More on News and Record transfers

We have mentioned many of the transfers that showed up in Robert Bell’s Sunday N&R front page feature. The Zach Maynard and Keenan Allen brotherhood was first talked about here at GREENSBOROSports.com. We also talked in detail earlier in the season about James Scales III and Stefan Shepherd. Maynard/Allen going to Grimsley from Eastern Guilford, Scales to Grimsley from Northeast Guilford, and Shepherd to Grimsley from Page.

Dennis Jenkins at Dudley from Southern Guilford was also discussed here and on AM950 radio. The N&R did not mention James Hinson Jr. that came to Grimsley from Page. I am now wondering about this young man Robert Wadelington at Page, did he used to be at Smith?

Sean Ples, a freshman at Northwest Guilford, attended Kernodle Middle School and was supposed to be at Western Guilford this year. Sean’s brother Josh Ples plays for Western and they went against each other earlier in the season. Both Ples brothers scored touchdowns in the same game for opposite teams.

Matt Nettesheim was a baseball player and a good one for Northwest Guilford last year and he will suit up for Grimsley this season. You could almost write a book on all the moves that have gone on in basketball in recent years and the best case might Ishmael Hinson who was at Grimsley then went to Smith, and ended up at Northeast Guilford for his last two years. Sam Grooms started hoops at Smith as a freshman and then made his way to Northeast and later ended up at a prep school in Virginia.

Maynard, Allen, Will Newman, James Perry(formerly of the Dudley Academy and early college at NC A&T) Shane Moore( lineman transferred to Northeast) and another kid now an all-conference lineman(Lin Cheek) at Ragsdale all should have been at Eastern Guilford. I had this confirmed when I spoke to Eastern Guilford coach Scott Loosemoore before his game with Southern Guilford last Friday night. Quarterback Will Newman now at Page is the Metro 4-A conference offensive Player of the Year. All of the above should have been at Eastern Guilford. Smith coach Jon Oakley said his school was getting hurt, but Eastern is getting killed. You gotta hope Eastern doesn’t lose fine junior QB Jason Davis or RB Gerrod Herbin before next year.

Robert Bell brought up many good examples, but what we are talking about here is, that with the space allowed he obviously could not mention them all. The Big Picture shows Eastern Guilford has been getting killed with the all the players leaving or refusing to attend EG in the first place.

There are many more out there and if you know of some of the cases we have not mentioned here let us know and if you feel like we are wrong in any of our names or schools we need to hear about that too.

Two more cases and I will close it down for today. You may not know about these but Dudley AD Joe Goddette’s son played football and basketball for Kernodle Middle and now attends the Dudley Academy and plays basketball for Dudley. Probably fits the family schedule better with travel and the like. Northern Guilford’s fine young QB Rocky Scarfone was at Kernodle and was set to attend Western Guilford according to the attendance zones but he ended up at the new Northern Guilford as a Nighthawk instead.
*****I failed to mention earlier that Terrance Hoskins also completed the tri-fecta just like I. Hinson did. Hoskins started his basketball career at Eastern Guilford, moved on to Page and then finished up at Smith and played guard on all three teams. Tim Southern whom we mentioned out of the gate only did a double-double going from Smith to Page after Hoskins arrived at Smith and there is other talk that Southern later went back to Smith but he and Hoskins have both moved on now.*****

22 thoughts on “More on News and Record transfers

  1. Didn’t Page go after and bring in Haywood Jeffries to their school back in the 80’s and what about CC Whitfield and Danny Manning? Whitfield had a brother Fred that went to Southeast Guilford and was Manning living in the Page district?
    CC and a guy named Wyatt Smith were guards on some pretty good Page teams and we all know what Manning and Jeffries did.

    Didn’t Page lose a back named Cameron Booker to Ragsdale a few years back and it seems there was a defensive end that left when Booker did and he also went to Ragsdale.

    If I remember right there was a problem with High Point Central over some boys basketball transfers for and the girls coach at Central got in some hot water too over a young lady that came over from Northwest Guilford.

    I had heard a few years back when Dudley won their boys state basketball title that 3 of their 5 starters were transfers.

    There seems to be a lot of that transferring going around. Mr. Bell has opened up a large can of worms.

  2. John Robinson of the N&R has mentioned at greensboro101.com that more is coming on the topic of transfers and he is crediting greensborosports.com for some of the info that is hitting the fan. I spoke with Tony Rustin of Page and the Page football team today and he told me that the Pirates shut down the Independence running game early and that Independence killed by them by way of the air. Tony is a good kid, his cousin is DeMario Pressley of Duldey and NC State and TR is only a soph at Page. I hope he stays there.

