Think long and hard about this: When was the last time you put pen to paper for a handwritten letter? Other than greeting cards, signing checks or note-taking in meetings, I’m not sure what I actually write on physical paper anymore. And yet a few weeks ago, New Mexico’s Will Brown decided to do just that. Right around the time New Mexico added Tennessee transfer Emmanuel Negedu, Brown wrote a letter to the to the Albuquerque Journal stating he had no intentions of leaving the University of New Mexico. “This is my home, I love this city with all my heart and will be here to continue playing basketball,” Brown wrote. Uh, not so fast, Will.↵
Handwritten Letter Can’t Save Will Brown’s Scholarship
↵
↵
↵↵Brown was dismissed from the team late on Wednesday. The reason was described as “repeated violations of team policies.” Brown told the paper that the reasons included being late study hall, training table and class.↵
↵
↵We've spent a lot of time in this space talking about the perils of the one-year renewable scholarship and there will undoubtedly be people who think Brown was squeezed out purely for the purpose of getting Negedu into the fold. From the way Brown tells the story, that doesn't sound like that's the case.↵
↵↵⇥“I gave coach [Steve] Alford a reason (with) my mess-ups,” Brown told the Journal on Wednesday afternoon. “I’m not mad at him or anything like that. I love everybody else. It was a great two years I had and there’s no hard feelings between me and the coaches. I wish the team and the coaches the best, and coach Alford is going to help me with whatever school I want to go to.”↵⇥↵⇥[...]↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥“The letter was basically an apology to the fans and the team,” Brown said. “I felt like I embarrassed them in Vegas (during the Mountain West Conference tournament) for kicking coolers and things like that, and that I didn’t play up to par in the NCAA Tournament (a combined five points and three rebounds in 32 minutes in UNM’s two games). I could have done better. That’s basically why I wrote the letter.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥“I had no knowledge of Emmanuel Negedu coming to UNM. I wish him the best, too.”↵⇥
↵↵↵Even in the event that the NCAA passes landmark legislation some day creating four-year scholarships, that doesn’t mean coaches won’t have an out in them when it comes to discipline. It sounds as if Brown would’ve fallen into that category anyway. As long as the behind-the-scenes stuff wasn’t anything more than knocking over a few coolers and being late a few times, Brown ought to be able to land somewhere after a transfer year and still have two years to contribute, even if it’s at a low-major level.↵
↵↵(H/T to College Basketball Nation)↵
↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
See More:
