Yes, I'm back. To those of you curious as to where I was, well, Marilyn and I took a one night getaway to The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake in Ohio. It is kind of spooky to drive through a summer resort town in the middle of January. Everything, and I mean everything, is shut down. The Lodge, however, remains open year round and is a very nice place. We were able to swim in their indoor pool house while looking out at the snowy grounds and a frozen Lake Erie. You could also hear the the ice cracking and shifting if you stood outside. Very cool!
Changing subjects, allow me to pose this questions? Is there anyone, as a group, with less integrity that college football and basketball coaches (and the Universities that hire them)? Pete Carroll leaves USC one step ahead of the NCAA posse, and USC then hires Lane Kiffen away from Tennesse after Kiffen spends ONE YEAR at Tennessee. Kiffen also, allegedly, contacts the kids he recruited for Tennessee and tries to get them to switch to USC. And, of course, any kid who is now at USC or at Tennesse, because the committed to a COACH, can't leave and go elsewhere unless they sit out for a year. What a sewer!
We, of course, have seen this in Pittsburgh, going back to the 1970's when Johnny Majors left Pitt for Tennessee, and Jackie Sherrill left for Texas A&M. More recently, Ben Howland, sowed up his deal with UCLA, all the while swearing his allegiance to Pitt. Fortunately, Pitt hoops has become a program that is a destination, not a stepping stone, so I'm guessing, hoping, that Jamie Dixon will stay for awhile. However, I foresee my own alma mater, Robert Morris, losing Mike Rice if he puts another 20+ win season on the books.
I can't wait for the day when some University President stands up to a coach and says, "No, we are holding you to the contract that you signed." I'm also waiting for that shiny new Lexus to show up in my driveway some day.
Why do Universities allow this to happen? I know, I know - it's all about the money. The Integrity Genie got out of the bottle a long time ago, and he ain't coming back.
January is a long month, made longer by the Grandstander's absence on the 13th.
ReplyDeleteI read a good quote last week: "Football is the chief activity through which alumni remain attached to their university. Football provides large universities meaningful ritual and a sense of community whose social benefit is hard to measure but nonetheless is real and powerful."
Well and good. But, unfortunately, you describe another ritual that is all too common. Wonder how the ritual feels at Tennesse?
Glad you are back. Now we all have the Grandstander to kick around again.
I watched Lane Kiffen's press conference at Southern Cal. He danced around the issue the Grandstander raised about recruiting kids for USC that he had previously recruited for Tennessee. His response was difficult to understand whether he had or had not contacted these recruits. It was like Groucho Marx saying "Yes, we have no bananas".
ReplyDeleteBob - where are the pictures of you out on the lake Ice Fishing???
ReplyDeleteRE college coaches..... Remember what the A.D. at Boston College did one year ago to his football coach who was out interviewing while in the 2nd year of a 5 year contract with BC?
Here's the link...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3816644