Five of seven players in Buffalo women’s basketball coach Becky Burke’s first recruiting class have decommitted from the program.
While Burke had attracted recruits from across the country, they are exiting en masse before even arriving on campus, as first reported by the Buffalo News.
Paige Kohler (Ohio), Madison Heiss (Texas), Ella Weaver (Virginia), Timberlyyn Yeast (Kentucky) and Jakayla Thompson (Kentucky) all have been released from their National Letters of Intent, per their social media accounts — many of which still prominently feature the posts announcing their initial commitments to the program.
“I just want to move forward with my recruitment,” Kohler told the Buffalo News, declining to comment on her decision.
Scott Johnson, who coaches Weaver and Yeast on the West Virginia-based WV Thunder club team, said his players were released from their NLIs “after tons of hassle.”
“Our kids best interests were not apart of concerns from anyone at Buffalo university!” he wrote on Twitter. “I had agreed to keep all this off social media if they took care of our kids but they didn’t!”
The decommitments come in the wake of the departure of assistant coach Wyatt Foust, who served as the recruiting coordinator on Becky Burke’s staff. Foust left for an opportunity at another school, though his next position has not been announced. Foust becomes the third assistant coach to leave the program after Burke’s first season, the Buffalo News reported.
Two players from this year’s Bulls roster have entered the transfer portal in Emerita Mashaire and Caelan Ellis, but Burke has added four players via the transfer portal.