At Marquette, which he eventually took to the Round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, Kevin O’Neill often heard center Jim McIlvaine talk about quitting as O’Neill developed the 7-footer into a second-round NBA draft choice. At Tennessee, where O’Neill moved next, seven players left in his first year and another four departed in his third. Now at Northwestern, sophomores David Newman and Steve Lepore have been released from their scholarships, and freshmen Brody Deren and Adam Robinson have requested releases as well.
If Deren and Robinson are granted their releases, it will bring to six the number of players who have abandoned O’Neill’s program since last fall. The first to depart was guard Sean Wink, who left before practice began and was followed by center Aron Molnar, who exited after the Wildcats’ Nov. 8 exhibition with the California All-Stars.
That leaves Northwestern with eight scholarship players returning, and two of them–junior guard Jeff Eschmeyer and freshman guard Langston Hughes–had only one minute of playing time each last season. A point guard, Jitim Young of Gordon Tech, has signed to play for the Wildcats next season, and O’Neill reportedly has received a commitment from 6-4 shooting guard Ed McCants of Marion, Ohio.
In addition to the transfers, O’Neill’s program has been hit by a lawsuit filed in the state of Washington by Andrew Coates, now at Penn, who claims O’Neill reneged on a scholarship offer last year. Northwestern Athletic Director Rick Taylor declined to comment on the suit.
The mass exodus follows a 5-25 season in which Northwestern did not win a Big Ten game. Playing freshmen and sophomores almost exclusively, the Wildcats were overmatched physically and emotionally in most of their games.
“Honest to God, every player who ever plays as a freshman or sophomore thinks about quitting. Anyone who says they don’t is lying,” O’Neill said Wednesday. “Our problem is we didn’t have any upperclassmen here to help get them through. We had freshmen and sophomores playing too many minutes. If they were with other Big Ten programs they might not be playing at all. And with playing time, comes responsibility, and some handle that differently than others.” Taylor said he talked with each of the players who are leaving and their reasons “are all over the place.”
“I can’t tell you what they are–I told them I’d honor the confidentiality of what we talked about,” Taylor said. “But, in a nutshell, we wouldn’t be having this conversation if we won. . . . Losing colors everything they do. It colors the taste of their food, their relationships with their girlfriends, their classmates, everything. It eats and eats and eat at you.”
Lepore, a 6-foot-5 forward, started all 30 games and was the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer with 9.2 points a game. Newman, a point guard who had started 29 games as a freshman, began the season as a starter but eventually was replaced. By the end he was playing so little that he didn’t get off the bench in Northwestern’s Big Ten tournament loss to Wisconsin.
Neither Lepore nor Newman could be reached for comment.
Robinson, a 6-foot-10 forward, appeared in 16 games, and averaged 7.1 minutes, 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds. He did not respond to messages left at his dorm room. Deren, a 6-foot-7 forward, started seven games, went out with a broken elbow, then was in and out of the starting lineup after returning Jan. 13.
Of the four, Deren had the most promising future despite ending the season averaging only 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds. He declined to comment Wednesday “because a couple of other things are going on.”
He was referring to the uncertainty of his situation, which is the also the case with Robinson. While Northwestern has granted Lepore and Newman their releases and they are free to transfer, the freshmen are still waiting.
“In all honesty, I said no to them,” Taylor said. “I said I’d release them in June after they fulfill their [one-year] commitment.
“They’re going to talk to Kevin in the next day or two, and if he feels we should release them now, we’ll release them now. But I feel strongly the kid made a commitment for a year and we made a commitment for a year and we both should honor it.
“I feel they’re making their decisions too close to an emotional experience. I’d like them to experience a semester when basketball isn’t the focal point.”
O’Neill said he’ll meet with Deren and Robinson, but stopped well short of saying he’d try to persuade them to stay.
“I am going to sit down and talk to them, but I’m not into holding people back from opportunities they want to pursue,” he said.
O’Neill, who coached for five years at Marquette and three at Tennessee, has been on the job for three years at Northwestern. Recent speculation has him interested in a job as an NBA assistant.
“I’ve asked Kevin point blank,” Taylor said. “He’s committed to the program. He looked me in the eye and said he’d turn it around. I believe him . . .
“It’s been tough. But in a way we saw some of it coming. And I’ve talked to the others who are staying. They’re neat kids and they understand success doesn’t come without a struggle.”
Said O’Neill: “I’m not going to change. I know how to coach. It’s how I’ve coached for 11 years. I’m not a guy who loses confidence easily.”
