Thinking out loud…while wondering if refusing to go to the gym counts as resistance training…
• Rebuild, or reload? And are they one and the same?
• They are at a place like Villanova, where basketball blueblood status has been achieved under the historical direction of the late Rollie Massimino, and the newly retired Jay Wright.
• Wright stunned the college ranks this week with his decision to step away from coaching at Villanova for the past 21 years, winning two natty’s, eight Big East titles, appearing in four Final Fours and grabbing one Hall of Fame spot for himself.
• Wright is a (relatively) young man, just 60 years old. Good for him in being able to arrive at his decision to step away while a good portion of his life is ahead of him. He will stay on at Villanova as an Assistant to the President. I’d like to be like Jay Wright when I grow up.
• Former Nova assistant Kyle Neptune steps into the spotlight, after a single (16-16) season at Fordham.
• But when you consider the coaching drain on the game over the past two seasons – HOF’ers Roy Williams, Coach K and now Coach Jay retiring – is there a common thread binding the three icons in their decisions to step away?
• You can make the case, for any sport, that rebuilding a team (or reloading one) is easier to do these days than it has ever been previously. College or pro. But for some, the changing game can’t sit well. It can be ultra-stressful, difficult, unrelenting.
• Coaches no longer just coach or teach. They manage. They sell. They direct. They cajole. They promote. They look under rocks. They push envelopes that make them uncomfortable. And if they don’t win enough, they lose more than just a game.
• It’s been called free agency in the pros. It’s now called free agency in college, too. The pressure to win, and drive revenue (i.e., make $$$), is greater than it has ever been. Don’t kid yourself – it’s been around for a lot longer in the college ranks than you’d believe.
• It’s just been called something else – amateurism. And it’s been a lie for decades.
• The very definition of amateurism is to practice an activity, especially a sport, on an unpaid rather than a professional basis. College athletics today no longer qualify under this definition, thanks in part to the emergence of name, image and likeness marketing opportunities for student athletes.
• Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for equal opportunity out there, especially with the millions (billions?) being made by institutions of higher learning off athletes’ backsides. I used to believe the free education was sufficient for student athletes in return for their athletic endeavors.
• No more. The pressure to win – to build, to create, to rake in the dough through donor fundraising and/or marketing and advertising – long ago altered that reality. Just look around at your friendly, neighborhood college campuses to see that reality.
• And the construction, the building of palaces both athletic and academic. Keep up with the Joneses? Dude, the Joneses left this circus years ago. Today is more like Keeping up with the Kardashians.
• And our penchant for reaching out to grab new opportunities, especially when old chances flop or fail, also drives this mentality. It’s why the college game has crumbled under the heavy weight of what used to be “amateurism.”
• Coaches can leave for more money, for new opportunities. Why not the athletes? And indeed, why not? Kids don’t go to a campus to play for the new science lab, they go to schools to play for coaches who they like and will play them. And when they don’t?
• The transfer portal opens wide. And the rebuilding, or reloading, begins anew. Some coaches tire of that grind.
• Amateurism has simply changed. It isn’t wrong, nor is it right. It has just evolved into a near equivalent of professionalism, clouded because of what we USED to see. Or know.
• But don’t kid yourselves. It’s been gone a lot longer than you think.
• On the NIL front, perhaps a small glimmer of hope for the college game with Kentucky’s reigning national player of the year, Oscar Tshiebwe, deciding to return to school? He’s the first POTY to come back to the classroom (wink, wink) since Tyler Hansbrough at North Carolina in 2008.
• The cynic sez that NIL dough at UK must be a helluva deal. The realist sez…that NIL dough at UK must be a helluva deal.
• Yes, we’ll create “haves” and “have nots” in college athletics. Just like the illegal “$100 handshake” from boosters and days gone by, now rich alumni can funnel almost anything they wish toward student athletes to play at the ol’ alma mater.
• To some in the biz, that just ain’t right. The pressure to win will only increase. Some will find a way to cheat. What are we really teaching these days?
• Some coaches will get out…because too much about the game, and the job, has changed.
• When you get on a roll, you roll. The Easter bunny brought Ed Cooley 6-10 Clifton Moore (ex-Indiana, ex-LaSalle center/forward) after he placed Devin Carter (ex-South Carolina) and Noah Locke (ex-Florida, ex-Louisville) into the Friars’ basket in the past week.
• Moore gives PC something they haven’t had in a few years – the ability to defend at the rim. Locke ostensibly replaces AJ Reeves’ shooting ability, and Carter’s athleticism hopefully steps in for Justin Minaya.
