The Cole Huff Truth

[keepinitreal]

On July 30th, 2010 they offered Cole Huff an SDSU Basketball scholarship. On September 25th, 2010 the Huff Family took an unofficial visit to SDSU. They told Cole that committing to SDSU is a "No Brainer" decision. They also told Cole that if they had one scholarship for the 2012 class, they'd offer it to Cole. This all took place with my entire family present. I remember it like it was yesterday. To top it off, they said that if Cole sustained any type of injury after a commitment, SDSU would have his back and hold up there end of the deal long-term. They tried to get Cole to commit on the spot but softened up by being willing to settle for a commitment from Cole prior to the start of his junior season. That's what Cole did. On November 21st, 2010 Cole called them and verbally committed to SDSU. The Aztecs were 4-0 at the time. Everybody was happy. The Aztecs were playing well and so was Cole Huff from Campbell Hall of North Hollywood. November and December was a lot of fun. The Aztecs climbed in the polls each week and Cole's production on the court justified his early commitment to the best college team in California. In January, Cole's season was cut short due to a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee. Surgery was performed on January 31st, 2011. Cole began his rehab shortly after and was able to play competitive summer league ball again in mid-June for his high school team. Cole was playing well. Next up was AAU ball. As we all know, with AAU ball there's a lot of games played in not a whole lot of days. Cole hit the road with Team ELEATE and played in Indianapolis and St. Louis. They said they'd come watch Cole play and Cole let them know that he wasn't 100%. They said they weren't going there to "recruit" Cole but going there to "support" Cole. Cole played good but not great. The team won more games than they lost. Besides, Cole had been playing for less than a month and our plan was to play his way back into shape. Turns out Cole was being evaluated by SDSU. The next AAU event was in Anaheim in early July. Cole had flu-like symptoms but wanted to play because he loves to hoop. They were there. Cole was sick but nobody knew. Cole decided to call the them but they didn't call back. Cole suggested I give them a call. I left voice messages for the head coach July 14th, 15th and 16th before I finally reached him on the 17th. The last time I had spoke with the head coach was back in June so by NCAA rules he could have returned my calls. I knew something was up and so did Cole. Clint Parks from AAU Team ELEATE knew too. I finally talked to the head coach and he said he didn't think Cole could get on the floor with the players they have. I couldn't believe it. Cole hadn't been playing competitively for a month and he graduates in 2012, not 2011. So I wanna know what the status of the offer is. The offer still was still there but then came the deal breaker. The head coach says "As you well know, these scholarships come up for renewal each year.' Anybody can figure out what that means. So Cole de-committed. After eight months of feeling like an Aztec, it was over. The reason I take the time to write this is because I read things that make it seem as though Cole wanted out because of players who transferred in and a verbal commitment from a 2012 prospect. That's just wrong. Cole is competitive and would welcome the challenge to compete for minutes. The bottom line is that Cole wasn't going to be given an equal opportunity to compete for game time minutes. The other thing that's wrong is that none of coaches even talked to Cole. They just left him hanging. The good thing is that Cole was being recruited by other schools before SDSU and he's being recruited by other schools after SDSU. He could end up in the Big West, WAC, WCC, C-USA or the MWC. That's the TRUTH.

[AztecTom]

Thanks for taking the time to tell us what happened. Best of luck to Cole in the future!

[Pasadenaztec]

Ever heard of the invention called a "paragraph"?

[78aztec82]

Let me guess, you are the AAU coach?

Everyone gets a chance to compete for minutes.

Of course schollies are renewable, that is plain honesty. How many schollies has Fish revoked for non-disciplinary issues? This is only one side of the story.

Does anyone think that when coaches are there they aren't evaluating?

Sorry, while I buy the timeline and some details, the impressions are yours only.

The offer was never rescinded, you had Cole decommit. You had Cole decommit because the coaches don't guarantee minutes or anything beyond a fair chance. Sorry, I read complete attempt at control here when the only thing a player controls is his own attitude and effort level, willingness to listen and learn.

Thankfully, the coaches control that, not the players and frankly, AAU coaches - especially AAU coaches. You all have enormous egos and self-important pompousness that frankly, you give yourselves.

Get over it. You weren't good enough to be a college coach and tried to make a deal with Fish and it failed because HE IS THE COACH, not you.

[Hank]

Interesting.. Thanks for sharing. Would make for a great subplot if he ended up on the floor with another MWC team. I wish Cole the best of luck.

[Aztec89]

This sound about right. SDSU's ability to recruit the very highest level of talent has blown up after last season. Huff is a good kid, and I am sure he will play well at a school like Pepperdine, Santa Clara, LMU, or even USD.

Best of luck.

[Frantic]

Interesting story. I feel for Cole Huff since he wanted to be an Aztec. From all I can tell he's a great kid.

But in the end no harm no foul. Huff was not left hanging. He had over a year to find a new school; and if he's as good as advertised then he will have no trouble finding a great school.

Good luck to Cole Huff and those close to him. I'm sure he'll go far in life.

[Deleted]

I don't think anybody is happy with how the Cole Huff situation went down. But when you get down to it, I think things worked out the best for Huff. He's got a real ability to shoot the ball but we've got a glut at the 3 spot and a lack of height at 4,5 so he'd probably be asked to bulk up and play inside. He's a better fit on a team that will enable him to showcase his mid-range shooting. He seems like a really good kid - I'll be rooting for him wherever he goes.

[montyismyhomie]

I believe this situation is true if not embellished A little bit. I an glad tO hear that we were not pulling his scholarship offer though. I think that says quite a bit outright about the honesty level of our program. Now what I find hard to believe is that even with all this going on we have still never pulled Alec Williams scholarship and he has been buried behind everyone his entire career.

