Booting McAlarney Might Not Have Been a Very Christian Thing To Do

When I read that Notre Dame had kicked Kyle McAlarney not only off the basketball team, but out of school, for an entire semester ... I sort of thought it was an overreaction to a marijuana possession charge, chalked it up to a school being overprotective of their reputation, and forgot about it. But there was something I hadn't considered, a possibility that was raised today by Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline.

Had Notre Dame ruled this way two weeks ago -- or perhaps even as late as last week -- McAlarney could've transferred to another institution, knocked out 15 hours and been eligible to resume his college career next December. But because the process dragged, transferring is no longer an option, and a cynic might suggest that was part of the plan all along.

Dismiss the player two weeks ago, you might lose him forever.

Dismiss the player now, his best option will be to seek readmittance at Notre Dame this summer.

Interesting.

Of course, I don't know that that's what Notre Dame was thinking. Maybe it just takes them a really long time to make decisions, I don't know. But I'd hate to think that they would willfully keep McAlarney out of any school for a full semester for their own selfish reasons.

And you can argue that McAlarney brought it upon himself, and you're right, he certainly did ... but that wouldn't excuse Notre Dame from acting with such little regard for the (ex) student's future.