• Suddenly, even with a couple of roster spots still open, Providence seems to have embraced reloading, as opposed to rebuilding.
• It isn’t surprising to see PC’s Brycen Goodine opt for the transfer portal this week. The New Bedford and St. Andrews product has had, reportedly, dozens of schools inquire about his availability. Hope he lands where he can contribute.
• Former Friar Matteus Case landed quickly, opting to sign with William & Mary to continue his career.
• Friar grad Noah Horchler accepted an invitation to the Tampa Bay Pro Combine held next week in Florida for NBA teams, scouts and international teams.
• Within the Big East’s revolving door, St. John’s gets a big pickup with ex-Illinois point guard Andre Curbelo. Will be interesting to see him pair with the returning Posh Alexander in that backcourt.
• Seton Hall’s 6-9 Alexis Yetna has decided to move on, but TCU shooter Francisco Farabello has found his way to Creighton.
• Guess what’s found its’ way to Storrs, CT…besides Virginia Tech transfer guard Nahiem Alleyne? Higher ticket prices, so sez the CT Insider. Now to be fair, UConn announced higher ducat prices last month, just before the men’s and women’s basketball seasons ended. But sticker shock arrived this week with renewals.
• It’s what follows naturally when success occurs. And especially when your athletic department is tens-of-millions-of-dollars in debt every year.
• URI has also entered the transfer portal for new talent, and Archie Miller will plug in George Washington transfer guard Brayon Freeman – who was Atlantic-10 all rookie last season. He shot 43% from three in 30 games played for the Colonials.
• If the Friars made noise on the recruiting trail last week, Bryant did too, by adding former Top 50 national recruit and one-time PC target Earl Timberlake for next season. Timberlake transfers in from Memphis (by way of Miami) after starting 11 games for the Tigers.
• Bryant’s the new kid on the block in America East next season, but they’re already muscling up for the fight ahead.
• As an aside to the “NIL” stuff out there and available to college and prep athletes these days, while driving coaches crazy…are the ramifications of their newly found ‘fortunes.’ The tax man has cometh, and I’ll wager there are many surprised to learn Uncle Sam always demands his fair share.
• Sportico reports tax liens are already becoming an issue for those not setting aside money to pay taxes, or simply not reporting their income. If it’s nothing else but a life lesson learned, it’s a good thing.
• And while dozens of schools have entered ‘consortiums’ for their student athletes to potentially take advantage of, like the one at the University of Texas offering up to $50K for football linemen, and the one started by NBC Sports available to student athletes at Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Temple…Providence has launched a redesigned “Friar Edge” website specifically addressing growth opportunities for its athletes.
• Tweet of the Week, from @LouMerloni: “The Sox have a championship lineup. One that may be broken up at yrs end. Which is why I still don’t understand why a trade wasn’t made for another S/P and/or another backend reliever. Load up this year. It just didn’t happen and I think they’ll regret it. They don’t have enough.”
• And let’s not forget the story that won’t go away – just like Covid won’t go away. The Red Sox will keep some players out of Toronto because they aren’t vaccinated. And should they lose to the Blue Jays?
• Where are those who believe early season games count as much as they do later in the year?
• Why should anyone waste another dime of their money or minute of their time on them? Fans will, of course. But this issue is also about people acting with regard for others, with human decency.
• Those who are unvaxxed don’t care about you – nor do they care about their teammates (or their manager), who count on them to be professional. They are not.
• So, I won’t care, either. Probably.
• One guy I will care about, is Rich Hill. Lost in the hubbub of Hub activities over Patriots Day, Hill took the mound just three days after his father Lloyd passed away at age 94. And his father ran the Boston Marathon 37 times.
• @PeteAbe of the Globe said it best: “One of the lessons his father taught Hill was to fulfill your obligations when people are counting on you.” Amen to that.
• Which is something that Jerry Remy did, right up until he couldn’t any longer. The Sox tributes coming his way have been deserved and meaningful, except for what appears to be a rather thoughtless oversight to not include a video Wednesday night sent by Remy’s 15-year TV partner, Don Orsillo.
• I mean, hello? Did you really think we wouldn’t notice? Way to make RemDawg’s tribute about something OTHER than the tribute itself. Stupid is as stupid does.
• From the looks of things, baseball’s new 14-second pitch clock (with no one on base, 18 seconds with a runner) is working. Through 132 minor-league games, the length of these games has decreased by 20 minutes…down to 2 hours, 39 minutes.
• MLB games averaged 3:11 last season, as we’ve opined and whined about. Baseball, get on the clock.
