The Dao of Competition: Is Winning Everything?

q: Is sports another extension of life?

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March 31, 2010

Coaches Finding No Tolerance for Losing

By PETE THAMEL

INDIANAPOLIS — Three years ago, when Royce Waltman was fired as the coach at Indiana State, he gave a memorable and prophetic news conference at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

He opened by thanking the university administration for handling his dismissal with “the deft touch of a 20-mule team.” He continued with a statement so honest and salient that it resonated deeply as the college coaching carousel spun again this week.

“If you get fired for cheating, you can get hired right back again,” he said. “If you get fired for losing, it’s like you’ve got leprosy, so young coaches need to bear that in mind. Cheating and not graduating players will not get you in trouble, but that damn losing. ...”

Waltman, 68, might have lost too often, but he could see the future. He has not been rehired as a head coach, instead working as a part-time assistant at Roncalli High School here.

But this week’s coaching changes brought Waltman’s sentiments to life: Holy Cross fired Coach Sean Kearney after one season on Tuesday for losing too much. And Texas-El Paso hired Tim Floyd, who resigned at U.S.C. in the wake of allegations of N.C.A.A. rules violations. U.S.C. vacated 21 wins and imposed a one-scholarship ban because of what happened under Floyd’s watch. Over lunch at a sports bar here on Wednesday, Waltman sipped a beer and reflected on his 2007 news conference. “It wasn’t a bitter statement,” he said. “I still believe it. I would think that events would bear that out.”

In the nonscholarship Ivy League this season, Penn and Dartmouth fired their coaches at midseason. Cornell Coach Steve Donahue said that in his first 10 years in the Ivy League, he could recall only two coaches being fired.

The Patriot League, of which Holy Cross is a member, offers scholarships but fancies itself as similar to the Ivy League in mission and academic ideal. Holy Cross hired Kearney in June after Ralph Willard left to become Rick Pitino’s top assistant at Louisville.

Kearney inherited a team picked to finish first in the Patriot. It finished 9-22, 5-9 in the league, and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Holy Cross Athletic Director Dick Regan did not return multiple calls seeking comment. But in statements reported by The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass., he made it clear that the reason for Kearney’s dismissal was his record.

“What this really says is basketball is very important to us,” he told the newspaper. “I see the ability to win the league championship next year, and I felt I had to do whatever it took to get to that point. There’s a gap in life between what you would like to do and what you think you have to do, and this was one of those latter situations.”

Kearney, reached by telephone on Wednesday, said he was fired for losing. He will be paid the remaining three years on his contract, a sign that there were no off-court issues. “I’m just very disappointed that I was not able to finish this out,” he said.

Around the country, coaches and administrators were baffled by the move. Another Patriot League coach, Fran O’Hanlon, who has coached at Lafayette for 15 years, was irate.

“Someone’s career was just destroyed in a lot of ways,” he said. “Short of a felony, I can’t imagine what could have prompted something like this. I’m just upset with the whole thing. I’m upset. It’s not my school. I’m not running Holy Cross, but I certainly don’t like the way this whole thing was handled.”

Kearney’s old boss at Notre Dame, Mike Brey, spent a lot of time on the phone pitching Kearney to Regan when the job was open. Brey said he did not get a good feeling in dealing with Regan and questioned his ability as an athletic director.

“I was nervous about him going there,” Brey said of Kearney, “but obviously it was a great opportunity for Sean.”

John Feinstein is the author of the book, “The Last Amateurs,” which follows a year in the Patriot League. On Wednesday, he credited Regan for being honest about the impetus behind the decision to fire Kearney — not winning enough. But Feinstein said the firing after one season was a bad harbinger.

“It says nothing good about the school or the league or the state of college basketball,” Feinstein said.

Feinstein recalled a conversation with Father John Brooks, the former president of Holy Cross, who said that the league’s decision to give scholarships was a “slippery slope.”

On Tuesday, Boston College parted ways with Al Skinner, who had reached the N.C.A.A. tournament seven times in the past 10 years but was 15-16 this season.

Norm Roberts, credited with cleaning up an N.C.A.A. mess at St. John’s and stabilizing the program, was also fired last month for not winning enough.

Brey, his voice dripping with sarcasm, said he could not wait to attend a 9 a.m. meeting of the National Association of Basketball Coaches here on Thursday.

“What kind of message does this send?” Brey said. “I’m beaten down, man.”

Waltman, the prophet, shook his head as he talked about the state of college basketball. But his message came across: Cheats prosper and losers get leprosy. Something a young coach might think about.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/sports/ncaabasketball/01coaching.html?hpw

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"Winning isn't everything. The will to win is the only thing. - Vince Lombardi

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winning_isn't_everything;_it's_the_only_thing