Shannon Evans Transfer Announcement a lesson in knee-jerk reactions

I am trying to avoid knee-jerk reactions, and I'm hopeful that others with access to Bull Run's accounts will too, but my own thoughts aside, UB is in a world of tumult right now.

I'll start with crib notes from a disastrous April for UB's Public Relations concerns.

-Bobby Hurley is wooed away by Arizona State. This is not altogether surprising. 
-The Buffalo News publishes a piece alleging - and that's all it was - that the relationship between White and Hurley grew contentious late in Hurley's tenure
-We did maintain and still do that those allegations were incorrect, but TBN has a substantially wider reach than we do
-Shannon Evans is transferring, and alleging that he is on good terms with Oats, but not with White, and that he has been unable to have a conversation with White "about [his] future."
-UB is blocked Evans from transferring to Arizona State, Virginia Commonwealth, and Old Dominion.

***

Reading between the lines, my individual guess as to what happened is that (1) Evans wanted to transfer and follow Hurley to Arizona State, (2) UB blocked the Sun Devils as a transfer option, and (3) the non-meetings with White and concerns of 'future' all exist after the moment with ASU was blocked.

My individual feeling is that it's pretty illogical that Evans wouldn't have been able to meet with White during a period that he was considering transferring, and that there wouldn't be much reason to meet with the Athletics Director until a decision such as a transfer block was made. I'll admit to not being too familiar with the process, but I don't imagine every player looking to transfer has to deal with the AD.

For what it's worth, Mark Gaughan has posted a piece while I've been writing this that to my eyes fits this narrative. If Evans wanted to play at a higher level, and didn't feel he could make the NBA from Buffalo, that's a lot of initiative on his part before any perceived snubs.

***

Regardless of any of that - that Gaughan piece linked above makes it sound like Evans was already on the way out and the squabble was ASU vs the transfer block - UB's really taken some hits from a PR perspective.

Which is unfortunate, because, the fact of the matter is that an Athletic Director necessarily has to be busy to do his job well. Also a fact: White is traveling tomorrow and has a full slate of meetings today. I would be concerned if he were indeed free to meet on short notice. It seems from this tweet, also sent while I was writing this, that he's generally a busy man:

Just learned, TODAY, that a student-athlete wants to meet with me. Of course, I will always make time for that. S-A's are our #1 priority.

— Danny White (@UBDannyWhite) April 20, 2015

The sentiment here is good! By the time this went out, most people had already jumped on an opinion and this felt weak. That's bad! For what it's worth, I believe Danny here, especially given Gaughan's article, but it's also not close to enough to pacify the angry hordes.

***

I don't feel like couching this idea in a properly-written paragraph, so here's something Tim sent me just now:

Maybe with 600 SA's UB needs a liaison for the SA's and White. Someone who could prioritize and maybe put things on White's schedule.

***

As for me, I'm just waiting for Track and Field to set another school record. And after that, is it Women's Soccer season yet?