On Wednesday, the Binghamton University athletics department announced that junior guard Jordan Reed, the face of the men’s basketball team for the last two years, would be taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately. The explanation given for last season’s leading scorer and rebounder’s sudden departure was uninformative: “personal reasons.” No other cause was given.
This is far too vague. While we respect Reed’s right to privacy, fans of the program have the right to know more about what is going on. We don’t need a press conference full of lengthy explanations, but if Reed’s departure is due to family matters, a falling-out between him and head coach Tommy Dempsey, an academic issue or any other problem, more should be said than simply chalking it up to “personal reasons.”
This is not the only time the athletics department has claimed “personal reasons” for a star athlete’s departure. Earlier this year, junior keeper Stefano Frantellizzi quit the men’s soccer team mid-season, for personal reasons. Like Reed, he entered 2014 coming off a prolific season, ranking top-20 in the nation in three categories. Like Reed, he saw few minutes in this year’s season. But in Frantellizzi’s case, head coach Paul Marco commented on the matter. Marco spoke up and said that he supported Frantellizzi’s decision. Though not much of an account was given, and no one acknowledged any discontent on Frantellizzi’s behalf for his truncated role, Marco at least addressed the matter in a small way.
Dempsey has mainly avoided questions concerning Reed. When asked about Reed’s underwhelming presence on the court in press conferences, Dempsey said he was playing the guys who earned their minutes, and that Reed was in a bad place mentally. But when dealing with a player like Reed, who is arguably responsible for the program’s rejuvenation and for the renewed energy surrounding the team, that’s not enough. We the fans should not be strung along in the dark. If Reed is truly leaving, then we deserve closure.
This call for transparency is especially sensitive in light of the men’s basketball program’s recent history, namely the 2009 scandal under former head coach Kevin Broadus. In that year, five players were suspended from the team for a variety of misconduct reasons. While there is no reason to believe that Reed’s leave of absence is a systemic issue like it was under Broadus, who recruited at-risk athletes in his pursuit of immediate gain, the fanbase should be reassured that this instance is just that: a lone instance.
Mid-major programs like Binghamton’s obviously do not attract the same kind of attention — in media or in terms of a fanbase — as national staples like Duke or Florida. But that does not mean that the coaches are any less accountable to the fans they do have. If a player like Reed is to leave the program after being stripped of his status as starter and after averaging a mere 10.6 minutes per game, the fans deserve an answer. This wouldn’t happen at Syracuse, and it shouldn’t happen here.
Reed and Dempsey may want to keep silent if they are working to reconcile a potential conflict, but the process shouldn’t work this way. If the University wants its sports teams to be taken seriously by fans, then the secrecy of the past must be cast aside. Jordan Reed’s absence will hurt the team, but not as badly as an empty Events Center will. And unless the athletics department holds itself accountable to its fans, they won’t feel obligated to show up.