[billycarl]

Thanks for the information. I wish the best to Cole Huff.

Go Aztecs!

[sdsu2000]

I wish Cole the best and that he finds a quality program where he can receive a great education because after all his education should be the number one factor.

What happened between July 30, 2010 and July 17, 2011? Well, JJ O’Brien, Dwayne Polee and Matt Shrigley all committed to the program. At which time I’m sure the coaches had to reasses what the program needed to move forward. As you know, a commitment in a non-bidding agreement and both a player and an institution has the right to back away. A majority of the time these commitments seem like a marketing tool used by a player to receive offers from higher profile programs. It’s a two way street and unfortunately for Cole he was on the wrong side of the street this time around.

Maybe the SDSU coaches made a huge mistake or maybe they correctly evaluated Cole once things within the program had changed. It’s in Cole’s hands to prove which is the case. Best of luck to Cole and everyone around him.

[aztecshane]

It's unfortunate but, fact of the matter is, college sports at this level is a multi-billion dollar business. Welcome to the real world, Mr. Huff. A world in which the only person looking out for you is...you. It sucks, but it's reality.

I've been following recruiting for well over a decade and have read this story hundreds of times. It happens all the time and it goes both ways (see: Kevin Young). What if Cole hadn't been injured. What if blew he up at the aforementioned AAU tournaments and the Dukes, North Carolinas, et al, came calling. Does the Huff family say "thanks, but no thanks, Coach K, we're committed to SDSU"? Of course not.

I'm not some Aztec fan who's going to defend everything Red & Black because I'm incapable of objectivity, I understand that this situation is a bit ugly and the Huff family feels slighted, as they should. That said, this staff has an obligation to win and capitalize on the momentum that they've built over the last several years, they get paid in excess of $1MM to do so. Unfortunately, that means they're going to have to make selfish decisions like this on occasion. In Cole's instance, they probably could have handled it a little better.

Best of luck to Cole at the University of Nevada and in life going forward. From everything I've read and heard from him directly, he comes off as a great kid with a bright future ahead of him.

[fantaztec]

1) his offer was not revoked despite your coaching staff's hesitation with Cole's play.
2) is there any part of you that is somewhat glad our staff was honest about Coles playing time chances? If our staff showed no outward reluctance and brought him in knowing he wouldn't see the floor, you would be on this board in 2 years complaining about how you were "misled" and our staff "plays favorites."
3) and as a previous poster said if duke had swooped in, he'd be gone.

I know the Holiday's and they say you are a great family and Coles a good kid. Best of luck to you all.

[🥸 Hopeless Aztec]

I have never ready anything bad about Cole and he sounds like a great kid as many of you have stated. I do wish him the best of luck and he will still get a FREE college education at a University. It is up to him to make the best out of it.

[aztecfankrishnan]

Thanks for the account. The situation played out just as I would have imagined. I really don't see anyone at fault here. It wouldn't have done Cole or the Aztecs any good to have him come into the program and sit on the bench behind Polee, O'brien, Shrigley, Jamaal Franklin and the other stud recruits they are going to bring in over the next few years. Ultimately, Cole finding another university to play at will be the best thing for his career. It may not seem like it now, but the Aztec staff did Cole a favor by pushing him to another program.

Coach Fish would never pull a scholarship on a year-to-year basis. He never has and you probably read more into that than you should have. The point was Cole would be better off somewhere else where more playing time was available and the Aztec program would be better off using the scollie on a different position.

The Aztec nation wishes all the best to Cole. He wanted to be an Aztec so we respect that...I'm sure he will be looking to torch us every chance he gets and join a MW program. This stuff happens.

[aztecpaulg]

Thanks for sharing. While I agree that the coaching staff could have kept in better contact, by your description it seems like Fish and Co. kept their word to the young man. By not recending the offer, they were jeopardizing their chance of landing another player at a greater area of need. Most college teams would have dropped the offer.

Coach Fisher has a long history of playing the best players regardless of age, pedigree, etc. And I have no doubt that if Cole had come here and proved to be a better player than Rahon, Franklin, Polee, Shirgley, etc. that he would be on the court the most. As to the one year scholarship, isn't that just the truth? After Franklin got picked up for a DUI, I hope coach Fisher told him, scholarships are renewable every year.

We wish Cole Huff the best, and I hope he winds up starting on a conference opponent so we can cheer for him at least once like we had planned to do.

[pokinsky]

I read that he is taking a visit to Nevada this weekend. I would love to see him end up in the MWC and add to the collection of talent.

[JOCAZTEC]

B. J. Williams proved himself on the football field and last year made the game winning play to beat BYU. He stripped the ball and recovered the ball and placed his knee on the ground. Had he not done this, BYU would have scored the winning touchdown. I have two copies left of that fumble solely done by the magnificent B. J. Williams.

Two games later, B. J. broke his leg in a game and ended his, for sure NFL draftee, career.

I tried to walkon at SDSU for basketball. I had the skills. I excelled at shooting, stealing, passing, reading defenses and running as a point guard, the offense schemes. But, I was refused every time I tried out for the team. For some reason at five foot nine inches and my Finish background, the coaches would NOT return my phone calls...either.

Is Kevin Young enjoying the early, frigid cold of Larry, Cansuss?

I hope so.

HAM

[aztectim]

Thanks for your account of the dealings. I think the Aztec Nation wishes Cole only the best. Good luck going forward!

[FULL_MONTY]

Best of Luck Cole. Nevada is a great program as well.