Ferguson's appeal denied; 2 decommit from FIU

Friday night, sophomore forward Dominique Ferguson said his appeal of the athletic department's refusal to release him from his scholarship was denied. He was notified by an e-mail from Dr. Stephen Fain, Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and FIU's faculty athletics representative to the NCAA. CC'd on the e-mail were Dr. Pete E.C. Markowitz of the Physics Department; Thomas Baker, Law Preofessor; senior associate athletic director Julie Berg-McGraw; and complaince director Valerie Sheley.

Ferguson said the e-mail, sent four hours after his appeal meeting Friday, informed him the powers that be felt it would benefit him better to stay at FIU. 

Never mind that the coach I personally saw make sure Ferguson went to class and got all the tutoring help needed being thrown out of FIU's house like some husband busted for getting something on the side. Never mind there's no coaching staff there now to follow up in the same manner.

The firings occurred hours before First Seder of Passover, but the school's trying to stem an exodus. It might take someone demanding, "Let my people go" while a sibling throws down a staff that turns into a snake.

FIU can't hold onto what's not there yet. Two players from Boca Raton Grandview Prep, 6-9 power foward Windale Glinton and 6-3 point guard Ivan Canete, both had committed verbally to FIU for 2013. Last Friday's firing of Isiah Thomas changed a few things.

Canete and Glinton's Grandview Prep coach announced their decommittment in a Friday afternoon phone call to me. Canete averaged 16.2 points, 5.2 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game for Grandview this season. MaxPreps has him as the No. 56 ranked player in the state.

I see one of the comment debates has been about Richaud Pack. I don't know the exact reason he left, but I do know it happened weeks after a Nov. 28 practice altercation. Pack stormed out of practice shouting he'd been punched in the face by Phil Taylor (other witnesses denied any fisticuffs took place). Thomas tried to calm Pack down and physically restrain him, but Pack twisted away and stormed off. 

Pack was granted his scholarship release and transferred to Division III Adrian College, where he played his first game Dec. 22. Pack started seven of 18 games and averaged 14.6 points per game on 42.9 percent shooting.

Comments

[MarkdaLark]

Why would anyone want to go to FIU to play sports with an AD like Low Rent Pete?

[panther2001]

Dr. Stephen Fain used to be a decent man. Now like Prez Rosenberg they both are slime!! Puppets of Pete Garcia may all three enjoy the fleas that comes with being nasty dogs

[U CHEAT]

No criticism for the 23-67 record over the last three years? No wonder everyone has stopped reading this rag.

[Willie Dong.]

Hahahaha, well Ferguson can always declare for the NBA Draft. Hahahahaha, the b-ball team was horrible, it has always been. Hahahaha NBA.

[SouthPaw]

This is garbage, David Neal. So Dominique Ferguson should be allowed to transfer because Isiah and his coaching staff were the only people at FIU with the unique abilities and skills to get Mr. Ferguson to class? How about taking some responsibility for himself? He was the most heralded recruit FIU basketball has ever landed, and it was his lackluster performances over his first two years that were the partially the reason for Isiah's departure. If Isiah is the only guy who can get him to class, then he needs to go too.

If you’re going to look for scandal, why don't you spend your time more productively and investigate and report on something a little more pithy like why the Miami Herald has done NOTHING to investigate UM’s recruiting violations all of these years? Why don’t you look into why the Miami Herald didn’t launch an investigation after Nevin Shapiro almost came to blows with UM’s head of compliance, David Reed, in the Orange Bowl’s PRESS BOX in 2007? Your employer is disgusting and complicit.

[Gooch7]

Way to go SouthPaw! Totally agree 100%..

[JulesFIU07]

The problem with this story is that Ferguson wanted to transfer before Isiah got fired. It is hard to take D-Ferg seriously when he put in to get out months ago.

[FIU Beisbol]

Thank you south paw!!! Saying what we all know!

[chiaPanther]

Twitter Universe is buzzing with:

RICHARD PITINO
Assistant Head Coach and son of Rick Pitino
Assistant under Billy Donovan

Is new FIU Basketball head Coach!

Where's your reporting now DJN?

[true fan]

Pete released Freedy A. from his scholarship remmeber? and the reason for that was his coach was fired, and he didnt want to play for Isiah Thomas. Why cant these guys get the same treatment?

[FIUJM]

funny how DJN doesn't get complete story on Ferg. DJN, why don't you go ask Ferg if this was his 3rd attempt to get released from team? He asked twice under I.T.

Bring on Pitino, he can win more than I.T.! And if kids want to leave, let them go. They stunk it up anyways.

[Buc Nasty]

Hey 'Southpaw', you sure there's no noxious chemicals in that tin foil you use for a hat?

I think you may be suffering from some form of brain damage on top of your devestating inferiority complex.

[David J. Neal]

Southpaw, you have a problem with the way we cover UM, take it to that blog or e-mail an editor. UM is one of the few things I have nothing to do with as far as coverage. And, personally, I think a kid should be allowed to transfer if he desires.

U Cheat, think I spoke on the poor record in a previous post. Guess you skipped that.

Chia, I'd answer you, but I have to get to a Marlins game, then a Panthers playoff game to complete a hat trick of sports today and a western hat trick for the weekend. Please return to your scheduled harrumphing.

[trashday]

DJN

You can never satisfy the fiu fan base. All 12 of them can't understand that other than them no one cares about this JV program

[JulesFIU07]

Oh, we have a troll.

[FIU Fan For Life]

Hey trashday, after 5 NC, UM can only barely avg 30K per home game! That's pathetic! Go back to dating your brother.

[SouthPaw]

David Neal, FIU is within its rights to not allow Ferguson to transfer. They are playing by the NCAA rules, so if you have a problem with that, then aim your criticism at the NCAA, not FIU or Pete Garcia. If I were Pete Garcia, I would let them all leave if they wanted to, but its FIU's choice under the current rules.

In other news, UM hasn't played by the NCAA rules for decades and gets no criticism from the Herald.

And Buc Nasty, the only inferiority complex I know about is a complex over in Coral Gables that is inferior to FIU. Looks like you agree as much as you troll these boards.

[Diagodog]

I think that IT was hired to win bb games, not to be some prima donna's butler. If DJN says he excelled at the latter, who will quibble? But one thing he clearly did not do was the former. And please tell me, any of you experts, what good does it do, even if one can bring in supposed talent like Ferguson, de la Rosa, Taylor, et al, if you cannot wring any effort out of them? De la Rosa, according to IT himself, was finally going to be the big man who would make all the difference. The kid ended up averaging 2 minutes per game. I am sorry, but just about ANYONE could have taken that front line of Ferguson, de la Rosa, the Belgian 7 footer, De Juan Wright, and any of the committee of other guards and gone .500. There are guys who can coach and there are guys who can talk about it. Let's.get real.

[FIUknowledge]

What the hell does it benefit FIU to keep those kids trapped some place they don't want to be? It is ridiculous how these schools try to profess absolute power over these kids. Meanwhile, coaches jump ship in the middle of the night to run off to another school with no NCAA flack at all. Give the kids a break. They do not want to be at FIU, so why would you want to try to force them to stay there?