Who is this Nichole?

[Orangeyes]

I was introduced to the hypocrisy very quickly at Syracuse University by observing my future wife but then girlfriend Nichole. She played for the women’s team, but before landing at Syracuse University, she was into doing commercials, TV shows, print ads etcetera. She shot a commercial with Frosted Flakes where she was playing basketball with Tony The Tiger.

Well, the commercial grossed over $100,000, but she was not allowed to keep the money because that would have made her ineligible to play at Syracuse. The irony in this is that she could have played for her own education, but instead had to donate it to charity and be a broke “student-athlete”.

Then, before her senior year, after her third knee surgery, the Syracuse specialist Dr. Raphael told her that if she wanted to be able to walk without a cane and play with her kids in the future she needed to stop playing basketball. Nichole was devastated because as athletes we are programmed to run through walls and ignore pain and never quit, but after much convincing from the people who actually cared about her – mostly her mother – Nichole made the right decision. However, this was to the displeasure of the coaching staff.

Then head coach Mariana Freeman, Felisha Legette and the rest of the staff of Syracuse women’s basketball program began a crusade to take Nichole’s scholarship away because, after all, if you can no longer play what good are you to them. Nichole actually had to get a lawyer and threaten to sue then Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel and the entire University in order to keep her scholarship for her senior year.

The reason why this happened?

They do not care.

The rest of the story

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Nichole Oliver.

http://www.suathletics.com/news/2010/9/4/Thomas9.5.10.aspx

 

[Gabjon]

nicole

 

[PeteCalvin]

Is this the reason that Etan Thomas never seems to associate himself with the SU program? Is he close to JB? He's like the one big name guy that you never see come back for games, events, etc. I always thought that was strange. I know he has a racial edge to him, but I could never quite figure why he stopped showing his face around SU.

 

[HoustonCuse]

If they truly didn't care, wouldn't they have encouraged her to continue playing and hidden the consequences?

 

[bevosu]

Thomas makes some good points..he always has.

 

[All4SU]

Well, the commercial grossed over $100,000, but she was not allowed to keep the money ...

My question is, How does a commercial "gross over $100,000? Are people paying to see commercials now and no one told me? Did the article mean to imply that nicole thomas was being paid $100,000 for her appearance in the commercial? (That would seem to be an astronomical amount for a "nobody" to make for a commercial.)

 

[bevosu]

He probably means that the advertising company made some money on it.

 

[All4SU]

He probably means that the advertising company made some money on it.

I'm thinking a national spot for Frosted Flakes routinely costs more than $100,000.

 

[orangenauburn]

Etan has a lot of issues with his time at SU ... a couple of big time disagreements with some of his profs and his perceived miss-treatment as the program grossed massive amounts of money off his play

he likes JB -- and he always makes a lot of valid points, he just had some bad moments at SU that he has yet to get over

 

[bevosu]

I know it's not the most popular view among fans, but I admire guys like Etan and Dave Meggyesy who have the courage to point out some of what they think is wrong with college and pro sports.

Bright well spoken guys...I'm proud that they went to Syracuse University.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Etan Thomas got a free ride for four years and parlyed that to a 10 year NBA career.

Boo. Hoo.

 

[tptcuse]

"A free ride parlayed into a ten year career". That is a shortsighted viewpoint, in my opinion.

 

[Orangeyes]

Is this the reason that Etan Thomas never seems to associate himself with the SU program? Is he close to JB? He's like the one big name guy that you never see come back for games, events, etc. I always thought that was strange. I know he has a racial edge to him, but I could never quite figure why he stopped showing his face around SU.

Ah I did not see that Etan had written that piece, I do now. Ok

 

[cto]

People can make a lot of money from commercials, via residuals, if they continue to be shown. Commercials generally have a basic fee (for the shooting), but participants can make many times that much money if the commercials are shown repeatedly (residuals). I once knew a kid who pretty much put himself through college because of residuals he got from a Jello chocolate pudding commercial he shot with Bill Cosby. http://www.bizparentz.org/residualpayments.html

 

[PeteCalvin]

Etan has a lot of issues with his time at SU ... a couple of big time disagreements with some of his profs and his perceived miss-treatment as the program grossed massive amounts of money off his play

he likes JB -- and he always makes a lot of valid points, he just had some bad moments at SU that he has yet to get over

I can understand that. To this day I won't give my alma mater a minute of my time, much less a donation. They are dead to me. I still think well of some of the professors I had, but the policies the institution has decided to follow since about the mid to late 90's have alienated not only me, but several thousand other alums. Contracts were made and broken. Assets forcibly changed hands. Many alumni lost money and the school has yet to acknowledge or make amends for that fact. They used to call my wife and I twice a year for donations. I told them they still owed me. Now they don't even send their useless propaganda anymore. Last I heard their endowments were low and the sins of the past were finally catching up. They must be waiting for the new batch of alumni to send them money because they essentially pissed away a good percentage of their high-earning alumni base from prior to 1990.

