Is Revelation Why Texas Is Holding Holland's Release Accusation Against Hogs or Posturing?

Longhorn administration reportedly looking into whether improper contact took place

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
May 13, 2023 10:57 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – While a large number of Arkansas fans were letting their baseball nerd flags fly last night by foregoing an evening on the town to watch the Razorbacks take down South Carolina, news quietly trickled out of Texas that could potentially prove highly disruptive to the Arkansas program.

The general consensus is that Texas signee Ron Holland is leaning toward signing with Arkansas. However, to do so, he needs them to release him from the letter of intent he signed back in December. While it's understandable that Texas wouldn't want to do all the paperwork needed to let Holland go until they know for certain he isn't going to stay in Austin, his release seemed a formality. If Holland has to appeal the matter to the NCAA, under normal circumstances he would be able to get out of his LOI fairly easily.

Even though recruits technically can't get out of signing with a school because of a coaching change, he would be able to make a valid argument that he signed intending to play for a single year before going to the NBA with the promise that he would have a coach who is highly experienced at developing future NBA stars. Chris Beard was fired at Texas nearly a full month after Holland signed, and, despite the Longhorns dragging their feet hoping for a reason to hire someone like John Calipari or Eric Musselman, interim coach Rodney Terry won too many games to take the PR hit by not hiring him.

While Terry had a good season under difficult circumstances at Texas, Holland need only point to the decade as a head coach at UTEP and Fresno State where not only did Terry barely win half his games, he gained no experience developing elite NBA talent year in and year out. Arguing that while Terry may have been the best man for the job at Texas, but not necessarily the best man for his future gives Holland a credible case in an appeal, especially since he never set foot on campus and asked for his release while there was still plenty of time for the Longhorns to find a replacement.

So why would the Longhorns spend weeks making a point of not releasing him? Well, according to a report from Horns247, it appears officials at Texas suspect someone may have tampered with Holland prior to his request to be released. Even though he hasn't been granted his release, Holland was fair game for contact from any schools the second he announced he intended to transfer during the portal window. However, if he was contacted beforehand, that's considered improper, even in the Wild West world that NIL and the transfer portal has created.

"While Holland has taken the steps to be released by Texas, his release hasn’t yet been granted. It doesn’t sound as if Texas is trying to hold up Holland, their administration is just making sure there hasn’t been any foul play." – Eric Bossi, 247.com

Considering the entire basketball world thinks Holland intends to either go to Arkansas or the G League, and the G League can't be responsible for foul play as they are a professional organization, a lot of people are making the very short leap to Texas administrators suspecting Arkansas may be directly responsible for Holland's decommitment.

So, with people jumping to a lot of conclusions, let's sort through actual fact. Texas has not implicated Arkansas. That's an assumption and nothing else. Also, even if the Longhorns were to find that someone tried to convince Holland to leave Texas following the new coach being named, that doesn't mean it had anything to do with Razorback head coach Eric Musselman.

Keep in mind that we live in the highly unregulated world of NIL. Businesses can reach out to an athlete and sign him regardless of where he plays and what state the business calls home. For instance, Derrian Ford recently signed with PCA Technology Solutions which is based in Central Arkansas despite the odds being high that he signs with another SEC school. There's nothing wrong with it in any way under the current guidelines.

Short of a company sending an e-mail saying we will give you X amount of dollars to leave Texas to play at Arkansas, there's not a lot of room to argue tampering under the intentionally vague rules regulating NIL put forth by the NCAA.

While those are the facts, there's also the conjecture to be considered. Any schools that have ever dealt with Texas as a conference foe knows the Longhorns prefer to be feared and respected. Texas craves power and prefers to wield it bluntly and often. With no SEC schools fearing the Longhorns, nor viewing them as a superior entity that could ruin them if they take their ball and go home, withholding Holland's release to a future SEC foe could simply be a testing of the waters to see how future conference mates will respond to the Longhorns throwing their weight around.

Then again, it could be Texas trying to position itself as a school that won't be looked down upon. The Longhorns have never been bullied and having an SEC team swoop in and take its best player could be viewed as a warning shot that Texas wants to answer strongly before being seen as food for the sharks all of their athletic programs are about to start swimming with. Even if there were no evidence of tampering, it would be in the Longhorns' best interest to make a power play of holding off on the release under the guise of just making sure nothing happened so the Texas can make other SEC schools pause before doing something something that could be detrimental in the future.

Time will tell if there's anything legitimate behind the Longhorns' actions in regard to Holland. For Razorback fans, they had better hope this is simply a school used to getting its way posturing in hopes of establishing a message to its future conference mates. If not, if there's legitimate reason for Texas to hold on releasing Holland, things could get messy for Arkansas quick.