Utah has asked Harvard-Westlake senior Josh Hearlihy for a release from its scholarship obligation, according to a news release from Harvard-Westlake.
The 6-foot-7 Hearlihy missed 14 games this past season because of a non-surgical treatment for a condition related to growing too quickly. He returned for the final six games.
"I was very excited about going to Utah when I signed my Letter of Intent in November," Hearlihy said in a statement. "However, the coaching staff has reconsidered their commitment to me and has asked to be released from their obligation. I turned down scholarship offers and stopped exploring other options when I signed.
"Given the situation at Utah, I’m concerned about putting myself in an environment where I'm not wanted. It is still my dream to play college basketball and I will continue to work hard every day to make that dream a reality."
Hearlihy could sign with another Division I program or attend a prep school in the fall.
-- Eric Sondheimer
That is a harsh reality of the recruiting world.
Posted on 4/11 6:46 PM | IP: Logged
Players back out of commitments all of the time. It may not be good business or fair (to the player) for that matter, but it would appear that Hearlihy was recruited over in the same recruiting cycle. It happens every year, but rarely in the same cycle. You can bet that Pac 12 coaches will bring this up when vying for a player who is considering Utah vs. their school. Best of luck to Josh, he will land safely. There are over 330 D1 players transfering this year alone (see the entire list below (as of yesterday's update):
He was recruited over and it didn't help that he was injured and missed a month and a half of the season. I was talking to a Pac 12 coach about that yesterday and he said the echoed the exact same sentiment regarding other coaches and negative recruiting.
Jeff Goodman does a great job with that list every year and now the numbers are record high he has said. One thing that stood out to me was USF-U of San Francisco had 6 guys transfer and they didn't have a coaching change and had there best season in years .
Posted on 4/15 3:31 PM | IP: Logged
I noticed the exact same movement @ USF! Including Mikey from Taft, who was a three year starter. Something is foul...
Posted on 4/16 7:47 AM | IP: Logged
It's being reported that Josh Hearlihy will attend Northfield Mount Hermon (Massachusetts) next fall along with teammate Zena Edosomwan who has committed to Harvard.
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