Concerning allegations against Chris Collins and Northwestern

[scottdude8]

Apparently the world is such that we can't have feel good stories anymore, even for a few months: https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/did-northwestern-basketball-run-off-johnnie-vassar

It's a long article, mostly because it is pretty well researched (I know some people can't stand Vice for political reasons I won't broach here, but I'm typically a fan of how in-depth their reporting tends to be). Some key points and quotes:

-In Collins' first years at the school, allegations are he singled out a backup point guard (Johnnie Vasssar) and essentially tried to bully him into transferring to free up a scholarship.


On February 3, 2015, the Northwestern men's basketball team somberly walked to the visiting locker room of the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, after a 16-point loss to the Cornhuskers.

The team, now 1-8 in the Big Ten, sat down to meet, as it always does after games. Coach Chris Collins, then in his second season at Northwestern, turned to freshman point guard Johnnie Vassar.

According to Vassar and another person who was present, Collins yelled, "Johnnie, you I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.ing suck."

By any reasonable standard, Vassar had little to do with Northwestern's struggles. A seldom-used reserve, he had played one garbage-time minute against the Huskers. Yet, according to Vassar and another person who was present, Collins continued to berate the backup guard.

Another teammate later texted Vassar that he couldn't believe what he had witnessed, calling their coach's behavior "one of the most bs things I've seen" in his years playing college basketball. The teammate added, "It is all bullI'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this., and Collins is a huge I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this., I mean so many stupid things, but you are in the right, and have done things the right way/have maintained your attitude."

-Apparently Collins' staff directly tried to encourage Vassar to transfer:


Two days after the game, Northwestern director of player development Ryan Humphrey, now an assistant coach at Notre Dame, texted Vassar to meet in the coaches' office before practice. There, according to Vassar, he sat down with Humphrey and assistant coach Armon Gates, and the two men broached a subject he hadn't expected to come up: transferring to another school.

"They said, 'Coach wanted me to speak to you about what was going on lately,'" Vassar told VICE Sports. "They said, 'I know you've been frustrated, are you thinking about transferring?'"

According to Vassar, he told Humphrey and Gates that while it was frustrating that he was not able to play as much as he had hoped, he was not interested in transferring. Vassar said his coaches asked again, and that he again said no.


-When Vassar refused to transfer, the program appears to have taken some shady routes to get him off of athletic scholarship, including forcing him into an internship not required by his scholarship and then using some contested facts about his performance at said internship to try to get him off the team, and then alleging his performance at said internship was so subpar as to lose his scholarship all together (which Vassar strongly contests).


Even though Vassar did not choose to transfer, the university could still take him off the basketball team as long as it allowed him to keep his promised four-year athletic scholarship.

According to Vassar, Polisky called and told him that in order to keep his scholarship, he and his mother would be required to sign a Non-Participant Agreement that would allow Vassar to keep his athletic scholarship as long as he worked eight hours per week in the school's Wildcat Internship Program and remained compliant with NCAA rules, such as those regarding amateurism and drug testing. Cherise and Vassar said that they then met with Northwestern vice president for athletics and recreation Jim Phillips, Collins, Polisky, associate athletic director for compliance Aaron Hosman, and a member of the school's financial aid office on July 1, 2015, to sign the form.

Cherise said that she and and her son signed the agreement because they believed that he would lose his athletic scholarship if they didn't. One of the NCAA Division I school compliance officials who spoke to VICE Sports said that isn't the case. "You can't push them off to another obligation," the official said. "There's nowhere in the NCAA manual that says anything about that. If they say, 'you need to do 40 community service hours,' no, you don't. It doesn't say anything about that." Another NCAA Division I school compliance official confirmed that analysis to VICE Sports.


-Other players have made similar allegations about Collins trying to use the "run-off" to get them to transfer.

There's a lot more in the article about the problems with transferring and "run-offs" in the NCAA as a whole, making clear this isn't a Collins/Northwestern specific problem. There's also a lot more details about the actual lawsuit that Vassar and his mother are filing that, to be honest, seem pretty damning.

Personally, I'm not sure how to feel about this... I'm not sure if this is just something horrible that happens in college basketball because of NCAA rules and Collins is just doing something that everyone else does (which, of course, is still morally questionable at the absolute best) or whether Collins really went above and beyond to make Vassar's life miserable. Additionally, all these things are still just allegations, but like I said Vice tends to do pretty in-depth reporting and the evidence cited seems fairly damning.

Regardless, if any of this is true it's extremely, extremely sad on all fronts. This seems to be another sobering example of how there are no more real feel good stories in today's world, apparently.

