As a caveat of the much-ballyhooed merger between Georgia State and Georgia Perimeter College, GPC Interim President Rob Watts said there would be no guarantee that GPC’s athletics programs would continue.
“We can’t look a parent in the eye or be honest with a parent or student and say ‘You will absolutely get to play for the next two years,’” Watts said at a town hall meeting held at the Georgia State Student Center on Tuesday.
Watts also disclosed that Georgia Perimeter College has suspended all recruiting activities and scholarships for its athletics programs for next season.
A GPC spokesperson told The Signal that the move on GPC’s part was made the Monday before the town hall meeting. The decision was made after a meeting with Alfred Barney, GPC’s Director of Athletics, as well as members of GPC’s senior staff.
Barney also serves as GPC’s head coach for its men’s basketball team.
Georgia State President Mark Becker also said that the merger between the university and Georgia Perimeter College will not affect the plan to purchase Turner Field. Said plans include a renovation of Turner Field into a football stadium, the building of a new baseball stadium, as well as expanded parking, private housing and retail space.
“This makes only more obvious the needs for Turner Field, for our own facilities and large enough facilities here in downtown that will serve this metro region,” Becker said. “Those plans are only reinforced by this consolidation and we are, no way, backtracking or changing direction.”
Neither Watts nor Becker specifically mentioned Panthersville, which currently serves as home to Georgia State’s softball, soccer and baseball teams. Panthersville is located less than a minute away from Georgia Perimeter’s Decatur campus in south DeKalb County.
To Stay or to Transfer?
GPC, a two-year college, has 47 sophomore athletes under scholarship who will graduate in May as well as 86 freshman athletes under scholarship. Watts said the 86 will receive a letter from him this week outlining their options in terms of if they want to stay at GPC or transfer someplace else.
“If they want to stay at GPC, we will honor your scholarship as long as you’re eligible if you want to stay and finish your degree,” Watts said. “However, if you want to move on and continue to play, we will give you a release. You won’t have to sit out a year. You can move immediately on and play someplace else.”
When it was Becker’s turn to speak, he compared the releases GPC athletes would be receiving to those that were given to football players at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, which also discontinued its football program. The Panthers have already landed two former UAB football players in runningback Demarcus Kirk and defensive back Bobby Baker.
Watts claims the decision was made in order to be fair to the students and that it gives them the “maximum chance” to play sports elsewhere if they choose to do so or finish their associate’s degrees at GPC.
According to Watts, Barney predicts approximately 70 of the 86 freshmen student-athletes will be recruited to play elsewhere. He also mentioned that some may be even recruited by the Panthers and can be competitive for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs like Georgia State.
“If you saw the Georgia State-Troy men’s basketball game the other night, one of the Troy players was a former GPC player who only scored 31 points,” Watts said.
The player Watts mentions is current senior Troy point guard Musa Abdul-Aleem who actually scored 33 points in a 77-72 loss to the Panthers on Jan. 10. Another GPC athlete who will transfer is sophomore baseball player Devin Vainer who signed a National Letter of Intent to play for Georgia State in 2016 after he graduates this year.
Tuesday’s Town Hall
In addition to Watts and Becker, the University System of Georgia’s Vice Chancellor for Planning and Implementation Shelly Nickel, who will oversee the consolidation, was also present.
The three university executives fielded questions from the audience on hand as well as through emails and social media, using the hashtag #GSUTownHall. They included concerns over tuition, enrollment, undocumented students and how the Georgia State-Georgia Perimeter merger compares and contrasts with others overseen by USG.
A question concerning how it will affect athletics was posed to Watts and Becker midway through the town hall meeting.
Watts said that his phone, as well as that of Barney, received a flood of phone calls from concerned parents of prospective recruits since the announcement of the Georgia State-Georgia Perimeter consolidation.
“My office and our athletic director’s office has been inundated with calls from parents saying ‘Your coach is out recruiting my son or daughter to play. Can you guarantee for me there’ll be a team two years from now?’ And the answer is no,” Watts said.
GPC’s athletic program comprises of softball and baseball teams as well as basketball, soccer and tennis teams for both women and men.
Effect on Georgia State Athletics
After Watts shared his remarks on how the merger will affect Athletics, Becker shared his thoughts from the Georgia State side of the issue. Along with his remarks about Turner Field, he said that the university will continue to field an intercollegiate athletics program that competes at the FBS level of the NCAA.
“There’s no change in the athletics program here fundamentally in terms of the offerings,” Becker said. “Our coaches have the opportunity to look at the young men and women who will be transferring as they do every year.”
Becker and Watts reiterated similar comments regarding the future of GPC and Georgia State athletics at another town hall meeting at Georgia Perimeter’s Dunwoody campus earlier that Tuesday.
Jaggy, the GPC Jaguars mascot, will also be phased out. The mascot for the consolidated Georgia State University will continue to be Pounce the Panther.
The merger is slated to be complete by Fall of 2016.
Athletes with ties to both Georgia State and GPC
Brittany Logan
Women’s Basketball
After playing her final two years at J.L. Mann Academy in Greenville, South Carolina, Logan transferred to GPC. In first year for the Jaguars, 2011-2012, they finished 31-3 and won the NJCAA Championship. As a sophomore, Logan averaged 13.5 points and 10.3 rebounds. Her 10.3 rebounds put her at 14th in the NJCAA that year. She did not play basketball in 2012-13 at GPC to complete degree requirements before transferring to Georgia State for the 2013 season.
Niriatsa Rasolomalala
Women’s Tennis
Rasolomalala was born in 1992 in Madagascar and played her high school tennis Africa. She would later transfer to Georgia Perimeter College and lead the Jaguars to their highest ever ranking last spring. In the fall of 2013, she won the NJCAA national championship while with GPC.
Devin Vainer
Baseball
The sophomore pitcher from Sandy Springs, Georgia graduated from Riverwood High School in 2013. Last year, he compiled a 6-4 record with 20 strikeouts in 18 appearances. After graduating from Georgia Perimeter College in May of this year, he will play for Georgia State in 2016 as he has signed a National Letter of Intent.
