West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert discussed the obvious on Thursday — will RaeQuan Battle and Noah Farrakhan take the floor this Saturday against UMass.
There is a lot of uncertainty regarding both of their eligibility and the ramifications if they play. Right now, they are eligible to play, but it’s the gray area of what happens if they play and then the ruling is overturned which is the sticking point for Eilert right now.
“Concerning yesterday, everyone saw the ruling that came out of the US District Court. Really happy for Rae and the courage it took for him to pursue his eligibility status and stand up there and testify. You heard me say all along that Rae should be playing basketball and I truly believe it’s very important to him and his mental health,” Eilert said. “I think he’s met that criteria for immediate eligibility and like the statement we put out yesterday said, we’re consulting with our counsel and outside counsel before making any determination on eligibility status of our student athletes that are affected by this decision.”
“We’re trying to get some of those questions answered, but unfortunately I don’t have much to add outside of what we put out as a statement. I know I saw last night several schools played their affected student athletes and some sat them out. We’re still in limbo, and I think there’s a lot of schools out there still in limbo still trying to get those questions answered. Fortunately we don’t play until Saturday evening and we hope to get those answers sooner than later.”
Those answers really center around one question. If Battle and Farrakhan play, and the decision is reversed in the hearing on Dec. 27, how is their future eligibility impacted. One report yesterday made it seem as though the NCAA would not take away a year of eligibility if the decision is reversed.
However, a new report from Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic says the NCAA tells her, “they do not have clarity yet on whether athletes could lose a year of eligibility if they play now and the ruling is overturned.”
“It’s mainly the eligibility,” Eilert said of the clarification they are waiting on. “Even in the 14 days, we play three games. If the decision is overturned and they play during this course of the season and they lose that year of eligibility that doesn’t seem like we did right by the student athlete. I want all the facts to be laid out for everybody involved before we make those decisions. I think that’s just the right way to handle things and approach things.”
Eilert said he want’s the clarity and all of the facts before making a decision on the matter.
“Just need some more clarity more than anything. Selfishly we could think both of them could really help us but we got to think about the student-athlete and how it affects their overall eligibility,” Eilert said. “RaeQuan (Battle) has got one year of eligibility left and Noah (Farrakhan) has got two. Those conversations have to be had with those student-athletes, their families, our department to figure out what’s best for them and us as a whole as a program.”
Eilert said it’s hard for him to look to other schools for guidance, as everyone is in a similar situation.
“I’m not going to make a rash decision that affects a kid’s future without knowing all the facts and details. There have been a lot of phone calls and late night calls with coaches that understand we’re at the forefront of this Battle with RaeQuan,” Eilert said.
Eilert added he has been in contact with other coaches who are looking at him to see what WVU is going to do, being Battle is somewhat the face of what’s taking place.
“They’ve called and asked our advice. We’re all kind of in the same boat, we don’t really have answers. They want to know what we’re going to do,” Eilert said. “From an institutional standpoint and from a coaching staff standpoint, we’re going to do right by understanding the facts of the situation before we make a decision.”
Now, how and when Eilert — and others — get the facts from the NCAA is somewhat of a mystery. Eilert said he thinks it would be a bad look for them not to receive any clarification by this weekend.
“I think there’s a lot of schools that have that exact question. I don’t want to say I anticipate today but I think it would be shameful if we didn’t hear by today or tomorrow so it adds clarification because there are a lot of people that are affected by this ruling,” Eilert said.
West Virginia tips off against UMass this Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Featured Image by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