Thank God I have Syracuse University as my adopted alma mater. If I had $1,000,000 to give to the school of my choice, I would give it to Syracuse and then send a letter to my alma mater broadcasting that they weren't even in the Top 100. If I had several million to give, I would call a meeting with the BOT's and demand some changes (pull a T. Boone Pickens). Sorry, I digress...

To Etan I would simply say this: You would not have been drafted and had the opportunity you did were it not for college basketball, and in his case, Syracuse. Yes, the system is hardly perfect or equitable, but they gave him a free education for his time, an education he has used wisely and successfully. The basketball staff helped him develop into the player that was drafted in 2000, and gave him the necessary exposure for 4-years. He may see it as a "slave - master" relationship now, but it was far from. Yeah his wife may have gotten screwed, and he may have had some academic/philosophical run-ins with professors, but he could at least acknowledge the program that helped him get to where he is. Or at least acknowledge the fans who cheered him on during his transformation from an unrefined freshman to a dominant senior. I have always liked and respected Etan, even if I don't subscribe to his politics or views.

 

[Gabjon]

Etan has written several letters/articles that very commentary of the program and the school. I may post a few of them tomorrow if need be. I bleed orange but NO institution is prefect... none! As long as the story if factually accurate I don't see an issue with it.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Etan has written several letters/articles that very commentary of the program and the school. I may post a few of them tomorrow if need be. I bleed orange but NO institution is prefect... none! As long as the story if factually accurate I don't see an issue with it.

No one is saying that any program, even SU, is perfect. This is the first time I ever heard about the specific issues he has with the University. I don't think anyone is knocking him for telling the story.

What he seems to have a problem with is/was the Women's program/staff and some professors, not the Men's program. I completely understand his issue with what happened and holding a grudge, but the women's staff is different now, the leadership at the University is different, etc. And if he truly likes JB and the fans, why not reach out once and awhile? I for one would love to see him at a game, even if it's an away game.

CTO or BillOrange, has he ever attended an SU-GTown game in DC?

I still hold out hope that he will come back someday. Even Jim Brown came back.

 

[cuseincincy]

If they truly didn't care, wouldn't they have encouraged her to continue playing and hidden the consequences?

Sounded to me like they encouraged her to play despite the consequences. Fortunately for her her Dr was honest with her and was not some shill working for the university that put the university interests first.

 

[HOFCeluck]

"A free ride parlayed into a ten year career". That is a shortsighted viewpoint, in my opinion.

The university and the system has been VERY good to Etan Thomas, which is why I don't take his whining very seriously.

 

[Orangeyes]

Now I know the PS reads this board. That was an obscure article that I found.

Former Syracuse basketball player Etan Thomas criticizes 'corrupt' state of college athletics

 

[pfister1]

Sounded to me like they encouraged her to play despite the consequences. Fortunately for her her Dr was honest with her and was not some shill working for the university that put the university interests first.

We should also keep in mind that these are rarely black and white (not meaning to imply a reference to race) issues/decisions. The same person can see three different physicians and get three wildly different opinions. The player may have had a very valid, but conservative opinion, that she not continue playing whereas the University physician may have given a very valid, but less conservative opinion, that she wasn't putting her long term health at risk by playing. If the two doctors were confident enough in their opinions each side could feel like the other side is doing them wrong. The player feels like she is really being asked to ignore her long term well being and put her health at risk and the coaching staff/university feels like the player has decided to give up on the team and pack it in, yet still wants their free ride.

I watched my college roommate/teammate live this situation as a pitcher who had two separate serious arm injuries. By senior year (with an injury RS year already burned) he wanted to be done trying to rehabilitate to try to play again because he felt like his arm would never be "right" if he kept trying to rehabilitate to play in the short window that was his remaining eligibility. The coaches felt like he should continue trying to come back and while they didn't threaten his scholarship they tried to make life miserable for him by requiring him to attend practices he couldn't participate in (at the expense of going to classes) and do work that you might otherwise use athletic department interns (willing participants) to do to "earn" his scholarship.

 

[RandygoCuse]

It may not be fair to force someone to miss classes, but I would be open to the idea of giving athletes responsabilities toward the team if they wish to keep their athletic scholarships but are unable to participate because of injury. I'm not talking about hard labor, but yes maybe some manager's responsabilities.

 

[CusefanATL]

my 2 cents on etan:

1st penny: he is very pro-black. 99% of his thoughts center around the struggle of the black man and how its someone else's fault and how it should be fixed. most make sense. some, are a reach - but 1 thing is for certain he actually believes in everything he says and does it with a good heart. IMO, he has the opportunity to be a rational and respected version of Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson in the future.

2nd penny: He isn't afraid to speak his mind and debate. Although I disagree with some of his beliefs, I always respect him.

side note, last year i saw him in the parking lot of phillips arena and gave him a 'go cuse!' he was with a group of people, but turned and gave me a nice wave.

 

[Eric15]

The university and the system has been VERY good to Etan Thomas, which is why I don't take his whining very seriously.

And likewise, Etan was VERY good to Syracuse University. He's directly responsible for much of the success and revenue of the program in the late 90s.