Re: Boston University 2011-2012 Season Thread: Part III: Now What?
While I get what you're saying, what really frosts my cookies is that he was there to go to school and play hockey. If the team was not meeting his needs from a hockey perspective, that's one thing. To me it does not give him the right to shut down academically. Go to ****ing class and do the work. If you want to leave because you feel that you're not progressing and you want to focus on hockey, then leave before the season starts. Why subject yourself to suffering through classwork? If you make the decision to go back to school and play, then GO TO SCHOOL. As others here (and you yourself) have posted, there are resources available for student athletes that are better than for regular students. There is no excuse to shut down academically.
This.
From what I know from Parker, Coyle, and those close to Coyle at school, Coyle would have been able participate as a player on next semester's team. I don't know exactly how bad his grades were, but I know he didn't do much to fix whatever was wrong. I heard at the end of October/early November that Coyle's family was trying to encourage him to use the tutoring at his disposal. I know for a fact that Coyle took one of his finals early without seemingly studying for it and did not pay attention in class, instead choosing to watch game film or fool around on his computer. If his grades were an issue, there is no sign that he was putting the necessary effort in to remedy the situation. Whatever academic issues Coyle had was on him. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
There are a lot of things people can blame Parker for concerning this team, but it isn't Parker's fault that Coyle abandoned his teammates halfway through the season. Coyle should have known at the end of last season if school was too difficult to manage on top of hockey. He should have known at the end of last year exactly what playing system BU employs, and if that didn't fit his game, he had a full year of it under his belt to determine this summer that BU was not the route for him. Coyle was also likely going to leave at the end of this season. Therefore, instead of sticking it out for six more months, Coyle chose to abandon the teammates that he committed to playing with when he chose to return this season.
It was also unbelievably rude of him to not tell Clendening before the media approached him at the airport what was going on. According to Coyle himself, Coyle made the decision to leave BU by the week after Thanksgiving. This isn't something that was decided on last minute. He informed Parker before getting on the plane to World Juniors that he wouldn't be back. I can understand not wanting to tell the media what was going on - Parker said Coyle wanted to keep it quiet until after the tournament - but that doesn't mean you don't tell your roommate and travel partner what is going on.
Coyle was one of the players that I personally knew best on the team. I always thought of him as a polite, well-behaved, generally good guy. Coyle is not interested in bringing random girls back to his room or acting like an entitled brat in public like some hockey players do. He doesn't drink, only went out to bars when his teammates would beg him to come, and he'd always get water. He's pretty shy and takes the team's failures (and his own) very personally. He still refuses to talk about the Beanpot last season because he's so embarrassed, and he turns red whenever you ask him about a turnover or a mistake during a game. For him to abandon his team and treat his teammates like this, to me, is very disappointing.
If it turns out Saint John is better for his development, great. The way he handled the situation however, shows me that he could still learn a thing or two about what commitment means and how to better respect your teammates.
