An Isiah Thomas Sighting in Miami
Stuart Nachbar
April 24, 2009
When I pulled this week's Sports Illustrated out of my mailbox, I was anxious to read several of the feature stores about the NFL Draft, Roger Clemens and steroids, Ken Griffey, Jr's return to Seattle and the hard chargers in the NBA. But I was also drawn to a sidebar story on page 25, that Isiah Thomas has been hired as the head basketball coach at Florida International University (FIU).
As if FIU didn't have enough sports-related problems. This Miami-based university already faces four years of athletic probation because various teams used 45 ineligible student-athletes in 15 different sports. The football program had been placed on probation during 2005, and that probation was extended. According to this story at Rival.com, NCAA officials said Florida International didn't expand its compliance department as its athletic program grew and it's football team moved from Playoff Subdivision to Bowl Subdivision play. But as I read that story, I wonder if the FIU officials had any concern about getting caught. And it just so happens that, according to the SI story, the FIU athletic director is a friend of Isiah Thomas.
Thomas, who has a $14 million golden parachute from the New York Knicks, has been a failure in his coaching and executive career. After retiring from a stellar playing career, Thomas became executive vice president and part-owner of the then-expansion Toronto Raptors. He drafted talented players such as Vince Carter, Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady but he couldn't mesh them into a winning unit after four seasons. He bought the minor league Continental Basketball Association for $5 million, mismanaged it into bankruptcy, and had the audacity to refuse an $11 million buyout from the NBA to keep the league solvent. He had success as coach of the Indiana Pacers, and drafted good young talent there, too. But he never got past the first round of the playoffs. Then, he came to the Knicks, decimated the team, and embroiled management in a sexual harassment suit that was settled for $11 million.
Thomas has agreed to work his first season for no salary; that's the equal of a donation of $1 million-plus to FIU athletics, but this cannot help the school's reputation or the man's. Thomas is taking over a team that went 13-20 last season in a mid-major conference. The effects of his recruiting efforts might not be felt for another two or three years, and he starts out one scholarship short. And the school will still be on NCAA probation.
I'm sorry to beat this story to death, but I would think that a school that should be trying to cleanse it's reputation should be looking to hire coaches whose ethics and values are close to squeaky-clean.
Isiah Thomas would be the last person I would hire as my head basketball coach. I would search for an up-and-coming assistant from one of the major programs; someone who has recruited well in the South would also help. The idea that a school on athletic probation would hire a man who dragged his employer through a multi-million dollar sexual harassment suit by an intern is a head scratcher to me.
Let's hope that FIU takes the money they save on Thomas' s salary, and put it into a rainy day fund to pay the next head basketball coach. And FIU fans should hope that Thomas quits after a year, so they don't have to pay the former coach and the new coach at the same time. This man does not deserve another golden parachute. He got one courtesy of New York Knicks fans. He should definately not get one at the expense of a public university athletic department that has already lost much face.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com
As if FIU didn't have enough sports-related problems. This Miami-based university already faces four years of athletic probation because various teams used 45 ineligible student-athletes in 15 different sports. The football program had been placed on probation during 2005, and that probation was extended. According to this story at Rival.com, NCAA officials said Florida International didn't expand its compliance department as its athletic program grew and it's football team moved from Playoff Subdivision to Bowl Subdivision play. But as I read that story, I wonder if the FIU officials had any concern about getting caught. And it just so happens that, according to the SI story, the FIU athletic director is a friend of Isiah Thomas.
Thomas, who has a $14 million golden parachute from the New York Knicks, has been a failure in his coaching and executive career. After retiring from a stellar playing career, Thomas became executive vice president and part-owner of the then-expansion Toronto Raptors. He drafted talented players such as Vince Carter, Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady but he couldn't mesh them into a winning unit after four seasons. He bought the minor league Continental Basketball Association for $5 million, mismanaged it into bankruptcy, and had the audacity to refuse an $11 million buyout from the NBA to keep the league solvent. He had success as coach of the Indiana Pacers, and drafted good young talent there, too. But he never got past the first round of the playoffs. Then, he came to the Knicks, decimated the team, and embroiled management in a sexual harassment suit that was settled for $11 million.
Thomas has agreed to work his first season for no salary; that's the equal of a donation of $1 million-plus to FIU athletics, but this cannot help the school's reputation or the man's. Thomas is taking over a team that went 13-20 last season in a mid-major conference. The effects of his recruiting efforts might not be felt for another two or three years, and he starts out one scholarship short. And the school will still be on NCAA probation.
I'm sorry to beat this story to death, but I would think that a school that should be trying to cleanse it's reputation should be looking to hire coaches whose ethics and values are close to squeaky-clean.
Isiah Thomas would be the last person I would hire as my head basketball coach. I would search for an up-and-coming assistant from one of the major programs; someone who has recruited well in the South would also help. The idea that a school on athletic probation would hire a man who dragged his employer through a multi-million dollar sexual harassment suit by an intern is a head scratcher to me.
Let's hope that FIU takes the money they save on Thomas' s salary, and put it into a rainy day fund to pay the next head basketball coach. And FIU fans should hope that Thomas quits after a year, so they don't have to pay the former coach and the new coach at the same time. This man does not deserve another golden parachute. He got one courtesy of New York Knicks fans. He should definately not get one at the expense of a public university athletic department that has already lost much face.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com
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