President Gottfredson was fine with letting Coach Altman bring one player with a sexual assault history to UO, and then playing two others in the NCAA tournament. Same with paying that $95K in bonus money. But hurting the Ducks? Well, now that’s serious trouble. I’m guessing this CBS report means Coach Altman will be gone soon:
The timeline of when Oregon found out and decided to suspend the players is still unclear, but there has already been a noticeable impact on the Ducks’ recruiting efforts for next season.
Former California signee Ahmaad Rorie (No. 116 in 247Sports Composite) is back on the market after decommitting from the Bears due to the coaching change, and he was expected to take a trip to Oregon. After visiting Washington on Monday, though, Rorie announced he was canceling his visit to Oregon. He decided to visit Washington State instead.
Rorie isn’t the only one. Houston transfer Tashawn Thomas had three primary schools on his list: Miami, Oklahoma and Oregon. He visited Miami last weekend, is expected to visit Oklahoma this week – but will not be going to Eugene.
A source close to the recruitment told CBSSports.com that this week’s news factored into the decision. “That has something to do with it,” the source said. The mentor to another potential transfer target said they were also questioning whether to continue considering the Ducks.
This shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s a mess at Oregon right now, and it’s not close to being resolved. As Gary Parrish wrote earlier Thursday, there are still questions to be answered by Dana Altman and the athletic department. Primarily, why did Artis and Dotson play in the Pac-12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament after the university was made aware of the allegations on March 9?
Austin was already sitting out after transferring from Providence – but Altman had taken a chance on him, as Austin was linked to a sexual assault case in November back when he was with the Friars.
Is recruiting part of the reason UO tried to keep this quiet as long as possible?
This cannot be good for admissions either. Anyone have that data?
It doesn’t look good for the image of these players’ AAU coaches that they go to Oregon anymore.