing obituary on the death of loyalty in college basketball game.

Kentucky'southward astounding freshmen tore through the college basketball scene like a hurricane last season. And after 5 months of work, they disappeared. On to the next i, equally Jay-Z says.

Same theme for Alex Oriakhi, who left Storrs for Missouri later on the NCAA banned Connecticut from adjacent year's postseason.

Two weeks agone, Baylor's Quincy Miller held a news conference to announce his conclusion to return for his sophomore flavor. "I definitely prayed about [it] and I feel like this is the best decision for me," Miller said at the fourth dimension. "Baylor Nation is used to skillful basketball teams. I know expectations volition be high. That'south a good thing."

This calendar week, he chose to go pro. Only kidding on that previous announcement, right?

During this past season, I talked to sometime Wagner autobus Danny Hurley at length about his legendary loyalty at the prep level. He'd turned downward multiple collegiate coaching offers during this tenure at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J. He'd led Wagner for two seasons and proved his worth. Only he told me that he didn't have whatsoever plans to move on. He liked his guys and had a previous track record of "loyalty." Then, Rhode Island called with a multimillion-dollar offer.

I'll holla.

If those examples -- rather routine for a typical college basketball offseason -- don't scrub the give-and-take "loyalty" from the lexicon of higher basketball, and then this one should.

Virginia Tech AD Jim Weaver decided "last week" to fire Seth Greenberg. Instead of cleaning upward the situation prior to the weekend, his administration posted an awkward, tin't-miss bulletin on the school'southward website announcing a Monday news conference.

Information technology was as though they were celebrating their puzzling, late-April dismissal.

By and so, word had leaked to everyone except Greenberg, who told ESPN.com's Andy Katz early that afternoon that he still believed he had his task.

Loyalty, huh?

The aforementioned choices should not fuel concerns nigh the state of loyalty in college basketball.

I don't become worked upwards when a passenger vehicle takes a better job or an administrator fires a head coach. And I'm rarely bothered when transfers flee in droves each offseason.

That's because I know that loyalty is dead. And business is alive.

With the millions of dollars exchanging hands, the grand expectations and the opportunities available to players and coaches seeking advancement, college basketball is not a sport, information technology'due south a corporation.

That'due south the attitude that its participants possess.

And if the next step demands a new task, a new school or an amanuensis, who tin can actually fault them?

"I only wasn't happy with where things were going basketball-wise," former Michigan forward Evan Smotrycz said about his determination to transfer to Maryland during the offseason. "It was really affecting everything nigh me. I wasn't happy like I usually was. I not simply wanted to exist happy but wanted to be in a place that would requite me the all-time chance to meliorate and make the most out of my career."

Don't misinterpret my take on this topic. I loved the loyalty that divers college basketball years agone. Every season, yous knew that your favorite team and coach would be back for another year, probably more. Fewer questions in the offseason. You could keep the same jersey for years.

Today, fans don't know if their favorite players volition show upwardly for practice tomorrow.

But that'due south the norm now. We shouldn't look anything else.

The coaches who traveled to Minneapolis over the weekend, however, do. They invest a lot in the recruitment process and don't want to lose the kids they worked so difficult to sign.

Smith said he could sympathize with players who want to transfer.

He about left High Indicate, his alma mater. But his father quickly blocked the idea.

"You're not coming back abode," Smith said his father told him. "Now, kids have a lot more opportunities. [Transferring] was really unheard of back in that time."

1000000-dollar contracts weren't popular when veteran coaches such as Smith started coaching, either.

Times accept changed for players, coaches and administrators.

Flexibility reigns.

So loyalty will never return. There's likewise much money at pale. At that place are too many options at present.

"I think that's role of lodge," Memphis motorcoach Josh Pastner said. "You're allowed to make changes."

Whether nosotros like information technology or not, nosotros have to accept it.