Justin Fuente and Randy Edsall’s transfer portal comments reek of hypocrisy
College football coaches say the most tone-deaf stuff, especially Virginia Tech Justin Fuente who has an issue with the transfer portal.
When Justin Fuente isn’t coaching Virginia Tech football this fall, he should be teaching Hypocrisy 101 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Fuente, who interviewed for the vacant Baylor job earlier this offseason, to explore his career options and what is best for him, has an issue when football players exercise the same freedom of choice.
Fuente said players who enter the transfer portal are not welcome back to the team.
Okay, so it was okay for Fuente to explore his options to see if Baylor would give him more money, more job security and a better fit for him but has an issue when indentured servants seek a better opportunity.
Do you smell that? That’s hypocrisy wafting through the air.
It was totally fine for Fuente to essentially put himself in the coaching transfer portal before deciding to withdraw from consideration (or Baylor decided to move on from him so he saves face and pulls out) but if not for the transfer portal last year, Fuente might have been fired.
Fuente cites his experience with the transfer portal in the past influencing his hypocritical oath because the Hokies starting quarterback, Hendon Hooker started all season for the team. Plus, running back Deshawn McClease entered the portal to before returning and leading the team in rushing with 843 yards.
Without that pair, Fuente doesn’t rebound in the latter half of the season to save his job.
ESPN analyst and commentator Dominique Foxworth said on Thursday’s episode of Get Up, the hypocrisy is rich.
“What really kind of annoys me is that there is no looking in the mirror,” Foxworth said. “It’s something that you’re doing. If we’re going to accept that these people have choice and have agency, then you have to provide an environment that they have to be around. … The point isn’t that they are a bunch of bad guys who don’t fit in. If it happens repeatedly, it’s because of you. It’s because of the program that you are running. Not because of them.”
Fuente is going to suffer blowback for these comments as it directly relates to his ability to field a team that can once again compete for ACC titles.
Virginia Tech put together the worst recruiting class in the ACC, finishing with the No. 70 class in the nation, the lowest finish since 2002.
Unlike in 2002 when Frank Beamer was able to coach and develop unheralded recruits, Fuente has doomed his program for the next few years because of his inability to bring players to Blacksburg. No wonder he is so uptight about amateur athletes trying to find a better home.
The layered effect is players currently on the roster might feel like they’re being held hostage after Fuente’s comments. Opposing and rival coaches will be using these as negative recruiting. If you’re deciding between Virginia Tech and Virginia, it’s a no-brainer. If you’re picking between Virginia Tech or Penn State, it’s a no-brainer.
Why play for a coach who wants to limit your freedoms when you can play for a coach who builds an environment where you’re welcomed and emboldened to reach your full potential?
Recruits want to be loved, they want to be celebrated, they want to be championed and they want to be respected. Fuente’s comments sound like something a football dictator would say. It doesn’t sound like he respects their freedom of choice.
Fuente makes it easy to pile on, but his double standard comments on the transfer portal aren’t limited to him. Other college football coaches don’t seem to grasp the portal is a great thing.
UConn head coach Randy Edsall thinks players in the transfer portal have “issues.”
“I’d rather go with high school kids or junior college guys,” Edsall said Wednesday via the Hartford Courant. “Guys going into the portal, to me, they’ve got issues. They’ve got issues. That’s why they’re going into the portal. I think if you get people that come in [from junior colleges], those guys have a little more edge to them because they want to play right now. Sometimes these guys from the portal think that they’re enabled and entitled to something. You know, maybe it didn’t work out because you didn’t stay there and finish.”
I take great issue with Edsall’s use of the word issues. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to do the detective work on the negative connotations of that word choice.
But did Joe Burrow have issues when he transferred from Ohio State to LSU?
Did Justin Fields have issues when he transferred from Georgia to Ohio State?
How about Jalen Hurts transferring from Alabama to Oklahoma?
That’s the Heisman Trophy winner and the two top runners-up. They also represented three of the four starting quarterbacks in the College Football Playoff.
If you want to talk about “issues” let’s talk about the issues surrounding Edsall.
First, he left UConn for the Maryland job when he had two years left on the five-year extension he signed in 2008. Why didn’t Edsall finish what he started? Was he afraid of competition? Was he not cut out for the job? Was he afraid of the commitment?
He did what was best for him. Why does he have such a problem with football players doing the same?
If you want to talk about “issues” then Edsall has a lot of them. Chief among them, he has issues winning football games. UConn has won six games over the last three years and is now a homeless football program without a conference.
UConn should be a place for those in the transfer portal to call their second home. UConn needs an infusion of talent if they’re going to win more than 1-3 games per season. Why would Edsall turn his nose down at student-athletes looking for an opportunity?
D.J. Morgan was one of UConn’s best defensive players last year and will be again in 2020. He was one of five grad transfers on the team last year. Sounds like Edsall is laying a lot of the blame for his shortcomings on a handful of grad transfers.
The lack of awareness is blinding and the hypocrisy rich.
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