April 4, 2019
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Apr 5 @Central Arkansas 5:45 PM Baseball
Apr 6 @Central Arkansas 3:45 PM Baseball
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Apr 10 @USL 6:15 PM Baseball
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
Now that the LSU basketball season is over, there is no avoiding that a decision needs to be made regarding the direction and leadership of the program. None of the choices are clear, obviously correct, or “pretty.”
Forget what should be done for a moment because that is simply a matter of perspective. If you are Will Wade or a supporter of his, you think the employer should stand by you until something is proven against you. If you are the LSU administration, you want to minimize the risk. The positions are clear and are not going to change, so the options are clear. But what are the consequences of each option? While most are focusing on what is going to happen next, the question I choose to consider is what happens AFTER a decision is made?
Option 1: LSU continues to wait to make a decision until Wade testifies. This option clearly appears to be what LSU has chosen. Some may think LSU is playing it safe, but in my mind this is the riskiest choice.
The world of college basketball is progressing, and the image of LSU is being tarnished. Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Arkansas are hiring their new coaches. Everyone in college basketball is recruiting, while high school players are making decisions as to where they will attend college. Underclassmen are deciding if they will turn pro and early graduates are thinking about transferring. I am sure LSU’s assistants are doing what they can, but all they can do is tell players to try and hold on, to wait and see. That is not an effective recruiting plan.
We all are assuming Wade will meet with LSU after the trial and clearly he is not going to “admit” to anything. LSU will finally have to make a decision. Then what?
Option 1A is LSU retains Will Wade. LSU could decide to ride it out with the NCAA like Arizona, Auburn, and all the other programs have done that have been faced with allegations.
Here is what would happen next. Nobody knows the actions the NCAA would take, but the NCAA will formally or informally investigate Wade and LSU. Other SEC coaches will be drooling to recruit against LSU, not to mention the signing period starts April 17 and the trial isn’t until April 22. Even if Wade and his staff were to recover, the unknown actions of the NCAA will be lingering over LSU for some time until the Tigers are cleared or penalized. Neither decision would happen quickly and both would be harmful to the program.
Meanwhile, it will be very hard for anyone to believe that Wade has the full confidence of LSU’s leadership. After this, and the Les Miles situation, there will be a constant cloud hanging over the program for some time.
Option 1B is to fire Will Wade. If LSU’s administration is leaning in this direction, they should be doing their prep work right now (doubtful considering how reactive they have been to this point). Even if LSU is doing their prep work, firing Will Wade and hiring another coach would bring us to May. The regular signing period for basketball is April 17-May 15.
Also, keep mind the reason LSU would fire Will Wade at this point (when they could have done it all along). It would have to be “for cause” because something in the trial or meeting with him would lead LSU to think he has broken rules. That would mean LSU is hiring someone very late to come in and take a program that has admitted wrongdoings. Who is taking the LSU job at that point? Someone will, but that someone is desperate.
Option 2: LSU makes a decision this week. Clearly this will not happen, but we all should recognize that this IS and option. The clear benefit would be to allow the program to move forward. And we should all recognize that neither option that involves waiting leads to a program moving forward. Option 1A and 1B puts LSU is serious damage control and reacting to wherever the wind blows, which is what has been happening for a month.
Option 3: Get in a time machine, go back 2 weeks, and make A decision. Either your employee is acting properly or he isn’t. If he is, let him do his job until the trial. If something comes out then, you can change your mind. If you didn’t want him to coach games due to the distraction, that would have made sense, but the games are over. For the life of me, I can’t understand how LSU’s leadership allowed itself to be backed into a corner where the program is now in suspended animation.
If LSU had not drawn their red line, they could tell the world that LSU has gone above and beyond what Arizona, Auburn, Kansas, and other programs did in similar situations. Some programs had assistant coaches arrested… arrested! Yet, none have been placed on NCAA probation and their programs have been operated without the loss of their leader for an extended period of time.
Everyone is focused on the red line of LSU insisting on a meeting in March with Wade with the headline, “Wade refuses to meet.” But, didn’t they meet when all this came out in the fall? Did LSU not investigate and show institutional control then? The administration should be answering these questions now. Did LSU lawyers and administration look him in the face then? Yahoo did not report new allegations in March. They reported details of old allegations.
I can imagine someone reading this article would think I come out on both sides of the issue and I do because none of it makes sense to me. It seems as though so many sides have dropped the ball.
Meanwhile, the LSU basketball program cannot stay in suspended animation. We are kidding ourselves if we think everything is magically going to return to normal at the end of April.
Clearly LSU and the NCAA do not have anything or Wade would be fired already and LSU would be under investigation. So why can’t LSU’s basketball program proceed? Because of LSU’s self-imposed red line, and anyone who excuses that decision because of the NCAA should ask themselves who runs LSU? The NCAA did not put LSU’s basketball program on hold, LSU did.
Most people involved in athletics believe that every day is an opportunity to get better or worse. Standing still doesn’t exist. Standing still is missing an opportunity to get better and therefore you are being passed up by your competitors. Consequently, by not getting better you are getting worse.
LSU’s basketball program is getting worse every day the administration doesn’t make a decision for the future of the program. Unfortunately, LSU fans, basketball players, and the program in general will receive the consequences of inaction.
HEY REF
This week I’m writing a very short column for just one reason; how much longer can universities continue to spend ridiculous amounts of money on coaches while they sit around the banquet table and exclude the very people making everything possible? How much longer will schools continue to raise tuition? How much longer will colleges go to their state legislatures and request even more money? How much longer will schools beg the taxpayers for addition dollars to keep the doors open? Well, if you’re in Kentucky it’ll be for at least fifteen more years since they’ve sold their souls to keep one coach from leaving. From the news coming out of the blue grass state it’ll be for a “LIFETIME” for one coach. So let’s look a very quick and short look at the Kentucky basketball situation… …
And the saying goes “The rich get richer, the poor get poorer”! Such is the case at the University Of Kentucky as their head coach, John Calipari, agrees to a LIFETIME 10 year contract extension. Calipari is the highest paid, $8 million per year, head coach in the NCAA bar none. The university reported that for the just ended season where the Wildcats lost in the elite eight his total compensation came in at $9.2 million. Under his current contract that runs through the 2024 season he’ll have a base pay of $8 million.
Calipari denies that UCLA offered him a 6 year, $48 million contract and that their offer became the driving force causing Kentucky to rush and have him under contract for life. At just 60 years old Calipari could have Kentucky on the ropes for more than $140 million. After the “LIFETIME” contract ends the school will keep paying him to “serve as a paid ambassador”.
As everyone knows that reads my column I think this just stinks to high Heaven. I’ve never liked him simply because when he came to Kentucky ten years ago the first thing he did was have the university end scholarships for three starters because he wanted “his” own players and not the left-overs from the previous coach. Those three players were sent packing by the school and when the players appealed to the NCAA they were told to go kick cans down the road. I said it then and I’ll say it again; the NCAA should stop any situation like I just explained and allow the players to finish school and graduate. It isn’t their fault they weren’t wanted and having three students obtain degrees should be what the NCAA is all about.
But as we all know the NCAA is only concerned with expanding their bank accounts and what they’ve got to do to keep the greenbacks flowing to them and not the players that make it all possible. I just can’t support any business that hammers its employees then basks in the limelight when it’s the working (players) men and women that do all the sacrificing. It’s going to be interesting which university will step up next to dump train loads of dollars to a single coach.
Till next week…
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