BOWLING GREEN — Myron Gordon and Joe Reece still have more questions than answers.
In what each are describing as a blind-sided act by the Bowling Green State University men’s basketball program and coach Michael Huger, Gordon and Reece were dismissed Feb. 16 for what the university described as “failure to meet program standards.”
Gordon and Reece are trying to figure out which standards they failed to meet.
“I have sat for several days trying to figure this out, but I still have no answer as to why I have been dismissed,” Reece said in part in a prepared statement given to The Blade. “I have done nothing, but show continuous effort and passion for this game throughout the season, even when things didn’t go my way.”
Said Reece in a phone interview: “All I can say is, for me and Myron Gordon, we have put our all into this program. We have done nothing wrong.”
The Blade requested a follow-up interview with Huger after speaking with Reece and Gordon. Those requests were denied, and a university spokesman referred to the statement issued on Feb. 16.
“I want to wish Myron and Joe the very best in their future endeavors,” Huger said in the statement. “They have made contributions to our program. At the same time, there are standards of behavior within the framework of our team that we expect to be met by all of our student-athletes. Failure to do so on a consistent basis has resulted in the loss of the privilege of being members of this team.”
Bowling Green is in danger of missing the Mid-American Conference tournament with two games to play. The Falcons have lost six games in a row and eight of their past nine, dating to Jan. 29.
Aside from the typical frustrations that come with losing as many games as they have, Reece and Gordon each said there were no physical or escalated verbal altercations between either of them with another player or a coach.
Reece did not travel for the Falcons’ game Feb. 1 at Central Michigan, and he sat the bench to begin each of the next four games leading up to his dismissal.
Reece claimed there was a situation involving another BGSU player that led to him losing his starting position, based on what Reece described as “gossip.”
Reece was approached by an opposing player in a game leading up to the Central Michigan game, and he was asked about the opinion of a BGSU teammate which transferred from that program. Based on the answer he gave, about which the teammate found out and went to the coaching staff with, Reece claimed the BGSU staff “made an example out of that” by benching him.
Personal frustrations, combined with the desire to remove himself from a situation that could potentially boil over, led Reece to miss a practice leading up to the CMU game.
“I used that more so as a way to get a mental relaxation, as well as for the betterment of the team,” Reece said. “Nobody wants to see me and [the player] get into it. And what’s more crazy is, I told [him] right before the altercation that if he had a problem with it, let’s handle it outside of the program. Let’s handle it so that we’re not affecting the team. We’re not affecting anyone. It’s just something that me and you handled as men. Instead, the team got into it.”
Reece said he was not told that situation was the reasoning for his dismissal.
Gordon claimed his dismissal even caught off guard the assistant coaches.
“It came out of the blue,” Gordon said. “It was not mentioned to me that I was in the conversation of being kicked off the team or anything like that. I played 23 minutes the game before — literally the day before — and the next time I heard from them, it was to come into a meeting. I was completely out of the loop, and [Huger] mentioned that it was a coaches’ decision. The assistant coaches called me right after, and they were out of the loop, as well. I feel that it was an impulsive decision by him.”
Gordon, a graduate transfer from Samford, told The Blade that Huger referred to “attitude, commitment, and class” when it came to his dismissal. Gordon said his mother called Huger, and Huger told her “it was because I was nonchalant, and he couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Nobody’s going to be happy being a losing team or losing,” Gordon said. “I obviously felt some type of way, but it was no incident in the locker room, or I didn’t have an attitude towards him. It was just me being a competitor.”
The timeliness of the nixing of the players only has complicated the situation.
On Feb. 15, the Falcons gave up a program-record 112 points in their defeat to Buffalo, the most since allowing 111 in a game in 1955.
In the Buffalo game, Gordon was the team’s second-leading scorer with 15 points. Reece played 18 minutes, scored six points, and grabbed four rebounds.
They were dismissed less than 24 hours later.
At the time of their dismissals, Gordon led the Falcons in assists (3.3 per game) and steals (1.5 per game). He was second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game as Huger’s sixth man. Reece, a junior transfer from Old Dominion, was third on the team in scoring with 11.2 points per game, second in rebounding with 5.1 per game, and he shot 53.4 percent from the field to lead all forwards.
Reece has entered the transfer portal and is in the recruiting process for his final season of eligibility.
Gordon said there were general frustrations inside the locker room as a result of the mounting losses, but nothing ever went out of line. He also mentioned his style of play did not line up with what Huger expected to him, and that included a position swap from shooting guard to point guard.
Gordon said he took time off in November in order to deal with mental health issues. He added Huger is “a good person” and gave him credit for treating him “like a family member” during that time.
Bowling Green has two unfavorable games left in its regular season, against the MAC’s top two teams. The Falcons face Ohio on Tuesday and are at Toledo to close the regular season on Friday. As of Monday afternoon, BGSU was in a tie for ninth place at 5-13 in the Mid-American Conference with Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan. They trailed 6-12 Miami by one game for the No. 7 seed.
Gordon said the timeliness of his and Reece’s dismissals was a sure sign of the Falcons quitting on the season.
“You kicked the top two players off the team in a critical situation,” Gordon said. “We needed these wins, and I 100 percent feel like he gave up on the season or scapegoated us and put us in a real bad situation as far as the social media and how we’re going to be looked at. Just getting kicked off in the last five games, it’s random.”
First Published February 28, 2022, 10:14 p.m.
