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Saadiq Mohammed ESPN Article


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7 hours ago, RiseAndGrind said:

Disappointed in SLU based on that article. Thanks for sharing 

Often with stories like this there is more then what we are told. I agree SLU looks bad but in fairness, the school should have been interviewed but then again maybe they declined - who knows.

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Reading that article made me feel genuinely ashamed for supporting Saint Louis University. That said, I'm not shocked.

All I could think about while I read the article was how that mother F@#*er Richard Chaifetz got a free education. What made his situation more spectacular than Saadiq Mohammed's? SLU once again was in a position to live their brand identity, "Higher Purpose. Greater Good.", and chose to, for whatever reason, do the exact opposite.

I agree with @cheeseman and hopefully there is more to the story than is being told in the article. Unfortunately, my gut says there isn't. The worst part is we'll never know because SLU will just stay silent and wait for the backlash to die down... Until the Saint Louis University administration makes its next scummy move.

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12 minutes ago, TaLBErt said:

Reading that article made me feel genuinely ashamed for supporting Saint Louis University. That said, I'm not shocked.

All I could think about while I read the article was how that mother F@#*er Richard Chaifetz got a free education. What made his situation more spectacular than Saadiq Mohammed's? SLU once again was in a position to live their brand identity, "Higher Purpose. Greater Good.", and chose to, for whatever reason, do the exact opposite.

I agree with @cheeseman and hopefully there is more to the story than is being told in the article. Unfortunately, my gut says there isn't. The worst part is we'll never know because SLU will just stay silent and wait for the backlash to die down... Until the Saint Louis University administration makes its next scummy move.

The truth is always somewhere in the middle. The question is who dropped the ball. How high did the issue go? Is it safe to assume Pestello was involved? How much was the AD a part of this? I honestly can't see Asst AD Oberle being a part of a group of people who allowed this to happen and therefore can't see May being a party to it either.

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3 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

The truth is always somewhere in the middle. The question is who dropped the ball. How high did the issue go? Is it safe to assume Pestello was involved? How much was the AD a part of this? I honestly can't see Asst AD Oberle being a part of a group of people who allowed this to happen and therefore can't see May being a party to it either.

All of those people did allow for this to happen, though. Or are you suggesting all of these folks are just as surprised as we are reading this article?

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I think there's no doubt that SLU did something wrong in this situation but  highly doubt it's as bad as the article makes it out to be. The problem is that SLU never speaks so public perception is solely based on the article. 

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4 minutes ago, slufan13 said:

I think there's no doubt that SLU did something wrong in this situation but  highly doubt it's as bad as the article makes it out to be. The problem is that SLU never speaks so public perception is solely based on the article. 

SLU is CONSTANTLY doing something that is perceived to be wrong and instead of clearing the air, they go radio silent making perception reality.

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12 minutes ago, TaLBErt said:

All of those people did allow for this to happen, though. Or are you suggesting all of these folks are just as surprised as we are reading this article?

My point is that if pestello and crew had last say then the AD’s hands would be tied. 

 

5 minutes ago, TaLBErt said:

SLU is CONSTANTLY doing something that is perceived to be wrong and instead of clearing the air, they go radio silent making perception reality.

It’s such a precarious position to be in. There’s not a single thing SLU could say to improve the optics. There’s a lot they could say to make it worse. 

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There are laws that don't allow SLU to say much about specifics in a case like this.  This allows one side to say whatever they like, while not allowing SLU to explain what events might have brought about the situation.  You are getting one side of the story here and the other side legally can't defend itself in the press. 

The article wasn't well researched either.  I don't want to get into what our country's asylum policies should be, but it isn't the Trump policies mentioned in the article that are responsible for delays like the delay described in this article.  Arguing against the Trump policies should have been saved for another article.  Between 2007 and 2017 the numbers of people seeking asylum in the US increased more than ten fold, but the number of people handling those cases didn't increase.  The people working on these cases are swamped by the sheer number of cases they have to process.  This started to create a backlog of cases in the Bush administration, it only grew in the Obama administration and has now reached levels that will take over a decade to work through with the present staffing levels.  You can't fix that problem if you won't even recognize it.

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This story makes SLU look bad, of course. SLU is great at looking bad because they never get out in front of anyyything. 

However here is the reality of the situation - soccer isn't a headcount sport for scholarships. Every D1 soccer team in the country has 9.9 scholarship equivalencies to give out for a 28-30 man roster. That means that you have to make those almost 10 scholarships cover quite a bit of ground. Giving 1 guy a full ride isn't unheard of by any stretch, but it better be a really damn good player.

The other kicker is that if anyone is on scholarship, they have to be at 25% so you can't just throw $2000 at a bunch of guys. Then there is another total layer where any other financial aid could count against your limit if the right grades aren't hit, the right paperwork doesn't dot the lower case J's. 

