Amid a rising tide of negative reactions across the national media, Wisconsin men’s basketball head coach Bo Ryan defended his decision to place restrictions on Jarrod Uthoff’s transfer requests Thursday, saying he used them as a means to get Uthoff to speak with athletics administrators.
Earlier Thursday, the UW Athletic Department announced in a statement that Uthoff had been cleared to contact any schools outside the Big Ten, a decision reached by Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, Associate Athletic Director Justin Doherty and Ryan.
In media reports prior to the statement’s release, it had been reported that Ryan blocked Uthoff from contacting 25 schools. According to UW’s statement, Uthoff originally requested permission to contact 16 schools, to which four were denied. He appealed three of the four blocks.
Uthoff, a 6-foot-8 freshman who redshirted last season, informed Ryan he wanted to leave UW’s program last week. He was expected to be a key player off the bench next year and a starting forward by the 2013-14 season. He was named Iowa’s Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year while in high school.
Ryan said he never intended to prevent Uthoff from joining any school outside the Big Ten, but wanted Uthoff to first explain his reasoning for wanting to talk to such schools. To do that, Ryan said he placed the blocks on Uthoff figuring he would appeal, thereby forcing him to speak to UW administrators.
“If somebody wants to transfer, my thought process has always been, ‘Can you tell us [why]?’ That’s all I would ask,” Ryan said. “That is the only way a coach could get somebody to say ‘This is why I want to go to this school.’
“By blocking, you get the athlete to talk to somebody at the university.”
Ryan has frequently been charged as “petty” by sports commentators over the past two days. After being involved in a heated interview on ESPN’s radio show, “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” earlier Thursday, Ryan expressed frustration with the media’s apparent lack of understanding of his explanation for the blocks.
“The block is not, and never was, meant to say you cannot go to that school,” Ryan said, before addressing a reporter directly, “and you will not ever seem to get that point across. I can’t get it across to people.”
As part of the appeal process, Uthoff met with Alvarez and Doherty Thursday morning. Ryan later met with the latter two, whereupon it was decided to lift the block on schools outside the Big Ten.
According to the statement, Uthoff has been notified of the decisions.
“If Uthoff wishes to further appeal the ‘permission to contact’ denial to any Big Ten university, he may request a hearing to the Chair of the Athletic Board within eight business days,” the statement reads.
Because the appeal process remains confidential between administrators and the appellant, Ryan said he does not know what was said between Uthoff, Alvarez and Doherty.
Speaking in general terms, Ryan said he would want to know why a player would transfer in case it was for personal matters or if, perhaps, that player had been “tampered with” by another school prior to the release of their scholarship.
Uthoff originally told the Wisconsin State Journal he felt that he didn’t fit well in Wisconsin’s system. He has scheduled a visit with Creighton at the end of April.
