St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said he plans to ask Marquette to release senior guard Tyshawn Taylor from his Letter of Intent now that Tom Crean is set to take over the Indiana job.
“I would like the opportunity to have him released from his scholarship in the event that we don’t like who’s hired,” Hurley said Tuesday night after his team was honored at the 76ers-Nets game for winning the New Jersey Tournament of Champions.
Hurley said he had already received phone calls from Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech inquiring about Taylor, a first-team All-State selection who averaged 15 points in two T of C games. The 6-foot-3 Taylor, ranked No. 21 among point guards in the Class of 2008, initially chose Marquette over Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Kansas was also involved.
“They (Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech) would be right there because there’s a comfort level,” Hurley said. “He visited both of those places.”
Hurley said both Rutgers and Seton Hall were probably set at the point guard position for next year, and he did not expect them to be in the mix. Additionally, rules prohibit a player from signing a Letter of Intent with a second school from the same conference after a first Letter has been signed.
Hurley said Taylor was understandably “confused” about the situation with Marquette, and that Taylor had initially chosen Marquette because of Crean.
“Yes, he liked the school but there’s no doubt that the decision was based on Tom Crean,” Hurley said.
“It came as a big surprise,” Taylor said of the Crean news.
Crean had not called Taylor as of Tuesday night, and Hurley explained that the coach would probably first meet with his Marquette players and then inform recruits.
Hurley, the Naismith Boys High School National Coach of the Year, added that it was “ridiculous” that coaches were permitted to change schools, but that teenage student-athletes were bound to their Letters of Intent. Some student-athletes, such as Devin Ebanks of St. Thomas More, apparently had provisions in their Letters of Intent allowing them to escape if there was a coaching change. Ebanks is looking at Rutgers, Memphis, Texas and West Virginia now that Kelvin Sampson is out at Indiana after repeated recruiting violations.
“This thing of a National Letter of Intent binding a minor is absolutely ridiculous,” Hurley said.
Hurley said he planned to attend the Final Four this weekend and speak to some people there to learn more about the Marquette situation.
“I’m going to find out what the feeling is about what Marquette will do,” Hurley said.
Asked if Marquette still had a chance to keep Taylor, Hurley said: “They’re going to have to re-recruit him. I’m going to have to really know this guy (the new coach) well.”
