Sean Wink, a senior at Northwestern who quit the basketball team two years ago, “definitely has the desire” to return to the team next season, his father said.
Jon Wink indicated Wednesday night that getting the appropriate paperwork processed by the Wildcats’ coaching staff is likely the only roadblock standing in the way of his son’s return.
“It’s my understanding that it’s just a matter of them filing the right papers, getting it through and having it approved,” the elder Wink said. “Sean definitely has the desire. He’s continued to stay in shape. He lifts I think four times a week, so it’s not like he has just putzed around the last two years.”
Wink quit the team in October of 1999, one month before his junior season was set to begin. He was the first of 10 players to leave the team prematurely in the past 18 months.
Wink’s father said the decision came down to the contrasting coaching styles of departed coach Kevin O’Neill and current head man Bill Carmody. Wink took a great deal of O’Neill’s famed verbal abuse in practice and in games, which prompted in part his decision to leave.
“I honestly think he was hoping that coaching things would change,” Jon Wink said, “because that was one of the things they asked originally (when he quit): ‘If O’Neill leaves and we get a new coach, would you consider playing?’ And he said, ‘I’d consider it.'”
Wink’s father said Carmody spoke to Wink shortly after the coach arrived on campus last September and asked him if he had any interest in playing this past season. But NU was unable to clear Wink to play, causing him to sit out the year, according to Wink’s father.
“Sean was basically listed as a medical redshirt player, so he couldn’t do much this year – he wasn’t allowed to,” his father said. “So he was kind of between a rock and a hard spot.”
Wink will earn an undergraduate degree this spring, but he has applied for graduate school for the fall.
In the two years he played for the Cats, the 6-foot-2 guard was one of the team’s leading scorers. He averaged 12.1 points a game his freshman year, shooting nearly 46 percent from behind the three-point line. His shooting prowess could fit well into Carmody’s offense, which heavily relies on the outside shot.
“There’s nothing his mom and I would love better than to have him play again because I think he truly misses it,” his father said. “I think that’s where Sean’s coming from: You tell me what I have to do, and I’ll do it.”
