“Andrew played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play.”

Thanks to readers Ari and John for these stories related to Andrew Giuliani suing Duke University over coach O.D. Vincent dismissing the senior from the golf team.

Ellis Henican in Newsday:

Late yesterday, his attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in North Carolina, contending the university has violated its obligations to him as a student-athlete and demanding he be invited back to Duke's state-of-the-art golf-training facility.

It's obviously been a tense few months on campus.

On Feb. 11, the lawsuit says, men's golf coach "O.D. Vincent announced to the team that he was unilaterally canceling Andrew's eligibility to participate in the University's Athletics Program immediately and indefinitely. Andrew and his teammates were shocked. Andrew had no prior notice of what was about to happen. At no time was Andrew ever given an opportunity to defend himself; instead he was summarily dismissed."

Dan Slater posts these details on the WSJ's blog. Unfortunately for Vincent, it reads like satire.

The suit claims that incidents of misconduct that Vincent cited in his reasons for expelling Giuliani were not appropriate reasons for expulsion, such as:

    •    On Feb. 2 Giuliani flipped his putter a few feet to his golf bag.

    •    On Feb. 3, Giuliani leaned over his driver and it broke, and “in O.D. Vincent’s telling, this became ‘throwing and breaking’ a club.”

    •    On Feb. 3, Giuliani walked ahead of his playing partner at Treyburn Golf Course and later that day “gunned the engine” of his car and “drove fast while leaving the golf course parking lot.”

    •    On Feb. 4, during a golf-team football game, “Andrew played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play.”

    •    On Feb. 10, while Giuliani was eating an apple, a teammate twice hit the golfer’s hand and knocked the fruit to the ground. After that same teammate “slammed a door hitting Andrew’s face,” Giuliani “tossed the apple at a teammate, glancing off the side of his face.”

Comments

[Raider Fan]

Oh boy. Just what the press needs and golf. It's going to be a long year.

[jason]

How nice does UCLA sound right about now?

[NRH]

This kind of stuff happened on the first day of try-outs for our high school golf team. Of course you would have to replace "flipped" with "helicoptered", "fruit" with "cigarette" and "parking lot" with "the 6th fairway".

[KS]

A college golfer being a little tempermental isn't reason for dismissal. Sounds to me that it's more like his teammates and coach can't stand him and they were looking for justification to run him.

[frank D]

puh leeze,

of course this isn't the whole story, from both sides, but why couldn't this be kept between the parties involved ?

[Papa Bing]

Once a brat, always a brat. Grow up Andrew. Rudy should have given him a little discipline.

[CGaskins]

It's Duke, what did you expect?

[Lynn S.]

On another internet post I read that when asked if he should be reinstated, 5 players objected. If one player is that disruptive, then he doesn't realize he is a part of a team and shouldn't be.

[ArdmoreAri]

I love this story and your posts!

I hate spoiled brats and as a Terp I hate Duke!

[Jason B]

Giuliani's kid is a spoiled brat?

This is Jason's lack of surprise.

[Linus]

I don't doubt that they didn't like the guy and were searching for a way to get rid of him. But, come on, be upfront about it, don't make up ridiculous reasons like "he flipped his putter towards his bag". You harm the merit of your own cause.

I see this a lot. Employee is a jerk, makes everyone else uncomfortable. Instead of saying, "hey, Bill, it's just not working out, you're fired," they try too hard to search for "real" reasons to fire him and end up looking like they're stretching, which they are.

Is being on the Duke golf team "at-will"?

[felonious freddy]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? One should remember that Rudy Giuliani was the prosecutor who went after Ivan Boesky the arbitrageur and Mike Milken the cheating dog billionaire junk bond king and got 'em good, no?

Rudy did discipline him and taught him well

"Son, there's always a legal solution."

......... I am sure there are two sides to this one.

[Lynn S.]

Is being on the Duke golf team "at-will"?

Probably not when one can afford a good lawyer.

[Double Secret Probation]

Where are the lawsuits from the other kids who were also kicked off the team? One of them is a member at my club, I met him the other day at a local golf shop (range where my daughter was taking lessons), and he was a very nice, well-mannered kid.

[Pete the Luddite]

IMHO, scholarships are awards and they are privileges. You should be honored to receive one, and live up to the standard expected of one being provided a gift and an opportunity. This is particularly so when one considers that this kid's parents could likely have afforded a Duke education without an athletic scholarship handout.

As someone who went through college on a full scholarship, I felt the responsibility of being given that award and strove to demonstrate that the university's belief in me was merited.

Unfortunately, it appears to be a growing problem that kids don't appreciate the opportunities with which they are presented.

As someone who lives in the heart of Duke Country (note: I hate Duke...Friends Don't Let Friends Root for Duke...), this has gotten little attention beyond an article in the local paper. Hopefully, it will quickly fade away and we can concentrate on bigger issues in NC.... like whether NC State or UNC will stink more at football this year!!!!

[Steve Wozeniak]

I hear he was 12th on the team and he wanted to trim it down, why not say that!!??

[Chema]

Rudy Giuliani is a criminal who persecuted the heroic Michael Milken. His son sounds almost as bad.

[John McD]

Good for Andrew. If he wasn't Giuliani no one would care and he probably couldn't get a lawyer to handle this case but the reality is kids in all college sports are regularly screwed by coaches for many reasons. The coach probably was trying to get rid of him and give the scholarship to someone else. This is common with new coaches who want their own players and it is upper classmen who usually get washed out. It is time college administrators act with integrity and in the best interests of student athletes and set coaches straight.

[P. Mason]

John McD, this sort of suit is often referred to as frivolous.

There was no scholarship. He was a walk-on.

The "Contract" of $200,000, referred to in the suit, is what he or his family expected to pay for four years of student tuition, fees, etc., at Duke.
As we all know, attendance is a year-by-year situation, dependent on grades and behavior.

It should be obvious that there was not a scholarship offer, so the plaintiff chose to go the student walk-on route, which I think is to his credit.

But misconstruing student enrollment and walk-on with "contract" to play on a team is silly.

I suspect the late Coach Myers was lenient with walk-ons, and the new coach isn't.

Upheaval is not uncommon with coaching changes. The plaintiff was a victim in this team reorganization, but I don't see anything illegal.

The school may want to look at the "team rules" latitude it currently affords its coaches.

[CBell]

"Paging Senator Specter. Paging Senator Specter..."

[F. X.]

I deeply and importantly don't care.