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Oregon walk-on Katie Gruys awarded scholarship by school

 
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Shades



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PostPosted: 05/19/15 10:50 am    ::: Oregon walk-on Katie Gruys awarded scholarship by school Reply Reply with quote

http://pac-12.com/article/2015/05/18/oregon-walk-katie-gruys-awarded-scholarship-school



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dtrain34



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PostPosted: 05/19/15 12:01 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Kelly Graves is a great person and this is a wonderful gesture, but in general it's dangerous to get too excited about these feel-good stories lest they feed the seldom realized dream of kids who could be significant D2 players who instead think they can walk on at a D1 and turn it into a scholarship.

Plus, Oregon State men's basketball just did the opposite:

http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2015/05/justin_stangel_matt_dahlen_rem.html

and there was an episode a few years ago in which a Cal football player didn't get the word on his demotion back to walk-on until late in the process and wound up not only without his football grant but owing money because the school hadn't made it clear he couldn't have the football money and another grant the year before.

He dropped completely off the team to work a couple of jobs to pay Cal back and meet ongoing expenses despite "seeing the field" the year before and catching a small number of passes.


summertime blues



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PostPosted: 05/19/15 2:58 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Tennessee had 2 walk-ons back in the early 2000s who had both had offers from other D-I schools but chose instead to walk on at UT. Sarah Edwards and Amanda Canon were good enough to have played at most mid-majors (and some majors) but both wanted to go to UT and had dreams of playing for the Lady Vols. They were faithful in their commitment and practiced just as hard as if they were starters, and every once in awhile they got into games when the LVs were way ahead. Edwards in particular was a player who made things happen when she did get on the floor. Both were awarded scholarships after their freshman year, and they continued to work hard both on and off the court. They became real crowd favorites, and whenever a game was pretty secure, the fans would start to yell for them. Any basket or good play was cheered just as loudly as one from a star player. Edwards graduated in 3 years (magna cum laude, IIRC) and went on to medical school, but Canon, a nursing student, was around for the full 4. In her senior year, she hit a 3, and from the crowd reaction, you'd have thought it was the game winner. We loved those girls! Canon's younger sister walked on a year or two later but didn't stick, and I don't think there's been one since.



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summertime blues



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PostPosted: 05/19/15 2:59 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Tennessee had 2 walk-ons back in the early 2000s who had both had offers from other D-I schools but chose instead to walk on at UT. Sarah Edwards and Amanda Canon were good enough to have played at most mid-majors (and some majors) but both wanted to go to UT and had dreams of playing for the Lady Vols. They were faithful in their commitment and practiced just as hard as if they were starters, and every once in awhile they got into games when the LVs were way ahead. Edwards in particular was a player who made things happen when she did get on the floor. Both were awarded scholarships after their freshman year, and they continued to work hard both on and off the court. They became real crowd favorites, and whenever a game was pretty secure, the fans would start to yell for them. Any basket or good play was cheered just as loudly as one from a star player. Edwards graduated in 3 years (magna cum laude, IIRC) and went on to medical school, but Canon, a nursing student, was around for the full 4. In her senior year, she hit a 3, and from the crowd reaction, you'd have thought it was the game winner. We loved those girls! Canon's younger sister walked on a year or two later but didn't stick, and I don't think there's been one since.



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beknighted



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PostPosted: 05/19/15 3:44 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

dtrain34 wrote:
Kelly Graves is a great person and this is a wonderful gesture, but in general it's dangerous to get too excited about these feel-good stories lest they feed the seldom realized dream of kids who could be significant D2 players who instead think they can walk on at a D1 and turn it into a scholarship.


My sense always has been that most walk-ons come in with their eyes fairly open, understanding the situation and with no promises (actual or implied). That's certainly seemed to be the case at Rutgers.

On the comment about the reaction to walk-ons by fans, I think they generally are fan favorites because everyone knows they're just there because they love the game and want to be part of the team. Also, of course, when they come in the game it's generally at a point when the fans are pretty happy already.


summertime blues



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PostPosted: 05/19/15 5:18 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

The two Tennessee walk-ons, Edwards and Canon, were both academic standouts as well, in challenging programs. They seriously boosted the cumulative GPA of the team, although it didn't need boosting. Edwards went on to medical school after 3 years (her original goal was orthopedic surgery but I've since lost track of her) and Canon graduated the next year and went to the Vanderbilt NICU with the eventual goal of an advanced practice degree in nursing. They were also respected by the fans for their academic prowess as well as for sticking with the team as role players.



