RebKell's Junkie Boards

[dtsnms]

Sophomore guard Jen Harris was informed Sunday that she and two other players would not be part of the 2005-06 Penn State women's basketball team.

Coach Rene Portland told her team following its loss to Liberty in the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday that three players would not be returning to the team, according to Pearl Harris, who was informed of the situation by her daughter Jen Harris.

Portland could not be reached for comment last night.

The three guards met with Portland individually in the team's hotel and were then told they would be dismissed, Pearl Harris said.

The Patriot-News (Harrisburg) is reporting in today's editions that the other two players were Lisa Etienne and Amber Bland, and that Etienne confirmed the sequence of events. Etienne also told The Patriot-News that she is not currently exploring a transfer and plans to meet with Penn State coaches to discuss her future with the program.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2005/03/03-23-05tdc/03-23-05dsports-10.asp

[Gaucho Don]

Yeah something smells with that whole situation... why would a coach let the leading returning scorer go (or force them out?) and why in the world was it so urgent that she couldn't wait to get back to campus to do it?

I mean I could understand a coach wanting to let the players know as soon as reasonably possible so the players could have as much time to research transfer options as possible, but realistically, waiting til they got back to campus would have been reasonable.

[pilight]

[dtsnms]

[FeFi]

When it comes to Rene Portland, I don't trust her motives or instincts to begin with so unless these 3 players were true cancers to the team (and how often is it that 3 players could be so rotten to warrant dismissal?), I tend to err on the side of thinking RP's got something personal going on here. And as much as I think coaches have the right to make these kinds of decisions, I hate when we have to guess and speculate.

[Admiral_Needa]

[OldMan]

Hello - new to the board. I found it from a link on Women's Hoops Blog to the Liberty/Rene Portland/homophobe thread. Until I read that I did not know about RP's attitude toward lesbians. Then I heard about these dismissals, and when she says "that they would be best suited to find other programs in which to play.", it's not hard to make a possible connection. I think that's what FeFi was alluding to.

Obviously I have no factual basis to assume this is true. I know it is common for coaches release players from their scholarships. But three at the same time, and one is the leading returning scorer?? It just seems fishy (no horribly inappropriate pun intended).

[womens_hoops]

I hate sticking up for Rene, but I really doubt that these players were dismissed because they were lesbians. The players would complain and Rene would be promptly fired.

Seems like Rene dismissed them because of some combination of: they weren't playing well, they weren't trying hard enough, they were causing problems in the lockerroom, they may have broken some team rules, etc. We'll probably know a lot more by the end of the week.

My guess:

Rene knows they'll be terrible next year anyway. So she cleans house, frees up a lot of scholarships, and starts rebuilding.

Just a hunch. We'll see what comes out.

[OldMan]

That makes sense, unless they have some very compelling reason to stay in the closet. But that's unlikely - you explanation is probably close to the truth.

[CamrnCrz1974]

Rene Portland's actions deserve a

[bluewolfvii]

That makes sense, unless they have some very compelling reason to stay in the closet.

Have you spent any time at Penn State or travelling the surrounding localities in Central PA? There are some very compelling reasons.

[womens_hoops]

[CamrnCrz1974]

Maybe Etienne was officiating over the ceremony...