    The West Charlotte QB that will face Grimsley on Friday threw for over 5oo yards against Independence and he had thrown for 46 TD’s going into last Friday night’s game that WC won 37-7.

    Danny Manning lived behind where Hugo’s is now on Lawandale Drive and he was in the Page district and I know some people that lived in the same apartment he did. You may remember his dad Ed Manning was an over the road trucker and a former ABA player with the Carolina Cougars.

    CC Whitfield was supposed to be at SEG and his brother Fred, Michael Jordan’s good buddy Fred went to SEG.

    Jeffries was from the projects down around Murrow Blvd.

  3. I will tell you how to solve the problem. Ebvery school offer the same classes. If that don’t work let the trensfers transfer but not let them in athletics or extracuriicular activities and see how many transfer. Everyone knows that most transfer for athletics and not academics. Take the sports away from them and see how imoportant academics are. The school board has to crack down on this before it gets way out of hand.

  4. What schools and coaches are guilty of recruiting? What can they do to stop it? Coaches must be ethical.

  5. No one has mentioned Northern Guilford’s basketball team. Frye is supposed to be at Ragsdale, played at Central last year and has now followed the coach to Northern. Their big freshman lives in another county. They are the best team of freshmen and sophomores money can buy. There is a guard at Northeast who was a freshman at Page, then went to Smith for two years and is now at NEG. Page’s starting point guard from last year is also at NEG. Gene Banks has brought in a kid from Thomasville.

  6. Dudley, Northeast, and Northern are the worst recruiters now. Dudley has had tons of players from out of district. Smith’s football coach was complaining about all the kids they lose to Dudley. Northeast has Page’s starting point guard from last year along with Smith’s starting point guard. Northern has kids from other counties playing for them. They also have a kid who is supposed to be at Ragsdale but played for Northern’s coach last year when he was at Central and is now at Northern. Kids over there who are supposed to go to school there aren’t even tryig out because they have brought in so many players.

  7. If ypu are smart enough to get into an Academy or an IB program and stay in it all 4 yrs what is the problem.If you drop out them you should go back to your home school or not be allowedto play sports.But in the Maynard case the AD is not doing his job.As far as Smith is concerned does he want to win or get kids educated.The Academy standards are far higher than Smith

  8. All these articles have done is stir up a big mess. Why don’t we just focus on the sports no matter who shows up to play the coaches have to get the teams ready. If a coach treats his players right then the kids are going to want to play for him.
    The coaches need to work harder and help these kids and they won’t be looking to go anywhere else.

  9. In case you missed it in the above content:

    *****I failed to mention earlier that Terrance Hoskins also completed the tri-fecta just like I. Hinson did. Hoskins started his basketball career at Eastern Guilford, moved on to Page and then finished up at Smith and played guard on all three teams.*****

    The Tri-fecta Transfer is a rare accomplishment.

    Tim Southern only got the double-double, Smith to Page but there was talk that he later went back to Smith.

  10. Northeast and Dudley are in a whole different league than Northern. Northern has no academy, IB or special classes. You have to have an address in the district or be approved by Doyle Craven in order to play there. For the record, Frye’s family moved to Summerfield. Get your facts straight.

  11. I would like to know how students with sub par grades in regular classes can be admitted into the IB programs or any of the other college prep programs that are supposed to be more difficult? How does it make sense for a student to be failing the average class to be able to get into what is supposed to be an elite program?

  12. Why don’t the coaches that are being negatively affected protest to the county ad.
    Ask for an investigation by the school board and put these people back in the right schools. How can out of county students come into our county and choose where they want to go ?

  13. His father works at Northern and they just bought a house in the district. Again, get your facts straight before you make false accusations. Northern doesn’t have to recruit, they have great coaches and will have great programs as they get older.

  14. But has there been school transfers for years amongst athletes. The transfers spoken about at Grimsley was not necessarily playing for the Whirlies. For many of these parents, it is about academics. Since when has it been a wrong to want your child to have the best educational opportunities. Many of the players that were named in part I of the paper at Grimsley have good to great academic standing. It is not just about playing sports it is about getting a good education in hopes that the top colleges/universities will offer scholarships. Instead of hating on these schools for sports excellence, lets talk about the academics. Grimsley’s starting 5 girls basketball team, all just signed with universities all with scholarships. Coach, what are sub-par grades. Trust me in that if you are speaking of the Grimsley or even the Smith programs, you cannot get into the programs with subpar grades, it will not happen. Because in the end the students must maintain the required grades in order to be in these prep programs and the Administration along with the coaching staff, regulates it.

