Kelsey Evans is an 18-year-old basketball player from Raleigh, who as a high school senior signed a letter of intent to play for WCU this season.
She was impressed with coach Kellie Harper and wanted to play for her. When Harper left Cullowhee earlier this year to take the job at N.C. State, Evans asked to be released from that commitment.
Deciding to major in chemistry and stay closer to home, Evans chose Elon, but WCU refused to release Evans from her letter of intent.
According to Elon coach Karen Barefoot and her high school coach Danielle Blackburn, Evans is a great kid, a bright student with a heart of gold, a 6-foot-2 post player who averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds a game last season.
If WCU continues to deny her release, she will have to sit out this season and lose one of her four years of eligibility.
Why?
That's a legitimate question that athletic director Chip Smith refuses to answer. Smith will not return calls or make himself available for explanation.
WCU women's coach Karen Middleton also didn't return phone calls seeking comment.
Blackburn said she had spoken to both Middleton and Smith about giving Evans her release.
“Coach Middleton said she was fine with that. She said that after talking to Kelsey she couldn't convince her to come to Western, then she was OK with her going elsewhere,” said Blackburn.
“But Chip Smith said the (letter of intent) was a signed contract, and that she should honor that contract. He said he wanted Kelsey to come to (WCU) for a year and see if she liked it there.”
It is a legitimate argument that Evans made a commitment that should be honored, but that works both ways.
If the contract included the same terms upon her entry to WCU as the time when she singed the letter, then Evans should be bound to her commitment.
But the contract changed when Harper left.
Why shouldn't a teenager making the biggest decision of her life be allowed to call an audible when a coach leaves?
Harper recruited Evans under the premise she would be her coach. That is no longer the case.
“I think coach Harper is great, but she broke a contract to go to State,” said Blackburn.
“Why is (WCU) OK with Harper breaking a contract but not Kelsey? Why penalize a great kid who did nothing wrong?"
“She has made it clear she doesn't want to go to Western, and what do you gain by making her sit out a year that she will never get back?”
Evans filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court last week challenging the rule that allows WCU to decide whether she can play on Elon's team this fall.
Shame on the NCAA for having a rule that allows coaches to leave but not players. And shame on Smith for invoking the rule when he could just let Evans walk, a rubber stamp most other schools employ when a kid wants out of a letter of intent.
And even if WCU prevails in court, what has it won?
Do you high-five the attorneys on the way out of the courtroom and go to the bar for a celebratory drink, raising a toast to the fact that you were successful in denying a young woman the chance to play ball for a year?
There have been similar situations when schools told kids who wanted out of their commitment that they would grant the release if the player went to a school in another conference, so as not to come back and beat them.
Elon and WCU are in the Southern Conference, but if that is part of Smith's reasoning, whatever competitive advantage gained in a few women's basketball games is a poor excuse for his actions.
Blackburn has two other players on the WCU women's team and said she thinks Middleton will do a good job, but she would be hesitant to send kids to Cullowhee in the future after Smith's actions.
“Basketball-wise, I think it's a great program,” she said. “But administration-wise, I would certainly have concerns. What Chip Smith is doing is wrong.”
WCU has long struggled with recruiting athletes to a remote area with limited social opportunities.
Losing recruiting battles is part of the game, and the negative publicity of trying to strong arm an 18-year-old woman into attending your school — and then punishing her when she refuses — won't help.
Why a university of higher education would allow such actions from an athletic administrator is baffling.
Would you want your child to play for Chip Smith?
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs. ... 00348/1002
Ouch! What a tool....is this the same AD who extendedx Brigg's contract?
