Dangerous example

[Higher Authority]

I was listening to the Jim Rome radio show at lunch, and he was talking about the situation at the University of Arizona. Did ya'll read about this? 41 players went to the UofA president - not the AD, the president! - to complain about Coach Mackovic and his coaching methods. Apparently after UofA lost to Wisconsin, he laid into the team, ripping them with language a lot worse than normal coach-speak. He even reportedly told a tight end "you're an embarrassment to your family." Classy move, Coach.

So Mackovic held a press conference yesterday where he cried and said he was sorry, and apologized to basically everyone he's ever met, and said he'll do better, and he'll work hard to never make the same mistakes again, etc., etc.

My concerns are many:

First of all, Mackovic should get fired immediately. As Jim Rome said on his radio show, there's a huge difference between " get the job done, Son, or we'll get someone in there who can" and "you're an embarrassment to your family." There's nothing wrong with a coach cussing on the practice field - the players have heard that language for years, and still do every day, between classes and at parties, etc. But when you're destroying a young man's confidence in himself by challenging his relationship with his own family, that's way beyond being just wrong. That's terrible. That's a perfect reason to terminate Mackovic immediately. They have what, 1 game left? Maybe 2? Too bad. He shouldn't be able to coach at UofA again. Ever. That tearful sob story at the press conference does nothing to correct his mistakes, which it sounds like were numerous and frequent. (And can you imagine trying to recruit kids to UofA after this story is out? "Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I'd like your son to come play for me at Arizona. Sure, the team sucks, and I haven't developed a good player since .... well, never. Remember, I was an assistant coach in the NFL 100 years ago, so believe me, I know what it takes. And while your son is playing for me, I'll be sure to shred his self-esteem and his overall psyche by letting him know that you nice folks are ashamed of him because he missed a block, and that you should put him up for adoption immediately. We'll never win a PAC-10 game while he plays for me, but at least he'll learn some new words that I picked up at some of the country's finest truck stops.")

Secondly, there's been a growing sentiment in recent years that college athletes are too sensitive. They are acting more and more like pampered professional athletes, and when someone (particularly a coach) gets mad, and god forbid swears while making a point, the athletes sometimes whine to the media, or threaten to go Sprewell and go after the coach. The athletes are big boys. They don't hear anything at practice or games that they don't hear (or say themselves) in the dorm or at the bars around campuses all across the country. Whatever it was Mackovic said to his players must have been unbelievable, for 41 players to risk playing time or maybe even their scholarships by going to the university president. The fact that the president allowed them a meeting, and that he didn't cut short the meeting with a "grow up and get over it" speech suggests that what Mackovic has been doing is indeed awful. But does the fact that the players clearly won this battle mean that the inmates truly are running the assylum now? What happens the next time Mackovic gets on a player for not running out his route in practice? Or the next time he lectures a kid about getting his grades up? Will the kid go running to the president again, knowing that Mackovic is skating on very thin ice, and wouldn't dare challenge him?

One last question: why did the players bypass the athletic director's office and head straight to the university president? Does Mackovic have the AD in his back pocket? Or is the AD just useless? The fact that they went straight to the top raises a lot of questions by itself.

[Hal]

I hadn't heard about all that. Sounds like an awful situation. I feel bad for those kids.

[Red+BlueDude]

From Friday's Washington Post:

"The Redskins expect defensive line coach Ricky Hunley to be a candidate for the University of Arizona's head coaching job if the school fires John Mackovic. Hunley was an all-American linebacker at Arizona and interviewed for the job two years ago before the school hired Mackovic. Mackovic is 8-13 at Arizona, and issued a public apology this week after 45 of his players reportedly met with the school president to complain about the way they were treated. . . . "