Keeon Shaw, who spent two years as a quality control coach at Dartmouth preparing for a full-time coaching position, has landed a spot working for a team the Big Green defeated last fall:
#NewProfilePic
— Keeon Shaw (@CoachKeeonShaw) March 7, 2024
Excited for this next chapter and ready to get to work! 📈🦅 pic.twitter.com/8AjHWf5cUb
The new Lehigh University assistant was a corner in his playing days at Liberty. He spent two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at West Alabama before arriving at Dartmouth.
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If my in-box is representative, many of you are already tired of – and not terribly pleased with – news about the Dartmouth men's basketball union vote. Still, you may find a Sports Business Journal opinion piece that shares some of the issues that could come into play interesting. From the story (LINK):
The NLRA obligates employers to bargain over a broad range of issues, including compensation, scheduling, work rules, discipline and work assignments. Failure to bargain is an unfair labor practice. An administrative law judge resolves disputes.
Let’s apply those rules to this “employer.” Can the coach set the starting lineup (work assignments) without consulting the union? Set the practice schedule? The travel schedule? The play-calling? Maybe not, without first allowing the union to weigh in.
And . . .
What happens when two starters get benched for objecting to curfew? File a charge. Disciplined for violating a team rule that you and a teammate called unfair? File a charge. Did the coach make the whole team run laps because one player was late? (Yes, in the Dartmouth case). If two players refuse and get disciplined, file a charge. An administrative law judge will decide who plays and whether the discipline stands.
And . . .
Player: “Hey, coach, my knee is OK. I can go back in.” Coach: “Looks like you’re fine, but as a precaution, we’re going to sit you out for a week.” Employers can’t do that with employees. It’s against the law.
And regarding international players (Dartmouth has players from England, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Sweden):
Employees must provide I-9 paperwork and show eligibility to work in the United States. Limited exceptions apply for student jobs, but it’s questionable whether “employed as a basketball player” would qualify. Professional athletes from other countries need work visas, not student visas, to play in the U.S..
This is from a piece in the Boston Globe where Jay Bilas offers thoughts on a player contract (LINK):
The contract could be about more than just compensation. It could have buyout clauses that would include financial penalties if a player jumped to another school, or if a school cut the player loose. It could be multiyear, which would incentivize athletes to stay in school beyond freshman year. There could even be a clause to ensure the athlete receives a real education rather than “majoring in eligibility” as is so often the case today.
Green Alert Take: Fortunately, there aren't players leaving for the NBA after one year or majoring in "eligibility" at Dartmouth, but the idea of a "buyout clause" puts things in perspective.
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EXTRA POINT
Have to admit, I expect more from FedEx. I received a tracking number from the shipping company on Feb 28 for something I ordered that was coming from Shepherdsville, Ky.. It was in Springfield, Mass., on March. 3. From there it went to Middletown, Conn., where it sat from March 3 until March 8. It's now in Nashua, N.H., where it is "in transit to U.S. Postal Service"but is listed as "running late."
Here's another issue. Given that this was a FedEx shipment, the package has our street address, not our post office box because the mail is not delivered on our road.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somehow the package makes it to our little post office without our PO Box number on it but I'm not holding my breath.