People reading the story will think "SLU is a bunch of nickel dicks why wouldn't they just give the guy a normal full ride" because the general common thought is that if you are on scholarship for a sport at a D1 university, you're getting everything paid for. The reality is that only football, mens/womens basketball, womens volleyball, and I think another minor womens sport are headcount sports where they have to give 100% scholarships. Every other sport is equivalencies where it is going to be an exception rather than rule that someone is on a full ride. I love the super parents of mildly talented kids who are talking full rides for their 6th grade soccer star. Always fun bursting their bubble. 

But still, SLU is dumb and won't stop stepping on their own dicks. 

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13 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

This story makes SLU look bad, of course. SLU is great at looking bad because they never get out in front of anyyything. 

However here is the reality of the situation - soccer isn't a headcount sport for scholarships. Every D1 soccer team in the country has 9.9 scholarship equivalencies to give out for a 28-30 man roster. That means that you have to make those almost 10 scholarships cover quite a bit of ground. Giving 1 guy a full ride isn't unheard of by any stretch, but it better be a really damn good player.

The other kicker is that if anyone is on scholarship, they have to be at 25% so you can't just throw $2000 at a bunch of guys. Then there is another total layer where any other financial aid could count against your limit if the right grades aren't hit, the right paperwork doesn't dot the lower case J's. 

People reading the story will think "SLU is a bunch of nickel dicks why wouldn't they just give the guy a normal full ride" because the general common thought is that if you are on scholarship for a sport at a D1 university, you're getting everything paid for. The reality is that only football, mens/womens basketball, womens volleyball, and I think another minor womens sport are headcount sports where they have to give 100% scholarships. Every other sport is equivalencies where it is going to be an exception rather than rule that someone is on a full ride. I love the super parents of mildly talented kids who are talking full rides for their 6th grade soccer star. Always fun bursting their bubble. 

But still, SLU is dumb and won't stop stepping on their own dicks. 

I appreciate the insight on the soccer scholarships. I did not know any of that, and just assumed most players were getting full rides.

Even so, SLU was in a position to act on their motto, to help a human being in need, and "they" (whoever they are) chose not to. This was an opportunity to show the world the type of institution Saint Louis University is, and in my opinion, they did just that.

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It's pretty clear to me it was a matter of the coach trying to make things uncomfortable enough for him to transfer:

The university fired its soccer coach, Mike McGinty, in the fall of 2017, after Saadiq's sophomore season, and tapped Kevin Kalish, a former All-American for the Billikens, to take over in January 2018. Saadiq's relationship with the team frayed quickly from there. In February: the first indications the school did not intend to follow through on its pledge to make Saadiq's partial scholarship a full one, one that included books, meals and on-campus housing. In April: the first confusion over whether SLU might just not offer Saadiq scholarship money, period. In May: a letter sent by an attorney on Saadiq's behalf, asking the school to honor its promise of a full scholarship and, absent that, a formal request for a hearing. The notice, which gave SLU until the end of the month to respond, was met with silence.

There were other red flags along the way, small issues that added up to one big issue: Saadiq did not feel welcome at SLU anymore. He fielded concerns from Kalish, who said he felt Saadiq seemed overwhelmed; he showed up to follow-up meetings where the coach suggested that Saadiq might benefit from a school with less rigorous academics. He listened to asides from Kalish in practice about Saadiq's hairstyle, Jessica says, comments Saadiq internalized as disapproval.

They talk about meeting with the AD and writing letters to the president, but the issue here is clearly with Kalish. If a coach doesn't want a player, the AD isn't going to overrule him. I guess the president could've replied to those letters - which I'm sure talked about his unique situation - but I'm not sure how his office vets correspondence regarding individual student matters. And if he contacted the AD or HC about the matter, they'd have said that it's in his best interest to move on.

If there were any justice in the world, they wouldn't have shoved him out the door and even if the HC wasn't going to play him anymore, the school could've found a way to keep this kid enrolled and safe. And the HC could've been even just a little sensitive about this kid's unique situation instead of refusing to communicate major details like his scholarship, and making fun of him in the process.

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38 minutes ago, brianstl said:

There are laws that don't allow SLU to say much about specifics in a case like this.  This allows one side to say whatever they like, while not allowing SLU to explain what events might have brought about the situation.  You are getting one side of the story here and the other side legally can't defend itself in the press. 

The article wasn't well researched either.  I don't want to get into what our country's asylum policies should be, but it isn't the Trump policies mentioned in the article that are responsible for delays like the delay described in this article.  Arguing against the Trump policies should have been saved for another article.  Between 2007 and 2017 the numbers of people seeking asylum in the US increased more than ten fold, but the number of people handling those cases didn't increase.  The people working on these cases are swamped by the sheer number of cases they have to process.  This started to create a backlog of cases in the Bush administration, it only grew in the Obama administration and has now reached levels that will take over a decade to work through with the present staffing levels.  You can't fix that problem if you won't even recognize it.

