I'm sure we have a great relationship with Ben Vander Plas. He's always been ebullient about his time at Ohio and pretty much maxed out what he could do academically here. I'm not saying every player who transfers up from Ohio should earn a degree first, but the player (and in this case, the player's parent) have a hand in that relationship.
We (mid majors) absolutely need to form a strategy to adapt to this culture and if that means we embrace helping players meet their goals, whatever they are, so be it. Coach Thornton has been retweeting stuff about Mark starting at Ohio, including Mark's retweet of something acknowledging how much he improved between his freshman and sophomore year, so I guess the relationship isn't so bad. Or maybe Thornton just sees things like you and wants to flip this whole thing into a recruiting angle, no matter the relationship. [/QUOTE]So, the relationship isn't that bad and Sears is publicly acknowledging the role OU played? That seems at odds with. . .
Meanwhile only us Bobcat diehards know the truth.
The "truth" only us diehards know. Sounds like us diehards don't actually know, because upthread that truth involved Boals "never hearing from Sears again." Maybe he's retweeting stuff but not texting/responding to DMs, etc. But I tend to doubt that. Seems like maybe the relationship's been mended with time. That's good.
[QUOTE=shabamon]
The D'Angelo Russel comparison is completely different. Russel's success is cachet for Coach Boals, not Ohio University. Russel has no relationship with OU. Mark Sears does.