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dtrain34



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PostPosted: 05/20/15 11:10 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I've always wondered about the over-the-top reaction of fans to any accomplishment by a walk-on -- do the kids like it or do they think deep down inside "yeah, you bunch of knuckleheads, I've been playing all my life, I can make a basket once in a while."

At one point, I coached the Cal men's "Blue" team, a club program that was the de facto JV team for the Pac-12 squad (Pac-10 then Smile ) since the Bears like most schools now don't have a funded JV. Five of my guys eventually played for the "real" Cal team.

In one game, against CSU-Northridge -- not exactly Kentucky -- Cal took a huge lead as I was listening to the game on my car radio back from our Blue game. One of the club guys who had graduated to Golden Bear walk-on status snagged a free throw rebound and knocked down the easy 10-footer.

I then briefly feared for Ken Dito, the Cal pbp man's, life as he went apoplectic screaming "GEORGE ASHLEY HAS SCORED!!!" Dude was a high school star, made a Pac-12 team in open tryouts. I think he can hit an open 10-footer. So those big roars at the end of games may be a mixed blessing for the kids. It's nice to be appreciated for your hard work, but it is kind of a diss, too, "oh, that's so cute, our unpaid player made a basket."

As for the kid mentioned above, many may actually remember him from the One Shining Moment that year. Cal (J Kidd, et al) beat Duke in the NCAAs and George was filmed sobbing with joy on the bench, a shot that got into the OSM at the end of the tourney.


summertime blues



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PostPosted: 05/21/15 9:36 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I don't know about your guys, dtrain, but I know that Sarah and Amanda were deeply grateful for the chance to be Lady Vols, and each expressed it on her Senior Night. They could have gone elsewhere and probably been starters or at least come off the bench frequently, but they chose to do what they did, and after a year they were awarded scholarships which were renewed each year. They were role players, and there is a place for those on every team. The fans--at least the *real* ones--understand that.



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dtrain34



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PostPosted: 05/21/15 1:25 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

So basically, Sarah and Amanda were scholarship players for years.

The concept worked for them and that's great.

My originally reaction, I think was based on football season, where every week ESPN and SI post things on line about "touching moments" where a coach rewarded a walk-on with a scholarship, never touching on the fact that often these are one-year deals based on some one else quitting or not showing up in the fall. Not necessarily a fairytale.

Speaking of Kelly Graves, he had a walk-on at Gonzaga who was from my home area in Washington who never got a scholarship to my knowledge and had the same two-way love with the fans you describe Sarah and Amanda having.

One of my biases is against the way ALL athletes and coaches are viewed in two dimensions by too many fans. The whole Buffalo Wild Wings commercial deal where sports are viewed as an excuse to drink and eat snacks, where the bartender controlling the action with his fantasy levers is just fine. Many of that type of fan DOESN'T so much as think about all the work walk-ons put in (or scholarship players or pros, either) and acts like they are stumblebums who won some kind of lottery to get their uniform Sad .


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PostPosted: 05/21/15 8:37 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Tyler Summitt was a walk-on for the UT men's team under Bruce Pearl. He'd been a student assistant and practice player for his mom for a couple of years and walked on to the men's team to learn coaching techniques. He did, I think, get into a game or two, but mainly he was there to pick Bruce's brain for a year. He was a fan favorite, but mainly just because everyone had watched him grow up.



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dtrain34



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PostPosted: 05/21/15 9:52 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Great for Tyler. That's a wonderful thing when it works out.

One of the worst things I heard about was Pete Maravich's son walking on at LSU and being treated horribly by the coaches who figured they HAD to take him but didn't want him.

When I was at Cal, Lou Campanelli put his son on the team -- and he had struggled for playing time at NAIA Vanguard U before transferring -- and it was tough. The fans EXPECTED him to not deserve his spot and though I personally thought Kyle did pretty well (backup point guard getting lots of run) he was always working uphill for respect. I did think by working through that and playing decently he probably learned some of those elusive "life lessons."


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PostPosted: 05/21/15 10:24 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I don't know about the male practice players at other schools, but the ones at UT are pretty much good enough to play at D-II schools or mid-majors. For various reasons they have chosen to stay close to home, or they may be playing other sports, or something. Being a practice player is pretty thankless, as they don't get anything for it, can't travel with the team, and get no recognition whatever, but for some reason there are always a bunch of guys willing to take on the task.



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Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
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dtrain34



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PostPosted: 05/22/15 2:17 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Yep. At New Mexico State this year, the big deal was the practice players got to sit on the bench at the WAC tourney in Vegas -- if they could make their own way there. They all did, carpooled it, but not surprisingly none showed up for the NCAA game at Maryland Smile .


