Liars, Hippocrates, and Frauds

From the title you would think I am talking about lawyers, or politicians. No actually I am talking about a select few select coaches and professional sports owners. The list was a short one for a while but over the past few weeks it has seen several new members join the group.

Let us start with the star of the show Nick, "My heart was still in college" Saban. Here is a guy who is simply looking for the easiest way out of a tough situation. With all of the garbage that he has spouted the past two weeks about not being interested in the Alabama job and then all of a sudden signing a nice fat contract, the question comes up, will the recruits actually believe him when he comes knocking on their doors? This is a man who preaches about honesty, integrity, and commitment but he has yet to stay as the head coach of any one team for more than 5 years. Look at the list of schools/teams he has just up and left in a lurch because of his wonder lust. In reverse order of abandonment, Miami Dolphins, LSU, Michigan State. Do I really need to go any further. If the coaches in the SEC are smart they will use the fact that Saban has not seen a freshman that he recruited graduate since the mid 1990's and point out that he is one hot coaching job opening away from walking away from them as well.

Next on my list is Bobby" I am at Louisville for the long term" Petrino. He goes and less than one season after signing a 10 year extension, bolts to the NFL. This is after being interviewed for as many as 4 different positions last year in order to secure the extension that he signed and then bailed on after only 1 year. The good thing is Petrino has to pay the school 1 Million to break the contract, and I think that you will see more of these sorts of clauses in contracts to prevent schools from pillaging staffs.

It is one of those few times that I actually feel sorry for the kids that are on these teams. However it only lasts for a few moments, because they should know that about 75% of these men that are their coaches are looking for opportunities in which their own egos can be stroked and not looking out for what is best for the institution that they are working for, nor the young men that they are supposed to be teaching. The sad thing about this is that all it does is help reinforce the problem that is so prevalent in many minority communities, the absentee father. These young men see that it is alright to simply walk out on a commitment and not worry about the repercussions of those actions. That is really sad.

I was only going to talk about Saban and Petrino, however now that Todd Graham is leaving Rice as a direct result of Petrino leaving Louisville, and the Tulsa Coach leaving to go to Louisville, and Graham being hired as Tulsa coach less than 2 days after signing a contract extension. I applaud Graham for his hard work here on South Main but he is no better than the others that I have mentioned before. You can read the story about him leaving in the Chronicle.

I simply hope that Major Applewhite who was supposed to be named Offensive Coordinator at Alabama changes his mind and tries for the head spot at Rice, however the only thing that anybody should expect is that someone will be leaving somewhere and that some student athlete will end up getting the short end of the stick....