Hopefully I did a decent job summarizing above, but again I'd strongly suggest reading the whole article. It goes very much into the nitty-gritty of the situation and puts it into context amongst the issue of transferring as a whole very well.

Curious to see what people in the know, particularly those who may have personal experience with Collins, think about this. Hopefully, hopefully, HOPEFULLY this is something that has gotten blown out of proportion and I can still root for Chris and NU next year (except when they're playing Michigan, haha).

[Dukehky]

We do this too, but I think it was a little different.

After the 2012 season during some pick-up events where the coaches were playing too they were screaming at Dre and Quinn about making them transfer because they weren't good enough, etc. etc. However, since they were actually good players, I think it was more motivational (if I remember correctly, it was CC doing a lot of the yelling), than in NW case, where he's picking on bad players. Who the hell knows?

This isn't a great look, but it's not gonna get him fired or anything, little disappointed though.

[sagegrouse]

This has been written about before and discussed on DBR (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?38829-Lawsuit-against-NCAA-with-allegations-against-Dukie-Chris-Collins/page2&highlight=johnnie+vassar). Johnnie Vassar was a recruit who didn't pan out from the standpoint of both attitude and basketball. He was at NW for only a brief period, I believe. He reportedly attended four different high schools.

I would withhold judgment until there is a court ruling, in that NW isn't giving its side of the story pending a trial (or settlement).

I would also be inclined to defend Chris Collins, in that this is a Duke fan site and he is a prominent Dukie.

[Jeffrey]

Is there much downside to suing a deep pocket entity with a contingency lawyer?

[scottdude8]

This has been written about before and discussed on DBR (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?38829-Lawsuit-against-NCAA-with-allegations-against-Dukie-Chris-Collins/page2&highlight=johnnie+vassar). Johnnie Vassar was a recruit who didn't pan out from the standpoint of both attitude and basketball. He was at NW for only a brief period, I believe. He reportedly attended four different high schools.

I would withhold judgment until there is a court ruling, in that NW isn't giving its side of the story pending a trial (or settlement).

I would also be inclined to defend Chris Collins, in that this is a Duke fan site and he is a prominent Dukie.

Ahh, sorry about that! This was the first I had heard any whispers about anything about Chris, so I assumed it was new news.

Regardless, I do think the story is worth reading for perhaps a different perspective on the issue. In particular, you mention the four different high schools issue, which is something that the article directly addresses and discusses with both Vassar and his mom, so you might find that part particularly illuminating.

Also, to be clear it appears Vassar is still at NU pursuing his degree. His desire to get a degree from an institution like NU instead of running to another school is also an interesting aspect to the story that might not have been mentioned previously.

But again, my apologies if this is bringing up old news. At the very least this is a new, in-depth look at the story from a few different perspectives, as well as the perspective of the rash of transfers in the NCAA as a whole. Still worth a read and a thread for discussion IMHO, but I understand if others feel differently.

And as I said, I'm withholding judgement on Chris because this is all still allegations and I'm a Dukie, but the evidence and allegations are extremely troubling and merit consideration, to say the least. I'd like to think as Duke fans we're mature and moral enough to be able to admit when our program, or someone affiliated with it, makes mistakes (unlike many others *cough cough* UNC/Kentucky/Kansas *cough cough*). We aren't at that point yet, but I think as Duke fans we need to at least acknowledge the possibility that Chris might have gotten caught up in something not up to our typical standards.

[CDu]

-When Vassar refused to transfer, the program appears to have taken some shady routes to get him off of athletic scholarship, including forcing him into an internship not required by his scholarship and then using some contested facts about his performance at said internship to try to get him off the team, and then alleging his performance at said internship was so subpar as to lose his scholarship all together (which Vassar strongly contests).

This part of the story doesn't make sense. Scholarships are not guaranteed for 4 years. They could have pulled his scholarship whenever they wanted to do so. They didn't have to have him transfer to get rid of his scholarship.

This reads to me more like "Northwestern offered him an internship alternative that would have allowed him to keep his scholarship in exchange for going away from the team."

This sounds very much to me like an "unhappy player trying to get back at the program" problem and not a "coach/program doing shady things" problem.

Edit: Apparently the Big-10 guarantees 4-year scholarships. So, nevermind that point.

[Jeffrey]

Also, to be clear it appears Vassar is still at NU pursuing his degree. His desire to get a degree from an institution like NU instead of running to another school is also an interesting aspect to the story that might not have been mentioned previously.


