I did not guarantee minutes and this kid is a sophomore. He is not as good as either back up and I dont want to ruin
our season. I have it to back ups play if up by a lot. What should I do? These are the last 2 messages I got from him...

Subject: Expected minutes
I'll be honest, I'm starting to doubt when/if I'm ever going to see some minutes...at least at Radford. I need at least 7 or 8 more minutes a game.


Subject: Really regretting my decision
Coach, I'm not really sure what to say, I expressed my concern about my playing time. You didn't do anything. I'm really thinking about my future here.

he may transfer, he may not. there's no sure way to tell. I just had a guy in a very similar spot leave a school for the first time in my career. If you can get him extra minutes, great, but don't do it to the detriment of a good season now.

Try to start him against some bad teams if you get the chance, and leave him in a lot... I just looked at your team, and I'd consider starting him against the 4 200+ RPI teams you play within the next week. Doubtful Decicco's bad enough to really hurt you there. If you get him 12 MPG from here on out (or 24 in half the games), he'll stick around.

Just this past season I had a junior backup SF averaging 12 minutes a game leave, with those 2 exact messages, so I'd say there's a pretty good chance he'll leave. I personally like this part of the game because it adds in some more realism. This happens in real life college bball too.

I got similar messages from a SG last year and didn't give him more minutes because I didn't care if he left. I actually assumed he would leave. 

But He didn't leave, which was fine, too. So I guess the point of the story: he may stay, he may go!

I am not going to mess with it. If he leaves he leaves no big deal. I do like this though and I am not mad at all but I wish I could like tell him that two guys are graduating and he will get more minutes next year. That would be cool!

bk - that's what I wanted to tell my guy last year. He was a redshirted Soph, so a 3rd year guy expecting 3rd year minutes, but I had a stud SG. Now he's a junior and since his WE dropped a few points to an unrecoverable 31, I recruited over him this year, so he's getting backup minutes again. No complaining, though, his minutes are in the teens now, but I still have another year to be stuck with him. His POT was solid before his WE dropped, now he's a lost cause and program depth.

most guys who threaten to leave dont - the ones you wish would leave almost never leave