Thursday, October 10, 2019

Fast Five: Faustian Bargains in Coaching

Coaches make Faustian bargains. They don't always get caught. 

 The ongoing NCAA basketball scandal is still being threshed. The tide has only started to recede, revealing who's caught without a swimsuit. 

Coaches pick low character players, believing shortcuts to talent give them the best chance to win. Bo Schembechler said, “Well, if you ever really want a guy and you don’t get him, that’s OK. He’ll only beat you once a year...On the other hand, if you get the wrong guy on your team, he’ll beat you every day.”

 Even Hall of Fame coaches like Bill Belichick get seduced by talents like Aaron Hernandez. While covering the Major League Lacrosse All-Star game, I heard Paul Rabil say that Belichick called Hernandez, "my best football player." 

 Some high profile parents force their way into the headlines. Coaches have taken notice and some have an avoidance policy. 
Former Coach Gary Williams wasn't going to be held hostage. In a Washington Post series, "Nobody has ever accused me of cheating in recruiting in my career," Williams said. "That is a good thing, supposedly. But people turn that around and say, 'He won't play the game.' You do it [my] way, and you are criticized for not cheating."  The 2009 article adds, "The funneling of cash recruiting inducements between colleges and AAU or high school coaches, in the form of tax-deductible donations usually made by college athletic boosters at the behest of the coach, has become common, according to several prominent college and AAU coaches. Some summer league coaches also charge college coaches -- sometimes hundreds of dollars -- for copies of "scouting reports" that are often little more than lists of players' names. What's more, one elite AAU coach has suggested that he will create a 1-900 telephone number so he can make money when college coaches call him about recruits."

 While coaching at Boston College, Celtics great Bob Cousy acknowledged that his NBA pedigree and high quality education wasn't going to lure recruits from (southern) schools offering parents job and players 'girls'. 

The enticements never stop. "Under Pitino, director of basketball operations Andre McGee hired strippers and prostitutes as a way of gaining favor with high school recruits from 2010 to 2014." The University tried to whitewash allegations against their former coach. It wasn't pretty.

 I worked with an ICU nurse whose sister was a dean at a prominent college basketball power. She told me that whenever an academic disciplinary problem arose at the school, it was always decided in favor of the player. 

 Lagniappe: Spread DHO Downscreen (via @BBallImmersion)

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