Maybe, this can be settled with an all expenses paid degree?

[Bluedog]

This part of the story doesn't make sense. Scholarships are not guaranteed for 4 years. They could have pulled his scholarship whenever they wanted to do so. They didn't have to have him transfer to get rid of his scholarship.

This reads to me more like "Northwestern offered him an internship alternative that would have allowed him to keep his scholarship in exchange for going away from the team."

This sounds very much to me like an "unhappy player trying to get back at the program" problem and not a "coach/program doing shady things" problem.

The Big Ten has its own bylaws that DO guarantee scholarships for 4 years (since 2014):
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/11666316/big-ten-guarantees-four-year-scholarships-student-athletes

They also have more strict rules about oversigning in football than other leagues like the SEC (yes, most SEC football programs sign many more than the alloted number of players allowed to be on scholarship and then simply some don't end up getting one).

[CDu]

The Big Ten has its own bylaws that DO guarantee scholarships for 4 years (since 2014):
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/11666316/big-ten-guarantees-four-year-scholarships-student-athletes

Yeah, I had just edited having read that exact article moments ago.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Question: if a player's scholarship is not renewed, would he have to lay out a year before playing anywhere else?
Love, Ima

[English]

Without getting into a(nother) subjective discussion of CC and the allegations, I was under the belief that NCAA athletic scholarships are limited to one-year "contracts" and are not guaranteed for the full four years of a student-athlete's NCAA eligibility. Is this belief unfounded?

The VICE article mentions a "promised four-year athletic scholarship," so I can only assume that perhaps was an informal promise by the coaching staff when recruiting this kid? It would seem less bad, in a public relations sense, to just not extend the kid's basketball scholarship for his sophomore year than to try to shoo him away to another school.

ETA: I just saw the B1G 4-year scholly guarantee after I hit submit, so ignore the aforementioned. My gentle ego couldn't handle a bunch of responses critiquing my reading comprehension skills.

[scottdude8]

This part of the story doesn't make sense. Scholarships are not guaranteed for 4 years. They could have pulled his scholarship whenever they wanted to do so. They didn't have to have him transfer to get rid of his scholarship.

This reads to me more like "Northwestern offered him an internship alternative that would have allowed him to keep his scholarship in exchange for going away from the team."

This sounds very much to me like an "unhappy player trying to get back at the program" problem and not a "coach/program doing shady things" problem.

You could very well be right... but that's not my understanding about athletic scholarships or what happened here. Repeatedly throughout the story the scholarship is referred to as a "four-year agreement", and that was my understanding about athletic scholarships as well. For instance:

Vassar told VICE Sports that he believes he has fulfilled the terms of the four-year scholarship agreement he signed when he arrived on Northwestern's campus nearly three years ago, and that he feels a responsibility to ensure that the school is also held accountable.


This was the beginning of a two-year dispute with Northwestern athletics that Vassar and his mother, Cherise, now categorize as a "run-off"—an attempt by certain staff members at the school to pressure and intimidate Vassar into separating from his athletic scholarship, a four-year agreement that cannot be canceled unless an athlete breaks team rules or voluntarily withdraws.


Of course, the story could be mistaken about what a scholarship entails. I do remember some discussions in the past about how scholarships were evolving from year-by-year to four year guarantees, but I could be mistaken. Does anyone know the details of this with 100% certainty?

And again, let me emphasize that I'm in NO WAY trying to make Chris seem guilty or go after him. I just want to make sure we take all sides into account here and don't immediately dismiss these allegations just because we're fans of Chris. As I mentioned above I think we as Duke fans need to be better than just assuming anyone associated with the Duke program can do no wrong. That all being said, I'd be so much happier if this was all made up, but from examining the evidence it does seem like something shady is going on.

[scottdude8]

Of course just as I was writing my previous thread the scholarship issue got cleared up, lol. One of the reasons I love this board!

[swood1000]

Question: if a player's scholarship is not renewed, would he have to lay out a year before playing anywhere else?
Love, Ima
In sports other than baseball, basketball, bowl subdivision football or men's ice hockey there is a one-time transfer exception if there is no objection from the first university. See 14.5.5.2.10 One-Time Transfer Exception. Probably the reason for no exception generally if a scholarship is not renewed is that this would essentially leave the question up to the original institution and engender much bitterness and acrimony against them by athletes wanting to transfer. Currently it is out of their hands. It might sound unfair in the case of somebody whose scholarship is not renewed but institutions doing that harm their standing with potential recruits.

[Atlanta Duke]

Is there much downside to suing a deep pocket entity with a contingency lawyer?

