Bears’ recruit requests release
In the wake of a sexual- harassment scandal that rocked Cal’s program, three- star shooting guard Tyson Jolly announced Sunday on Twitter that he has asked for a release from his national letter of intent.
He told Scout. com that he expects to receive the release Monday and reopen his recruitment. It is yet another setback in what has been a tumultuous seven days for Cal.
Last Monday, after a sevenmonth campus probe into allegations that he repeatedly sexually harassed a female reporter,
assistant coach Yann Hufnagel was fired. The university is taking a closer look at whether head coach Cuonzo Martin fulfilled his duty as a mandatory reporter of the allegations against Hufnagel.
The fourth- seeded Bears, without guards Tyrone Wallace ( hand injury) and Jabari Bird ( back spasms), were upset 77- 66 by 13th- seeded Hawaii in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
“Family reasons and coach Yanni ( Hufnagel) got fired,” Jolly told Scout. com of his reasons for reopening his recruitment. “He was the coach I was real close to in the program. He worked hard for me to stay into the school. There’s a lot going on there.”
Jolly verbally committed to Cal in April, but reclassified to the 2016 class after reportedly learning his high school transcript was half a credit short of Cal’s admissions standards. He played this season at Elev8 Sports Institute in Delray Beach, Fla.
The 6- foot- 4, 200- pounder averaged 20.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and three assists per game as a senior at Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City. He was named the Oklahoman’s Big All- City Player of the Year after leading the Patriots to the Class 6A state semifinals.
Jolly initially chose the Bears over offers from Oklahoma State, SMU and Gonzaga, among others. Scout. com reported that, since news broke that Jolly was reopening his recruitment, coaches from Texas, Missouri, Florida and Georgia Tech have contacted Elev- 8 coach Chad Myers about him.
“I might be looking to go closer back to home or in the Big 12 area,” Jolly told Scout. com.
Jolly was the only rated member of Cal’s 2016 class. The Bears’ other pledge in that group, unranked junior college point guard Dontae Coleman, took to Twitter on Sunday to reaffirm his commitment to Cal: “Nothing Is Changing.”
Coleman told Scout. com that, if there is a coaching change in Berkeley, he’d be interested in playing for the new staff. If the Bears’ new coaches didn’t want him and Martin landed a new job, he added, Coleman would like to follow Martin.
Coleman plans to sign his NLI with Cal when he takes his official visit to Berkeley in a couple of weeks. Jolly’s release will give the Bears an open scholarship in the 2016 class. It seems likely that more will become available. Freshmen Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb are projected to go in the lottery of June’s NBA draft.
“He was the coach I was real close to in the program. He worked hard for me to stay into the school. There’s a lot going on there.” Tyson Jolly, on former Cal assistant coach Yann Hufnagel