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PostPosted: 05/24/15 9:56 pm    ::: Caroline Warden Reply Reply with quote

MT has a rising senior, Caroline Warden, who wanted to come to Murfreesboro so badly that she basically told the coaching staff she was coming and that they would eventually offer her a scholarship. She walked on her freshman year and played in 24 of 33 games and actually started the final 8 games of the season. She was given a scholarship, I think, after the fall semester her freshman year.

She has averaged about 12 minutes per game in her three years and played in about 80% of the games. Unfortunately, she tore her ACL at the end of the regular season this past March and will face an uphill battle to get back into the regular rotation this coming year.


tfan



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PostPosted: 05/24/15 10:51 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

summertime blues wrote:
I don't know about your guys, dtrain, but I know that Sarah and Amanda were deeply grateful for the chance to be Lady Vols, and each expressed it on her Senior Night. They could have gone elsewhere and probably been starters or at least come off the bench frequently, but they chose to do what they did, and after a year they were awarded scholarships which were renewed each year. They were role players, and there is a place for those on every team. The fans--at least the *real* ones--understand that.


With up to 15 players on each team, and only about 8 in the rotation, some players are not even role players - only practice players. And even then, some percentage of these teams will practice against men, further devaluing their contribution to the team. That is a gamble, unless the coach has suggested it is a sure thing - giving up a four year scholarship and attempting to walk-on to a three year scholarship. Even if successful, they, (or their parents) end up having to pay for one year.


GEF34



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PostPosted: 05/27/15 9:35 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

tfan wrote:
summertime blues wrote:
I don't know about your guys, dtrain, but I know that Sarah and Amanda were deeply grateful for the chance to be Lady Vols, and each expressed it on her Senior Night. They could have gone elsewhere and probably been starters or at least come off the bench frequently, but they chose to do what they did, and after a year they were awarded scholarships which were renewed each year. They were role players, and there is a place for those on every team. The fans--at least the *real* ones--understand that.


With up to 15 players on each team, and only about 8 in the rotation, some players are not even role players - only practice players. And even then, some percentage of these teams will practice against men, further devaluing their contribution to the team. That is a gamble, unless the coach has suggested it is a sure thing - giving up a four year scholarship and attempting to walk-on to a three year scholarship. Even if successful, they, (or their parents) end up having to pay for one year.


That's not exactly how it works. Every player is a "role player" even if they aren't playing in a game they are still being a "role player" by doing what they are suppose to be doing, cheering, yelling out plays, helping the players on the court remember scouts, etc. And while many teams (I think every Division I team) have male practice squads, but those men on the team are not allowed to travel and often have schedule conflicts that don't allow them to be at all practices and shoot arounds, and in some situations schools can't get 7-8 men on same days, some days they may have 3-4 men so the players on the team that don't play much join the practice squad. The players on the team that are part of the practice squad because they don't play much or because they are redshirting not only have to learn teams plays because they need to run it during practices and in the off chance they get into a game they need to know what play the team is running, but they also need to learn every opposing teams plays (well the ones the coaches want to go over) and run those players against their teammates to help them prepare for upcoming games. Especially on road trips when their is no male practice squad these practice players that are on the team become very important. I am always surprised at how many people under estimate the importance of the "role players" that don't play, they are just as important as the players who do play, in fact most teams don't get to where they are if they don't have those "role players".

Most walk-on's don't walk-on to a team with the hopes of earning a scholarship or the promise of a scholarship. Of course they think it would be nice to get a scholarship, but I think it's pretty clear to them they may have to pay for college all 4-5 years, of course there is financial aids, grants, loans and other scholarships they could apply for so they don't have to pay for college, but that is going more into a different topic.


dtrain34



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PostPosted: 05/27/15 11:20 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I am always surprised at how many people under estimate the importance of the "role players" that don't play, they are just as important as the players who do play, in fact most teams don't get to where they are if they don't have those "role players".

Exactly. I've talked to a number of players over the years and said "wow, doesn't so-and-so get bummed out not playing more than every three or four games?" and been told "no, she knows she not good enough to start, but she's getting her way paid through college and loves the game."

Fans, and even media, can blow off the whole team-membership enjoyment factor.

When the late Wayman Tisdale elected to stay at Oklahoma for another season instead of moving to the NBA he said one reason was to play another season with his brother William. Whereupon many cynics said "oh, BS, William only played 90 minutes all last season." Completely ignoring the practices, the travel, probably sharing an apartment, etc. that went with brothers being fortunate enough to be on the same college team.


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