Maybe not for the plaintiff - definitely for the plaintiff's law firm if the lawsuit requires significant resources to litigate and is of dubious merit

Vassar is not represented by an attorney working out of his parents' basement

The [Vassar] lawsuit is part of a larger lawsuit by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, who have collected a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn the NCAA transfer rules on antitrust grounds.

http://www.insidenu.com/2017/3/29/15110782/johnnie-vassar-vice-sports-antitrust-lawsuit-ncaa-chris-collins-northwestern-athletics

That plaintiffs' firm recently settled a class action suit against the NCAA and 11 conferences regarding monetary caps on scholarships for $208 million

https://www.law360.com/articles/888806/ncaa-conferences-reach-209m-deal-in-grant-in-aid-mdl

[FadedTackyShirt]

Both the B1G and PAC now have guaranteed four year athletic scholarships.

K has recently shifted from rewarding 1 or 2 deserving walk ons and moved to a full complement of 13 recruited scholarship players. The last few scholly players are effectively practice players, so there's considerable downside and no upside to marginalizing them, especially for squeaky clean academic powers like Duke or Northwestern.

[duke79]

I don't have time to read the whole article in depth (I'm at work and just skimmed it) but, obviously, no one on this board knows if his (and his mother's) allegations are true (completely, mostly, partly, none at all, etc?) but, if they are (mostly) true, it is a somewhat ugly look at what life CAN be like inside a Division I sports program. Frankly, it does not surprise me. I've assumed for years that, for most sports coaches at the Div. 1 colleges and universities (esp. for the "glamour sports of football, basketball, hockey, etc), their number one priority is to WIN games. Everything else is secondary (and far down the list). Graduation rates, class attendance, disciplinary problems, etc. are an afterthought for most coaches (IMHO). I'm not sure many coaches really care about the overall development of the "student"/athlete who play on their teams, as long as the kids contribute to winning on the court or playing field. I think we're naive to believe otherwise. We saw what happened at UNC for over 20 years and I"m not surprised in the least about the fake classes and fake grades. I assume stuff like that goes on at many schools more than many of us would like to believe. And, let's face reality, at many of these schools, if the coaches don't win, they're gone.

[RPS]

Curious to see what people in the know, particularly those who may have personal experience with Collins, think about this. Hopefully, hopefully, HOPEFULLY this is something that has gotten blown out of proportion and I can still root for Chris and NU next year (except when they're playing Michigan, haha).
I have no idea if the story is accurate and I hope it isn't. But Vassar's claims are entirely consistent with what routinely goes on at many schools. Such conduct by schools (to be clear, I'm not imputing it to CC, but I do have a reasonable amount of knowledge because my son was a football player at a P-5 conference school with great academics -- no championships but regular bowl games) is yet further evidence of the power disparity between schools (almost all the power) and players (almost no power once the LOI is signed). BIG and PAC players have a bit more clout because their scholarships are guaranteed for four years. Interesting anecdotal aside: my son was fairly heavily recruited (not by Duke -- the football program was in disarray then, pre-Cut, even though we initiated contact). Every coach/school lied to him in a demonstrable way -- some large and some not -- during the recruiting process except one, and that was an Ivy whose coach was fired the next year for not winning enough.

I hope this story is false, but it's an all too common one.

[weezie]

Why is his mother joining him in the suit?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Why is his mother joining him in the suit?

Maybe it is a very roomy suit?

[weezie]

Maybe it is a very roomy suit?

Maybe it's one of the suits that OPK has dieted himself out of.

Ok, why (smarty pants) would this former player's mother be a party in the lawsuit? What's her claim?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Maybe it's one of the suits that OPK has dieted himself out of.

Ok, why (smarty pants) would this former player's mother be a party in the lawsuit? What's her claim?

Oh, beats me. I can't imagine. I just can't resist a good (bad) joke.

[left_hook_lacey]

Maybe it is a very roomy suit?

Stands up, begins a slow clap

[79-77]

Well, I sure hope those allegations are false.

If true, those are not the actions of a coach with good character.

[Jeffrey]

Maybe not for the plaintiff - definitely for the plaintiff's law firm if the lawsuit requires significant resources to litigate and is of dubious merit


Thanks, it sounds like the plaintiff has very little to lose and a lot to potentially gain. Why not sue, if you can get someone to take your case on a contingency basis?

From Northwestern's perspective, would this case most likely be covered by a liability policy? If so, would Northwestern's insurance company frequently prefer settling than incurring substantial legal expenses?