College Hoops: The Way We Were or Thought We Were

Times have changed, we’re reminded every day. Of course, each generation comes to that conclusion, usually meaning that times have gotten worse. This view is quite prevalent today, in light of millions of unemployed, continuing layoffs, the massive chasm between pay at the top and that at the bottom, and the prediction that our children’s generation will never have a chance to live as well as recent past generations.

People and jobs aren’t as important as things and profit. In the world of sports, college basketball in particular right now, the only thing important is winning. With the end of the college basketball season mere days away, ’tis now the season of firing.

In 2007, when Royce Waltman was fired as the coach of Indiana State, he made a provocative statement at his farewell press conference: “If you get fired for cheating, you can get hired right back again. If you get fired for losing, it’s like you’ve got leprosy . . . . Cheating and not graduating players will not get you in trouble, but that damn losing . . . .” Waltman is still unemployed as a head college basketball coach.

Increasingly, coaches who don’t win are fired after only one season or in mid-season. Coaches of teams in conferences that purport to place academics so far ahead of athletics that college basketball would seem to be an after-thought are no longer immune from the demand to win. It’s no longer how you play the game that matters. Was it ever really that way? Regardless, this cruel sentiment of “win quickly or leave” is now carried over to all kinds of employers. Does it apply to you?

When Waltman said that cheats prosper and losers get leprosy, he also said that this state of affairs is something that young coaches should think about. It’s something we all need to think about.