He should have studied who was on the team and who the recruits were and made his intentions known and asked questions about how to handle those guys before he took the job.
In fact, perhaps it was the responsibility of the Athletic Director to call the kids in question, and explain the situation. After all, the AD hired Thomas, fired the previous coach, and must have been aware that Thomas was not going to honor the scholarships offered to the high school kids and that Thomas would bring in his own recruits. In that Thomas undoubtedly never had any contact with those high school kids before, wasn't this the responsibility of the AD, who has represented the university throughout the tenure of the previous coach, as well as Isiah? Furthermore, it seems as if the AD is conspicuously silent on this matter.
Exactly. There is no way Isaiah could have made the decision to cancel those guys without the experienced AD knowing about it. This doesn't pass the smell test. Yeah, Isaiah misjudged but the AD should have been his backup to catch this mistake. This never should even have become an issue cause the AD should have piped up saying, we cannot do this. This isn't all on Zeke. I'd say it is mainly on the AD.
Isiah said he didn't call them because he didn't think he could because it was a dead period. It wasn't. I think the AD would at least know that. Zeke strikes me as a little dictator taking after his mentor Bobby Knight. I doubt either would consult with the AD over their plans for their team.
Looks like Zeke has signed some nice J.C. players. Isiah Thomas gets recruits at Florida International - ESPN
You're certainly right about Bobby Knight. He treated his AD with about as much respect and deference as he treated the media in his press conferences. Indeed, at his last gig, I recall he even insulted the president of the university in a restaurant in a very public way. Knight felt he was better and more important than everybody else, and after years of getting away with that at Indiana, it finally cost him his job there. I hope for his own sake Zeke doesn't follow his example.