When I read that Notre Dame had kicked Kyle McAlarney not only off the basketball team, but out of school, for an entire semester ... I sort of thought it was an overreaction to a marijuana possession charge, chalked it up to a school being overprotective of their reputation, and forgot about it. But there was something I hadn't considered, a possibility that was raised today by Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline.Had Notre Dame ruled this way two weeks ago -- or perhaps even as late as last week -- McAlarney could've transferred to another institution, knocked out 15 hours and been eligible to resume his college career next December. But because the process dragged, transferring is no longer an option, and a cynic might suggest that was part of the plan all along.Interesting.
Dismiss the player two weeks ago, you might lose him forever.
Dismiss the player now, his best option will be to seek readmittance at Notre Dame this summer.
Of course, I don't know that that's what Notre Dame was thinking. Maybe it just takes them a really long time to make decisions, I don't know. But I'd hate to think that they would willfully keep McAlarney out of any school for a full semester for their own selfish reasons.
And you can argue that McAlarney brought it upon himself, and you're right, he certainly did ... but that wouldn't excuse Notre Dame from acting with such little regard for the (ex) student's future.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kyle mcalarney is an exceptional person, not just athelete. he's been student athlete of the month more than once and is one of the hardest workers i've ever come across. most people learn best from the wrong doings or mistakes they've made in the past. i believe he knows he made a mistake and the university blew things out of proportion, what they've done is a diservice to the kid. he made a mistake let him learn and move on. the university will be losing a great kid, student, and basketball player if they don't try to fix this. i know coach brey will have to make tough decisions because tory jackson has stepped up, but like i said mcalarney is a hard worker and it would be close to impossible not to play this kid if eventually let back on the team. hopefully he'll be back in an irish uniform next year leading them to a big east title game.
If this incident had involved a "regular" student (not a student-athlete), the same would have happened. Possession of illegal substances is not permitted at Notre Dame, and being charged with a criminal act is grounds for suspension. Why should the rules be different for a student-athlete?
It's not the punishment, necessarily, that's the problem... it's the timing of it. If they'd have done this a week ago, McAlarney could have transferred and been in school right now, as opposed to not being in school at all.
The justice system is important to teach our young people. The Court system had due process but the "secret" kangaroo court needs a lot more explanation and someone should stand up and talk about why they made the decision 3 weeks after Kyle's event.
He knew the rules, and he knew the consequences for breaking the rules. He went ahead and broke the rules anyway. Hard to now complain that the consequences are too harsh.
As for the timing, the process is what it is. You go before a student disciplinary committee. From evrything I've read, it followed normal procedures. Three weeks doesn't seem unreasonably long for that process.
oh yeah i forgot its okay to smoke pot and do weed now. lets just slap him on the hand and let him go. makes perfect sense. now im a notre dame fan, but i still think that was good punishment. he'll be back next year to prove he is really sorry.
This is more than the crime and the punishment. Kyle has admitted to his "major mistake" time and again, and feels that he undoubtedly deserved to be punished. He also was told-guaranteed-that he'd be allowed to attend classes this semester. What was up in the air was if he would be allowed to compete this semester. This took everyone by shock. FYI, Kyle gave an interview that was aired in Staten Island this evening. Not that this is news, but he'll be reapplying to ND for the fall semester, in part because he'll be able to play immediately, in part because of the quality of education, and MOSTLY out of loyalty to Coach Brey, who flew to NY last Saturday to meet with the McAlarneys.
Questions: does every student found "illegally" in possession of alcohol on/off campus get suspended? Was every priest/bishop/cardinal found to have molested a child - or covered it up - punished? Let those without sin cast the first stone. The kid should transfer and score 30 points when he competes against Notre Dame. How much money did the school make on this kid?
Notre Dame moved as quickly as possible in this case. McAlarney enterned into a pretrial diversion on Jan 16. It would be wrong for the school to punish Kyle until they knew that he was in fact guilty. He received exactly the same treatment as any student at Notre Dame would. He came to Notre Dame to receive a Notre Dame education, which includes a drug policy that sets people up for success in life, not basketball. If Kyle is drafted one round later because of this, but becomes a better role model through it, the punishment will have been valuable.