Completely agree that there isn't nearly enough staffing to handle asylum seekers, but the policy changes in the past few years are having an undeniable impact. The writer should've covered the bureaucratic issue along with the policy issue.

I think it was more than tenfold, by the way - there were 5,171 seeking asylum in 2007 and 91,786 in 2016.

The previous administration set the annual ceiling for admitted refugees to 110,000 for 2017 but the new administration took over and reduced it to 50,000, then 45,000 for 2018 and 30,000 for this year. That's just the ceiling, though; the amount of people actually granted asylum is lower. We're on pace for 21,500 this year.

Basically, it's no wonder Saadiq's case took forever, and he's very fortunate that he finally got cleared. Imagine if he didn't have so much physical evidence in his corner. Odds are he would've been denied.

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17 minutes ago, TaLBErt said:

I appreciate the insight on the soccer scholarships. I did not know any of that, and just assumed most players were getting full rides.

Even so, SLU was in a position to act on their motto, to help a human being in need, and "they" (whoever they are) chose not to. This was an opportunity to show the world the type of institution Saint Louis University is, and in my opinion, they did just that.

I don't know the full details, just what was in the story but lets not also forget that a student athlete is different from a normal student.  A teacher could buy a normal student a meal if they just had a parent pass away, a coach cannot.  The NCAA has dumb rules that make even doing the right thing come back and hurt the institution because it is wrong to them.  Not saying there wouldn't be a way around it or that SLU is off the hook here, just pointing that out.  

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49 minutes ago, JMM28 said:

This story makes SLU look bad, of course. SLU is great at looking bad because they never get out in front of anyyything. 

However here is the reality of the situation - soccer isn't a headcount sport for scholarships. Every D1 soccer team in the country has 9.9 scholarship equivalencies to give out for a 28-30 man roster. That means that you have to make those almost 10 scholarships cover quite a bit of ground. Giving 1 guy a full ride isn't unheard of by any stretch, but it better be a really damn good player.

The other kicker is that if anyone is on scholarship, they have to be at 25% so you can't just throw $2000 at a bunch of guys. Then there is another total layer where any other financial aid could count against your limit if the right grades aren't hit, the right paperwork doesn't dot the lower case J's. 

People reading the story will think "SLU is a bunch of nickel dicks why wouldn't they just give the guy a normal full ride" because the general common thought is that if you are on scholarship for a sport at a D1 university, you're getting everything paid for. The reality is that only football, mens/womens basketball, womens volleyball, and I think another minor womens sport are headcount sports where they have to give 100% scholarships. Every other sport is equivalencies where it is going to be an exception rather than rule that someone is on a full ride. I love the super parents of mildly talented kids who are talking full rides for their 6th grade soccer star. Always fun bursting their bubble. 

But still, SLU is dumb and won't stop stepping on their own dicks. 

in many case more scholly help is available at naia schools than d1. that was the case with my nieces

 

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6 minutes ago, Bills_06 said:

I don't know the full details, just what was in the story but lets not also forget that a student athlete is different from a normal student.  A teacher could buy a normal student a meal if they just had a parent pass away, a coach cannot.  The NCAA has dumb rules that make even doing the right thing come back and hurt the institution because it is wrong to them.  Not saying there wouldn't be a way around it or that SLU is off the hook here, just pointing that out.  

Has anyone seen him play. There was a lot of hype surrounding him joining the team. He showed moments of brilliance but was not really a team player. McGinty was constantly screaming at him for not being in position. Kalish probably felt he would not fit into his system.

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6 minutes ago, Speyburn said:

Has anyone seen him play. There was a lot of hype surrounding him joining the team. He showed moments of brilliance but was not really a team player. McGinty was constantly screaming at him for not being in position. Kalish probably felt he would not fit into his system.

Even the Bradley coach said he was not a classically trained soccer player and that he was creative because of that - sounds like a nice way to say he does not play his position.

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Typical SLU. Why does it feel like there’s something new every single year that makes the SLU brand more dirty?

Unfortunately though this isn’t surprising. Colleges and universities everywhere are paying administrators hundreds of thousands to do absolutely nothing. Hence college tuition ballooning out of control. Meanwhile students like Saadiq, and student athletes in general, are used like pawns, and they get nothing.

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3 hours ago, Spoon-Balls said:

Typical SLU. Why does it feel like there’s something new every single year that makes the SLU brand more dirty?

Unfortunately though this isn’t surprising. Colleges and universities everywhere are paying administrators hundreds of thousands to do absolutely nothing. Hence college tuition ballooning out of control. Meanwhile students like Saadiq, and student athletes in general, are used like pawns, and they get nothing.

An education!

