News got out this morning that Cullen Neal has made the decision to transfer from the Lobos and play his two remaining college seasons elsewhere. Recently, there were rumblings about this potentially happening, so it’s not particularly surprising, but it is really disappointing to see. And maybe the worst part about it is that his decision is completely understandable.

The thing about most transfers, and there are a bunch these days, is that the reasons behind them seem to fall into just a handful of categories: the player wants more playing time; the coach leaves the program; the player wants to be closer to home; and/or the player is clashing with the coach. The first three items clearly aren’t the case, as he played almost 30 minutes a game, Coach Neal is still expected to be here next year, and he literally couldn’t play closer to home. That leaves the last item and, although some people might argue otherwise, I don’t think that’s the driving reason either.

Instead, I think that it’s as simple as this: Cullen wasn’t having fun being a Lobo anymore. It’s easy to see why. After all, he grew up around the program and saw how awesome it is to be on the UNM basketball team. You’re the biggest show in town, you’re basically treated like a celebrity, and you have thousands of fans cheering you on. I grew up here too, so I saw the same things. In fact, my brother and I picked our pen names because when we played basketball in the backyard as little kids, we pretended that we were on the Lobos, with him telling me, “I be Luc, you be Bob Bobbins.” I’m sure that Cullen had seen enough of that sort of thing before he went to college that I bet he hoped little kids would pretend to be him when they’re playing with their brothers in the backyard too.

But whatever he expected being a Lobo to be never really happened. As a freshman, he had some highs and lows, as all freshmen do, but because of his personality, his reputation as a player in high school, and the fact that his dad was the coach, some people just focused on the lows he ended up gaining more detractors than any Lobo that I can remember. The next year, he moved into the starting lineup and came out hot, scoring 20+ points in each the first two games before an ankle injury sidelined him for the rest of the season. However, even in injury, he still managed to rub people the wrong way simply by where he sat on the bench. This year, he was harassed to the point that he had to change his phone number multiple times and delete all of his social media accounts.

So, in his three years here, he never had the experience as a Lobo that I think he wanted or expected. And that has to be soul-crushing, as I can’t imagine how anyone who spent years loving the program could handle being treated like that. Then, when looking at the possibility of dealing with it for another two years, I think just about everyone would end up making the same decision Cullen did. When you add in all of the vitriol that has been directed towards his dad this season as well, this situation had become all but impossible. He ultimately made the decision that is best for him, and is likely best for his dad. It’s hard to fault a kid for doing that.

All in all, this is absolutely a loss for the Lobos, but it’s also a loss for Cullen. He wanted to play here and wanted to have that great experience of being a Lobo. He didn’t get it.