Out of Bounds: GU tennis player dismissed

[mplshoya]

This Hoya article really made me mad. I guess I can understand the coaches' point of view, but were these matches really necessary to the season. It sounds like Gelblum was a superior student and athlete and that the coach was just on a power trip.

www.thehoya.com/sports/020405/sports1.cfm

[hoyahoyasaxa]

That's a tough one. Since she's on a tennis scholarship, her first commitment should be to the team. End of story. The coach had the right to refuse her the permission to go on the trip. If she wasn't on scholarship, the case might have been different, but still, college athletes should be totally committed to their sport. Otherwise they shouldn't be college athletes. If Jeff Green missed the first five games of the season because of something similar, people would not be happy. She shouldn't be held to a different standard because she plays women's tennis. She is still a college athlete.

However, throwing her off the team is stupid. Since the AD and assistant AD let her keep her scholarship, the coach should have kept her on the team. ESPECIALLY since her teammates sympathized with her. She followed proper procedure by going to the ADs. They have the power to make the decisions. Also, her teammates agreed with her. So the coach should have taken that into account, before he loses the respect of his team.

Did the coach have the right to do what he did? Yes. His job depends on having his best players compete for him.

Was it a stupid decision? Yes. There were more factors to take into account here.

[MEGAFAN]

I have known several tennis players at Georgetown, myself having almost played there, who left the team for a variety of reasons. More often than not, they cited Bausch as the number one reason they quit playing.

I don't want to disrespect Bausch entirely, as I understand that there are two sides to every coin, but at a tennis program such as Georgetown's, I think it's a weak comparison to hold these athletes to the same standard as the basketball team.

Tennis, while important (and I LOVE tennis) at Georgetown, is not going to provide a chance at a professional playing career for these players, it's not being televised on national tv, it's not selling tickets and drawing huge donations, and therefore when it comes to the players, they are first and foremost STUDENT-athletes, and the whole person and academics ought to be considered the #1 priority. (Ideally, this would also be the case for basketball, but let's face it, while academics remains a high priority, their committment to basketball is on an entirely different level.)

Furthermore, I was under the impression that tennis at Georgetown was categorized as Regional Division I and was not a full scholarship granting program. Do they grant full scholarships (I'm pretty sure they don't for men) or is it one of those scenarios where they get something like 3 scholarships per team, and they divide the financial resources up between different players who need the money?

It's worth noting that Bausch is both the womens and mens head tennis coach, and that despite my respect for a leader not backing down to authorityor to popular pressure, I really think this is an instance where the coach was dogmatic and stubborn, and given the clearly outstanding attributes of this particular athlete (3.90 GPA, etc.), and the fact that none of her teammates seemed to mind that she would miss practice, he definitely dropped the ball and lost major leadership points.

LET'S GO HOYAS!!! ROLLOVER RUTGERS AT THE RAC!

[Nevada Hoya]

Almost a Chariots of Fire situtation.

[bgtown15]

For the record, Gelblum was on a partial athletic scholarship - she did not have a full ride. The tennis program is not fully funded and none of the tennis players have full athletic scholarsips.

[Z]

i'm sorry, but the coach sounds like a major league ass****, period. he seems to have handled the situation with zero class.

[reformation]

The coach is delusional. Swarthmore is a Div3 opponent( missing a match like that is no big deal) There have been issues with this guy for a long time, and the athletic dept has done nothing about it.--maybe this university wide embarassing incident will provoke some change.

The tennis team has never performed up to standard--we are not even close to performing at an Ivy level e.g., in the sport--if we are giving out scholarships(even partials) for athletes to play opponents like swarthmore etc, something is wrong somewhere. My guess is that he is trying to lay the blame for his own shortcomings on someone else.

Attrition of athletes on the team is terrible and the coach's reputation is certainly not an attraction for recruits--maybe one day the athletic dept will put the interests of the students and university above those of certain staff and demand accountability.

[TBird41]

I have a friend on the tennis team, and I know she had problems with the coach. It seems here that he handled this poorly and that Megafan is right-when you're playing tennis at GTown, you are a student-athlete. Tennis is part of educating the whole person as consistent with the Jesuit philosophy.
I think the proper way to handle this would have been to go to the team and ask them, b/c in the end, they are the ones that are most effected by her joining the program. If they are ok (or support) her going on the trip, then she should be allowed to go.

[Eurostar]

“When recruits come to Georgetown, Rich [Bausch] only discourages them by telling them how tennis is not a big deal here and the Athletic Department doesn’t care about it. So we get very well-rounded people but all of a sudden, it’s like … you are an athlete above being a person or a student.”<br>
thats a great quote and true. one of my friends came here on a recruiting visit and rich actually discouraged her from coming because she was too good (went to princeton instead). its fine to be satisfied with a mediocre program that allows players to have fun, participate in D1 athletics, and put school first.. but dont switch it up and do something like this

[Kehoe Fields]

It sounds like this 10 day trip would have been a good experience...and also make the tennis program look good.

Maybe the coach was frustrated that she had all ready been abroad...but still...there were better ways to handle it...

Disappointed that Mr. Brick and Ms. Simons didn't force the issue and keep her on the team.

[C86]

I ran this one past my wife, who played Varsity Tennis (not at Georgetown). Her response: Coach's loss. He just rid of his No. 1 singles player.

She's right. Because the player misses 3 nonconference matches for an entirely laudable reason, the Coach hamstrings his team for the entire spring season. This makes absolutely no sense.

Also, is there any other varsity sport that has a spring, winter and fall season? Tennis players compete year round. Missing three matches to take an academic fellowship, when compared to the commitment that they make to the sport, seems like no big deal

[TBird41]

Yeah, I finally had a chance to talk with my friend on the women's team and she said that it was an absolute joke. She said that the team was disappointed with the coach and supported Gelblum. It's disappointing that this happened-and as C86 points out, tennis goes almost year round. There's a reason I haven't had a chance to see my friend on the team since this happened-she's always at tennis practice or studying. A 10 day trip for entirely valid reasons is just not an excuse to throw a player off the team.

[CAHoya07]

“When recruits come to Georgetown, Rich [Bausch] only discourages them by telling them how tennis is not a big deal here and the Athletic Department doesn’t care about it.”

Did anybody else get outraged by that statement? I mean, I understand that tennis isn't one of the big draws at Georgetown, but discouraging players to come here and essentially saying that the program doesn't matter? I would sincerely hope and pray that other coaches and players have more pride in their programs and Georgetown athletics in general.

That said, this coach just seems like [edited] in the way he handled the whole situation. I know I'm really in no position to criticize someone and something I don't know that much about.

[Edited beyond that. See rule 12.]

[hoyarooter]

The coach blew it, and probably then felt that he would lose face if he backed down. Too bad. And you know what? If Jeff Green or Brandon Bowman had a similar opportunity and chose to take advantage of it, the team would survive for 10 days without the player. Some things are more important than sports.