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Disappointing.  Yet another example of SLU getting negative media mentions unnecessarily.  Even worse that they essentially un-did something they received positive press for previously.

I’d love to know if the student athletes at SLU feel that May cares about them as people.  I doubt it.

Schools moving on from players is a common, if ugly, part of D1 sports.  So I am not particularly upset that they would move on from him.  But, as is typical for SLU, it sounds like their communication was terrible.  That lawyers needed to get involved is all the evidence needed to see that.

i have much more respect for coaches and ADs who will just be straight with a kid and give them the best chance to move on.  This passive aggressive, we won’t kick you out but we’ll make you feel so unwanted you’ll leave on your own, routine is unbecoming of an institution that holds itself up as a bastion of Jesuit value.

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Does SLU have a program to offer scholarships and financial assistance to refugees? If so, that is where this charity should have fallen. I don't think this is on the AD or anybody in the athletic department.

We provided the kid an ATHLETIC scholarship based on his soccer skills. Our coach got fired because he couldn't produce results. New coach comes in and knows this kid isn't the right fit for the team. Pretty sure this has happens every time a coaching change occurs. It is within the rules. The new coach's livelihood is based on the results he gets on the field.

Given the kids history and lack of a home, SLU should have offered an academic scholarship under whatever program handles such matters. He CLEARLY met any criteria that would be required for such funds. We don't know if that happened or not. We also don't know if the kid didn't want to go to SLU if he couldn't play soccer.

We have conversations daily about how Ford shouldn't waste a scholarship on a sub par player. I'm not sure how this is different. Either way, it's a hellevua story and this kid has my utmost respect. How he's overcome such odds and lands a 23 (?!) on the ACT is beyond my comprehension. 

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1 hour ago, ARon said:

Disappointing.  Yet another example of SLU getting negative media mentions unnecessarily.  Even worse that they essentially un-did something they received positive press for previously.

I’d love to know if the student athletes at SLU feel that May cares about them as people.  I doubt it.

Schools moving on from players is a common, if ugly, part of D1 sports.  So I am not particularly upset that they would move on from him.  But, as is typical for SLU, it sounds like their communication was terrible.  That lawyers needed to get involved is all the evidence needed to see that.

i have much more respect for coaches and ADs who will just be straight with a kid and give them the best chance to move on.  This passive aggressive, we won’t kick you out but we’ll make you feel so unwanted you’ll leave on your own, routine is unbecoming of an institution that holds itself up as a bastion of Jesuit value.

I hate this approach for any player, even if the kid will go home to figure it out with his parents in a nice house in the suburbs, knowing he'll land on his feet somewhere else. Saadiq's case was literally life and death. You can't just passively quit on him, not caring about where he ends up.

The coach is the authority figure and is being compensated for his position. Even for the players he didn't recruit, it's on him to make sure they have the resources they need, regardless of whether they're staying or going. Be honest. Be an adult.

And then when the coach just sort of ghosts this kid, no one else in the institution steps up to say "Hey, you'll always have a home here. Our Jesuit mission means we'll take care of you." And if he decides he wants to play soccer somewhere else, fine. But Nashville is right; it's not hard for the school to step in and make an effort to keep this kid enrolled and safe, even if his athletic scholarship was going away.

Kalish basically acted like the Bobs in Office Space and treated Saadiq like Milton.

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1 minute ago, Pistol said:

I hate this approach for any player, even if the kid will go home to figure it out with his parents in a nice house in the suburbs, knowing he'll land on his feet somewhere else. Saadiq's case was literally life and death. You can't just passively quit on him, not caring about where he ends up.

The coach is the authority figure and is being compensated for his position. Even for the players he didn't recruit, it's on him to make sure they have the resources they need, regardless of whether they're staying or going. Be honest. Be an adult.

And then when the coach just sort of ghosts this kid, no one else in the institution steps up to say "Hey, you'll always have a home here. Our Jesuit mission means we'll take care of you." And if he decides he wants to play soccer somewhere else, fine. But Nashville is right; it's not hard for the school to step in and make an effort to keep this kid enrolled and safe, even if his athletic scholarship was going away.

Kalish basically acted like the Bobs in Office Space and treated Saadiq like Milton.

Again, we are only getting one side of the story here.  We don't know what his academic standing was beside the fact he was eligible. We don't know if there were any disciplinary issues.  We don't know if the kid was missing practices or workouts.  We don't know that and to be honest the couple housing him doesn't know that either because that is not information SLU can share with them legally.   SLU can't share that information legally with the media.  SLU could have been keeping him in school as long as they did so he could transfer to another school without the stain of having been dismissed from the team at SLU. 

Or, SLU could have been the devil here and been determined to get as much bad press as possible with a kid that they knew had multiple connections with the media.

 

My guess is that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle and that Saddiq hasn't been completely open with the people who took him in.  People he desperately doesn't want to disappoint.

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