This is sad. I guess I was just refusing to believe that this could be about friction with her coaches, but now it is clear. You folks who doubted my belief that this was about academic reasons were correct. There is nothing in those three choices that indicate this is a decision based on a grad school. However, everyone who felt this was about the lack of scholarships and a prior commitment to Anna Wilson were also proved wrong by the Moschkau transfer. That leaves only one explanation--something was not right in the Carrington/coaching relationship.
Couple that with Tara's comments earlier this year in a pre game radio interview that "I'm not a fan of grad transfers, I think players should show loyalty."
And couple that with Carrington sitting out most of this season--far beyond any obvious injury we fans could detect that seemed to persist. Of course, we are not her doctors.
And couple that with the almost paranoid increase in coaches refusing to talk about player health and offering brusque or rude answers when asked.
Couple that with Dodson's behavior and statement that she was coming back this season "because she wanted to play with Nadia" before Nadia graduated --as if it should be a player decision whether or not they are going to play (when they are healthy.)
And then the kicker--Stanford with Carrington is probably just as likely to win a national championship next year as the three schools she is contemplating--MORE likely than Oregon, surly. If this were ONLY about going out with a championship, there is no particular reason for her to transfer.
No smoking gun is there, but it all adds up to me. Something went wrong in that relationship and I imagine Tara has known since last fall that Carrington was leaving. Perhaps Carrington was not injured for a significant part of the year, and Tara expected her to come back and expend her eligibility as Dodson did, and Carrington refused. Just a guess, but a plausible one.
In general, I think grad transfers are really, really at odds with Tara's coaching style. Stanford is never going to GET grad transfers into the WBB program, and we are increasingly SENDING grad transfers to other places. The fact that our players take so many summer courses and come in with AP credits means many of them are going to be eligible to graduate in 3 years--cashing in on that 40 year degree without having to honor a four year commitment. So it is more of an option than ever before.
The injury situation has compounded matters. It used to be that coaches had to be restrained from pushing players to play before they were fully healed. But now the situation could be reversed. Players sometimes have incentives NOT to play even when they ARE fully healed. At a place like Stanford where the degree is so valuable, players could make strategic decisions not to play even when they can, using long-healed injuries as excuses. Not saying that I know that is what happened in this case--but it is easy to see how the system is ripe for abuse.
I will miss Carrington as a player. I missed Lili Thompson as a player. Marta Sniezek was probably not as badly missed as a player, although given how popular she was as a person she must have been missed as a teammate. But her situation seems to have been quite parallel to Carrington's. Was she really injured all her senior year? Who believes that?
We have now glimpsed the rise of free-agency in WBB, and I have to say I don't like what I see.
As far as where I hope Carrington goes, I just hope it is not Oregon. I don't want to have to play against her--ever if possible--but certainly not 2-3 times. Each time would break my heart a little. At least we never had to play against Lili or Marta.
Couple that with Tara's comments earlier this year in a pre game radio interview that "I'm not a fan of grad transfers, I think players should show loyalty."
And couple that with Carrington sitting out most of this season--far beyond any obvious injury we fans could detect that seemed to persist. Of course, we are not her doctors.
And couple that with the almost paranoid increase in coaches refusing to talk about player health and offering brusque or rude answers when asked.
Couple that with Dodson's behavior and statement that she was coming back this season "because she wanted to play with Nadia" before Nadia graduated --as if it should be a player decision whether or not they are going to play (when they are healthy.)
And then the kicker--Stanford with Carrington is probably just as likely to win a national championship next year as the three schools she is contemplating--MORE likely than Oregon, surly. If this were ONLY about going out with a championship, there is no particular reason for her to transfer.
No smoking gun is there, but it all adds up to me. Something went wrong in that relationship and I imagine Tara has known since last fall that Carrington was leaving. Perhaps Carrington was not injured for a significant part of the year, and Tara expected her to come back and expend her eligibility as Dodson did, and Carrington refused. Just a guess, but a plausible one.
In general, I think grad transfers are really, really at odds with Tara's coaching style. Stanford is never going to GET grad transfers into the WBB program, and we are increasingly SENDING grad transfers to other places. The fact that our players take so many summer courses and come in with AP credits means many of them are going to be eligible to graduate in 3 years--cashing in on that 40 year degree without having to honor a four year commitment. So it is more of an option than ever before.
The injury situation has compounded matters. It used to be that coaches had to be restrained from pushing players to play before they were fully healed. But now the situation could be reversed. Players sometimes have incentives NOT to play even when they ARE fully healed. At a place like Stanford where the degree is so valuable, players could make strategic decisions not to play even when they can, using long-healed injuries as excuses. Not saying that I know that is what happened in this case--but it is easy to see how the system is ripe for abuse.
I will miss Carrington as a player. I missed Lili Thompson as a player. Marta Sniezek was probably not as badly missed as a player, although given how popular she was as a person she must have been missed as a teammate. But her situation seems to have been quite parallel to Carrington's. Was she really injured all her senior year? Who believes that?
We have now glimpsed the rise of free-agency in WBB, and I have to say I don't like what I see.
As far as where I hope Carrington goes, I just hope it is not Oregon. I don't want to have to play against her--ever if possible--but certainly not 2-3 times. Each time would break my heart a little. At least we never had to play against Lili or Marta.