Four players on the Syracuse women’s basketball team were suspended by head coach Keith Cieplicki for violating team academic policy. Two of those players, senior forward April Jean and sophomore forward Tierra Jackson, have left the team. Freshman guard Tracy Harbut and sophomore guard Marchele Campbell have chosen to remain with the team and are suspended indefinitely.

Senior forward Shannon Perry, who missed the first semester with an academic suspension, chose not to return to the team on Dec. 28 for personal reasons.

The four suspended players last played in a Dec. 20, 82-62 loss to Cornell. Starting with SU’s Dec. 30 loss at No. 13 Colorado, the Orangewomen have played with only seven players.

Syracuse announced Friday that Jean and Jackson left the team.

Cieplicki declined comment on the suspensions.

Jean and Jackson, though, were willing to elaborate on the situation.

‘(Cieplicki) was never very explicit,’ Jean said about the team’s academic policy. ‘To me, when I got suspended, it was a shock.’

Jean said that she was suspended for cutting certain classes, but said punishment wasn’t deserved.

‘I didn’t violate the policy,’ Jean said. ‘I had plenty of evidence.’

Jean said that she went to the professors of the classes she was suspected of cutting and got written proof that she was present. She then went to SU Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel to plead her case, she said.

‘At first he was very biased,’ Jean said.

But she went on to show him the evidence from her professors.

Ultimately, Crouthamel informed Jean that her scholarship wasn’t in jeopardy and it was her decision as to whether she wanted to stay with the team. Crouthamel was unavailable for comment.

Jean’s only appearance came against Cornell after sitting out the first semester due to NCAA academic ineligibility. The latest suspensions were unrelated to NCAA or Syracuse University policy.

Jackson, though, has a different story. She contemplated leaving the Orangewomen before the suspensions. Originally recruited by departed head coach Marianna Freeman, Jackson said she felt she couldn’t grow as a player in Cieplicki’s 3-point-oriented offensive system. At 6-foot, Jackson is a more of an inside player, better suited to drive to the basket than shoot the 3.

After Syracuse’s 65-43 loss to George Washington on Dec. 4, Jackson said she approached Cieplicki about transferring. She said that he didn’t discourage the idea, and told her that it was a ‘no-lose situation.’

When Jackson returned from Winter Break, Cieplicki informed her of the suspension. She emphasized that she did not quit the team. She informed Cieplicki of her definite decision to transfer and Cieplicki asked her if she wanted to remain with the team for the season. She said she would do whatever the coaches decided and Cieplicki later informed her that the coaches thought it would be best if she did not return.

‘I don’t like the way the program is headed,’ Jackson said. ‘My family said that whatever I decided was OK with them. I weighed the pros and cons and I had a lot of reasons to leave and the only reason to stay was my teammates.’

Though Jackson was told her suspension was for academic reasons, both Jackson and her mother, Colette Owens, believe academics were used as an excuse to get Jackson off the team.

Jackson’s academic problems resulted from failing a third-level class in child family studies. She didn’t take a prerequisite for the course but Owens said that the team’s academic adviser assured Jackson she could handle the class.

After failing the first test, the professor told Jackson that she could probably not handle the rest of the material. Jackson again conferred with an academic adviser and was told she could drop the class with no repercussions. Instead, she would be able to attend study hours at Manley Field House, which she did for the rest of the semester. Still, she was given a failing grade for the class.

Jackson said she had never had an academic trouble in the past and Owens questioned why Cieplicki didn’t contact her if he was having problems with Jackson. Owens said she called Cieplicki several times but her calls were never returned.

‘If it was personal (between Cieplicki and Jackson) it wasn’t on her, it was on him,’ Owens said. ‘When she asked him what he wanted from her, no response was given.’

Campbell’s father, Michael Campbell, has experienced similar problems with Cieplicki. He said he e-mailed Cieplicki when the coach was hired to congratulate him, but Cieplicki never replied. Since the suspensions, Michael has again tried to make e-mail contact with Cieplicki, but, like Owens, received no response.

Michael said that Campbell has told him that other parents have also tried to get in touch with Cieplicki, but the coaching staff doesn’t seem to want to talk to parents. Michael has wanted to travel to Syracuse to personally meet Cieplicki, but because of health problems and travel distance (Campbell is from Kansas City, Kan.) he has been unable to thus far. Like Jackson and Owens, he believes that Cieplicki has targeted Campbell because she doesn’t fit his system. But he has told Campbell to just listen to whatever Cieplicki says for the time being. He added that Campbell has no immediate intention to leave the Orangewomen.

‘For a guy that has a young daughter of his own,’ Michael said, ‘how could you take other parents’ daughters and play with their minds like that? He should just tell them straight-forward that they’re not fit for the system.’

Jackson said that she and Cieplicki ‘just didn’t get along.’ But on the court Jackson tried her best to put her personal feelings aside. After finishing the spring semester at SU, Jackson plans to transfer, possibly to a school closer to her Upper Marlboro, Md., home. She hopes to continue playing Division I basketball. Owens said several schools are interested, but declined to elaborate.

Owens attended SU’s Jan. 7, 71-51 victory at Pittsburgh and observed that the Orangewomen took the ball to the hoop more than while Jackson was on the team. She questioned why Cieplicki discouraged this part of Jackson’s game, but then allowed it once she was gone.

Jackson averaged 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds last season, while Jean averaged 10.2 points and 7.1 rebounds. Both players are in their second year at Syracuse – Jackson as a sophomore, while Jean transferred from Kansas’ Coffeyville Community College last season.

‘I’d say nothing and I’d get yelled at,’ Jackson said, ‘and I’d say something I’d get yelled at. No matter what I’d do, I’d get questioned.’

Said Jean: ‘I was very frustrated. I didn’t want my career to end like this. I just think that he wanted to impose his own regulations.’

Published on January 12, 2004 at 12:00 pm