Chris Clarke Indefinitely Suspended

Clarke Clarke has been indefinitely suspended. (Photo by Ivan Morozov)

Virginia Tech senior forward Chris Clarke has been indefinitely suspended from the men’s basketball team, per a release from the program.

Clarke is one of the most important players on the team because of his athleticism, versatility and rebounding.  He averaged 8.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game last season as a junior despite the fact that he was coming off a torn ACL.  As a sophomore, he averaged 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds.

No other comment was made by the athletic department.  Clarke is no longer listed on Virginia Tech’s online roster. 

With Clarke’s suspension, the Hokies are now down to just 10 scholarship players.  Khadim Sy and Tyrie Jackson also left the program in the offseason.

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  1. Question: Did Chris Clarke lose his scholarship? If so, did he choose to withdraw as a student? Don’t know the circumstances, but it’s a shame that a Senior who Coach Williams has spoken so highly of, including his Mom and Dad, would be suspended a week before the season begins. Isn’t it ironic that Clarke is pictured on the cover of the season tickets booklet?

    Also, Nick Fullard is not on this year’s team roster. Did he leave the program like Tyrie Jackson and Khadim Sy? Some may remember that in Sept 2017 the basketball program made available to the media a video that showed members of the basketball squad surprising Fullard in one of his classes with news that he was receiving a scholarship with great excitement and celebration. I believe this occured right after another player had just left the program.

  2. The constant attrition/injuries/suspensions/etc are getting old for Men’s BB. Just when I thought VT would “finally” enter the season with a full plate- no so fast my friend. The marquee programs @ VT are in serious jeopardy of losing a historic part of its fan base. As I commented in the CC’s column on the GT game, time to stay home and focus on the golf game while the body is still able to swing a club. The current payoff is not there, and it’s more than just wins/losses.

  3. Waiting for the HokieClub to ask for more $$$….usually comes right after we get beaned in the head by something like this or receive a nice stinger to the nads like the GT loss.

  4. Bad news for the basketball team (which is thin as usual) and Chris Clarke. I hope it works out for both of them. I’m hoping that our incoming freshmen and off season improvement of our upper classmen help to balance out this huge loss.

  5. By far, my favorite player, but his emotions sometimes got the better of him. I’m really sick about this. One step forward, one step back. Can we ever make steady progress? Why should I continue a lifetime of emotional and monetary investment while being routinely disappointed, enduring ticket price escalation every year, being constantly asked for more money, and….never mind.

  6. Kind of saw this coming and commented as such back on February 1st in another Techsideline article after the BC Overtime Game that we almost lost due to Chris’ egregious court behavior which was punctuated by jerking away from Coach Buzz during their verbal exchange as Coach tried to coach his player. One month and 8 days later, Clarke again loses his head and behaves poorly and instrumentally prompts the Hokies to unravel and collapse against Notre Dame (Remember the Farrell Push & Flop?). Eventually Clarke’s lack of self control reached a boiling point and Clarke appears to have worn out his welcome. I hate this….he was a good player at times.

  7. I can’t remember who said it on the board but they said, and I’m paraphrasing, Grayson Allen was suspended indefinitely last season, too…for one game.

    Personally, I want to see how this plays out and learn the facts.

  8. There’s only one conclusion to make. The VA Tech campus is on an Indian burial ground. We’re cursed until we get a medicine man to make things right. Only logical explanation left.

  9. It’s a shame some of our better football and basketball players selfishly choose to not follow the rules. Don’t really care if we don’t know the details yet…I do know that 99.9% of the time you don’t get indefinitely suspended and purged from the roster for minor violations or misunderstandings, something significant happened.

    I liked Clarke as a player, despite his occasional boneheaded was he was exciting to watch…but seeing football suffer without 3 defensive seniors who were booted and now this before basketball even begins…no compassion for this BS!

  10. SOP WRT Tech Basketball. With all the preseason hype a lot was expected. But usually stuff happens, and the season ends up less than hoped.

      1. If I recall correctly it was somewhat of a he said/she said issue with a young co-ed. Title 9 rights/rules are set up to protect the accuser…police investigated and determined there was no evidence of a crime…yet he was still expelled by honor court or something to that effect. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong anyone…

        1. that is generally how the Reavis situation went down. but you’re forgetting how big of a problem that situation ended up being.. 3 players lost because of a situation that Reavis should have never put himself in. (Keihn and McMillian being the other two)

  11. For those who keep saying “suspended indefinitely” might mean he’s coming back…

    Have you never followed collegiate, or at least VT, sports before?

    He’s gone…forever…period…

    1. Not saying it’s not true in this case, but there are plenty of examples of players across college basketball that come back from indefinite suspensions. Grayson Allen was suspended indefinitely for tripping ……he sat out one game.
      Indefinite just means, “we don’t know”.

  12. When no reason is given for these suspensions/dismissals one can only assume the worst and that the offense is criminal in nature. No reason was ever given for the Trevon Hill dismissal. The Roanoke-Times should do its job and investigate what happened. Fans have an interest in knowing if these athletic programs are worthy of support.

    1. Absolutely correct… I am frankly getting very tired of the turnover with never any explanation.

      Without any details , everyone assumes the absolute worst from the player…our whole athletic program seems to be out of whack … if there is a criminal charge it needs to be reported

      1. It usually comes out but if it doesn’t it’s generally because the player chooses to keep things on the down low and I think they deserve some privacy.

      1. exactly. kicking them off the team is enough. if you want juicy details, go to the subscriber board

      2. No one except players who aren’t inclined to do things that get them thrown off the team. I can live with that.

  13. The beginning of the end of the 2018 – 2019 Bball season has just began. There some troubling fundamental issues within the program. I hope the team can overachieve.

  14. Of course he is. Sigh. Have to be tough to be a Hokies fan. Keep getting punched in the face and coming back for more. Oh well. Hit me again….bartender.

  15. He’s a solid player and I’m hoping he will be back on this team. He is a hard working player, and has helped us win games. He averaging over 8 points and 6 RB’s a game. His huslte and stealing the ball is valuable. He does a lot of grunt work that doesn’t show up in stats. Hate this for our team and for Clarke.

  16. It wouldn’t be Virginia Tech basketball if we didn’t lose a player right before the season. Looking forward to women’s basketball.

  17. Clarke, was the 2nd best player on the team, behind Robertson. This hurts and my belief he is gone. So sad. Forget 5th in ACC and another NCAA bid..

  18. I assume that eventually more details will be leaked out. “Indefinitely” could mean the end of the fall semester or never wear a Hokie uniform again? Let’s hope that it’s not so serious that he’ll never play another game as a Hokie, but more importantly that it doesn’t ruin his life.

  19. Let’s be honest. He usually made up for his good plays with timely boneheadedness. Not sure that this is the end of the world.

  20. Was anybody looking forward to Basketball season after that debacle last Thursday night? So much for that….

  21. OK, the wording has me confused. “Indefinitely Suspended” is different from “Dismissal”

    Indefinitely Suspended means you could be reinstated at some point.

    Dismissal usually means “nope, you’re done”.

    The article uses both terms. Which is it?

    1. Suspension. Sorry. But he’s been purged from the online roster, so I sort of doubt that he’ll be back.

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