  15. One thing that should be considered is that just because a student may have transfered and that student may be an athlete, does not mean the child transfered for athletics. A child may have been transfered for any number of reasons and then choose to try-out for a sports team.

  16. Oddly, no one has mentioned that Kevin Gillespie brought his nephew with him from Randolph Co. for his (Gillespie’s) first season at Page. Gillespie choose to “start” his nephew as quarterback, instead of Will Newman, despite the fact that his nephew had not practiced due to an injury involving a cast. The cast was removed mere days before the first game and Will was replaced as the starting quarterback. Interestingly, the nephew is not at Page this year and Will has been allowed to shine, something that Gillespie now seems to want to take all the credit for.

  17. Robert Bell’s article “Era of Free Agents” is disturbing on many levels. I have addressed my concerns to Mr. Bell and he has encouraged me to write a letter to the editor.

    Firstly, I find it unusual that Mr. Bell was on campus to interview the students without an adult present. Both my son and the student interviewed at the same time as he, feel their comments were taken out of context. Had an adult have been present, there would have been someone other than the two students there to confirm this. As it stands the reporter has the upper hand. Since the story is better with the boys’ comments as written, the reporter will of course stand by his story. Due to the nature of the story, if the students attempt to defend and/or correct their comments, it could be viewed as them changing their stories; because their stories are different from that of their parents. If the story stands as written, the boys, their parents, and the school system can be viewed as seeking and approving a transfer for athletic reasons. Either way the boys lose. Obviously, Mr. Bell has no concern about how this story could affect these young people.

    I have to wonder why Mr. Bell chose to contact parents only after he interviewed the students instead of before.

    Mr. Bell admitted in his conversation with me that he changed the tone and focus of his article between the time he interviewed the boys and when he interviewed me. The boys were lead to believe the article was about the social issues involved with transferring to a new school. Let’s keep in mind these are young people and students, not adults. During the course of the interview, playing football was discussed. My son’s comments, taken out of context, make it seem that he felt he was transferred to Grimsley to play football. This is in no way the case, nor what he said. Mr. Bell appears to have felt content to convey whatever meaning he chose based on phrases he elicited. I understand, from talking with others, that Mr. Bell has the reputation of misquoting interviewees on a frequent basis.

    During the 2006/2007 school year, my son experienced difficulties with several of the coaches and several members of the staff and administration at Page High School. While the initial focus of these problems may have been related in part to football, it was certainly not the reason for our decision to transfer our son from Page.

    We made the decision to transfer Stefan away from Page, not to transfer him to Grimsley.

    Contrary to what Mr. Bell may have inferred, I never stated the reason for the transfer was that Stefan “… had exhausted the advanced courses he could take at Page and that Grimsley offered more”. While we did request Grimsley as the school we preferred Stefan to attend, we did so not because of the lack of advanced courses at Page. We felt it in our son’s best interest to be away from Page, and Grimsley was not only the closest school to our home, but it also offered (in conjunction with Weaver Center) the next level in the Sci-Vis program that Stefan had excelled in during the last 3 years; something not offered at Page. Mrs. Jones, the Sci-Vis teacher at Page and a leading teaching in North Carolina in the Sci-Vis curriculum, recommended the course offerings at Weaver Center as a logical next step. It was Mr. Bell who chose to make Sci-Vis classes synonymous with advanced classes. Obviously, as he is not a teacher, nor a very good researcher, he was easily confused. Additionally, as I told Mr. Bell, Stefan was a minor child when the decision was made to transfer Stefan from Page and as such Stefan wasn’t consulted. The decision was made by his parents and other adults that had his best interests at heart. These adults included the Board of Education who extensively scrutinized our application.

    Furthermore, contrary to Mr. Bell’s writing, I never conveyed to him that the transfer was based solely on academics. I just stated firmly that the transfer was not based solely on football. In fact, until we received the approval from the Guilford County Schools, (in late June of 2007) we did not know which school Stefan would attend. That in and of itself should dispel the notion that Stefan was transferred to Grimsley to play football.

    Stefan was subjected to a plethora of unfair treatments at Page, not the least of which was being forced to attend a meeting with Head Coach Gillespie, Assistant Principal Cockerham and Assistant Athletic Director Barnes. Stefan was removed from his chemistry class while taking a test, and told he needed to meet with these three adults. Stefan requested that one or both of his parents be present at the meeting. His request was not only denied, but when his mother arrived at the school, she was denied access to the meeting. This type behavior was not only allowed by Dr. Worrell (the principal at the time) and Mr. Lee, but apparently condoned by Dr. Grier and a majority of the school board members.

