Posted on 02/25/2005 8:52:54 AM PST by BlackRazor
Chaney's punishment should be dismissal, not suspension
Feb. 24, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
No more excuses for John Chaney. No more explanations, no more minced words.
Temple coach John Chaney has had a handful of run-ins. The Hall of Fame coach from Temple perpetrated a crime on college basketball this week, and the punishment for that crime should be an immediate dismissal.
In Temple's 63-56 loss Tuesday to Saint Joseph's, Chaney sent in a goon -- his word, goon -- to send a message. That message went all the way to a hospital in Philadelphia, where Saint Joseph's forward John Bryant was diagnosed Thursday with a broken arm.
Chaney sent a player into the game for the express purpose of roughing up Saint Joseph's, and the result was the probable end of John Bryant's career.
And so should end John Chaney's career.
Earlier Wednesday, before anyone knew the severity of Bryant's injury, Chaney suspended himself for the Owls' next game, Saturday against Massachusetts.
That gesture, before any of us knew about Bryant's broken bone, looked noble enough. Now it looks hollow. What happened Tuesday night wasn't an act of passion. Chaney was upset with the officials for allowing the Hawks to set what he felt were illegal screens, but sending in his goon was no fateful, split-second decision. One day earlier, he had told the media that he would take action if the Hawks continued with their illegal screens.
On Tuesday, that action was named Nehemiah Ingram. He stands 6-foot-8, weighs 250 pounds and plays almost never. He averages 0.4 points and 0.0 assists per game, not that Chaney called on Ingram on Tuesday to score or pass. He called on Ingram to get rough, and Ingram did -- fouling out in four minutes, including a technical foul.
The result was a disaster, right down to Ingram's stupid shove of Bryant at the end of a layup. Bryant landed hard, and probably won't play again this season. Because he's a senior, he probably won't play again. It's too late to redshirt, and he's not good enough to play overseas. His career, in effect, is over.
And Chaney will miss one game? Not good enough. At the least -- the very least -- Chaney should match Bryant on a game-for-game basis. Bryant's out? Chaney's out, too. If Bryant doesn't return this season, neither should Chaney.
And after this season, a Temple administration that has kowtowed to Chaney needs to take a hard look at the kind of man Chaney has become. Or the kind of man he has been all along.
For years, we've looked the other way. All of us have. Chaney once grabbed the neck of a rival coach, George Washington's Gerry Gimelstob, in 1984. Everyone looked the other way. That's just John Chaney.
Chaney once threatened to kill a rival coach, Massachusetts' John Calipari, in 1994. The threat was captured on video. It was embarrassing, a career-ending move for most coaches. Not for Chaney. Everyone looked the other way.
Last month, Chaney lit into President Bush's stance on Iraq during a Philadelphia sports writers dinner. That was inappropriate -- members of the audience had come to honor Chaney's 700 career victories, not listen to his politics -- but acceptable. But when several members of the audience heckled Chaney as he spoke, saying he was ruining the evening, the Temple coach asked one of them to step outside.
Not acceptable. But everyone looked the other way, even me. Grumpy old men, I wrote the next day. Forgivable, I wrote.
Forgive me. I'm part of the problem. Me and every other sports writer who has been so impressed by Chaney's mission -- to graduate young men; to make them better in basketball and better in life, and not in that order -- that we were blind to the whole picture.
If Bob Knight grabbed another coach around the neck, would Knight still be coaching? Maybe, but maybe not. If Mike Davis threatened to kill another coach, would Davis still be coaching? Probably not. They haven't built up the same level of media equity enjoyed by Chaney.
With the X-ray that confirmed Bryant's broken arm, Chaney's equity should be gone. It probably should have been gone long before, but hey, Chaney didn't really choke Gimelstob. And he didn't really kill Calipari. And he didn't really beat up a heckler at that Philadelphia banquet.
Well, guess what? This time, he really did it. Chaney really hurt Bryant. No, he wasn't the one who gave the airborne Bryant that fateful and unnecessary shove, but he might as well.
Time to go, John Chaney. You were good for the game for a lot of years, but now the game is too good for you.
The free ride is over. You are no longer what we want to believe you are, John Chaney. You simply are what you do.
And you've done too many unforgivable things to be forgiven this.
Chaney has a pretty good track record . . . for Temple. It's not an easy place to get good recruits, and he has the virtue of being a well-established coach. That helps with recruiting considering the neighborhood Temple is in is something comparable to a hell-hole.
