Should Tennessee Give DeAnthony Arnett an Unconditional Release?

Then again I would have no issues with it even if his father wasn’t sick. I know that they signed an agreement, but if the guy wants to go home, let him go home. Most reports though (if I am not mistaken) say that his father has gotten worse as the year progressed, so I see no issue at all with him leaving. We’ve benefited too much from the rule (Smith, Prince, Bullard) to really draw a line in the sand over this IMO.

If anything, this seems to me like Dooley is saying “If you want to go home, that’s fine, but you won’t have a chance at an NFL career. If you want to leave me, You’re going to a crappy school with a minimal chance of ever being a successful pro.”

And I strongly suspect there is a lot we don’t know. There always is.

One factor in this is probably the fact Arnett went to the MSU site to tell them he’s coming before telling anybody on the Tennessee staff apparently.

Remember how everybody gave Dooley crap over the Bryce Brown situation? Yeah, how does that look now?

I was with him on Bryce Brown and Aaron Douglas. There’s no excuse for this unless there’s WAAAAAAY more to the story than we see. The reason given in the CTFP article I read yesterday was that we recruit against Michigan and Michigan State. And that just doesn’t cut it. If that’s the reason, this may be my first pitchfork moment for CDD

players are still 18-20 years old for the most part. I have no problem with coaches trying to teach them a lesson in responsibility (see: Bryce Brown). I have no problem with a coach not allowing them to fulfill their needs at the expense of ours (say, transferring to a division rival). I have no problem with a coach setting limitations based on what’s best for the kid (see: Aaron Douglas). But imposing tenuously supported limitations to prevent a kid from playing for the closest (non-conference) BCS school to his ailing father? Having trouble seeing a way that that’s okay.

is that Dooley didn’t like the way Arnett initially handled it. There’s not any football reason that this makes sense.

Theoretical mobile rec.

I would hope htat parents aren’t stupid enough to expect a night and day change. It’s more an indictment of his high school than anything.

Try reading Da’Rick Rogers’ Twitter.

Yes, this letter is riddled with misspellings, errors, and typos. But I don’t think any of that will be nearly as effective in recruiting as the simple fact that Dooley won’t grant this kid a release to be closer to his sick father.

Elite recruits used to want to come here because we were a football powerhouse that could vault them into the NFL. Not because they could learn how to use the Harbrace Handbook.

There was some turrible writing in my class (first semester, at least; they took away peer reviews second semester, which was probably for the best for my aneurysm at least).

and as someone who has actually dealt with this situation before, you shouldn’t have to take a career damaging hit just to take care of your family. If he’s talking out of his ass, that’s one thing… but the difference between a 10 hour drive or a flight and a 2 hour one is HUGE in a situation like this.

He would save 6 minutes by going to Central Michigan instead of Michigan State… I’d call those distances a wash, and by going to MSU he’d definitely be setting himself up for a much more successful future than CMU.

Becuase form what I understand, this situation with Arnett’s family existed prior to his commitment much less signing the scholarship papers.

Same thing with Brandon Warren I do believe and Bobby Bowden wouldn’t give him a release either.

Viewing things prospectively, what good comes of it? The Game Theory analysis here was apparently omitted. I’m seeing a lose and then another lose. What precedent is he trying to set? Come to Tennessee, we won’t ever let you leave?

we’re already dead in the water.

I do know that almost universally the same folks who reviled Bobby Bowden for failing to release Brandon Warren are the same folks bending over backwards to excuse Dooley.

Some remarkable duplicitness is occurring.

just back down, Derek. Save whatever face you can and back down

if there is, I might still be pissed, for the PR reasons you mentioned

You mean we should wait for more info before jumping to conclusions and crucifying Dooley?

What a concept!!!!

why not release him to every school in Michigan that he’s not talking to behind the scenes? It’s not as strong a move, but it avoids the PR disaster and still makes the “decisions have consequences” point.

then Michigan State would be in deep shit if any member of the staff actually spoke to his brother.

I feel pretty confident the waiver committee contacted our staff for additional input or facts related to the request. Without doubt there is more to this story than what is floating around on the interwebz (obfuscation and innuendo). Dooley is not operating in a vacuum and I am confident this decision was made with input from the AD’s office. While it does appear at the moment to be a PR disaster, it is also occurring during an off year (no bowl appearance) and will not receive the attention it would were we playing in a bowl. That being said, I wonder how much attention ESPN chooses to place on this issue as a general note during the bowl programming schedule. Caban’s note regarding interference by MSU may also apply to UM.

I don’t know if it really has a national reputation, but I was told it was one of the more selective schools out there. You’d be amazed at how bad the paper quality was.

any school in the country