According to a tweet from Scout.com's basketball recruiting analyst Evan Daniels, Tariq Owens has asked to be released from his Letter of Intent to play basketball for Ohio.
Daniels cites Owens' AAU coach Dwayne Wise, who said, "He's going to ask for out of the letter. Even if he has to sit out a year. He's not going there."
A tweet by Daniels at 5:14 p.m. on Wednesday said that Owens and coach Jim Christian spoke while Christian was in Boston for "meetings."
The Post confirmed with Owens via a Twitter Direct Message, that he is asking out because, "Coach Christian might be leaving."
Owens said he won't play at Ohio if Christian leaves, but doesn't know for sure if the Bobcats' second-year coach is leaving Athens.
"No, I'm not sure if he's for sure leaving or not," Owens said. "No, I would not consider going (to Ohio) if he leaves because it's not enough time to know the new staff."
All of this comes following reports from ESPN's Jeff Goodman that Jim Christian is one of the leading candidates to replace Steve Donahue as the head coach at Boston College.
Owens, from Mt. Zion Prep in Baltimore, is Ohio's highest ranked signee, garnering a four-star rating from Scout.com and is the no. 99 ranked recruit in the 2014 class.
The departure of Owens means whoever is coaching Ohio next season will now have three open scholarships to fill.
