St. Joseph’s University should be celebrating a long-awaited homecoming victory in the “Holy War” against Villanova. The Hawks beat their archrival in a convincing 74-58 victory, and have begun playing the best basketball since the program produced the likes of Jameer Nelson and Delonte West. However, the week before Christmas has not been a week of celebration at St. Joseph’s, it has been a week of criticism and shame based upon allegations made by Todd O’Brien, a former St. Joe’s basketball player.
Todd O’Brien had played for the past 2 years at St. Joe’s after redshirting his sophomore year due to transfer rules after originally playing at Bucknell in his freshman year. As a result, he found himself at the point of graduation last May, and was seeking grad school. He still had one year of eligibility left, and could have chosen St. Joe’s for grad school, but instead chose the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), and hoped to play there with his final season of eligibility. However, St. Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli, who interviewed with Bob Long Sports earlier this season, has refused to sign the waiver allowing O’Brien to play while in grad school.
Martelli is completely out of line and out of touch with reality by not signing this waiver. First, for basketball reasons, Todd O’Brien wasn’t worth the trouble, and now the decision is clearly producing more problems than benefits. Todd O’Brien is a 7-foot caucasian center who truly has no future in the game of basketball. He is slow, uncoordinated, and is not a tremendous asset on the floor. And Martelli knew this when he decided playing time, as well. Last season for St. Joe’s, O’Brien averaged one point per game in just 7 minutes of play per game. He was the lowest scorer on the team and the 3rd lowest in playing time of any scholarship player at St. Joe’s. Ten players averaged more minutes per game than O’Brien. Why was Martelli so offended and hurt by O’Brien’s decision to leave? The Hawks weren’t losing anything on the court except for one point per game and a few awkward and unsuccessful offensive moves from O’Brien. Phil Martelli should have just let O’Brien walk away from his scholarship and then moved on with his coaching duties.
Second, St. Joseph’s had nothing further academically to offer O’Brien. Todd wanted to get a degree in Real Estate Development, or something similar. St. Joseph’s has nothing close to Real Estate Management in its graduate degree program handbook. As scintillating at International Marketing probably is, it simply isn’t a degree that would help Todd O’Brien, and none of the other degrees offered at SJU would be right, either. UAB has a graduate program in Public Administration, and Todd is currently enrolled in this program, with a focus in Community Development. This isn’t a complicated issue; student athletes enroll in different graduate schools all the time, and many student athletes graduate with eligibility remaining. Most student athletes that do so are athletes that do not have a chance to pursue athletics at the professional level, and as a result want to graduate even if they still have eligibility in order to get their working life started earlier. The fact that Martelli can’t understand this phenomenon, especially when it concerns a player who has no future in the game of basketball or in the St. Joe’s program, shows that he is clearly out of touch with reality and the scope of academics at the university level.
Third, Martelli is simply causing the university and the basketball program much more drama and negative media attention than it needs. According to O’Brien, he went to Phil Martelli personally twice, he went to the Athletic Director Don DiJulia once personally, he went to the NCAA, and sent countless emails in order to move this process forward. He appealed to the NCAA on the grounds that he was a student athlete that needed to be protected, but none of these efforts moved his plea forward; he still needed the waiver from St. Joseph’s. It was only a matter of time before O’Brien went public with his sentiments. Now he has, and has done so in the most effective way possible. He publicized his story in the midst of the holiday season, right before conference play begins, and just as St. Joe’s was hitting its stride after its season-defining victory against Villanova. O’Brien isn’t dumb, he knew exactly when he was releasing this story, and knew to release it to Sports Illustrated, one of the most read and most reputable news sources.
Martelli had to know that this was coming. He had to know that he could not hold off O’Brien forever. He had to know that if he tried to completely cut off communication, then O’Brien would take the next step and tell the world about the injustice that he has been facing. So why make this so difficult, Phil? Martelli has wasted his time and energy to hold an athlete ransom that 1. Rarely played last season 2. Was trying to pursue a graduate education that St. Joe’s didn’t offer and 3. Had the power to publicize a story that had so much downside for the university. All Martelli had to do was sign the waiver release, and none of this ever would have surfaced.
As a contributing alum my first reaction was give the waiver. But there is a loyalty and commitment issue the kid needs to grasp. His alma mater needed him as a practice player. Instead of helping he made it all about Todd. Do you really think Martelli would do this if he did not need the kid? O’Brien should have bailed back in April, not July when it was too late. Law school is probably the best prep for RE Development but they do not have basketball teams. I can not believe this rotten apple is a fellow alum.
Gary, Gary, Gary. You’re talking about practice. Practice. Practice Gary. You’re talking about practice. O’Brien has moved on, why can’t Martelli? I’m certainly glad that NC State did not take this approach in teaching Russell Wilson that he needs to be loyal and committed to the institution. NC State made the correct decision in releasing Wilson and St. Joe’s should have also. St. Joe’s needs to take the high road and stop messing with a kids desire to play basketball at a school where he can receive the education that he can’t elsewhere.
If you think that this is about loyalty and commitment, then you are sorely mistaken. What about all of those kids who “have” to go to college for a year because the NBA mandates these kids wait a year before they are eligible for the NBA draft? Do you think those elite players are loyal to the University that gave them a year of free tuition? Do you believe that these players pay the University back that year of tuition? O’Brien fulfilled his end of the deal by graduating. Should he apologize to St. Joe’s and Martelli for being ambitious for completing his degree and still have a year of eligibility? We are losing sight of what these institutions are for and who they are for, the students.
Unfortunately, if Martelli signs the papers today, it will be too late in saving face with the public. He has tainted his and the University’s reputation by not doing the right thing in the first place.
If I were a basketball recruiter recruiting a player who was also interested in St Joseph’s, I’d be sure he read this story