Lou
03-02-2005, 05:34 PM
I haven't seen this discussed, surprisingly. Any thoughts?
I think John Chaney should be FIRED. There was some candy-ass article on ComcastSportsNet.com about what a wonderful man he is...here it is:
http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.com/view_content_1p.asp?ID=5024
Doing the right thing has rarely been a problem for John Chaney. He proved it again Monday by kicking himself off the Temple sideline for the rest of the season.
After the dangerous stunt Chaney pulled last week, he slapped himself with a one-game suspension. Then his university and the Atlantic 10 Conference put their heads together and bumped it to three. Being a stand-up guy, Chaney got around to acknowledging that wasn't long enough. Here's hoping he puts the time off to good use.
"I have devoted my basketball years not just to winning games and earning a salary, but to helping countless youngsters advance to adulthood with discipline, self-esteem and productive skills. ... How well I have succeeded is for others to determine, but I know I give those goals my best effort every day, and have done so for more than forty years,'' Chaney said in a statement.
"In view of all the circumstances, I believe the fair thing is for me not to coach during the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament in Cincinnati.''
Considering the turn of events, it was the least he could do. Remember: he threatened to send a goon into Temple's game, made good on the threat and wound up robbing Saint Joseph's forward John Bryant of the last few months of his college career. The scary thing, at the time, was the way Chaney practically crowed over his handiwork. It came back to haunt him soon enough.
"Last week, my words and actions were wrong, wrong, wrong,'' Chaney said. "I never intended nor did any of my players intend for anyone to be injured, regardless of what may have been said emotionally before, during and after the game.''
The knock on Chaney has never been over motives, only methods. He is still treating basketball like war when he should know better. It's the same thing Bob Knight does, under the same banner of "molding'' men, and it's led to some of the same excesses.
But maybe when someone has been doing things one way all his life, it's the rest of us who should know better than to expect him to change. This episode won't mark the end of Chaney's run at Temple. But unless he changes, you'll be able to see it from here.
Rest assured that the next time Chaney rushes off to fight another battle, it will be the last time he does so while drawing a paycheck from Temple. University president David Adamany doesn't have to draw up a zero-tolerance policy, the way the administration did to finally pry Knight away from Indiana; his 73-year-old icon of a coach did it for him.
Chaney knows he's on the clock, but he also knows things could have turned out even worse. If last week's game was played at Saint Joseph's instead of Temple, it might have touched off a melee and then Chaney would have been done, right then and there.
That's why taking himself out of the A-10 conference tournament picture was such a good idea. Imagine if Temple and Saint Joseph wound up playing again, Chaney coaching furiously on one bench and Bryant looking on from the other, his broken arm still in a sling.
There's no making up for Saint Joseph's being forced to defend its regular-season league title without a key role player, and any coach who didn't have Chaney's stature would likely be out of a job already. But a guy who specialized in giving chances to so many kids deserves at least one more.
Chaney never graduated as many kids as he should have, but it's worth remembering that on sum, most of those who came into contact with him will swear he had an impact on their lives, helped determine what they did when they left the team and in plenty of cases, he helped get them there.
That's why guys like him become coaches in the first place and why, so long as they're successful, they get away with everything short of inciting a riot. Because they can lead. Chaney could, too -- once.
He's in the Hall of Fame for good reason, but Chaney hasn't ever been to the Final Four, hasn't taken Temple to the NCAA tournament the last three seasons, and no longer operates the baddest program in his own town anymore. That would be Saint Joe's, which has beaten the Owls -- illegal screens or not -- the last six times they've met.
Temple's days as a national program are in the past. The wonder is how he kept it in the spotlight this long, by sacrificing more than most big-time coaches and making do with less. But the real fight, the one that has to do with Chaney's survival, may just be beginning.
I think John Chaney should be FIRED. There was some candy-ass article on ComcastSportsNet.com about what a wonderful man he is...here it is:
http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.com/view_content_1p.asp?ID=5024
Doing the right thing has rarely been a problem for John Chaney. He proved it again Monday by kicking himself off the Temple sideline for the rest of the season.
After the dangerous stunt Chaney pulled last week, he slapped himself with a one-game suspension. Then his university and the Atlantic 10 Conference put their heads together and bumped it to three. Being a stand-up guy, Chaney got around to acknowledging that wasn't long enough. Here's hoping he puts the time off to good use.
"I have devoted my basketball years not just to winning games and earning a salary, but to helping countless youngsters advance to adulthood with discipline, self-esteem and productive skills. ... How well I have succeeded is for others to determine, but I know I give those goals my best effort every day, and have done so for more than forty years,'' Chaney said in a statement.
"In view of all the circumstances, I believe the fair thing is for me not to coach during the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament in Cincinnati.''
Considering the turn of events, it was the least he could do. Remember: he threatened to send a goon into Temple's game, made good on the threat and wound up robbing Saint Joseph's forward John Bryant of the last few months of his college career. The scary thing, at the time, was the way Chaney practically crowed over his handiwork. It came back to haunt him soon enough.
"Last week, my words and actions were wrong, wrong, wrong,'' Chaney said. "I never intended nor did any of my players intend for anyone to be injured, regardless of what may have been said emotionally before, during and after the game.''
The knock on Chaney has never been over motives, only methods. He is still treating basketball like war when he should know better. It's the same thing Bob Knight does, under the same banner of "molding'' men, and it's led to some of the same excesses.
But maybe when someone has been doing things one way all his life, it's the rest of us who should know better than to expect him to change. This episode won't mark the end of Chaney's run at Temple. But unless he changes, you'll be able to see it from here.
Rest assured that the next time Chaney rushes off to fight another battle, it will be the last time he does so while drawing a paycheck from Temple. University president David Adamany doesn't have to draw up a zero-tolerance policy, the way the administration did to finally pry Knight away from Indiana; his 73-year-old icon of a coach did it for him.
Chaney knows he's on the clock, but he also knows things could have turned out even worse. If last week's game was played at Saint Joseph's instead of Temple, it might have touched off a melee and then Chaney would have been done, right then and there.
That's why taking himself out of the A-10 conference tournament picture was such a good idea. Imagine if Temple and Saint Joseph wound up playing again, Chaney coaching furiously on one bench and Bryant looking on from the other, his broken arm still in a sling.
There's no making up for Saint Joseph's being forced to defend its regular-season league title without a key role player, and any coach who didn't have Chaney's stature would likely be out of a job already. But a guy who specialized in giving chances to so many kids deserves at least one more.
Chaney never graduated as many kids as he should have, but it's worth remembering that on sum, most of those who came into contact with him will swear he had an impact on their lives, helped determine what they did when they left the team and in plenty of cases, he helped get them there.
That's why guys like him become coaches in the first place and why, so long as they're successful, they get away with everything short of inciting a riot. Because they can lead. Chaney could, too -- once.
He's in the Hall of Fame for good reason, but Chaney hasn't ever been to the Final Four, hasn't taken Temple to the NCAA tournament the last three seasons, and no longer operates the baddest program in his own town anymore. That would be Saint Joe's, which has beaten the Owls -- illegal screens or not -- the last six times they've met.
Temple's days as a national program are in the past. The wonder is how he kept it in the spotlight this long, by sacrificing more than most big-time coaches and making do with less. But the real fight, the one that has to do with Chaney's survival, may just be beginning.