    Sadly, as reprehensible as this was, there were many more incidents such as this; each one worse than the next. I did not feel that it was necessary to go into this part of the reason for Stefan’s transfer from Page with Mr. Bell; however, due to the comment made by Athletic Director Rusty Lee, who was quoted in the article, and subsequent comments I have received from Page Principal Marilyn Foley and Guilford County School Board Chairman Alan Duncan, I feel I have no choice.

    I contend that Mr. Lee’s comment, “I can tell you unequivocally (Shepard) did not leave because of academics,” was inappropriate, unprofessional, and in breech of the guidelines set out by the GCSS to protect student privacy as shown on the GCSS website. There it is written: “Recipients of student records should be cautioned that student information may not be released to third parties without the consent of the parent/guardian or eligible student”. In this case Mr. Lee would be the “recipient” and Mr. Bell the “third party”. Not only was Mr. Lee incorrect in his quote, he broke policy by commenting on what should have remained private. What is even more disturbing is that it appears Mr. Lee was instructed as to how to respond to Mr. Bell.

    That Stefan transferred to Grimsley is public record – he is there. The reasons why or why not a transfer took place are private, and for an official (Mr. Lee) of the school system to convey information about a student is not appropriate. This is where Mr. Lee invaded Stefan’s privacy, and why his comments are in breech of the community’s trust. I have to wonder: if he is so willing to talk about my son’s private issues, can he be trusted to keep other private matters from becoming public?

    I questioned Mr. Bell’s use of the quote. I also questioned Principal Foley’s and the School Board’s reasoning for allowing such a quote. Listed below are the comments I have received in answer to my questions regarding the appropriateness of Mr. Lee’s comment. All of the quotes were taken from emails sent to me.

    From Mr. Bell, 11/15/07: “…Mr. Lee said he would have to talk with school officials before responding. When he called back, he told me that both Page and Guilford County School administrators had instructed him on what to say…”

    From Ms. Foley, 11/15/07: “I can tell you that the reporter gave the slant to Mr. Lee that the transfer was due to Page’s poor academics. That was certainly a perception that would be an inaccurate portrayal of the academic programs here at Page. I was out of town and did not see the article. However, it was my understanding that Mr. Lee stated only that the transfer was not due to academics.

    From Mr. Bell, 11/16/07: “I agree: You never questioned Page’s academics in our interview. Nor did I imply as much in my interview last week with Mr. Lee. I merely repeated to him the reasons you had explained to me for the transfer — that Stefan had exhausted all the advanced courses available for him at Page. I spoke to Mr. Lee this morning and he confirmed this”.

    “As I noted yesterday, Mr. Lee said last week in our interview he would have to talk to school administrators before comment. This morning, he said he interpreted your remarks as being negative and that he relayed as much to Dr. Foley last week”.

    From Alan Duncan, 11/16/07: “Factually, the statement that is attributed to you in the article is not accurate given the number of Advanced Placement courses offered at Page. The clear inference left by your statement is unmistakably to the effect that Page’s academic offerings were inferior to Grimsley’s and the Board allowed the reassignment based on that fact. Any reassignment that was permitted for your son was not based on inadequate academic offerings at Page”

    It is obvious that someone is not being completely truthful. Either Mr. Bell conveyed to Mr. Lee that my comments were something other than what they actually were, or Mr. Lee embellished Mr. Bell’s comments in an effort to get permission to comment. Either way, it was inappropriate for Mr. Lee to comment. Mr. Lee not only violated my son’s right to privacy, he blatantly defied my request from last year, a request of which Mr. Lee was fully aware: that he (Mr. Lee) was to have no contact with my son nor was he to comment on any situation regarding my son. This is in response to a situation in which Mr. Lee verbally attacked me in a public arena; a situation for which Mr. Lee was reprimanded, as confirmed by letter from Dr. Terry Worrell (former Page principal) in September 2006.

    While I do feel that Mr. Bell was remiss in his handling of this article I feel that the comment made by Mr. Lee was inexcusable. The only thing worse than Mr. Lee making the comment is that it appears that his comment was a directive from Ms. Foley and ”Guilford County School administrators”. Apparently it is the opinion of Mr. Lee, Ms. Foley, and “Guilford County School administrators” that it is more important to defend an aspersion, thought to be cast against Page’s academics than it is to protect the privacy of a student, and follow policy.

    For all of those who have commented on how wrong it was that my son be transferred for athletic reasons…it was because of the reasons I have stated here, and certain members of the Page staff and administration’s total disregard for policy, procedure and student welfare that my son was transferred away from Page. Fortunately for my son, the School Board decided he would attend Grimsley.