He has always been the black Bobby Knight - the outbursts, threats, and occasional displays of violence. Both coaches were successful in winning ballgames and educating their recruits. Yet the media has long hated one and pandered to the other.
Disclaimer--I'm an Indiana fan, and I've always been big supporter of Bob Knight.
It's true--Coach Knight would certainly be getting rougher treatment from the press in the same situation--but I doubt he would of done something like this in the first place. I can't condemn Chaney too much though--he's always been a vocal supporter of Coach Knight, and up until now, has always seemed like a decent guy. I think a suspension is warranted--but he shouldn't be fired. Coach Knight was certainly dismissed for a lot less--but it was also unjustified IMO.
And Knight never used a sports speech to bash our noble President. Chaney can go rot in some pissant junior college for all I care.
One of his recruiting tools (and the way he got Temple on the map) is the fact that he's basically willing to put anyone on the schedule, anywhere. Temple perrenially has one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. This year they had Georgetown, South Carolina, Arizona St., Villanova, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Wake Forest, Maryland, and Duke. A schedule like that cuts both ways. You're going to lose a lot of games. But if you have a good record in-conference, the strength of schedule raises your power rating up high enough that you can get into the NCAA tournament, even with only a 17-13 overall record or so -- which Temple has done a few times.
I appreciate your comment and posting to me. Now I have one more question? Should the player be charged with assault? If it was not during a basketball game it clearly would be assault. And if he is guilty of assault then shouldn't Chaney be charged as a participant in the crime?
I agree with you on the youth and Josh Smith. They also have two seniors next year from Auburn (damnit)(War Eagle). So if he keeps his job I think that will have a lot to do with it. One thing I fault him for is he keeps saying help is on the way. He said it the year before Wright and Strickland got there and he's been at it ever since. Mike is a wonderful person, even if he did go to that other school in my home state, and I hope he gets another shot. I just don't think he will.
One of the local radio stations last week was talking about Alford being on thin ice at Iowa. If he's available I think IU will be all over him. He was on the radio later in the week and was excited about his future at Iowa. Personally I think it will be Dan Dakich. I used to think either Jim Crews or Joby Wright, but I think they may go with a younger one. Another name being mentioned around Indy is Randy Wittman.
Actually he's suspended for the rest of the regular season which is all of three games. Big Deal. He'll be back for the A-10 tournament. Slap on the wrist for a premeditated act. I guess will have to wait for a Bill Musselman-type incident where Luke Witte got the living hell beaten out of him before anything will be done.
The man should be summarily fired.
I'm in agreement. This should be the absolute minimum, and I still say Mr. Chaney needs to retire. Heck, I hadn't even heard about his butthead behavior at the sports dinner. This fella's taken one too many to the head (which might explain why he is ugly with a capital Ugh!).
He could be charged I think yes...but I think the actual trial would be more a civil suit against Cheney instead of a criminal case against the player...
They probably have bigger fish to fry in Philly anyway...
I still dont think he should be fired.
When I posted that, I was as yet unaware that it was only for the rest of the regular season. He should be suspended for any tournaments too IMO.
If I were the league, I would ask him to retire. They want to avoid another Woody Hayes type issue and they certainly dont want their marquee coach to go out like that....
The only people in Philly who are still defending him are professional victim blacks and, naturally, the Philadelphia Daily News (which is to the left of Pravda).
If I was in workplace situation and ordered one of my people to assault a co-worker, I'd wind up in the jail.
Then again, I was born with the original sin of being white.
If I'm a coach with a game against Temple scheduled, I would suit up a walkon linebacker or defensive end who would enter the game if Cheney's goon came on the floor. That thug has no business on the floor; if Temple or the A-10 won't suspend him, then as an opposing coach I have to protect my players. If Temple wants Goon Basketball then their opponents should oblige them.
First goon hockey, now goon bashetball. That's Philly for you.
actually, I give Cheney credit for admitting it. The rest of these hotshot college coaches WON'T, but they do the same thing all the time.
So it's worse than Woody you say. That is exactly the reason they won't let him go out on a note like this in the A-10 assuming it doesnt happen again.
Being an Ohio State fan, I dont think this is worse than what Woody did, mainly because hard fouling is sometimes prevalent in rivalry games. Woody actually hit a player, a line that even Cheney won't cross.
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