I have never attempted to redshirt anyone before, and would love to redshirt a soph this year.  I have no idea what to expect.

If he says no, will he have an irreversible WE hit AND no redshirt?
Or is it such that he has no say in the RS decision other than his WE?  Is it something that can cause a transfer?
If he doesn't like it and drops to 0 WE and I "take it off", will he return to his original WE?

If he doesn't want the redshirt you can still apply it to him, but then his WE will take a big hit, but it can go back to the original if you reverse the decision.  Sometimes if you wait a few days without playing him, he'll accept the redshirt.  I think it a litter harder to get a sophomore to take a redshirt though, I've never done it.

i see.  would you suggest trying it now, or waiting til i don't play him to even try it?

You can try it now to see what happens.  If he takes a big WE hit obviously take it off and try again after a sim.

I have redshirted many sophomores. It helps if you are very deep at his position (I think) -  if he isn't going to get a lot of minutes some kids figure it out...of course there is a chance he'll tell you how upset he is yadda yadda...worst case, you remove the redshirt everything goes back to normal - no permanent damage. 

If he doesn't take it at first, many coaches say that you can remove and reapply it and he will sometimes (often?) take it.  This used to work for me, but I've not been able to get to happen for quite a while. I even sat a kid on the bench all season once and tried to apply it the last day before end of season. Still wouldn't take. Then I made the mistake of thinking his WE would recover over off season, and of course it didn't. In fact, kid cam back as a RS Sophomore with a 1 WE. I had to cut him...

hmmmm.  he's technically the highest rated of the two players at his position, so that prob doesn't bode well for me.  (the actual starter at his pos is listed at a different pos)

OK i tried it and got this message from my assistant:

"Coach,

Just wanted to let you know that your request to redshirt XXX has been approved. While I trust your judgment, I really hope you realize what you are doing."

I checked the player and his WE is the same as it was.  Does this mean it worked?  Or might he still email that he doesn't like it within the next day?

No, you'll get a message from the kid saying either he accept or he declines with a big drop in WE.

This must be your 1st redshirt ever, huh?

it'll take a little while for the response from the kid...

Posted by mullycj on 1/2/2011 12:22:00 PM (view original):
This must be your 1st redshirt ever, huh?

yup

hmmm. he said i was crazy and his WE dropped 52 pts.  so i can just keep turning it on and off and i can always undo it and his WE will return to normal?

if i were to keep the RS on and accept the WE drop, is he a transfer risk?

Yes, I tried like 10 times last season to get a player to take a RS with no avail. I even tried it after he didn't play a single minute after a season was done and he still didn't take it. His WE automatically went back to normal after I took it off.

I don't think there is transfer risk, not sure. This is for Drake, right? don't bother redshirting him, he isn't ever going to be any good really. I wouldn't cut him right now either...just let him fill the 2nd or preferably 3rd spot on depth chart til he goes away...just use your redshirt for a freshman who will benefit from it IMHO. I love the color of your school's banner - I've always liked A St...

eta: if you leave it on over his protests (and his WE will drop all the way to 1 this time, trust me...) he becomes just about useless and you might as well cut him or hope for a transfer...

it's for drakes yeah, but i'm not doing it so that he improves. i'm doing it so that i have him as a bench option 3 years from now. i actually think he's pretty decent, but i am stacked at his positions right now, don't really need him, and promised most of his minutes away to freshmen anyway.  you've got to remember i play in a conf that is basically 1-AA, so a guy who might suck elsewhere still has value.

ETA:  he's still got a lot of room for improvement in PER/BH/REB/LP