Former basketball player sparks controversy with Sports Illustrated article

The Saint Joseph's University men's basketball team and  head coach Phil Martelli have made national headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past 24 hours. On Dec. 19, former Hawk student-athlete Todd O'Brien made a first-person appeal asking for his scholarship release from the university in a post on the Sports Illustrated website.  In the piece, O'Brien outlined his frustrations with the Saint Joseph's athletic department's refusal to release him from his scholarship, thus blocking him from participating in the men's basketball program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)-- the school he currently attends for graduate studies.

O'Brien started his basketball career at Bucknell University; however, in 2008 he transferred to Saint Joseph's University on a full basketball scholarship. After red-shirting the 2008-2009 season, O'Brien earned a position as the starting center for Martelli's Hawks during the 2009-2010 season. It was during this season, on February 16 after a game against Xavier, that O'Brien was suspended from the team. According to the Saint Joseph's athletic communications office, O'Brien failed to comply with the university's community standards. After going through the university's standard judicial process and taking a nine-day leave of absence for disciplinary reasons, O'Brien was cleared to return to the team, finishing his career with the Hawks. No information as to the exact nature of O'Brien's non-compliance was provided.

After graduating in May 2010, O'Brien decided to continue his studies by attending graduate school at UAB. Upon making this decision, he issued a request in mid-July 2011 for a waiver to play basketball during the 2011-2012 season at UAB. Through an NCAA rule, student-athletes with remaining eligibility are able to pursue a graduate degree at another institution and play immediately, as long as the graduate program is not offered at the student-athletes' previous institution. However, Saint Joseph's University did not grant O'Brien's request.

According to O'Brien, Martelli openly objected when he revealed his intentions to leave, and as O'Brien wrote in his SI.com article, told him he would never be released. However, O'Brien was given a "permission to speak" form by the university, leading him to transfer to UAB.  Yet, when the transfer paperwork came in from Saint Joseph's, O'Brien found out that the athletics department had objected to allowing him participate, stating O'Brien's transfer was athletically-driven opposed to academically-driven, subsequently blocking him from competition. Head coach Phil Martelli could not be reached for comment on this matter.

Saint Joseph's University's policy, as well as federal student records law, prohibits Saint Joseph's from releasing additional information on the case. However, according to an official statement made yesterday by Don DiJulia, associate vice president and director of athletics, "Saint Joseph's University followed all applicable NCAA procedures and applied consistent internal practices in declining to support the requested transfer exception.  Upon appeal, the NCAA legislative relief waiver team (initial decision) and the Division I Subcommittee for Legislative Relief (final decision) each reviewed the case and did not grant the requested waiver." He also added that, "all eligibility determinations rest with the NCAA and not its member institutions, Saint Joseph's University has no further comment and considers the matter closed."

 Saint Joseph's University Interim President John W. Smithson '68, MBA '82 followed with a statement on December 20 that it is not Saint Joseph University's "mission to block any student from pursuing their academic or athletic goals." In spite of this, the university is obligated to "review all student-athlete waiver requests in a consistent manner and to evaluate the facts and circumstances of each request." However, Smithson makes clear that it is "it is the national association, not individual member institutions, which makes the final determination on the eligibility of individual student-athletes."

Although O'Brien has threatened to sue the university because of its refusal to grant him his release, both DiJulia and Smithson have made it clear that it is not the university's decision; it is ultimately up to the NCAA to approve of the move.

The O'Briens declined to comment any further on the matter, while Martelli and the NCAA could not be reached for comment.