• Deebo! Deebo! Deebo! That chant at Gillette, I can hear it in my sleep. A guy can dream, can’t he?
• Seriously, that move would create quite the stir. Samuels…and DeVante Parker? Those shock waves would certainly be felt in Buffalo and Miami.
• In the meantime, the Patriots’ build toward 2022 began this week with official off-season workouts. Men in Tights, Part II.
• Draft nuggets? Thinking BB trades down. Sorry. Unless draft capital is used prior to the draft for Deebo! Deebo! Deebo!
• Remember when BB once said he wouldn’t stick around to coach as long as Marv Levy (at age 70) once did? BB’s 70th was last weekend, ICYMI. He doesn’t appear to be losing steam.
• Not for nuthin’, but Levy has been out of coaching now for 25 years. That’s a ‘whoa’ for me. And he’s now 96 years young. Definitely a ‘wow,’ too.
• Too many hurt feelings for Stephon Gilmore to play in Foxboro again? Money, schmoney. If HE wanted it, before he signed with the Colts, it could have happened. See Butler, Malcolm as evidence.
• The Patriots Hall of Fame finalists (Vince Wilfork, Mike Vrabel, Logan Mankins) are spot on choices this year, even if Bill Parcells’ inclusion remains an egregious oversight. But fans care more about the players, and that’s fine. You can vote for your choice at patriots.com.
• The Kraft’s will likely need to step in and include Parcells as a ‘contributor’ at some point – and they should. Can the Kiss and Make Up occur before it’s too late?
• There appears to be an appetite for spring football again.
• The first USFL game of this year, Birmingham against New Jersey, drew more than three million viewers on a combined NBC and Fox simulcast. Sure, it was two networks combining…but that’s a lot of curious eyeballs.
• Let’s check back on this in a few weeks and see if those eyeballs still like what they’re watching.
• When the previous iteration of the USFL worked in the ‘80’s, there was much less of a sports universe to deal with then than there is today. But some of the operating principle is still in place – teams and games largely (but not entirely) in NFL outlier cities.
• Until some guy who grew orange hair as he got older ruined it for those of us who worked in the league back then, by trying to make the USFL something it wasn’t.
• I know what I saw. It was subtle, quick. But meaningful. Kyrie Irving’s single-finger salute to Celtics’ fans last Sunday proves one thing – other than his ownership of childish, classless stupidity.
• That he has thinner skin than you do. He’s a superb basketball player, despite a poor performance Wednesday. You’ve heard the phrase “million-dollar talent, 10-cent head?” His head is also $50K poorer today. Just sayin’.
• Wednesday night’s first half was a head-shaker. The second half was a rim rattler. Seems as if the Celtics decided to express an entire season’s worth of angst and ability in the same 48-minute period.
• Marcus Smart = Defensive Player of the Year. Does this mean he’ll stop shooting threes?
• But for my money, the defensive job done on Kevin Durant by Al Horford in the second half Wednesday night was pretty solid. KD and Kyrie were held to a combined 4-for-23…and earn a combined $77 million annually.
• Needed some good news this week. Got it when I saw Dickie V ring his cancer bell on social media, indicating he’s cancer free. God bless you, Dick Vitale. Love him or not, he’s been an “unbelievable!” ambassador for college hoops.
• Some Marathon feel good moments, too. Peres Jepchirchir’s moment of good sportsmanship, handing water over to fellow competitor Ababel Yeshanah just two miles from the finish line – as documented by WCVB’s Josh Brogadir – was incredible in its simplicity but extraordinary in this ‘win at all costs’ age we live in.
• Henry Richard running for his brother, Martin. Two friends in this biz, Chris Price and Bob Socci, finishing what they started. Cheers to all who ran.
• I have a suggestion for Elon Musk, if he does buy Twitter. Wanna fix a lot of social media mess? Have posters (Twitterers?) use their real names. Everyone gets a blue check mark.
• Take away anonymity, take away much of the mean spirit and misinformation. There you go. Happy to serve as Twitter’s Minister of Truth, too. You’re welcome.
• Dave emails from Providence this week: “Good write-up today about Jeremy Pena. But you only went as far back as High School (Classical High) and college (Maine). Before that, he played in the Elmwood Little League, the inner-city Providence League that I am involved with. When he played on opening day, he became the first graduate in the 72-year history of our League to reach the Majors.”
• Awesome note, Dave. Appreciate your reading, and thanks for the further insight on Jeremy. He also included Will Blackmon (NFL) Ricky Ledo (NBA) and Ed Cooley as grads of their Little League. Reppin’ Elmwood!
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