Prep school jettisons coach -- so players disappea

[GreenBat]

Prep school jettisons coach -- so players disappear

Oct. 5, 2005

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

The young marriage between Babacar Sy and Florida Prep School has ended in divorce -- fascinatingly, if not amicably.

Sy, a former assistant at College of Southern Idaho, and Florida Prep are the leading characters of this story, but the supporting cast is equally intriguing. It includes nine vanished international players, an NBA agent and U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris -- the same Katherine Harris who rose to prominence during the 2000 presidential election as Florida's secretary of state.

The international players, including Connecticut recruiting target Hamady N'Diaye, came to Florida Prep this summer to play for Sy, who runs a basketball school in his native Senegal. Once it became apparent he wasn't going to be their coach, all nine players were taken to a local airport by Sy's personal assistant late Monday night.

Tuesday morning, school officials discovered empty rooms where there were once nearly 7-foot-tall teenagers. Empty closets. Empty dressers.

"We feel sort of betrayed and shafted," says Florida Prep principal Steve Rodriguez. "I'm not self-righteous, and I'm not pious. I'm a get-it-done kind of guy. But the nature of what took place here is bizarro world."

The players are expected to re-emerge in the coming weeks at another prep school, perhaps to be coached by Sy after all. Sy was unavailable for comment because he is in Senegal. His agent, Darren Weiner, said Sy will return to the United States soon, after he accepts one of three coaching positions he has been offered.

Sy won't be coaching at Florida Prep, but it's difficult to ascertain exactly why. The two sides have a polar-opposite version of what happened.

Rodriguez said he fired Sy for a number of reasons, including: Sy's lengthy stay in Senegal this summer rather than being on campus to prepare for the 2005-06 school year; his request for non-negotiated recruiting money; and his desire to decide which of his players would be on the prep school team, which would be on the high school team, and where they would live.

Weiner says Sy was stranded in Senegal because Florida Prep didn't file the necessary visa paperwork, and that Sy couldn't return to the United States without an employment contract. While that was going on, Weiner says, communication breakdowns between the school and his client left Sy unsure he still wanted to coach at Florida Prep.

By late last week, Sy and Florida Prep had parted ways. His nine international recruits continued to attend school and practice, but on Tuesday morning they were gone.

"We couldn't tell you where they are, even though they're (in the United States) on our visa," Rodriguez said. "I called Katherine Harris at our local congressional office, told them the deal, and asked, 'What do you suggest?' They suggested I call customs and the border patrol. We're just flabbergasted."

In hindsight, Rodriguez said, Florida Prep's antennae were raised when Sy had Weiner negotiate his contract. Weiner is a registered NBA agent, though he says his connection to Sy isn't an effort to one day represent the players Sy brings overseas.

"Babacar has been a friend of mine for a few years," Weiner said. "I've been to Africa a number of times, and I met him at an NBA camp over there. As far as this (Florida Prep) situation is concerned, he told me about it and said, 'Look, I haven't been down this road before as far as putting a deal together. Will you help me?' I said sure."

Sy had spent 2003-04 and '04-05 at College of Southern Idaho as an assistant to Gib Arnold. In that time two of Sy's best players, Mamadou Diene from his school in Senegal and Mohamed Kone from CSI, signed with Baylor coach Scott Drew. When Kone didn't get eligible at Baylor he went to Valparaiso, coached by Drew's father, Homer.

After Arnold left CSI this spring to become an assistant at Southern California, Sy was in need of a job. At the same time, Florida Prep was about to add a prep school to its high school team and in need of a coach.

Rodriguez, who founded Florida Prep and has served as its high school coach, says the Baylor staff recommended Sy. Along with UConn, Baylor also is recruiting N'Diaye, a 6-11 senior center.

Until Sy and his players reappear at another prep school, this is a story missing its ending. And Weiner says it's a story worthy of publication.

"One day it will all come out," Weiner says. "It'll be a book."

[ADLER]

Is anybody else not surprised that Baylor is involved?

Lets see, where was Babacar Sy's next stop as an assistant coach going to be?

Cheating is all fun and games until your activities get one of your players killed. Even then, you get to do pretend prayer vigils and Bill Cosby may even make an appearance.