Exodus of UW players isn’t fault of Tia Jackson

Published 11:22 pm Saturday, March 15, 2008

Jess McCormack and Katelan Redmon signed letters of intent to Washington because they wanted to play for June Daugherty.

Yet, because of circumstances they had nothing to do with, the NCAA is slapping them with a by-the-book penalty because they want to transfer.

Between the two, Redmon will suffer more. McCormack will go back to her native New Zealand, where the long arm of the NCAA doesn’t reach. Redmon, on the other hand, will forfeit her redshirt season if she transfers to a non-Pac-10 school, but will have just two years remaining if she transfers to a Pac-10 school.

Which is, of course, a bullfeathers rule.

Two issues here. One, why is Redmon the victim? Two, is coach Tia Jackson, who just completed her first year at Washington, captain of a rapidly sinking ship?

As for the first, don’t kid yourself. The vast majority of players sign letters of intent with a given school because of the coaching staff, not because it has a primo accounting program.

Redmon, McCormack and the rest of last year’s star-studded incoming recruiting class signed with Washington because of Daugherty and her staff. She and the players built relationships for years, since they were in their early years in high school.

They formed a rapport and a trust. They felt comfortable with the staff and, as a result, felt comfortable coming to Washington, so they signed on.

Then athletic director Todd Turner fired Daugherty the day after the Huskies lost a first-round NCAA tournament game.

Their coach gone, Redmon and McCormack wanted out of their commitments. Turner turned them down, effectively forcing them to either come to Washington or forget the notion of playing.

Turner hired Jackson, who persuaded them to play for her.

OK, fine.

Turner was well within his rights to enforce the letters of intent. Yet, what is just isn’t always right and what is right isn’t always just. Turner, in effect, bullied 18- and 19-year-old kids into complying. He had the NCAA rules and regs on his side, but his actions were hardly in the best interests of the teenagers involved.

If the NCAA had any foresight, it would re-examine the policy and allow incoming freshmen to become free agents under such circumstances. It won’t happen, by the way, because the NCAA is too busy making sure players have their jerseys tucked neatly inside their shorts and that they don’t get even a whiff of the enormous revenue they earn for everyone associated but themselves.

Is Jackson at fault for losing players?

So far, three have made their exits. Freshman Candice Nichols quit early in the season, ostensibly because she was homesick.

Redmon and McCormack were vague as to the reasons they left, but for the sake of argument, let’s say it was because it was because they and Jackson didn’t see eye to eye.

Again, they signed thinking Daugherty would be the coach. They did so, in part, because of the environment Daugherty provided. In came Jackson, who carried with her a different coaching philosophy, one developed when she played under C. Vivian Stringer at Iowa and when served as an assistant at Stanford under Tara VanDerveer, at UCLA under Kathy Olivier and at Duke under Gail Goestenkors.

Players comfortable in Daugherty’s system wouldn’t necessarily feel the same in Jackson’s, and vice versa. Different players respond to different approaches. In the coming years, we’ll find out the types of players Jackson attracts.

It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that more will join Redmon, McCormack and Nichols out the UW door.

Does this mean Jackson is an insufferable tyrant? Of course not. What’s happened is more of a natural function of change. Pat Summitt, Bob Knight and others test their players in different ways, sometimes in ways that seem ridiculous and unfair at the time, to toughen them and to make the game seem a breeze by comparison.

Players who don’t want to be at Washington shouldn’t be forced. That was Turner’s mistake. He could have saved a lot of heartache and angst by letting Redmon and McCormack leave when they originally wanted to.

Then Jackson could begin bringing in players who really want to play for her.

There will be many. Just give her time.

Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, “Dangling Participles,” go to cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/danglingparticiples.