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Quick triggers Athletic directors have lost all sense of reality
Thank God for Phil Martelli. The St. Joseph's head coach cuts through b.s. faster than you can say, "We lost our focus out there today," which is why I particularly appreciated something he said last week in San Diego. "Coaches in college basketball get way too much credit and take way too much blame," Martelli said. "I just read that Ohio University fired their coach. He went 19-11. I mean, are you s---ting me? Nineteen and 11! Who do they think they are?" They're everywhere, Phil. At Wisconsin, which flushed out acting head coach Brad Soderberg this week after he'd gone 16-10 in the nation's toughest conference. At Indiana, which set up a committee that will almost surely push out interim head coach Mike Davis, even though he went 21-13 under the kind of pressure nobody should have to endure. And, not least, at Ohio, which fired Larry Hunter for the unpardonable sin of going 19-and-freaking-11. Who do they think they are? They're athletic directors, of course, some of the most irrational, egotistic, unrealistic bosses on the planet. They deserve to be called out and pilloried: Pat Richter at Wisconsin; Thomas Boeh at Ohio; Clarence Doninger (and incoming AD Michael McNeely ) at Indiana. What do they like? They like fancy brand names. Steve Alford. Rick Majerus. Hell, why not Rick Pitino? What do they dislike? Head coaches without brand names who have the nerve not to win !@#$% championships, regardless of whether they have a .650 winning percentage. I had a dream Monday night. It was about what Christmas at Richter's house must be like. In my dream, little Timmy Richter gave his dad a set of wooden drink coasters that he had made at school. They were perfect, all smooth and varnished, just as nice as anything you could buy in a big, fancy store. "Timmy, this is terrible!" his dad screamed. "I wanted Williams-Sonoma coasters!!! You're fired!" I woke up in a cold sweat. So this is what it's like to be a college basketball head coach? This is what it's like working for today's title-or-bust athletic directors? Say it together now: Who do they think they are? Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl covers college basketball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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