Panthers Starter Tiby Skips Graduation, Unloads on Athletic Department

UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball player Matt Tiby isn’t walking across the graduation stage this month, and – in the latest social media vent on the Athletic Department – Tiby says he’s “bitter” because UWM, which he called a “big Junior College” made his student-athlete experience “subpar.”

Recently, Tiby sought Facebook as his outlet to express why he has chosen to skip graduation. This came on the heels of longtime Panthers’ radio announcer revealing his resignation on Instagram, as the Athletic Department remains a flashpoint.

Tiby, a second team All-Horizon selection who started all 65 games in his Panthers career, wrote:

While his status blames the University in its entirety, in an interview with PantherVision/Media Milwaukee, he also speaks about one department specifically. The Athletic Department and Athletic Director Amanda Braun. Braun has declined recent requests for interviews with UWM student journalists. In a previous story, she defended her decisions. The university recently hired Lavall Jordan to replace fired coach Rob Jeter.

According to the UWM Panthers website, Tiby came to UWM after playing one year at Kirkwood College and was a standout Iowa high school player who was named to the first team in all-state honors. In 2014, local media touted Tiby, saying he’d improved the team and helped change its culture for the better. Read a previous Media Milwaukee feature story on Tiby here.

That was then. Now, in a wide-ranging interview as part of a joint PantherVision and Media Milwaukee investigation into the Athletic Department’s issues, Tiby spoke highly of his coaches (especially the now fired Rob Jeter) and his teammates, but his feelings were quite the contrary in regards to the administration.

Several Panthers players sought release from the program in the wake of Jeter’s firing and the team not being allowed to engage in post-season play. Tiby wasn’t one of those players, though.

“I have nothing against the basketball program; I want to see it succeed,” Tiby said. “It’s just people around the program aren’t giving the tools that the team needs to be successful.”

Tiby said that Jeter and the team have put in multiple requests to Athletic Director Amanda Braun to be able to use the court by themselves. Another struggle for the team was appropriate gym time so that they could better themselves on-and-off the court. He and his fellow players were in a constant battle for these resources as they were open to the entire campus, he said.

Changes were finally made this past year, and the team’s time to use the gym was exactly one hour after practice. Tiby wasn’t too impressed with the allotted time given.

“When you’re working hard for two hours, you don’t want to stay in the gym…you’re tired and drained after practice.”

Tiby said that he saw no plan of making the program succeed. He said it was always about money and how to bring more in so that eventually once the department was filled with the people they wanted, then they would start investing and making the program better.

“It’s just turmoil since day one since I’ve been on campus ever since the new AD (Athletic Director). And just not seeing eye-to-eye.”

Tiby also felt Jeter was directly affected by the lack of support from the Department.

“….before practice he’ll be like, ‘you know some people don’t want us to succeed,’ like he won’t give any names like that just cause he’s classy.”

A few examples Tiby gave were the Wisconsin Badgers; they didn’t receive a congratulations from Braun or Chancellor Mark Mone until a week later. Also, the team had an APR ban during the 2014-2015 season and, people on social media were harassing and saying the team was dumb and not going to class. Now, this past year, Tiby said they received a perfect APR score and not once did he hear Braun defend them or congratulate them for their achievement.

Tiby also said that Braun didn’t communicate her ideas or plans to the team at all. He said she even admitted she could have done a better job doing just that.

“When we had meetings at the end of the year about Coach Jeter it was just kinda like talking to a wall,” Tiby said.

Braun granted 10-15 minutes for one-on-one conversations with each team member to discuss the next step for them in the program. She informed the teammates about this plan via text message.

“No, you’re way mistaken if you think it’s gonna take 10, 15 minutes. That’s what’s crazy,” Tiby said. “That she thinks 10-15 minutes to even hold a conversation about what’s next for the program…You have 15, 17 kids that some of them don’t even know what they’re going to do with their next step, and they don’t even know how to…”

Tiby then said that during his one-one, Braun said “I don’t know” to half of his questions.

“…and this is the person that’s in charge with that?”

Overall, Tiby said he felt as if his teammates, players before them and himself weren’t a priority, as if they were just another number. He said it’s like someone saying, “Sorry, better luck next year, but I don’t have a next year.”

Nevertheless, Tiby said that Jeter instilled bigger and better morals and told them they “gotta prove the people wrong.”

Tiby said Jeter bought into them and believed in them not just on the court but off as well. He said Jeter came into that gym ready to work despite what Tiby saw as an unstable environment. Jeter taught them to move on from it and to do “the next right thing.”

Tiby said his next right thing is to stand up for himself and the absence of guidance and support from the University.

“For me personally I just didn’t want to give the satisfaction of the University,” he said. “As a student athlete you’re grateful for the opportunities that they give you for school, because without school you don’t have basketball. It goes hand in hand. So, I’m forever grateful for the opportunity that they’ve given me to finish my schooling here. But they never gave me the tools to success off the court like, how can I better myself in the future. Like, no one really bought into us beside our coaches.”