    We are pleased that his school experiences at Grimsley have proven to be positive. We have hoped that the positive environment would help him to move past the negativity of his experiences of last year at Page. We are hoping that he will be able to move on to a productive future as a student and athlete, having learned from these experiences.

    Unfortunately, due to Mr. Bell’s jaundiced journalism and Mr. Lee’s inappropriate comments, this will be more difficult than anticipated.

    J Bruce Shepherd

  18. Frankie, quite frankly, why shouldn’t Coach Gillespie receive some of the credit?..With Will being chosen as the offensive player of the year was due to his performances on the field, Coach Gillespie still had to coach Will up, and he still had to call the plays that Will threw and ran for touchdowns…So, the way I see it, things are working out for the Page program as a whole, and what is funny is that I’ve never heard Coach Gillespie boast in such a manner, nor take sole responsibility for Will coming to age and performing up to a high level…I believe Will is going to have a good senior season and help bring the Pirates another title, and if Will has a great season then who knows how far they can go into the playoffs…However, it won’t take Will all by himself, so along with the many other great players that the Pirates have, they should plan on coming back strong next season…If Will has another good season then its going to be because of the hard work that Will puts in, along with the coaching that he receives, and along with the players around him playing up to a high level…It is a team concept, and one that begins with leadership, and I believe that Coach Gillespie is going in the right direction…Also, if Coach Gillespie takes responsibility for losing games, then why shouldn’t he take credit for winning games?..I’ve only heard him do nothing but talk about how his players played great when they’ve won, yet how he should have done a better job coaching when they’ve lost…

    Let us be honest with ourselves, because unless you have family issues, why wouldn’t you play football for your uncle or where your father is an administrator (I’m sure it works out for car rides – referring to the Dudley AD)?..I used to coach football in Florida before relocating into the Greensboro area, and recruiting and transferring was an issue there as well…I coached at a private school, and a lot of public school coaches were upset because they felt that private school coaches recruited players by offering them scholarships to play at the private school…In my opinion, who cares?..I believe the coaches need to worry about making themselves better and coach the players they’ve got to the best of their abilities, instead of worrying about who stole a player from their county or zone…Its ridiculous…While I’ve seen some tremendous players come through the Greensboro area, I just haven’t seen that sole player like Tim Tebow who could carry a whole team by himself…I will admit that the only school that may have an argument would be Smith; however, they need to do some soul searching and straighten some things out at the school first…Someone made a statement earlier in a previous comment, and it was if you have good coaching then kids won’t be looking to play elsewhere…If I was still a coach and had a kid that was supposed to play for me and decided to go to another school, then I’d be looking to exploit his weaknesses on the field…Where does it come into play when coaches just “buck up” and coach? You don’t see Butch Davis crying when a North Carolina player leaves to play at Michigan…Granted, Butch recruits outside of North Carolina, but when does it ever come down to a player having his own choice…Players have their own choices on where they want to sign, so why not on where they want to attend high school?..People may have an issue with transfers, and the same people will mention Independence in Charlotte and not wanting a school to have such dominance, but ask yourself this, do most of the players from Independence go to college to play?..Would your kid want to play a high school football game on ESPN?..If you have a coach who cares about extending his players chances to go to college, while bringing the best out of your child, then why send them to some school or coach that or whom you don’t have faith in?..I know everyone wants a fair and competitive advantage, and I’m really playing Devil’s Advocate on this transferring issue, but I can’t blame a student for wanting to play for a coach he likes and believes in…Let me make something clear, because although I’m not against transferring I do not believe in coaches actively recruiting a high school player at another school…To me, this is unethical, but I can’t, nor will ever fault a coach for talking to a player who comes to them…Now, if for some reason a player does want to leave a school to go somewhere else to play then I feel that that player should lose a year of eligibility; however, the decision still remains with the player…I find it funny when nothing is mentioned when a band member leaves to go to another school for such things as a better band director, or for wanting to attend an IB program…

    No team is ever unstoppable…It all boils down to preparation and how much the players really want it…I believe the players at Page are starting to understand that in order to be great then they need to commit themselves….Full commitment to the coaches and offseason programs are where greatness is established…So Frankie, if the Page players are starting to believe and understand this concept, then I believe that Coach Gillespie deserves some credit for getting the message across…Bringing up his nephew was stupid and mute, because Will had a good season last year and will have the possibility of having a good senior season at Page…I’m also positive that his nephew is going to have a good season next year at Thomasville…Dumb and ignorance over something that you have stemming with the coach…Well, get over it…

    By the way, please don’t get the Shepard’s going again…

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